Local Sports

Monday, March 15, 2010

College basketball: Oilers fall in regional

By BRIAN LESTER

STAFF WRITER

OWENSBORO, Ky. -- Nathan Hyde pulled his sweat-soaked jersey over his head as he sat on a bench inside a somber locker room late Saturday night.

Like his University of Findlay teammates, the junior guard from Liberty-Benton was consumed by disappointment.

He never imagined the University of Findlay's season would come to a halt in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional. He believed the Oilers had a shot of making a run at a second consecutive national championship if they could play their best basketball.

On this night, it wasn't meant to be. Grand Valley State was the better team and lowered the curtain on UF's season with 68-56 win in a regional quarterfinal at the Owensboro Sportscenter.

UF was seeded fourth and GVSU fifth.

“We gave up too many second chances, we struggled to get stops and offensively, we didn't execute very well,” Hyde said. “It hurts to go out this way.”

The hurt won't be eased anytime soon. The Oilers (24-7) will have an entire offseason to think about the loss to their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival.

The difference in this game was crystal clear.

The Lakers (22-8) crashed the boards and came away with a 38-32 advantage. Fourteen of those rebounds were offensive, including a crucial one by Alvin Storrs with just over eight minutes to play.

With the Oilers down 52-47, Storrs grabbed a rebound and put a shot back up and in to extend the Lakers' advantage to 54-47. UF never got closer than six the rest of the way as it was sent out of the regional in the opening round for only the second time in nine tournament appearances.

“We have so much respect for Findlay,” GVSU head coach Ric Wesley said. “It would have been nice if we wouldn't have had to play each other right away. But I'm proud of our team. Any time you can get second chances for shots against a great defensive team like Findlay, you are going to be in good shape.”

The Lakers also capitalized on 14 turnovers, scoring 16 points off those mistakes. It helped generate the offense GVSU needed to hold off the Oilers.

“They just beat us,” UF head coach Ron Niekamp said. “We couldn't take care of the ball on our offensive end and our miscues turned into runouts for them and really fueled their offense. It is disappointing. We didn't meet the challenge.”

It looked like the outcome was going to be decidedly different in the first eight minutes of play.

The Oilers had the hot hand early with Marcus Parker starting the game by drilling a 3-pointer. Aaron Robinson followed with a trey of his own and when Hyde nailed a wide open '3' the Oilers had a commanding 11-1 advantage.

UF''s lead was 17-6 after a trey by Parker with 12 minutes to go, but that's when the momentum shifted. The Lakers used a surprising 16-0 run that put the Oilers back on their heels.

GVSU went to the line six times, forced UF to take bad shots and hit a couple of 3-pointers, including one by Torreau Brown that capped the run and gave the Lakers a 22-17 advantage.

UF went into halftime down 30-27 but was never able to get the lead back in the second half.

“They picked up their energy level defensively and we got careless with the ball,” Niekamp said. “We had no poise on the offensive end. They are a rough, tough physical team and they did a good job of executing on both ends of the floor.”

Parker, a four-year starter at point guard, scored 15 points in his final game in a UF uniform. Hyde hit four treys and scored 14 points while Robinson and Tyler Sparks finished with 12 points apiece. UF shot 34 percent (17 of 50) from the field.

The Lakers shot 40.4 percent (21 of 52) from the floor and were led by the 14-point effort of Storrs. Brown and Nick West pumped in 13 points apiece and Breland Hogan scored 11.

UF does have a lot to look forward to next season. Hyde will be one of four seniors on the roster, and all but one starter will be back as the Oilers will likely be a contender at the national level again.

“We have to remember how this feels and use it as motivation,” Hyde said. “It's not good to lose the way we did. We need to get focused and get a lot of work done in the offseason so that we are ready to go next year.”

grand valley (68)

Hogan 2-3 6-8--11, Ringler 2-10 1-3--5, Brown 3-5 6-7--13, Storrs 5-8 3-4--14, Jones 0-0 0-0--0, Carreri 1-4 0-0--3, Trammell 2-6 0-1--6, Peters 0-3 0-0--0, Morris 1-6 0-0--3, West 5-7 3-3--13. TOTALS: 21-52 19-26--68.

Findlay (56)

Hyde 5-9 0-0--14, Parker 4-11 4-4--15, Sparks 3-10 4-6--10, Robinson 4-10 0-0--10, Wehri 0-1 2-2--2, Coon 0-0 0-0--0, Avery 0-1 0-0--0, Smith 0-4 2-2--2, Marsden 0-2 0-0--0, Agunga 1-2 1-2--3. TOTALS: 17-50 13-16--56.

HALFTIME SCORE: Grand Valley, 30-27.

3-Point GOALS: Grand Valley 7-18 (Trammel 2-4, Hogan 1-1, Brown 1-1, Storrs 1-1, Carreri 1-3, Morris 1-4, Ringler 0-3, Peters 0-1), Findlay 9-22 (Hyde 4-8, Parker 3-6, Robinson 2-6, Sparks 0-1, Smith 0-1).

REBOUNDS: Grand Valley 38 (Carreri 7, West 7, Brown 6), Findlay 32 (Sparks 9, Robinson 7, Hyde 4).

assists: Grand Valley 10 (Carreri 3), Findlay 7 (Robinson 4).

steals: Grand Valley 7 (Storrs 4), Findlay 4 (Parker, Sparks, Robinson, Wehri).

blocks: Grand Valley 1 (Carreri), Findlay 0.

TURNOVERS: Grand Valley 12, Findlay 14.

total fouls: Grand Valley 17, Findlay 19.

fouled out: None.

Lester, 419-422-5151

brianlester@thecourier.com

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