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JAN.
4 — Leafs Beat Bethel 91-86 In Instant Classic
Goshen
knocks off Pilots behind all-around effort in front of
sold out arena |
Goshen, IN — Goshen College students
returned to campus Tuesday, prepared to begin classes on Wednesday to
start the second academic semester. First, however, they were invited
to a party.
Mid-Central Conference cross-town rivals Bethel and Goshen never
seem to disappoint when they get together on the basketball floor, and
Tuesday night’s fiesta was no different.
Behind a feverous, jam-packed crowd turning the Roman Gingerich
Center into a Welcome-Back-To-School bash, the Goshen men’s basketball
team defeated Bethel College by a 91-86 count in yet another
game for the ages between the institutions. In a contest that featured
24 lead changes and
13 ties, it was the host Leafs (13-5, 3-2) that came up with
enough plays down the stretch to turn away a talented Pilot squad
in the end.
“What an outstanding college basketball game this was,” said
Stan Daugherty, Goshen head coach. “The (Bethel-Goshen) game never
ceases to amaze me. What you had tonight were two teams playing extremely
hard,
clean basketball that came down to the wire. The competitiveness
demonstrated by both teams is what every college basketball game should
be like. It
was an incredible atmosphere, and we’re very happy to be able to
get a win against a top-notch team.”
It was apparent from the start that there wouldn’t be much breathing
room for either team throughout the game, as the squads traded baskets
in up-tempo style for much of the first 10 minutes of play. It wasn’t
until the 6:43 mark that Bethel captured a 30-24 lead — the biggest
advantage in the game for either team — but even that small gap
was short-lived. Goshen answered with a pair of three-pointers over the
next minute, and the game was tied at 30-30.
A Leaf run sparked by the play of sophomore David Haire began
to turn the tide in Goshen’s favor immediately before halftime,
as Haire scored the Leafs’ last five points of the half to give
his team a 47-44 lead at the intermission. Haire finished the first half
with 11 points, shooting three of four from the field (and the foul line)
after junior Jordan Buller was saddled to the bench with early foul trouble.
Haire’s output spear-headed a 21 to six Goshen advantage in bench
scoring for the first period, and couldn’t have come at a better
time according to Daugherty.
“I can’t emphasize enough the importance of David Haire’s
play in the first half,” Daugherty said. “He and (senior)
Troy Springer (six points) gave us a big boost. In a game like this, you
know
you’re going to need production from people other than your starting
five. David stepped up with perhaps his best collegiate game
tonight.”
With the crowd’s fever pitch increasing with each minute, so did
the level of play on the floor in the second half. Huge baskets
from both teams pushed the game’s momentum back and forth, with
the Leafs eventually grabbing a 64-59 lead at the 12:27 mark.
Bethel responded with
a seven to two run of its own over the next minute and a
half, however, and the Pilots led 67-66. A Brice Hartman (freshman)
dunk 15 seconds later
reclaimed the lead for Goshen, and the latest chapter in the
Bethel-Goshen rivalry was being written. The teams would exchange
the lead 10 times
and tie the score on five occasions over the game’s final 10 minutes,
setting up an extraordinary finish.
Trailing by a 76-78 count with 5:37 on the clock, junior Willie
Frazier went in strong for a lay up. With Bethel contesting, his shot
rimmed out. Incredibly, Frazier was the first off the floor for the rebound,
and scored his putback attempt plus a foul. His free throw made the score
79-78, Goshen, but it wasn’t a safe advantage for long. Bethel’s
Adrick Hills converted on a pair of free throws to give the Pilots an
80-79 lead, while Buller made a pair of charity tosses just 24 seconds
later to give Goshen an 81-80 lead. Hills responded with a pretty runner
in the lane to put his team ahead 82-81 with 3:39 to play, and it looked
like whoever had the ball last would win the game.
But Goshen finally put together the game’s most important run. Frazier
scored a layup at the 2:29 mark to give the Leafs an 83-82 lead, an advantage
Daugherty’s team would not relinquish. Bethel’s Adam Schaper
missed a layup on the Pilots’ ensuing possession, and Bethel collected
the offensive rebound. The Pilots’ Kyle Sears was called for traveling,
however, and the ball went back to Goshen.
Junior Tyler Sheerer took a floating 15-foot jumper with 1:38
to play, but his shot was long. A battle for the rebound ensued, and it
was Goshen’s Paul Kopanski who tipped in the team’s third
offensive rebound on the play to make the score 85-82. After Bethel’s
Sears answered with a layup at the 1:21 mark to pull the Pilots’ within
a point, it was All-MCC junior Eric Walsh who would come up big: Shooting
just three of 13 from the floor up to that point, Walsh converted a falling-down
jumper in the middle of the lane — plus a foul on the shot — to
send the sold-out crowd into a frenzy. His free throw made the score 88-84
with just 56 seconds left, and Bethel was forced to foul to stop the clock.
And while the Leafs made just five of their last nine free throws in the
game’s final minute of play, it was enough to ice the game and give
Daugherty a sigh of relief.
Goshen finished the night converting on 33 of 63 shots from the
field (52.4 percent), while drilling nine of 21 three-pointers (42.9 percent).
Bethel finished with a 34 of 72 effort from the floor (47.2 percent),
but knocked in 10 of 17 (58.8 percent) from deep. The Leafs outrebounded
Bethel by a 36 to 31 count, but the difference maker came in the form
of subs: Behind Haire’s career-high 17 points, Goshen’s bench
outscored the Pilots’ by a 29 to 12 count.
“In the second half our aggressiveness on the boards was a big
key,” Daugherty said. “We were able to create second and third
chances for ourselves, which in a close game like this is big.
We also made big plays down the stretch, enough to win the game. So much
of this
game was played in transition, but in the final four or five
minutes it comes down to execution in the half court. I thought we did
that well
tonight.”
Haire’s 17 points led five Leafs in double-figure scoring, as Walsh
chipped in 16 and Frazier 15. Buller and classmate Tyler Sheerer each
scored 12 points, while Kopanski scored seven to go with 10 boards. Hartman
and Springer each added six points, while Walsh finished with a game-high
11 boards and five assists.
“This was a big win for us,” Daugherty said. “Any win
you can get in this league is a quality win. We’re now going to
take a day to rest, and then try to prepare for Huntington. It doesn’t
ever get easy in the MCC.”
Goshen will travel to fifth-ranked Huntington on Saturday. Game
time is set for 3 p.m. |
  Sophomore
David Haire
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