|
|
JAN. 23 — Maple Leafs pull off exciting victory against Marian, 77-75
Led by Brice Hartman, Goshen goes on 20-1 run to send game into OT |
GOSHEN, Ind. — The Knights of Marian College gave Goshen College’s men’s basketball team all they could handle Wednesday night as the Maple Leafs needed overtime to grab their fourth conference victory and improve to 4-4 in conference play. Following the 77-75 win, Goshen moves from 6th to 4th in the conference standings and now holds a 16-6 overall record.
Judging from the opening half, it would have been hard for anyone to guess that the game would end in such a thrilling fashion.
Goshen started out slow, which allowed Marian’s offense to take advantage of turnovers and a Maple Leaf offense that was struggling to find its rhythm. The score stayed even for roughly the first five minutes until a Marian jump shot found its way in to give the Knights a 13-11 advantage.
Marian would hold tight to the lead for the remainder of the half, and even widened the gap to as many as 14 points. Helping them do so was strong play from sophomore J.R. Howell, who made three of the Knights’ five three-pointers, which also aided in an overall field goal percentage of 58.3 for the half.
For Goshen, things went in the opposite direction. Struggling to get into any type of offensive rhythm, the Leafs only converted on 30% of all field goal attempts during the half.
Following what seemed to be an atypical opening half, Goshen headed into the break trailing by 12 points, 39-27.
The second half began in a similar manner as the first. Marian jumped on the Leafs early to increase its lead to 14 points with just over 15 minutes to play. They continued to heat up as Goshen continued to struggle on offense and within the next eight minutes, the Leafs found themselves staring down a 19-point deficit with 7:35 left in the game.
Facing another possible loss at home, the Maple Leafs responded by going on a 20-1 run to close the half and send the game into overtime. During these exciting closing minutes, Goshen was led by senior Brice Hartman who scored 16 of those 20 points, including a jump shot in the closing seconds to tie the game at 65-65.
Also aiding in this run was the tough defensive pressure applied by the Leafs, which produced key defensive rebounding and turnovers that were turned into scoring opportunities.
Goshen also went 4-4 from the free-throw line during this period, including two clutch free-throws from Scott Bruggeman with 31 seconds remaining, to put the Leafs within one at 63-64. Marian made a trip to the free-throw line following this, but only made one of two attempts, which set the stage for Hartman’s last second heroics.
Goshen head coach Gary Chupp was pleased with his team’s comeback, saying, “Give our guys credit — down 18 with six minutes left, we found a way to win the game. Hartman absolutely took over the game down the stretch, hitting big shot after big shot, including a tough turnaround jumper with four seconds to send the game into overtime.”
The five-minute overtime period saw Goshen take its first lead since early on in the first half. Once they had it, the Maple Leafs held on in a thrilling race to the finish.
Marian kept it close, never letting Goshen grab more than a five-point lead, and were within striking distance with 26 seconds left to play after converting on a jump shot to make the score 75-73.
Hartman was then fouled and made both free-throw attempts to give the Leafs a 77-73 advantage.
The Knights made another successful trip to the free-throw line to pull within two points, but would not get any closer. Goshen and its fans could let out a sigh of relief as the Leafs had just survived another intense MCC battle and came out on top with a 77-75 victory.
Thanks in large part to his late-game push, Brice Hartman led all scorers with 27 points. Errick McCollum added 20 points, while Kyle Laker added 12. Nate West Jr. contributed 11 rebounds and 2 steals, with many of those coming in the second half and overtime. As a team, the Leafs made 73.9% of their free-throw attempts, compared with 51.9% for Marian.
Following the game, Coach Chupp added, "This team is tough to figure out. We can play at a high level, but have not figured out to do so consistently. Hopefully, winning a game like we did tonight will send us into the second round of conference play with some confidence. We are currently in a four-way tie, and one game back of Huntington; finishing top half of the conference is something we can accomplish if we learn to play more consistently."
Goshen will have another opportunity to improve on their conference record when they travel to Marion, Indiana for a game against the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats. This game will be crucial in sorting out the four-way tie as the winner will improve to 5-4 in conference play, and also stay in the top half of the standings.
Tipoff is set for 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 26 at Indiana Wesleyan’s Luckey Gymnasium in Marion, In.
Click Here For Complete 2007-2008 Season
News
|
  Senior Brice Hartman
|
|
|
|
|
|
