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Printer-Friendly ModeMen blow lead at home
Ashland comes from 11 down in 3:14, beat Cards by three in OT
January 23, 2006 —
The SVSU men's basketball team was held scoreless for the last 3:14 of regulation and lost an 11-point lead during the same span as it lost to Ashland 84-79 in overtime Saturday.
The Cardinals were up as much as 14 with 7:10 left in the game before the Eagles outscored them 16-2 to send the game to overtime.
The Cardinals' drought continued into the extra frame, scoring just two points before they found themselves down 8 with 2:18 left.
SVSU pulled to within 3 twice in the final minute, but the Eagles made their free throws to keep the Cardinals from winning.
"Our team played very hard," coach Jamie Matthews said. "We just went dry down the stretch. If you don't put the ball in the basket late in games, you aren't going to win."
Three Cardinals players fouled out and three others finished with four fouls.
SVSU committed 33 fouls total, compared to the Eagles' 15.
As a result, Ashland outscored SVSU by 15 at the free throw line despite shooting 64.4 percent (29-of-45).
Sophomore Chris Johnston paced the Cardinals with 30 points on 12-of-27 shooting and 11 rebounds. Eagles junior Vahn Knight countered Johnston's career high with 26 points and seven rebounds. Knight made just 5 of 13 field goal attempts, but shot 16-of-22 from the free throw line.
Matthews refused to use his team's youth as a reason for the last-minute letdown.
"I like my basketball team," he said. "We're a good young team. Young kids have played a lot of basketball games in their time. Too many coaches use youth as a crutch."
Two of the team's four freshmen, guard Alex Daniel and forward Luke Laser, were in street clothes for the game and did not play.
They were held out for conduct detrimental to the team, and asked if the two would play the Cardinals' next game, Matthews responded, "I don't know."
SVSU took the lead 27-24 with 3:56 left in the first half off a three pointer by junior Kyle Sweger, and did not give it up until the final seconds.
Knight made several key baskets on consecutive possessions with less than two minutes to go to bring Ashland within two. After Knight stole the ball from junior Martell Summers, he pushed it ahead to junior Rob McRae, who was fouled by Johnston on a breakaway lay-up attempt.
McRae, who played at SVSU his freshman year under coach Dean Lockwood, calmly sank the two free throws with 42 seconds left to tie the game.
Junior Andrae Betts missed an open three pointer for the Cardinals on their next possession, and Knight missed his shot at the win by missing a fadeaway from the elbow as time ran out.
SVSU did not make a field goal in overtime until junior Sydney McDaniel made a jumper with 2:06 left. By that time, Ashland had already raced out to a 78-70 advantage.
A three pointer by Summers brought the Cardinals to within 3 at 82-79 with 21 seconds left, but Betts was unable to make his shot from behind the arc with seven seconds left to tie the game.
The loss dropped SVSU to 1-8 in the GLIAC and 6-12 overall, while Ashland improved to 7-2 in the conference and 15-4 overall.
SVSU went through a similar drought two days earlier, losing to Findlay 68-57.
Down 58-54 to the 11th-ranked Oilers with 6:55 left, SVSU missed its next eight shots and was outscored 10-3 to lose by 11.
Laser scored a team-high 12 points, while three others scored in double figures.
SVSU shot 42.3 percent from the field for the game, but just 5-of-18 from three-point territory.
The Oilers shot 64 percent in the second half and 49.1 percent for the game.
The Cardinals' travel to the Upper Peninsula next weekend to begin a four-game road trip. They face Michigan Tech on Thursday night and Northern Michigan on Saturday.