(Box Score) Goshen, IN — The Goshen College men’s basketball team needed some last-second dramatics to hand visiting University of Northwestern Ohio a 77-74 defeat at the Roman Gingerich Center Tuesday night, as senior Brice Hartman’s three pointer with just .9 seconds remaining decided the outcome.
Hartman’s baseline bucket helped Goshen (7-1, 0-0) survive a game that boasted six ties and nine lead changes, as the visiting Racers were able to storm back from a 12-point deficit in the first half to make things overly interesting down the stretch.
Participating in its first intercollegiate basketball season since 1987, Northwestern Ohio used a physical match-up zone and a balanced offensive attack to nearly steal the victory, remaining winless on the year against very good competition: In addition to the Leafs, UNOH has dropped games to sixth-ranked Walsh University, Shawnee State University and Indiana Tech.
“This was a solid win for us over a team that is going to win a lot of games this year,” said Gary Chupp, Goshen head coach. “Northwestern Ohio is very well coached and really made things difficult for us on both ends of the floor.”
Chupp’s squad seemed to figure out the Racers’ tactics midway through the first period, as a 15 to nothing run helped turn a five-point deficit into a 24-14 Goshen lead at the 10:29 mark. The Leafs connected on four straight three pointers during that stretch, as sophomores Errick McCollum, Caleb Kitchell, Nate West and junior Sam Boldman all rang shots from deep.
Northwestern Ohio was able to trim the lead to just five points at the 9:29 mark, but a methodical Leafs’ surge helped the team to its largest advantage — a 40-28 difference — with 2:32 remaining in the half.
A jumper from Hartman with 23 seconds remaining in the first half helped the Leafs end a quick seven to nothing spurt from the Racers, giving Goshen a 42-35 lead at the intermission.
A pair of free throws from junior Kyle Laker opened the second half of play, but Goshen’s 44-35 lead would slowly begin to dissipate. UNOH made six of its next eight shots from the field over the game’s next four minutes, eventually taking its first lead of the second half (55-54) with just over 12 minutes to play.
Superb shooting was the standard for the Racers on the night, as the team converted on 27 of 53 shots overall (50.9 percent), including a 13 of 25 second-half performance (52 percent).
“I thought we got great energy off the bench tonight, especially on the defensive end of the floor,” Chupp said. “I would like to see us give a more consistent defensive effort, however. We have stretches where we really get after it, then it seems like we take some possessions off. Our guys have to understand that once (Mid-Central Conference) play begins, we cannot take defensive possessions off.”
With a pair of Racers free throws tying the game at 57-57 with just over 10 minutes to play, fans were treated to neck-and-neck basketball down the stretch: A pair of layups from Hartman and a three ball from McCollum spurned a seven to nothing Goshen push to make the score 66-59 at the 7:53 mark, only for a 10 to one UNOH push to change that into a 69-68 Racers’ lead with 4:57 to play.
The score was tied at 74-74 with 1:33 on the game clock, setting up a final three possessions that would yield just one score.
McCollum missed a step-back three pointer with 1:02 on the clock, and a big defensive possession (led by Kitchell) helped Goshen hold UNOH scoreless on its next trip.
With just 29 seconds remaining, Chupp called timeout to set up a final play.
“We wanted to get Brice and Errick isolated and playing together (on the last play), and they both stepped up and made a huge play,” Chupp said.
With just 10 seconds remaining, McCollum collected the ball at the right wing and ran a screen and roll with Hartman. As McCollum came off the screen, both UNOH defenders stayed with him, leaving Hartman wide open on the baseline.
After several juke moves from McCollum, he pitched the ball to Hartman, who had yards of space to set up his shot.
It went down purely, giving Goshen a 77-74 lead with just .9 seconds to play.
Northwestern Ohio heaved a pass to just over midcourt following a timeout of its own, but West was there to bat it down and conclude the game.
Hartman finished with a game-high 25 points on nine of 14 shooting, going three for six from downtown. McCollum wasn’t far behind scoring 22 points and grabbing a team-best eight rebounds. West and Kitchell each scored eight points, while West and McCollum combined for eight of the team’s total 12 assists.
Hartman’s high-point total marked the first time this season that someone other than McCollum led the Leafs in scoring, while Hartman’s offensive game is slowly coming around: After shooting just 38.3 percent in the first two games of the season, Hartman has connected on 53.3 percent of his shots in the last six contests.
“Obviously, we need Brice’s scoring for us to continue to be successful,” Chupp said. “It is good to see him shooting the ball the way he can. Give Errick credit tonight for giving the ball up when the defense collapsed on him and Hartman for knocking down the three at the buzzer. That’s the type of selflessness that we need to have in order to win close games like this.”
Tuesday’s win pushed the Leafs’ overall record to 7-1, equaling the 2004-2005 season’s opening record — the last time a Goshen team opened a season with such success. This year’s squad still has quite the journey to break the overall program record for greatest start to a season, however, as the 2003-2004 Goshen team opened with an incredible 18-1 mark before losing its second game.
Goshen will face UNOH again in three weeks, traveling to the Racers’ home court on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The Leafs will next take a brief layoff for the Thanksgiving holiday before participating in this weekend’s Anderson University Sam Pierce Classic. Goshen will open the four-team event against the University of Cincinnati-Clermont College at 6 p.m. Friday. The team will then face Rockford College at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Senior Brice Hartman