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Icy 2nd half chills USF comeback hopes vs. #10 TU
    Feb. 11, 2003

       All University of Saint Francis Coach Jeff Rekeweg had to do was look at one figure to explain how his Cougars dropped a 71-59 decision to Mid-Central Conference leader Taylor University on Tuesday night.
     "We did a decent job defensively, but no team can challenge Taylor shooting 27 percent the way we did in the second half tonight," Rekeweg said after the Cougars dropped third straight game at Hutzell Athletic Center. "We knew we had to be in the 70s to compete, but struggled to finish shots and couldn't hit consistently from outside."
    A pair of freshman led the Cougars' scoring -- Zach Beiswanger delivering a hard-earned 16 points including 6-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line and Dusty Beucler added 10 points. No question USF missed the inside muscle of 6-foot-6 sophomore Chase Holden, who was sidelined with a stomach virus and left before the game. He's USF's leading scorer and rebounder.
    "You can't say whether we'd have won the game or not, but we missed Chase," Rekeweg said.
    USF (13-16, 3-8 MCC) started off strong connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers by Beiswanger and John Gensic for a 6-0 lead. But USF missed four opportunities to expand the lead and Taylor scored seven straight points for a 7-6 lead. The Cougars regained the lead and last led at 21-19 with 5:09 to play in the first half after Beucler scored.
   Taylor (21-5, 9-2 MCC) outscored USF 14-4 in the time remaining to take a 31-25 lead to the locker room at halftime. The Trojans, who swept the season series for the first time since 1997, took total control scoring the first five points of the second half. TU won its fifth consecutive game by extending its lead to as many as 19 points, 60-41, before USF made one final surge cutting the margin to 11, 61-50, with 2:02 to play in the game. Beucler made three straight free throws after he was fouled by Adam Musters attempting a 3-point shot.
   USF had to put TU at the free-throw line in the time remaining and couldn't get any closer as the Trojans converted 10-of-12 opportunities to secure the win after moving from No. 16 to No. 10 in the NAIA Division II Top 25 released on Tuesday. USF made just 8-of-29 shots in the second half, 2-of-13 from 3-point range. USF did connect on 18-of-20 from the free-throw line. TU connected on 11-of-24 shots (46 percent).
   While USF limited Matt Traylor to nine points (he was averaging 17.8 in MCC play), Musters powered his way to 18 points. R.J. Beucler (no relation to Dusty) added 11 and Jabin Newhouse 10 for TU, which improved to 14-4 in road and neutral games.
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