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NOV.
18-19 — Goshen Cleans Up At Ashford Classic
Leafs
deal host school, 15th-ranked St. Ambrose pair of 20-point
losses |
Clinton, IA — When Goshen head men’s
basketball coach Stan Daugherty booked his reservations to Clinton, Iowa
for this weekend’s Ashford University Classic, he was asked by a
hotel receptionist if the visit was for business or pleasure.
Following a pair of convincing wins by his team — including an 88-68
beating of NAIA 15th-ranked St. Ambrose University — perhaps the
appropriate answer was a bit of both.
Goshen (6-2, 0-0) turned in a pair of dominating performances
in the two-day, four-team event, knocking out the host school 95-71 Friday
evening before methodically taking apart the nation’s 15th-rated
program Saturday afternoon. Nine different Leaf players reached double-figure
scoring tallies in the two contests, as Goshen shot a combined 57.5 percent
from the field for the weekend.
“We felt it was important to test ourselves against some good
competition outside of our region early in the season,” Daugherty
said of the trip westward. “It turned out to be an outstanding weekend
for us. We played some of our best basketball yet, with a lot
of people contributing in a lot of different ways.”
That theme was evident early on Friday evening, as Goshen shot
at a remarkable rate (20 of 33, 60.6 percent) in taking a 57-37 halftime
lead in overwhelming Ashford in the second game of the classic (St. Ambrose
defeated Morningside College 87-84 in overtime in Friday’s first
contest).
Senior Jordan Buller paced the first-half effort, knocking in
four of four three-point attempts in helping his team to a nine for 17
effort from three-point land (52.9 percent) all before the halftime buzzer
sounded.
“Our ball movement against Ashford was excellent, particularly
in the first half,” Daugherty said. “We consistently made
the extra pass to the open man and then we shot the ball very
well. It was offensively one of the best halves of basketball since I
have been
at Goshen College.”
Not much changed in the second 20 minutes, as Daugherty’s team continued
to score with incredible efficiency (14 of 27, 51.9 percent) in rolling
to the 24-point win. Senior Eric Walsh led the pace with 21 points, while
Buller notched 18 to go with seven assists. Junior Willie Frazier added
14 points to go with nine rebounds, while sophomore Brice Hartman tallied
13 points on six of seven shooting from the floor.
“We continued to move the ball in the second half and had great
team balance,” Daugherty said. “We responded well to playing
the host school on the opening night of the classic. I thought
Jordan Buller played one of the best games of his career. He really made
good
decisions with the ball and his balance of scoring and quarterbacking
our team made us very hard to defend. It was a good team win.”
Needing a similar, collective effort to compete with a deeply
talented St. Ambrose team on Saturday, Goshen found itself digging
extra deep: Frazier, the team’s leading rebounder and starting power
forward, would miss the game with a possible misdiagnosed knee
injury. It was a blow that
could have proved catastrophic.
Only it wasn’t.
Daugherty went to a lineup change that put a premium on constant
effort, and the team responded. After falling behind by a 27-20
score with 6:48 remaining in the first half, Goshen went on a
21 to four run
to end the period, taking a 41-31 lead at the intermission behind
an inspired performance.
Goshen continued its push at the start of the second half, burying
a three-pointer on its initial possession and never looking back. St.
Ambrose cut the lead to 11 points only once (44-33 with 18:53 remaining)
before trailing by as many as 23 points down the stretch.
“This was a huge win for us against a very good team,” Daugherty
said. “I think we needed a win like this to give us some added confidence
as we head into the conference season. We again had a very balanced
effort offensively, and I thought our defensive intensity and effort was
solid
for the whole game.”
Daugherty’s team again was extremely proficient on offense — Goshen
connected on 35 of 60 attempts (58.3 percent) including a 19
for 28 effort in the second half (67.9 percent) — but also shored
up its defensive prowess as well. The Fighting Bees were only
able to manage a 25 of 63
shooting clip against the Leafs (39.7 percent) while being outrebounded
by a 32 to 28 margin.
Six players scored in double figures for Goshen, led by Hartman’s
18 points on six of eight shooting from the floor. Buller and Walsh each
scored 15, while junior Matt Crawford added 11. Sophomore Tyler Stotler
scored 10 points, including a two for two performance from the three-point
line that kept him perfect on the weekend from deep.
“We got some really good performances on Saturday from a lot of
people,” Daugherty said. “Our bench was really productive
with Matt Crawford, (junior) David Haire, Tyler Stotler and (freshman)
Sam Boldman all playing key roles. I thought Brice Hartman played
his best overall game and was aggressive on the defensive end.
Eric Walsh, (senior)
Tyler Sheerer and Jordan Buller were terrific as senior leaders
and led our intensity through the whole game. The only downside
to the weekend
was Willie’s injury.”
Frazier suffered the harm late in Friday’s game against Ashford,
as a Saints player caused Frazier to land awkwardly on his left
leg. After being diagnosed with a strained muscle by Ashford
University medical personnel,
Frazier was cleared to play Saturday against St. Ambrose. That
stint lasted just three possessions into the game, however, as
Frazier aggravated the injury while attempting to leap for a
rebound.
Frazier, who has averaged 7.8 points per game and a team-leading
6.5 rebounds per game thus far, is scheduled to meet with a specialist
on Monday. Complete details to the extent of the injury will be disclosed
at this site when they become known.
“We can only hope and pray that Willie’s injury is nothing
that will keep him out for any extended period,” Daugherty said. “We’ll
do all we can to accurately diagnose and treat it in the next
few weeks. In the meantime, we’ll continue trying to improve from
week to week in hopes of playing our best basketball after the new year.”
With or without Frazier in uniform, Goshen now prepares for the
ultra-tough Mid-Central Conference season to commence, with the University
of St. Francis slated to visit the Roman Ginerich Center Tuesday night.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. |
Senior
Eric Walsh
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