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FEB.
19 — Goshen Ends Regular Season Strong At Grace
Leafs'
66-65 win over Lancers secures sole possession of third
place in MCC |
Winona Lake, IN — With an at home, first-round
Mid-Central Conference Tournament game already locked up, the Goshen College
men’s basketball team didn’t need to win Saturday’s
game at Grace College.
But, oh, how they wanted it.
With a win guaranteeing the Leafs a third-seed in the MCC Tournament,
Goshen used a solid, 40-minute effort to defeat Grace by a 66-65
score, giving the Lancers just their third home loss of the season
and putting
a damper on their senior day festivities. Grace led Goshen (21-10,
9-7) for the majority of the contest, but tough defense and a
few big plays down the stretch sealed the win for the Leafs.
“It was a very competitive effort by our guys today in a tough
environment,” said Stan Daugherty, Goshen head coach. “I was
pleased to see how we competed being in this situation. We kept
hanging around, and made enough plays in the final few minutes to get
the win.
It really was a great win for our program.”
After the conclusion of the day’s MCC games, Goshen’s 9-7
mark was good enough for sole possession of third place in the league,
joining Huntington College and Taylor University (both 12-4 in league
play) as the only squads with conference records above the .500 mark.
Both the Leafs’ conference finish and final record set new school
bests within MCC play, as the team will host an MCC Tournament game for
the first time in program history Wednesday night.
“Our goal coming into this season was to go .500 in the conference,” Daugherty
said. “To go 9-7 and finish third is a tremendous accomplishment.
Now that we’ve done that, though, there’s no time to congratulate
ourselves. We’ll quickly set new goals as we head into the MCC Tournament
this week.”
Saturday against Grace, Goshen’s goal was in part to silence a raucous
crowd, as the Lancers were fighting to get a leg up on a possible four-team
tie for fifth place in the MCC. Even with the heightened atmosphere at
Lancer Gym, Daugherty’s squad came out determined, grabbing an 18-11
lead midway through the first half. Grace slowly responded, however, as
an eight to nothing run put the Lancers on top by a 19-18 score just three
minutes later. The host team continued its push through the end of the
half, as Grace eventually gained a seven point lead with just 29 seconds
remaining. A nifty jumper by junior Jordan Buller as the clock expired
made the score 38-33, Grace, at the half.
“Both teams were very patient on offense in the first half, and
both teams shot the ball fairly well from the floor (Goshen was
13 for 26, 50 percent; Grace was 16 of 31, 51.6 percent),” Daugherty
said. “We
gave up some offensive rebounds, and that was the difference.”
Grace continued its efficient offense early in the second half,
again pushing its lead to seven points before an eight to nothing Leafs
run turned the tables. Goshen’s 43-42 advantage was short-lived,
however, as the Lancers scored 10 of the game’s next 12 points,
grabbing a 52-45 lead with 12:41 remaining in the contest. That lead slowly
dwindled to the two- to four-point range over the game’s next 10
minutes, however, as Goshen began to put itself in a position to win.
After Grace scored at the 2:07 mark to take a 62-59 lead, sophomore
Willie Frazier was able to convert an acrobatic lay up to cut
the lead to one. Senior Paul Kopanski secured an enormous offensive
rebound putback off
of junior Eric Walsh’s miss at the :52 mark, giving his team a 63-62
lead. After three straight defensive stops, Goshen was able to
connect on game-deciding free throws. Walsh hit a pair at the
:28 mark and Kopanski
added another with :06 on the clock. Grace’s Marcus Moore canned
a three-pointer at the buzzer, cutting the final score to a single
point 66-65 Goshen win.
While the Leafs’ offensive execution dropped a bit in the second
half (13 for 30 from the field, 43.3 percent), their defensive performance
peaked. In addition to keeping the Lancers to just a nine for 25 effort
from the floor in the second period (36 percent), Daugherty’s team
held Grace scoreless for the game’s final 2:07.
“I thought our defensive intensity and awareness was excellent
for the final two minutes,” Daugherty said. “We made just
enough plays offensively to take advantage of our defensive stops
down the stretch. I thought we showed a lot of heart, and our defense
kept
us in it late.”
Kopanski led the scoring push for the Leafs, charting a game-high
17 points to go with eight rebounds. Walsh scored 14 to go with a game-high
nine boards, while Buller knocked in 13 points to go with three assists.
Frazier scored 12 points. He also secured six rebounds.
“Paul had a couple of huge rebounds and scores for us late,” Daugherty
said. “In all, it was very much a team win in that we just hung
around long enough and stayed close enough to make a push late.
We now feel like we’re as well prepared for the tournament as we
can be. It’s
going to be tough, but we’re starting to play our best basketball
of the season.”
Goshen will host sixth-seeded Spring Arbor University Wednesday
night at 7 p.m. in the Roman Gingerich Center. Spring Arbor claimed the
sixth seed after finishing 7-9 in the MCC, along with three other teams.
Tie-breaking procedures placed Grace as the fifth-seed within that pile-up.
For a complete list of MCC final standings and tournament seedings and
brackets, click here.
Tickets for Wednesday’s MCC First Round Tournament games are $5
for adults and $2 for students. Advance ticket sales are available at
the
Goshen College athletic department and will also be sold at the
door Wednesday night. |
  Senior
Paul Kopanski
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