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JAN.
21 — Sheerer Injury Overshadows Loss At St. Francis
Senior's
career ends prematurely following horrific spill late
in second half |
Fort Wayne, IN — For those in attendance
Saturday afternoon at the Hutzell Athletic Center, the sight was grotesque.
For members of the Goshen College men’s basketball family, it was
utterly heartbreaking.
With just under three minutes to play in the second half of the
Leafs’ Mid-Central Conference showdown with the University of St.
Francis, senior guard Tyler Sheerer raced down the floor to contest a
St. Francis breakaway layup attempt. After leaping for the block, Sheerer’s
body crashed into USF guard Nate Bojrab, sending Sheerer sprawling to
the floor in an awkward manner. As he attempted to brace his fall, his
right arm became pinned beneath his body.
When Sheerer rose to his feet, the crowd groaned at the sight.
Sheerer had suffered a compound fracture to his lower right arm, dislocating
his elbow as well. As Sheerer held his arm gingerly, players on the court
turned away in agony. St. Francis training personnel rushed him off the
court as play was halted.
In an instant, Sheerer’s brilliant four-year career was over, much
sooner than anyone could have anticipated or hoped.
“This is a devastating thing for all of us,” said Stan Daugherty,
Goshen head coach, following the game. “You never want to see anyone
get hurt badly, but it is so, so tough to see someone like Tyler
go down with a career-ending injury like this. Tyler epitomizes a student-athlete
in that he has maintained a 4.0 GPA all throughout his college
career,
but he also spends more time working on his basketball skills
than most players at this level. He is one of the most organized and focused
players
that I have ever coached in 30 years. This truly is a sad, sad
time for our entire basketball family.”
Sheerer, who already is part of the winningest class in Goshen
College basketball history with 68 total victories, concludes
his career as the program’s fifth-best career three-point shooter
(177 made) and assist getter (291 career dimes). This season,
Sheerer was the team’s
top three-point shooting threat (41 for 104, 40.4 percent) and
was second in assists with 71. Most importantly, Daugherty’s
squad loses a four-year starter whose leadership and durability
traits are unquantifiable: Through Saturday, Sheerer had appeared
in all 120 Goshen College games since arriving to campus in the
fall of 2002.
“Tyler is a true leader in every sense of the word,” Daugherty
said. “Despite
his injury, I know Tyler well enough to know that he will be
back on the bench (for the rest of the season) leading and talking to
our guys. It
will be like having another assistant coach on the bench.”
Sheerer’s injury vastly overshadowed what otherwise was an important
MCC game for Daugherty’s team, as the Leafs dropped a 77-70 loss
to St. Francis. Goshen players were obviously preoccupied with Sheerer’s
condition following the game, as the Jonesville, Michigan native was rushed
to Fort Wayne’s Lutheran Hospital for an emergency procedure. Goshen
College assistant coaches Cory Furman and Josh Turnpaugh made the trip
to the ER with Sheerer’s family, hoping for the best news possible.
“When we left St. Francis, we still were hoping that maybe it
was just a dislocation and maybe Tyler could somehow come back
towards the end of the season,” Furman said. “When the x-rays
came back, it was much worse than any of us could have anticipated.”
In addition to dislocating his elbow, Sheerer had severely strained
ligaments in his wrist while chipping part of the elbow bone itself. Surprisingly,
the compound fracture was not found until Sheerer reached the emergency
room. A four-hour operation ensued, and Sheerer was kept for observation
through Sunday evening.
“The doctor said that Tyler broke his arm in about the worst possible
place one can,” Furman said. “The surgery took so long due
to the location of the break, and they wanted to keep Tyler for
observation due to the possibility of infection after the bone came through
the skin.
It was a very, very tough night for everyone to go through.”
Sheerer’s injury put a damper on what appeared to be another Goshen
(13-9, 5-4) comeback in the making, as Daugherty’s team was in the
process of chipping away at a St. Francis lead late in Saturday’s
contest.
After leading by as many as seven points in the first half (35-28
with 3:16 remaining), Goshen stumbled through the conclusion of the period.
A 14 to two St. Francis run in the half’s final three minutes made
it a 42-37 Cougar lead at the half, an advantage the Leafs could never
overcome for the remainder of the contest.
“The game itself was a hard-played, physical game that I thought
we played very tough,” Daugherty said. “We opened the game
well and I think the first 16 minutes played some very good basketball
on the road. The stretch right before the half hurt us when we
turned the ball over against their press. When we did beat the press,
we didn’t
convert on our end. Despite being down five at the half, I thought
we were in good shape.”
