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FEB.
7 — Leafs' Effort At #2 Huntington Not Enough For Win
Squad
competes hard but offensive struggles early lead to 64-76
defeat |
Goshen, IN — Trying to snap a six-game
losing skid in the ultra-competitive Mid-Central Conference was a difficult
task in its own right for the Goshen College men’s basketball team.
Trying to get it done on the road against the second-ranked team
in the country didn’t make things any easier.
Despite a solid effort for 40 minutes Tuesday night, Goshen fell
by a 64-76 score at second-rated Huntington University, extending the
Leafs’ slump to seven consecutive games. Goshen (13-14, 5-9) shot
just 26.5 percent from the field (nine of 34 overall) in the first half
of Tuesday night’s loss to the Foresters, falling behind by a 22-32
score at halftime and never putting together the firepower to make it
up.
“I liked how we started the game from a defensive standpoint and
from a competitive standpoint, but we struggled offensively,” said
Stan Daugherty, Goshen head coach. “We played pretty well defensively
to limit them to 32 points and 41 percent shooting from the field
in the first half. Offensively, we were trying to do the right things,
but we
missed some open teammates and we missed some open shots.”
Goshen senior Eric Walsh opened the contest with a driving layup
to give his squad an early 2-0 lead, but a turnover and a missed
jumper on the Leafs’ next two possessions helped Huntington grab
a 6-2 lead just two and a half minutes into play. That advantage
ballooned to 18-6 at the 10:33 mark, as Goshen had to weather
an eight-minute stretch where the team did not score from the
field. After a
layup by
junior David
Haire made it a 6-4 Huntington lead with 17:18 to play in the
first half, the Leafs survived without a field goal until the
9:21 point, when a three-pointer
by senior Jordan Buller made it an 18-9 affair. Goshen’s only two
points during Huntington’s 12 to two run came off of a pair of free
throws by Walsh.
“We were two of 10 from the three-point line in the first half,
and most of those were very good looks,” Daugherty said. “Huntington’s
length bothered us some on the inside, but when we kicked it
out to open shooters we just didn’t knock shots down.”
The Leafs were able to cut Huntington’s lead to just seven points
(23-16) at the 6:44 mark — on a three pointer by sophomore Brice
Hartman — but Huntington responded with a six to nothing run of
its own to push the advantage back to 30-16. A dunk from Hartman and a
jumper from Buller cut the Foresters’ lead to just 10 points with
2:40 remaining, while neither team scored for the remainder of the period
in a 32-22 halftime tally.
It was the Foresters that scored first in the second half, but
a quick 5-0 Goshen run again cut the lead to just seven points, 34-27,
with 19:03 to play in the contest. Daugherty’s team would stay as
close as eight points through the 11:25 mark, but the Foresters proved
to be too much on the offensive end: A 15 to two Huntington run turned
a 53-45 score into a 68-47 count in a little under three minutes, but
Goshen would not go away. A 12 to two Leafs’ run over the game’s
next five minutes pulled the score to just 70-59, but it would be as close
as Daugherty’s team would get. Huntington went on to convert on
its final three shots from the field, finishing in the 76-64 final.
While Goshen heated up shooting the ball in the second period — the
Leafs made 16 of 33 shots, 48.5 percent — Huntington did so as well,
making 19 of 31 second-half attempts from the floor for a blistering 61.3
percent.
“Huntington did a nice job of making some offensive adjustments
and hurt us on several occasions in the second half,” Daugherty
said. “We seemed to move better and shoot the ball better in the
second half. We competed all night long and held our own on the
boards (a 38 to 37 Huntington advantage overall, 14 to 10 Goshen
advantage on
the offensive end). The biggest difference as I saw it was Huntington
having too many offensive weapons. We would take away one option
and they would go to another and score.”
Walsh led Goshen’s effort with 21 points and six rebounds. Hartman
scored 15 points on a six of 14 shooting performance. Buller finished
with 10 points, while junior Willie Frazier scored just two but grabbed
a team-high nine boards. Haire finished with seven points, while freshman
Sam Boldman added five on a two of three shooting performance.
“As I look at our last two games I see us making the most improvement
in our team in several weeks,” Daugherty said. “We have some players
playing new roles or more
minutes and they are adjusting well. It is important that we
understand the urgency to make improvements each day in practice
up until the post-season
tournament. It is hard this time of year to do that, but I sense
that most of our players are focusing on improving each day.”
The tasks do not get easier for the Leafs next, as the team must
again hit the road to face the nation’s 11th-ranked team — the
Taylor University Trojans — Saturday in Upland, Ind. Game time is
set for 3 p.m. in Don J. Odle Gymnasium. |
  Sophomore
Brice Hartman
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