| (Box Score) Richmond, IN — With the Goshen College men’s basketball team receiving a break from Mid-Central Conference play Tuesday, Leafs head coach Stan Daugherty scheduled a non-league game to help fill the void of a possible week-long layoff. Receiving the MCC’s bye date for second-round play Tuesday, Daugherty inked a road swing to Indiana University-East for a 2 p.m. tip Sunday.
“We had tried to get (Sunday’s game) scheduled for Monday night, but a scheduling problem at I.U.-East prevented that,” Daugherty said.
As a result, the team would travel to Richmond, Indiana for a contest occurring less than 24 hours after a bitter, 41-64 loss to 10th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon (click here for related article).
Sunday’s tip-off couldn’t happen soon enough.
Goshen (10-13, 2-7) scored a season-best 52 points in second-half action in cruising past Indiana-East by a 94-64 score, helping to ease the pain of a Saturday effort that rivaled the recent mark for program futility: The Leafs scored just 15 field goals and shot 28.8 percent from the field against Indiana Wesleyan, the squad’s lowest marks since the 2004-2005 season. Sunday at Indiana-East, Daugherty’s team scored a season-high 94 points, made a season-best 40 baskets and shot 51.3 percent from the floor, the team’s second-highest mark of the year.
“This was a good game for us to play right after Indiana Wesleyan,” Daugherty said. “It was a wide-open game that allowed us to relax and shoot the ball with some efficiency. Against Indiana Wesleyan, we struggled offensively all day. We did not shoot the ball well, but a lot of that was lack of movement and not screening well. When we have played well against very good teams we have moved well without the ball and created good shots for each other. That just didn’t happen Saturday. Against I.U.-East, however, we shared the ball well and we hit some open shots.”
Daugherty’s team took a minimal, 42-35 lead into the half thanks in large part to the stellar play of I.U.-East’s Jon Haworth, who scored 22 first-half points to keep the Pioneers close. Goshen opened the second half with a dominant run, however, pushing its advantage to 25 points with just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest.
The scoring disparity allowed Goshen to substitute liberally, as all 13 dressed players scored in the contest, with no player logging more than 21 minutes of action. The Leafs upped their shooting clip to 55 percent in the second half (22 of 40) while holding Indiana-East to a 27.3 percent clip (nine of 33) in the latter 20 minutes of play.
“In the second half our depth really wore them down and we were able to get some easy fast break baskets,” Daugherty said. “It was a good road win and hopefully will give us some confidence on the offensive end of the floor.”
Freshman Errick McCollum paced the Leafs’ efforts, scoring 16 points in just 17 minutes of work. The most impressive display came from freshman reserve Shawn Martz, however, as the 6-7 multi-talented swing buried six of nine shots — including a three for four effort from three-point range — in scoring a career-high 15 points in eight minutes of work. Junior Brice Hartman scored 12 points, while freshman Nate West added 11 and a team-best five rebounds. McCollum and freshman Caleb Kitchell also grabbed five rebounds apiece.
“I thought that (freshman) Zach Wright and Shawn Martz played well and worked hard to do our schemes on offense and defense,” Daugherty said. “This bye week comes at a good time for us to take a couple of days off and try to refresh ourselves both physically and mentally. I think our guys are looking forward to the challenges of the second round of the MCC. We hope to continue to improve each game and each week until the very end of the season.”
Goshen will now remain idle until resuming league play on Saturday, when the team will host Spring Arbor University. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
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Freshman Shawn Martz