Weekly Recap 2-23

Beavers end regular season, play at Franklin on Tuesday in HCAC tournament

                  

By Ben Risinger, SID

February 23, 2004

 

   The Bluffton College men’s basketball team (10-15, 4-10 HCAC) dropped both contests by a small margin last week. On Wednesday the team lost at Defiance, 66-60. On Saturday the team traveled to Manchester for the final regular season game and dropped the contest 67-60. The Beavers finish the season at sixth in the Heartland conference. They will face No. 3 seed Franklin College (7:30 pm) Tuesday night in the first round of the HCAC tournament.

  A live webcast will be shown for the tournament game against the Grizzlies. The winner of the game will play the winner of the seventh seed Anderson/second seed Manchester game. The second round contest will be played Friday night at 6 pm at Hanover College.

DEFIANCE 66, BLUFFTON 60
   DEFIANCE, OHIO – The Bluffton College men’s basketball team (10-14, 4-9 HCAC) lost to rival Defiance College (11-12, 5-8 HCAC) 66-60 on Wednesday night.

   The win moves Defiance to fifth in the Heartland Conference with the Beavers falling to sixth place in the league.
   The Beavers came out quickly in the first half to lead 13-6 but found that lead diminished as Defiance went on a nine point run to take the lead 15-13 with 9:26 remaining in the first period. Bluffton would not be outdone as they took the lead again 22-19, late in the first half. The Yellow Jackets answered right back once more and took a 27-26 lead heading into the locker rooms. In the first half alone, the lead changed sides seven times.

   In the second period of play both teams became very aggressive as the lead would change hands six more times again with the game being tied a total of 11 times. The contest would never be more than five points apart until the final minute of play when Defiance would hit seven free throw shots. At the one minute mark Defiance led by only two points, 59-57. The shots from the charity line were all it took for the Yellow Jackets to win the game.

   Leading Bluffton for the night was sophomore Scott Bergman (Elmore/Woodmore) with 20 points (4th 20 point game of career). Freshman Michael Anthony posted 15 points to finish Bluffton’s leading scorers. Sophomore Eric Sweet (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

   For the game Defiance shot 45 percent compared to the Beavers 37 percent. Defiance also led the rebound battle as they pulled down 35 boards to Bluffton’s 30.

MANCHESTER 67, BLUFFTON 60
   NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – The Bluffton College men’s basketball team (10-15, 4-8 HCAC) lost 67-60 at Manchester College (17-8 11-3 HCAC) on Saturday afternoon.

   Bluffton got off to a slow start in the game as Manchester led 15-3 with 12:57 left in the first half. The Beavers would come score nine unanswered points to tighten the lead to 15-12 at the 7:12 mark. Bluffton tied the game at 19-19 (3:54), but would be down by five, 29-24 going into halftime.

   In the second half Bluffton would pull the score within three points two times as the score would never eclipse ten points. The Beavers improved on their shooting from the field to 38 percent, compared to 33 percent in the first half.

   Leading Bluffton was senior Brad Boyles (Berne, Ind./South Adams) with 15 points for the contest. Sophomore Eric Sweet (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) finished the double digits with 13 points. Sophomore Simeon Talley (Columbus/Centennial) posted a team high seven rebounds.

   Bluffton shot 36 percent for the game, with Manchester shooting 41 percent from the floor. The Beavers led the rebounding battle with 38 boards to the Spartans 34.  

Beavers in the Heartland Conference
Team Statistics

   The Beavers currently place second in the Heartland Conference in field goal percentage for the season at .474 percent for the year. Bluffton leads the HCAC in rebounding defense by averaging 28.1 rebounds per game. The team also leads the conference in assists with 386 for the season, 15.44 average per game.

Individual Statistics
   Senior Brad Boyles ranks second in scoring in the HCAC with 389 points for the season (15.6 avg. per game). Boyles ranks 13th in the nation in field goal percentage and leads the conference by connecting at 59.2 percent for the year. Sophomore Scott Bergman sits at 8th in the league in scoring, averaging 12.9 points per game. Bergman also ranks 13th in total rebounds (4.8 per game), 6th in 3-point field goals with 45 for year (1.80 per game) and 6th in defensive rebounding, averaging 3.88 per game. Freshman Michael Anthony ranks 10th in field goal percentage (52 percent) and 6th in free throw percentage 54-of-67 (80 percent). Sophomore Simeon Talley ranks fifth in the league in assists (66 year), averaging 2.64 per game.