[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Cougars 2nd half 'D' earns 1st MCC win

Tues., Jan. 14, 2003

   FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Eric Pickrell may be the shortest player on the University of Saint Francis roster, but he came off the bench to give the Cougars a big lift that carried through to a 76-69 win on Tuesday night at Hutzell Athletic Center.

   “Eric led by communicating and doing a great job defensively,” USF Coach Jeff Rekeweg said after his Cougars won their first Mid-Central Conference game of the year. “Pickrell, (Jeremy) Rice, (Nick) Ankenbruck, (Zach) Beiswanger and (Keith) Roddy all got things turned the right way for us. Rice did a huge job taking two charges and challenging shots.

   “That group ignited us.”

   The Cougars (10-11, 1-2 MCC) battled back from a 9-point halftime deficit on the strength of a 22-3 run midway through the second half. Roddy scored 6 points, Pickrell  and Ankenbruck five points apiece.

  “Don’t forget to mention who hit the shot to give us the lead,” a happy Ankenbruck shouted as he passed Jontae James. All James could do was laugh.

    With 12:28 to go, Roddy skip passed the ball out to Ankenbruck in the corner for a three and Ankenbruck hit nothing but net to give USF a  46-45 lead. It was the first Cougar lead since 7-6 early in the first half.

   With just over 11 minutes to go, Zach Beiswanger drove to the hole and was fouled, and converted a 3-point play to continue the momentum shifting ever so rapidly in favor of USF. Beiswanger made it 54- 48 with 11:18 to play and Pickrell finished the charge with a 3-pointer for a 61-48 USF lead with 9:46 to play.

      “Everybody off the bench did an excellent job of giving the team what we need,” James said after scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half. “We got back to playing basketball. Not that the effort wasn’t there, we may have been trying to hard.”

  The Wildcats (6-11, 1-2 MCC) got as close as 73-69 on Aaron Brothers’ 3 free throws with 21.6 seconds to play. Thought USF managed to hit just 3 of its last 6 free throws, IWU missed two 3s in the final seconds.

   Chase Holden, led USF scoring with 16 points and Beiswanger added 14 points as well, 10 in the second half. USF hit 64 percent (16 for 25) of its shots in the second half, IWU 36 percent (9 for 25) after shooting 64 percent (14 for 22) in the first half. Brothers, the leading scorer in the MCC at 22.8, finished with 29 for IWU.

   “We talked about how our defense led to our offense, then talked about what we need to do better after a good win,” Rekeweg said. “What we need to remember is how when we executed on defense, look what it did for our offense.”

 

-- GO USF --

 
[an error occurred while processing this directive]