Those thoughts likely changed for Daugherty following the first
six and a half minutes of the second half, however, as St. Francis opened
with a 16 to six run to make it a 58-43 contest with 13:35 remaining.
The Cougars rebuilt a 15-point lead just a minute and a half later (60-45)
before Daugherty called a timeout to regroup his troops.
“We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning of the second half that
was too tough to come out of on the road,” Daugherty said. “We
didn’t defend well and didn’t block out well.”
Slowly, Goshen worked its way back into the contest behind improved
play on both ends of the court. Contesting shots on defense and attacking
the basket on offense, Daugherty’s team turned in a 15 to five run
over the game’s next six and a half minutes to cut the lead to 65-60
with 5:28 to play. The Leafs again cut the advantage to five points just
moments later (69-64 with 3:34 remaining) setting the stage for Sheerer’s
catastrophic fall.
After the Cougars’ Trey Eaton made a pair of free throws to push
the USF lead back to seven points (71-64), Sheerer took a three-point
attempt at the top of the key. Bojrab was able to get a piece
of the ball, and collected it in starting a one-man fastbreak.
With Sheerer racing from behind, Bojrab went up for the layup.
Sheerer went up right behind him, fouling Bojrab hard before
hitting the deck. As Sheerer got up, it was obvious to all in attendance
that his
arm was severely injured. Players, coaches and fans alike looked
away as Sheerer raced to the training room with medical personnel.
“It’s your job to stay focused and concentrate on the game,
but it was very hard,” Furman said. “Several of our players
who were on the bench came up to me and asked if they should go back there
(to
see Tyler). You’ve got these conflicting emotions, but you’ve
got to try to finish the task at hand.”
Incredibly, Daugherty’s team persisted. After Bojrab made one of
the two ensuing free throws, senior Jordan Buller canned a three ball
to make it a 72-67 USF lead with just 2:50 remaining. St. Francis scored
on its next trip, but Buller was able to make one of two free throws on
the Leafs’ next possession to make the score 74-68 with 2:06 to
play. After a pair of Cougar misses at the line just a minute later, senior
Eric Walsh scored to cut the lead to 74-70 with 38 seconds on the clock.
The Goshen magic would run out at that point however, as St.
Francis’ Mike Campbell grabbed two enormous offensive rebounds off
of free throw misses to seal the win. The Cougars made just one charity
toss on their next two trips to the line, but Campbell was able to snag
both o-boards in keeping Goshen from having a chance of getting any closer.
“After Tyler’s injury, we continued to play hard, but I believe
it was hard for our players to focus,” Daugherty said. “The
two offensive rebounds by Campbell on missed free throws really took away
our chances to win the game late. Had we got the ball back and
scored
on those two misses, we might have been right there at the end.”
Campbell’s boards late were only a microcosm of the game, as St.
Francis outrebounded Goshen by a 51 to 29 count overall and a 19 to seven
advantage on the offensive glass. The Leafs could not take advantage of
a better clip at the free throw line (Goshen shot 25 of 32 at the line
compared to the Cougars’ 17 of 29 effort) in shooting just 35.1
percent from the field (20 of 57) that included an eight for 25 second-half
performance (32 percent). Daugherty’s team made just one of nine
second-half three-point attempts (11 percent) while St. Francis shot 42.2
percent from the field on the afternoon (27 of 64).
Walsh led the way for Goshen with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Buller added 12 points, while junior Willie Frazier and sophomore Brice
Hartman each had nine. Sheerer, in his final game as a college player,
scored seven points and handed out a season-best seven assists.
“It is going to be tough, but we have to figure out a way to bounce
back from Tyler’s injury,” Turnpaugh said. “For the
last four years, he’s been the first one to practice every day.
Some of our younger guys have a similar mentality, and this just proves
you’ve got to play each day like it’s your last. With our team, it’s
a true family. There wasn’t a dry eye in the locker room after the
game as Coach prayed for Tyler. Before his surgery, Tyler was lying in
the ER with his uniform jersey still on. He wore it proud.”
Goshen’s loss on Saturday knocked the team out of third place in
the league standings for the first time this season, as the Leafs’ current
5-4 mark lands them in a three-team tie for fourth place. One of those
other fourth-place teams — the Spring Arbor University Cougars — will
visit the Roman Gingerich Center next.
“At this point, we need to regroup as best we can,” Daugherty
said. “We’ve
got some games coming up that will be critical for us in the
conference standings. We cannot look back.”
Goshen will host Spring Arbor Tuesday evening in the team’s next
contest. Game time is set for 7 p.m. |
  Senior
Tyler Sheerer
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