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NOV.
15 — Banged-Up Leafs Fade Against D2 Grand Valley
Promising
first half not enough to keep game close in 50-83 defeat
on road |
Allendale, MI — The ingredients for
Tuesday night’s contest to get ugly at NCAA Division II powerhouse
Grand Valley State University were plentiful for the Goshen College men’s
basketball team: Third team All-American senior Eric Walsh was attempting
to return to the lineup with a gimpy hamstring. Junior guard David Haire — the
team’s leading scorer in its last contest — was rendered ineffective
with a bruised abdominal wall. And lastly, Grand Valley State was playing
its home opener in front of a packed crowd just 10 days after suffering
an eight-point loss at the University of Michigan.
For one half, at least, all of that didn’t seem to matter.
Goshen (4-2, 0-0) showed true grit and determination at the outset
Tuesday night against the host Lakers, taking a 16-11 lead six minutes
into the game and proving to all in attendance at the GVSU Fieldhouse & Recreation
Center that it was there to compete. A late run by the Lakers gave the
host squad a 39-29 lead at the half, and from there began to take over.
A nine to one GVSU run to open the second half stretched the Lakers’ lead
to 18 points, and an uphill battle ensued for the Leafs. Goshen could
not make much of a move from that point forward, dropping an eventual
50-83 decision as head coach Stan Daugherty elected to rest his regulars
in the game’s final 10 minutes.
Even with the lopsided defeat, Daugherty said he was proud of
his team’s efforts, most noticeably in the first half.
“We knew going into the game that this would probably be the best
overall team that we will play this year,” he said. “They
have a nice blend of size, athleticism and basketball skills.
They are very well coached and are very good defensively. I was pretty
pleased
with our first half. We competed well and we ran offense well
against a good defensive team. I thought we missed a few wide-open looks
in the
first half that would have made it even closer at halftime. We
defended decently in the first half and we battled on the boards well.”
Daugherty’s team stayed close in large part due to the play of senior
guard Jordan Buller, whose 11 first-half points (three for five shooting
from the field and four of four from the free throw line) helped neutralize
a major size advantage held by GVSU. Goshen could have made things more
interesting had it bettered an eight for 13 first-half effort from the
free throw line (four of nine discounting Buller’s successes). Still,
the Leafs competed, holding a lead as late as the 13:46 mark (16-15) in
the first half.
In the second half, however, Grand Valley State’s physicality began
to show. A pair of turnovers in Goshen’s first two second-period
possessions set the tone for the latter 20 minutes, as the Lakers began
to show the brand of play that has them picked to finish second in the
ultra-tough Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference this season.
GVSU continued to pour it on as the second period wore down, increasing
its lead until the final seconds had ticked away. The final 33-point margin
was the Lakers’ largest lead of the game.
“They just wore us down physically in the first five minutes of
the second half,” Daugherty said. “We lost some concentration
on the offensive end and we didn’t play as physically (as we had
been) on the defensive end. They maintained their consistency
throughout the game, and we did not. Overall though, I think
it was a good experience
that will help us get better. Our young players got some good
minutes in the second half. We have to take all of the situations
that we
were in against Grand Valley State and learn from them as we
head into this weekend, and more importantly, the conference
season.”
Buller led Goshen’s overall offense with 13 points on three of five
shooting. Classmate Tyler Sheerer scored eight points. Walsh, in limited
minutes, scored seven on three of six shooting to go with a team-high
seven rebounds. Haire saw just three minutes of first-half action before
being pulled on a coaches’ decision.
Goshen connected on 36.2 percent of its shots on the evening
(17 of 47 overall) while allowing GVSU to shoot 36 of 61 (59
percent). The Leafs did find success attacking the Lakers’ defense,
attempting nine more free throws than the hosts (12 of 19 at
the line compared to
GVSU’s six of 10 effort). Grand Valley State forced Goshen into
16 turnovers on the night, perhaps a promising sign after the
Lakers forced Michigan to commit 25 errors last Saturday.
The Leafs’ grinder of a pre-conference season continues this weekend,
as the team will head to Ashford University (Clinton, IA) for
a two-game classic tournament. Goshen will face the host school
Friday evening at
7:30 p.m. Central Time, and will clash with NAIA 15th-ranked
St. Ambrose University at 2 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be carried
by 91.1 FM The
Globe. Click here to listen
to live streaming audio of both contests. |
Senior
Jordan Buller
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