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FEB.
18 — Ball Bounces The Other Way On Senior Day
Goshen
drops 58-61 MCC contest to Grace on Lancers' last-second
heave |
Goshen, IN — An emotional start to Goshen’s
final regular-season contest would give way to an emotional ending Saturday
afternoon at the Roman Gingerich Center.
Unfortunately for Leafs’ fans, that emotion was comprised mostly
of heartbreak.
After honoring its seniors with a pre-game tribute capped by
a moving ceremonial tip-off allowing injured senior guard Tyler
Sheerer to start in the Leafs’ final home game of the year, it was
the visiting Grace College Lancers that pulled out the magical
finish, banking in a
30-foot heave at the buzzer to avoid overtime and escape with
a 61-58 defeat in a shocking ending. The stunning conclusion
pushed Goshen (13-16,
5-11) to its ninth consecutive loss, perhaps the toughest to
swallow in a long line of tear-jerkers: The Leafs have now lost
five of their last nine
games by three points or less, heading into the Mid-Central
Conference Tournament to face number one seeded Huntington University
on
Wednesday night.
“There is no question that we have gone through some tough endings
in the last couple of weeks, but we’re sticking with it,” said
Stan Daugherty, Goshen head coach. “Even with this loss, it was
a really good day to honor our seniors. That was the most important
thing today, and we had a full house paying their respects to a great
group
of young men.”
That respect extended all the way to the Grace contingent, as
Lancer head coach Jim Kessler phoned Daugherty earlier in the
week with a proposition. Knowing Sheerer’s unfortunate situation — click
here for related article — Kessler
informed Daugherty he would be honored to let Sheerer start in
one, final game. After discussing it with
family and teammates, Sheerer accepted Kessler’s idea, putting on
a collegiate uniform once more and hearing his name called among
the starters, an occurance that has taken place in nearly every
game for the past four years.
When the game started, Grace won a semi-live tip off, allowed
three seconds to tick off the clock and halted play. With a standing ovation
that lasted nearly a minute, fans, players and officials paid tribute
to Sheerer, who jogged off the floor with his right arm wrapped tightly
in a sling.
“Coach K is a classy, classy person and that was one of the more
moving gestures an opposing coach has ever offered,” Daugherty said. “I
know I never would have dreamed of Tyler finishing his career
wearing street clothes during our final games. Thanks to Coach Kessler,
at least
he was able to enjoy senior day with a uniform on.”
Sheerer’s moment on the court concluded a brief ceremony prior to
the game’s tip off, as seniors Jordan Buller, Eric Walsh and Daniel
Constantine were escorted by their parents and honored with
flowers. The group — already the winningest class in program
history with 68 career victories — was given a standing ovation
by the sell-out crowd as a statement from Daugherty was read
over the public
address system.
“It is hard to believe that your careers are coming to an end,” Daugherty
said. “I knew when you first came to Goshen College that you would
have an impact on our basketball program. Little did I know then
that you would accomplish so much in your four years here. You have not
only
finished as the class with the most career wins and led us to
new conference and national recognition, but you have all maintained such
high standards
in the classroom. Above all else, you matured as people who will
leave Goshen College prepared to be successful in life. Thank you for
all that
you have done for the basketball program at Goshen College the
last four years.”
When the game actually started, it wasn’t a surprise that neither
team seemed ready for competition. Goshen and Grace traded turnovers
and missed buckets before the Lancers finally broke into the
scoring column with 19:01 on the clock, taking a 3-0 lead behind a trey
by Ben Snyder.
That less-than-stellar trend continued through most of the first
half, where the teams shot a combined 23 of 69 from the field (33.3 percent)
with neither squad able to capture a lead of more than three points. After
Walsh was whistled for his third foul with 10:56 to play in the half,
it appeared that Grace had the means to pull away. A strong Leafs’ effort
was sparked by junior Willie Frazier, however, as the forward grabbed
a pair of offensive rebounds and connected on four free throws in the
period’s final 1:54 to help Goshen to a 28-26 lead at the half.
“I thought both teams were a little tight in the first half and
neither team got into much of an offensive flow,” Daugherty said. “Our
defensive effort was solid, but we were a little impatient on
offense and rushed some things.”
The Leafs may have slowed down at the start of the second period,
but open looks didn’t yield points early on. Daugherty’s team
came up empty on its first three shots from the floor, helping Grace to
a seven to nothing run en route to a 33-28 lead just two and a half minutes
in.
