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NOV.
10 — Leafs Down IUSB To Improve To 4-0 On Year
Goshen
takes 88-76 decision at home to begin tough road stretch |
Goshen,
IN — The Goshen College men’s basketball team made good
use of its home court advantage Wednesday night against Indiana
University South Bend, defeating the visiting Titans by an
88-76 score.
One can only hope the Leafs enjoyed their friendly confines.
Wednesday night’s win marked Goshen’s last home game before a 17-day
stretch, as the Leafs begin a six-game road swing this weekend in New Albany,
Ind. The squad will not return to the Roman Gingerich Center until Nov. 27, when
Tri-State University comes to town.
“We wanted to schedule this stretch with our conference in mind,” said
Stan Daugherty, Goshen head coach. “Hopefully this will make us a little
bit tougher later on in the season.”
Goshen (4-0, 0-0) seemed tough enough at the outset of Wednesday’s game
against the Titans, as the Leafs allowed IUSB to stay close until the 15th minute
mark, when a nine to nothing Goshen run opened an 18-9 lead. The Leafs would
extend that margin to 17 points over the next 11 minutes, holding IUSB to a 10
for 34 shooting performance (29.4 percent) in the first half. After IUSB head
coach Jim Parent was ejected after arguing a call, Goshen found itself in the
driver’s seat at the intermission with a 41-23 lead.
“I was pleased with our start and our defensive effort in the first half,” Daugherty
said. “We had good scoring balance and shared the ball well, which made
us hard to defend.”
Goshen began the second half in similar fashion, using a spread-out offensive
attack that eventually placed four players in double-figure scoring. Daugherty’s
team expanded its lead to 24 points on two different occasions, the last coming
in the form of a 64-40 lead at the 11:43 mark.
IUSB was able to cut into the lead over the next five minutes, but again the
Leafs responded, holding an 80-60 advantage with just 3:12 remaining on the clock.
Complacency began to set in over the game’s final minutes, however, as
the Titans closed with a 16 to eight run to finish the game and narrow the margin
to the final 88-76 score.
And while the Leafs were never in danger of losing the contest, it was the second
consecutive game that Goshen gave up over 50 points in the second half (IUSB
charted 53) while allowing its opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the field
(IUSB finished the second period shooting 20-38, 52.6 percent) after holding
them under 30 percent in the first half.
“We kind of got in that lull (in the second half) where our defense relaxed
and gave them some good looks,” Daugherty said. “One goal we have
is to strive to play against ourselves, and not the scoreboard. We controlled
things down the stretch, but we’ve got to learn to be more consistent for
40 minutes. We’ve got to fight against human nature to become complacent
when we have a large lead.”
Junior Eric Walsh led the scoring pace for Goshen, notching a game-high 23 points
to go with 11 rebounds. Classmate Jordan Buller scored 16 to go with 10 assists,
his third 10-dime game of the season. Junior Tyler Sheerer knocked in 14 points
on a four of nine effort from the floor, while sophomore Matt Crawford scored
11 points to go with six rebounds. All Goshen players that entered the game scored.
“We’ve got a tough road swing coming up against some good teams,
so we’ll quickly see how we play in more difficult situations,” Daugherty
said. “This stretch should be really good for us as a team.”
Goshen will next travel to the Indiana University Southeast Tournament on Friday,
as the team will open the event against Purdue University North Central. Game
time is set for 6 p.m. Indiana University Southeast will face-off against Indiana
University Northwest in the tournament’s second game Friday night. Consolation
game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tip-off Saturday with the championship game to
start at approximately 3 p.m.
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 Junior
Eric Walsh
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