| (Box Score) Upland, IN — According to the event program at Saturday’s Mid-Central Conference match-up between Taylor University and Goshen College, a men’s basketball game was scheduled to take place.
Somewhere along the line, a marathon broke out.
Goshen (12-16, 4-10) outlasted the host Trojans in a 95-85, triple-overtime affair, securing a vital win in MCC play while giving head coach Stan Daugherty his first win in Taylor’s Don Odle Arena since taking over the Leafs’ helm in 2001-2002. After splitting the season series with Taylor in each of the last three years, Goshen recorded its first win against the Trojans in a building other than the Roman Gingerich Center.
That win came at a cost, as it took Daugherty’s team 55 minutes to secure the feat.
“In 32 years coaching (high school and college) basketball, I can’t remember ever being involved in a triple-overtime game,” an exhausted Daugherty said following Saturday’s conclusion. “But what a good, competitive game this was. I thought that both teams played hard, and both teams showed some poise and resolve. I was especially pleased with the way that we handled ourselves and continued to make plays during some times where things didn’t look good. We are maturing as a team. A few months ago, I don’t think there’s any way we could have won a game like this.”
Those sentiments backed a game in which Goshen had to repeatedly come from behind — the Leafs trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and 12 in the second — and then stave off various pushes from the host Trojans just to force extra time.
Goshen opened the contest flat defensively, allowing Taylor to shoot an incredible 68.2 percent from the field in the first half (the Trojans made 15 of 22 total shots) in falling behind by a 28-15 score midway through the period. Back-to-back threes from sophomore Bryce Bow and freshman Lance Carroll cut the Trojans’ advantage to just 28-21 with 7:47 to play, while another series of consecutive triples from senior David Haire and junior Brice Hartman turned a 32-23 Taylor lead into just a 34-29 difference at the 3:14 mark. The teams then traded baskets until the horn, with Taylor claiming a 39-33 lead at the intermission.
“We were not very good for the majority of the first half defensively,” Daugherty said. “Part of that was our physical and mental approach, and part of that was Taylor making some good adjustments to our scheme. We picked up our communication and intensity late in the half, however, and were able to get a little closer than the direction things looked to be going.”
Taylor opened the second half connecting on its first two field goals — plus one of two free throws — to rebuild its lead back to 12 points (45-33) just two minutes into play. It was at that point that Goshen put on its most lengthy run of the afternoon, outscoring the Trojans by a 15 to four count over the next six and a half minutes to pull within a 49-48 score. Hartman accounted for seven of the Leafs’ points during the stretch.
The Trojans again made a push — claiming a 53-48 lead with 10:55 to play in regulation — but Goshen had an answer.
His name was Nate West.
The lanky freshman scored Goshen’s next 10 points — six coming at the free throw line — in helping the Leafs to a 58-55 lead with 7:09 to play. The teams would then trade the lead three times down the stretch, setting up what would be the first of three defensive-oriented finishes.
With the ball, the game tied at 63-63 and nine seconds remaining, Goshen called a timeout. Freshman Errick McCollum took the inbounds pass and raced the length of the floor, but his three-point attempt at the buzzer was long.
Following a first overtime session that saw Goshen claim as much as a four-point lead, the same, ending scenario transpired — all set up by a remarkable steal by Haire on Taylor’s final offensive possession — this time with seven seconds remaining.
McCollum elected to drive deeper, and was stripped of the ball as time expired. The scoreboard read 72-72.
The second overtime stanza would provide more fireworks.
After Goshen claimed an 80-79 lead with 36 seconds remaining, Taylor’s Daniel Cox came off a screen, received a pass and drilled an NBA-range three pointer from the top of the key.
And he was fouled.
With Odle Arena going berserk, the Leafs watched a one-point lead turn into an 83-80 deficit in what seemed to be a blink of the eye.
“That four-point play should have been the defining moment of the game,” Goshen assistant coach Cory Furman would say later, “but our guys went right to the next play. There was no sense of self-pity, just focus on the next possession. That’s the attitude you must have in order to be a tough out in big-game situations.”
McCollum scored an athletic basket in traffic to cut the Taylor lead to 83-82 with 26 seconds remaining, and Goshen was forced to foul to extend the game. After Taylor’s Chad Reynolds hit one of two freebies to make it an 84-82 Taylor lead with :14 to play, McCollum drove hard again, drawing a foul and calmly sinking two free throws to tie the game at 84-84.
Taylor’s desperation heave at the buzzer came nowhere near the apparatus, and a third overtime was in store.
With four players disqualified due to fouls, Taylor could not keep pace in — finally — the final stanza. The Trojans missed all four field goal attempts — and made just one of four free throws — in being outscored by an 11 to one count in the third overtime. Goshen, meanwhile, knocked in three of seven shots from the floor, icing the game at the foul line in making five of seven.
“We really showed a lot of resolve in this game, really all throughout,” Daugherty said. “Each overtime had its own set of circumstances, but we had to keep making plays, either to force another overtime or to have a chance to win. After some really close losses in conference play where we have come up just short in similar situations, it was really special to see our guys pull through in a game like this.”
McCollum led all scorers in the contest, notching 29 points on a nine of 21 shooting effort from the floor and a 10 for 12 effort from the free throw line. Hartman added 22 points on a seven for 16 shooting performance, while West scored 16 points — 14 of which came after halftime — on a 10 of 11 free-throw shooting performance and three of six effort from the floor. Senior Willie Frazier scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, while Haire scored seven points. West added nine rebounds.
Physical play charted the tone following halftime, as the teams shot 52 of a total 58 free throws following the game’s first 20 minutes. Five players fouled out, with Goshen knocking in 30 of 36 charity tosses (83.3 percent) while Taylor made 16 of 22 (72.7 percent).
The game marked the Goshen program’s first of the triple-overtime variety since the 1974-1975 season.
“It was just a very good team win for us today,” Daugherty said. “I thought that Nate West came in and really gave us a lift off the bench, and it was good to get Brice Hartman on track scoring the ball. I still think the most impressive aspect of our play was our resolve. We could have really folded on a number of occasions, but especially after (Cox’s) four-point play. To be able to come back from that the way we did, I think that kind of took away from Taylor’s momentum. I’m really proud of the way we continued to compete throughout.”
Saturday’s win also keeps things interesting for Goshen down the home stretch of the regular season, as with just two games remaining the Leafs can finish anywhere from fifth place to ninth place in the ultra-competitive MCC. Goshen will host eighth-ranked Huntington University on Wednesday night — a team fresh off a 76-71 win at fifth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday.
“We’ve kept talking about each game being a short race, and we want to try to compete as well as we can in each one,” Daugherty said. “We’ll enjoy this win for a night, and then get back to work for Huntington.”
Goshen will host the Foresters for a 7 p.m. tip-off Wednesday in the Roman Gingerich Center. This is a change from the original Tuesday date, as Tuesday's Midwest blizzard postponed all MCC contests.
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Freshman Nate West