The Lancers were able to keep that space through the 16:36 mark,
but a 10 to nothing Leafs’ run turned a 30-35 deficit into a 40-35
lead with 13:26 on the clock. With just 10:27 remaining Goshen’s
lead was 47-41, and it appeared the home team would send its
seniors off in style.
Grace was able to come back and tie the game after baskets on
its next three possessions, setting up a final nine minutes that would
see the teams see-saw back and forth. After a layup by the Lancers’ Dave
Richmond pushed Grace ahead by a 56-53 count with 1:26 on the clock, junior
Matt Crawford found Buller on a back cut for a layup plus a foul, tying
the game with 1:14 to play. A pair of Grace free throws were answered
by another Buller score — this one a pull up jumper — tying
the game at 58-58 with 40 seconds to play.
Following a missed layup by Grace center Eric Gaff with 22 seconds
remaining, Goshen came up with the rebound. As the Roman Gingerich
Center crowd rose to its collective feet, Daugherty instructed
Walsh to take the ball in looking for the game winner.
As Walsh began to penetrate, Grace sent a double team his way.
Walsh kicked the ball to junior David Haire on the left wing, and Haire
drove hard to the basket looking for the game winner.
With just three seconds on the game clock, Haire put up a baseline
floater that hit the rim twice before just bouncing out. As the game clock
expired, Grace collected the ball and called timeout.
After a meeting by the game officials, seven tenths of a second
were placed back on the game clock. Grace would have to throw the ball
the length of the floor in hopes to get off a shot to avoid overtime.
The team got exactly that.
With Richmond taking the ball out under the left side of Goshen’s
basket, the Leafs defended the Lancers’ top two options, forcing
Richmond to heave the ball past half court to the 6-10 Gaff. Gaff caught
the ball with his back to the basket, turned to his right and tossed up
a falling away 30-footer from the left wing as time expired.
It hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, hit the
upper left part of the backboard, and swished in.
Grace 61, Goshen 58.
“We talked about putting a defender on the inbounder (during the
timeout), but with that little time left we felt it was better
to play five on four (on the court),” said Cory Furman, Goshen assistant
coach. “(Sophomore)
Brice (Hartman) was about an inch away from deflecting it before
Gaff caught it. What can you say? It’s the type of miracle shot
that you see
on SportsCenter.”
As the Grace team mauled Gaff — the desperation heave was Gaff’s
first three-pointer of his career — Goshen players looked on in
disbelief.
“I thought we competed hard, tried to do the right things for
the majority of the game, but just didn’t make enough plays again,” Daugherty
said. “We struggled scoring a little bit, especially on some open
shots, and that hurt us.”
Goshen picked a bad night to produce a zero for 12 effort from
behind the three-point arc (0.0 percent), the first time a Leafs’ team
failed to make a long ball in program history under fifth-year head coach
Daugherty. Prior to Saturday, the fewest threes made in any game by a
Daugherty-coached Goshen team was three.
A 16 to 10 Lancers’ advantage on the offensive glass helped Grace
to 14 more shot attempts on the afternoon than Goshen (Grace shot 27 of
69 from the floor, 39.1 percent; Goshen finished 22 of 55, 40 percent)
while 11 Leafs’ turnovers did not help matters (Grace ended with
just six miscues).
Walsh led the Goshen effort with a game-high 22 points and 12
rebounds, all in just 28 minutes of work due to foul problems. Frazier
scored 10 and grabbed 10 boards in 32 minutes of action, while Buller
scored 15 points on a seven for 14 shooting performance.
“It’s tough to lose close game after close game, but I think
our guys understand that we’ve been right there,” Daugherty
said. “It’s
a matter of making just a few more plays and getting a few more
defensive stops. We’ll try to put our best effort together heading
into the MCC Tournament.”
Goshen will now travel to first-seeded Huntington University
in first round MCC Tournament action, as the loss sent the Leafs to the
eighth-seeded slot (a win over Grace would have pushed Goshen to sixth
place in the league standings). Huntington, currently ranked second in
the nation with a 13-3 MCC record, shared the conference title with Taylor
University. By virtue of a tie-break, Huntington was awarded the top seed
and Taylor the number two position. For a complete look at the final MCC
standings and tournament brackets, click here.
Goshen will make a return trip to Huntington’s Merillat Complex
Wednesday night to open the conference tournament. Game time is set for
7 p.m. |
  Senior
Eric Walsh
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