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NOV.
5-6 — Goshen Runs Away With Maple City Hoopfest
Leafs cruise
to second straight tournament title over I.U. East; Concordia |
Goshen,
IN — For the second year in a row, the Goshen College men’s
basketball team has claimed the crown at the McDonald’s Maple
City Hoopfest, keeping its undefeated record in tact at the two-year
old tournament. The Leafs opened this weekend’s events with
a 75-46 beating of Indiana University East on Friday evening,
and then took the championship game by an 89-78 score over
Concordia University
(MI) Saturday afternoon.
The tournament championship gives Goshen (3-0, 0-0) its third
win in as many tries on the year, and is the first of three
weekend events the Leafs will compete
in throughout the month of November. Goshen head coach Stan Daugherty said he
was pleased with his team’s play overall at the event, though improvements
still have to be made.
“It was a pretty good weekend for us overall,” Daugherty said. “We
came out with a very business-like attitude, and really played as a team throughout
the weekend. We’ve still got to get better in a lot of areas, but we showed
some pretty good basketball at times for this early in the year.”
Facing a clearly overmatched yet disciplined I.U. East team in the opener, the
Leafs found the going a bit rough: Goshen only led the Pioneers by a 34-21 count
at halftime, as a patient attack from I.U. East kept the score close.
The second half was a different story, however, as Daugherty’s team turned
up the pressure and outscored the Pioneers by a 41-25 score, leading by as many
as 37 points early on.
The Leafs placed three players in double-figure scoring in the opening game,
led by freshman Brice Hartman’s 15 points on seven of 11 shooting. Junior
Eric Walsh provided 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while senior Paul
Kopanski scored 10 points on a five of six effort from the floor. Both Kopanski
and Hartman collected seven rebounds apiece.
“We had good team balance against I.U. East, and the game allowed us a
chance to play some of our younger guys extended minutes,” Daugherty said. “We
were able to play a lot of people a lot of minutes, which kept us fresh for Saturday.”
Concordia had no such luxury, as the Cardinals needed overtime to fend off Purdue
University North Central by a 79-74 count in Friday’s second game. That
exertion may have played a role early on in the championship game against Goshen,
as the Leafs held Concordia scoreless for the game’s first six minutes — Concordia
eventually stopped the bleeding at the 13:50 mark. By that point, the Leafs already
had built a 16-2 lead and would increase their lead to 27 points before taking
a 47-21 lead into the locker room at halftime, holding the Cardinals to just
a nine for 31 shooting effort (29 percent).
“I was really pleased with our defensive intensity early in the game against
Concordia,” Daugherty said. “I thought the first half was about as
well as we could have played for this time of the year.”
The second half was much of the same, as Goshen increased its lead to 28 points
at the 17:13 mark and had a 27 point lead with 7:59 remaining. Concordia was
able to shave a large portion off that lead in the game’s final four and
a half minutes, as the Cardinals began a twilight-zone bombard from behind the
arc: The visiting Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference squad went six for six
from deep during that stretch, cutting the lead to the final 11-point margin.
“I thought we played 32 minutes of really good basketball in the championship
game,” Daugherty said. “We got a tad complacent toward the end, but
give Concordia credit. They didn’t go away and continued to fight very
hard.”
Balance was again the theme for the Leafs in the win over the Cardinals, as Walsh
led five Goshen players in double-digit scoring with 17 points to go with 13
boards. Junior Tyler Sheerer knocked in 15 points, while sophomore Willie Frazier
charted 12. Classmate Matt Crawford added 11 points, while Kopanski scored 10.
Junior Jordan Buller again was remarkable at point guard, dishing out 10 assists
to go with no turnovers.
Goshen was able to withstand Concordia’s 11 for 15 second-half three-point
shooting (73 percent) in large part to a dominant performance at the free throw
line (38 of 44 output compared to Concordia’s eight for 13 effort) and
on the boards (Goshen outrebounded the Cardinals 36 to 26).
“We shared the ball very well, and Jordan did a good job of finding people
for good shots,” Daugherty said. “We’re starting to understand
the necessity of balance within our team. We have to share the basketball to
be effective.”
As a byproduct of their performances, both Walsh and Kopanski were awarded with
all-tournament team honors. In the consolation game, Purdue University North
Central defeated I.U. East by a 77-51 score.
Goshen is now 4-0 in the history of the McDonald’s Maple City Hoopfest,
as the Leafs defeated Indiana University Northwest by a 99-58 score in last year’s
tournament opener before defeating NAIA sixth-ranked Cardinal Stritch University
by a 90-64 score in the inaugural championship game.
Goshen will return to the Roman Gingerich Center Wednesday night to take on Indiana
University South Bend. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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 Freshman
Brice Hartman
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