Tuesday 13 October 2009

St. Catharines Standard article on Brock's loss to Findlay

This coming weekend, Brock travels to Waterloo to face Dalhousie and Manitoba at the Hawk Classic at Laurier.

Badgers drop exhibition game to powerhouse from Ohio

The Brock Badgers men’s basketball team almost pulled off a miraculous comeback at the university’s Bob Davis gymnasium on Saturday.

Near the end of an exhibition game against the University of Findlay Oilers (Ohio), the Badgers came back from a late fourth-quarter 14-point deficit and had a chance to win the game in the dying seconds of the game, but they failed to execute a play and turned the ball over in an 86-82 loss.

First-year rookie sensation Clinton Springer-Williams led the Badgers with 30 points, which included a remarkable 14-of-17 shooting spectacle from the free-throw line.

“We are a young team with eight first-year players, but we will learn to execute at the end of a game,” said the 19-year-old, 6-foot-4 guard who previously played at Regina Mundi Catholic School in London.

A number of Badgers were playing their first university game.

“I was happy our kids battled back,” said Badgers head coach Ken Murray. “When you start three second-year players and two first-year players, it’s obvious to see that the future is very bright for our team.”

The Badgers opponents were high-calibre competition. The University of Findlay’s basketball team is currently the best NCAA Division 2 team in the United States. The visitor’s brought a 36-game winning streak and a 2009 national championship into Saturday’s action.

“It was a typical pre-season game, but I thought both teams competed very hard,” said Oilers head coach Ron Niekamp. “Brock’s kids are to be commended. Their intensity level and approach to the game is impressive.

“This game was very similar to the U.S style. Brock has a lot of very athletic players on the floor, and they defended hard and drove the ball to the basket. It was a tough, rugged game.”

In the first quarter, Findlay ran out to an 11-2 lead, but Brock responded with an 8-0 run, and the first quarter ended with the Oilers leading 23-22.

The second quarter saw two promising Badger’s pre-season highlights: rookie Springer-Williams started to break down the Findlay defence and Brock’s outside shooting game started to heat up.

With a three-point shot from Brock’s Jay Fleming, Brock took a 36-33 lead and held on to a 38-36 lead at half time.

In the third quarter, the Oilers surged into a 65-58 lead after a 14-2 run midway through the quarter.

“That killed us when (the Oilers) went on that run, and we tried to recover but it was just too late,” Springer-Williams said.

Findlay’s forwards continually pulled down offensive rebounds that resulted in some easy lay ups, and they stretched out their lead to 14 points by 7:23 of the fourth quarter. The Badgers narrowed the margin to two points with 23 seconds to play and had a chance to tie or win the game on their last possession, but good defensive pressure by Findlay forced a Brock turnover. The Badgers had to foul, and the Oilers sunk both free throws to win by four points.

“All of a sudden we kicked it in with our up-tempo style, scored a bunch of points and had last possession of the basketball, but we didn’t take good care of (the ball),” Murray said. “As a young team, we are going to make mistakes, but that’s something we have to work on.”

2 comments:

EvansOtchere said...

yes Brock now has recruits, they now have the talent to win, but if they don't who is to blame? Last year more of the emphasis was put on the players, what happens if they are not successful two three years from now? Can we start blaming the coaching staff? When can the fans and students start pointing fingers at Ken and his coaching staff, if you ask me something needs to be done, give it time, but something has to be done

Mark Wacyk said...

Pop quiz: Name the coaches who have at least 2 rings for winning CIS championships.