February 26, 1999

TU cruises past Urbana to open tourney

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

As far as comfort goes, when Tiffin University plays an American Mideast Conference game the experience usually lies somewhere between a trip to the dentist or a weekend at the in-laws.

Comfortable wins are few and far between.

But the Dragons finally got to slip one into cruise control when they buried Urbana, 93-70, in the opening round of the AMC tournament.

In what was likely the last home game for seniors Andreas James, Brett Kuron and Jemal Harris. James who made sure the class went out in style by dishing out a school-record 17 assists.

''You go into every game hoping you can win comfortably, but it usually never happens,'' said Tiffin University coach Dan Brook, whose team now plays at second-seeded Mt. Vernon on Saturday. ''But we did a good job tonight. The game started out slow, but we got a lead and built it up methodically. And I thought we really did it off our defense.

''The big thing was, even though we were up by 15 at halftime, that we never let them make a run at us,'' he said. ''I was concerned they would make a run at us.''

It was a run by the Dragons (20-9) in the first half that gave TU some separation before halftime.

Urbana (7-25) was hanging around and trailed 18-17 midway through the first half when James dished out a pair of sweet assists, one to Kuron and one to Wayne Belcher.

The next trip down the floor Kipp Huntsberger slipped a pass to Calvert grad Josh Miller, whose layup put Tiffin on top, 24-18. Tiffin's Doug Taylor then contributed a 3-pointer and a jumper in the lane to give TU a 29-20 advantage.

Taylor had 10 first-half points and Kuron pitched in a pair of 3s to help give the Dragons a 41-26 lead at the half.

''(Tiffin's) got a very athletic team that really gets up and down the floor,'' said Urbana coach Ken Braun, a former assistant with the Dragons. ''And we just don't have the horses to keep up. That's what recruiting is all about. We'll come back ready to compete next year.

''There's some good people I still care about (at Tiffin),'' he said. ''But I'm happy where I'm at. I'm in charge of a program, and we're ready to build that program back up. This program used to be in the upper half of the league, and we want to get back up there.''

Another big push to start the second half put the Blue Knights away.

Martin opened the half with a turnaround jumper in the lane. James nailed a mid-range jumper, and Kuron drained a 3 from the right wing to make it 48-28. Urbana never got closer than 16 after that.

Kuron hit 4-of-7 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points. Martin had 16 points and 10 boards, Taylor finished with 14 points and Harris had 13. James had eight points to go with the school-record assist total. In all, the Dragons connected on 55 percent (39-of-71) from the field.

Jason Priah, the AMC's second-leading scorer, finished with 16 points for Urbana. John Hernon had 14 and Jared Johnson 12.

''From the eight- or seven-minute mark of the first half I really felt (Urbana) was tired,'' Brook said. ''We were able to keep fresh bodies in there, and when we were fresh we were able to run the floor. We got down and got those easy baskets, and that was crucial. Mentally, it can break the back of the other team.

''Doug Taylor shot the better tonight then he has been,'' he said. ''KippHuntsberger knocked down a couple of 3s, and Brett continued to shut the lights out. Wayne Belcher only scored four points, but he held the (Priah) four points under his average. And A.J. had 17 assists and only one turnover. That's incredible.''

Downright comfortable.