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DEC.
16 — Fatigued Team Stumbles To Ohio Dominican
Poor
shooting, defensive lapses lead to 53-70 defeat heading
into break |
Westerville, OH — All Goshen head coach
Stan Daugherty wanted for Christmas was a vacation for his basketball
team.
Unfortunately, Ohio Dominican University came first.
After making the four-hour trip to central Ohio, the Goshen College
men’s basketball team was defeated by a 53-70 score Friday night,
the final match-up before a week-long layoff over the Christmas holiday.
At times, coaches may worry about atrophy during such a break, but not
Daugherty.
“I really believe we are a tired team right now,” Daugherty
said following Friday night’s game. “This
was a challenging game for us because of the length of travel
and coming at the end of the semester. The break comes at a good
time for us. We
need some time off to heal nagging injuries and to rest. I thought
(Friday) if we could come out in the first half and play with
some energy and hit
some shots that we would have a good shot at winning the game.
Unfortunately, we didn’t do either of those very well.”
Things looked ominous early on for Goshen (10-4, 3-1) as ODU
slowly built a 14-5 lead just five and a half minutes into the contest.
With 7:10 on the clock it was a 28-9 advantage, and the Panthers would
go on to make 59.3 percent of their first-half shots (16 of 27) while
holding Goshen to just a nine for 30 performance (30 percent) en route
to a 37-23 lead at the half.
“We had some great looks at the basket on our end, but we just
failed to knock down shots,” Daugherty said. “We had trouble
finishing inside and didn’t get to the line like we normally would
in a game. Defensively we were a step slow and ODU did a good
job of getting the ball inside and finishing.”
Daugherty’s team did not make things easier out of the gates in
the second period, as the squad came up empty on seven of its
first eight possessions, helping ODU to its largest lead (a
47-25 advantage) just three
and a half minutes in. Goshen was able to cut the lead to 13
points (40-53) with 7:51 to play, but could get no closer. A
40-29 Panther rebounding
advantage along with a 10 of 16 effort at the free throw line
(Goshen shot just four free throws, making two) kept the Leafs
at a reasonable distance until the final buzzer had sounded.
Sophomore Brice Hartman led the offensive charge for the Leafs,
scoring 12 points on five of 13 shooting. Senior Eric Walsh added 11 points
on the same shooting clip, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. With that
stat, Walsh became the school’s all-time leading rebounder, eclipsing
1999 graduate Mark Landes’ record of 808 career caroms. With his
latest effort, Walsh now has 815 career rebounds.
Hartman and Walsh were the only players to notch double figures
for the Leafs, as four players — seniors Jordan Buller and Tyler
Sheerer, junior David Haire and freshman Josh Martin — each scored
six points. Goshen did heat up to shoot 44.8 percent from the
floor in the second period (13 of 29), but made just seven of
26 attempts from three-point
land (26.9 percent).
The Leafs now will take a week-long hiatus before returning to
action in the ultra-tough NCAA Division III Hope College Russ Devette
Holiday Tournament, to take place on Wednesday, Dec. 28 and Thursday,
Dec. 29. It is unlikely that junior starting power forward Willie Frazier
will be back in uniform for that tournament, but Goshen College athletic
training personnel has reported that Frazier is progressing nicely following
an MRI to repair torn cartilage in his left knee on Dec. 6.
“At this point in the season, I’m very pleased to be 10-4
and 3-1 in the league,” Daugherty said. “I also know, as do
our players, that the toughest part of the season is coming up. I am excited
to see
how much we can improve in January and February and to see how
we compete in the rest of our conference schedule. It should be an exciting
two months
of basketball.”
Goshen will first meet up against John Carroll University in
the Hope Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 28. Game time is set for
6 p.m. |
Sophomore
Brice Hartman
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