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JAN.
14 — Leafs Cruise Past I.U.-Northwest In MCC Bye
Balanced
attack leads to 28-point second-half lead; 78-64 final
score |
Goshen, IN — With the conclusion of
Mid-Central Conference first round play looming just three days away,
it was apparent that the Goshen College men’s basketball team had
other agendas on its collective mind while squaring off against Indiana
University-Northwest on Saturday afternoon. Still, the Leafs put together
a solid showing, eventually building as much as a 28-point lead before
settling for a 78-64 win over the Redhawks in the Roman Gingerich Center.
“Coach Daugherty understands the mindset of our guys in a game
like this,” said Josh Turnpaugh, Goshen assistant coach. “He’s
very honest and upfront with them. He lets (the players) know
that he doesn’t expect it to be at the intensity of an MCC game,
but he still expects us to play extremely hard and stay focused. For the
most
part, we were able to do those things today.”
With all other MCC teams facing off in head-to-head action Saturday
afternoon, Goshen’s first-round MCC bye game was meaningless in
the heated league race. Still, the Leafs responded with an impressive
performance, though it took awhile to get hitting on all cylinders.
Indiana-Northwest opened the game by scoring the first basket,
eventually grabbing a 6-4 lead just two minutes into play. Goshen (13-7,
5-2) responded with a 15 to four run over the next five minutes, however,
grabbing a 19-10 lead with 12:55 remaining in the first half. After the
Redhawks closed the gap to just 23-19 with 9:05 to play, the Leafs reeled
off a 27 to 10 run to close the half, taking a 50-29 lead into the locker
room at halftime.
Goshen came out looking to expand on its lead at the start of
the second half, with senior Jordan Buller canning a three pointer
to push the lead to 24 points. The Leafs would go on to lead
by as many as 28 points
on three different occasions — the final such margin coming in a
73-45 lead with 8:18 to play — as head coach Stan Daugherty began
to substitute liberally with eight minutes remaining in the contest.
Initially, Goshen maintained its pace, holding a 74-48 lead with
6:41 remaining after a made free throw by junior David Haire.
It was at that point that the offense went ice cold for the Leafs,
however, as Indiana-Northwest
outscored Goshen by a 16 to four count in the final six and a
half minutes of play. A pair of layups by senior Daniel Constantine
and freshman Josh
Martin constituted the only scoring for Goshen in the final 6:41,
as the Leafs missed seven of their final nine shots from the
floor.
“The final 10 minutes of the first half and the first 10 minutes
of the second half were really good stretches for us,” Turnpaugh
said. “We didn’t close the game out as well as we should have,
but it was good to get some of our younger players some quality
minutes. We had some unusual combinations on the floor for us late in
the game,
but we still expect a lot out of all of our guys. I think the
guys on the floor at the very end were unhappy with the way they finished.
Still,
as Coach would say, it was a good experience that will hopefully
help them in game situations later on.”
Per usual in games such as this, Goshen’s selflessness was well
noted within the stat lines. The Leafs placed just two players in double-figure
scoring for the game — senior Eric Walsh and Haire each had 10 — while
the team doled out a total 24 assists. Senior Tyler Sheerer was tops in
that category, dishing out six assists to go with nine points. Sophomores
Tyler Stotler and Brice Hartman also scored nine points apiece, while
junior Matt Crawford scored eight. Martin led the team with seven total
rebounds, while Buller and Walsh each dished out four assists.
Goshen shot 50 percent from the floor on the afternoon (29 of
58) while holding Indiana-Northwest to a 28 for 62 effort (45.2 percent).
The Redhawks were also limited to just a one for 17 shooting performance
behind the three-point line (5.9 percent), while Goshen canned 12 of 27
from deep (44.4 percent).
The Leafs return to MCC play Tuesday night, as the team travels
to rival Grace College in what will be the final contest in first-round
league play. With a seven-team gridlock in the upper half of the standings,
each game is critical from here on out. Tip off time is set for 7 p.m.
Tuesday night in Winona Lake. |
  Junior
David Haire
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