|
|
FEB.
12 — Goshen Caps Off Week Of Upsets With 70-55 Win
Leafs
take out 12th-ranked Taylor for back-to-back Top 25 victories |
Goshen, IN — Just four days after knocking
off the nation’s eighth-ranked Huntington College squad at the Roman
Gingerich Center, the Goshen College men’s basketball team was at
it again, this time handing 12th-ranked Taylor University a 70-55 loss
on Saturday afternoon. The pair of upsets guarantees Goshen (19-10, 8-7)
at least a .500 record in Mid-Central Conference play for the year, a
goal that head coach Stan Daugherty said was set by his team in the pre-season
months.
“We had some success last year in terms of the amount of our overall
wins, but our goal coming into this season was to improve within
conference play,” Daugherty said. “We knew that it is a very,
very good league, so we had the pre-season goal of getting eight wins.
Now that
we’ve accomplished that, our goal shifts to continuing to improve
and trying to play our best basketball at the end of the year
and into the conference tournament.”
There’s no question that facing both Huntington and Taylor at home
made life a bit easier on the Leafs this week — Goshen is now 11-2
on the season at the Roman Gingerich Center — and the wins could
equate to another home contest. As Goshen continues to occupy sole possession
of third place within the MCC standings, a win at Grace College next Saturday
would guarantee the Leafs’ a first-round home contest in the MCC
Tournament, a feat never before accomplished by a Leafs team.
“Our focus all year long has been on the next game and the next
game only,” Daugherty said. “That type of mentality has put
us in a position to possibly get a home game in the tournament,
but it’s
not something you go out and try to do. The results take care
of themselves.”
Honoring its two seniors in Paul Kopanski and Troy Springer in
the Leafs’ final regular-season home contest on Saturday, it was
hot shooting that took care of Goshen early on. After falling behind by
a 3-7 score just four minutes in, junior Jordan Buller knocked in what
would be the first of four first-half three pointers, helping his team
to a 34-26 halftime advantage. Buller finished the first half four of
four behind the arc and five of five from the field, leading a 10 for
20 team effort from the floor (50 percent) which included a seven for
11 performance from behind the three-point line (63.6 percent).
“We obviously shot the ball very well in the first half, and Jordan
did an excellent job of picking his spots,” Daugherty said. “We
did a nice job of sharing and moving the basketball, and were
able to make our quality looks at the basket. That kind of fueled us early
on,
and we were able to pick up our overall level of intensity as
a result.”
A solid defensive effort kept Taylor at bay for the majority
of the second period, as Goshen’s shooting slipped a bit (11 for
24 from the field, 45.8 percent; two for nine from three-point land, 22.2
percent) but its defensive intensity did not. Taylor converted on just
10 of 23 second-half attempts (43.5 percent), and could not get closer
than seven points in the game’s final 10 minutes of play. Goshen
eventually pushed its lead to 18 points (66-48) before taking the 15-point
win.
“I thought that we got stronger as the game went on,” Daugherty
said. “Our
defensive effort in the second half continued to get better,
and our shot selection and clock management on offense was good. Those
factors combined
to help maintain our lead when we missed some shots. Overall,
it was a tremendous win that finished off a solid week of basketball for
us.”
Buller led all scorers with 22 points, knocking in eight of 11
from the floor and six of nine from long-range. Junior Eric Walsh scored
17 points to go with four assists and four rebounds, while Kopanski added
11 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Willie Frazier scored six points — all
in the second half — and grabbed a team-leading nine boards.
Goshen will next face Andrews University on Wednesday night,
as the team receives the bye week in MCC play. Game time is set for 7
p.m.
|
  Junior
Jordan Buller
|
|
|
|
|
|
