THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2001
Oilers reverse Dragon's lead
By Andy Cole
Staff Writer
Call it a speedy reverse -- the post-football season version.
For the first 13 minutes of its game with the University of Findlay Tuesday, Tiffin University was tied after holding a lead as big as six points.
Then, in as much time as it takes to scramble an egg, the Oilers were in the midst of an 18-5 run on the way to an 87-66 win in the Gillmor Center.
While Findlay's talent is undeniable, Dragon coach Steve Fleming saw some good things from his team. The problem was that too many of those good things came only in the first part of the game.
"We're tied at the six minute mark, but the next few minutes they got some easy buckets and we struggled to get even some good looks at the basket," said Fleming, whose team will take on 0-2 record into a Saturday game at Hillsdale. "I think we let what was happening on the offensive end frustrate us and affect what we were trying to do defensively.
"We would jack the ball up after just two and three passes and there was a period of time where we just couldn't settle down. We proved we can play with them during the first 14 minutes, but we had the same kind of lapse we had at Ashland."
Tiffin took leads early on buckets by post players Greg Barnes and Phil Westfall. Nil Townsend assisted a Kipp Huntsberger basket at the 14:50 mark, and another score by Huntsberger gave the Dragons a 15-9 lead with 13:36 to go in the first half.
Findlay (3-0) scored the next five points, and the lead went back-and-forth for the next few minutes. A layup by Townsend with 7:05 to go in the half tied the score at 24, but the home team would put down just one field goal in the next 4:30.
Meanwhile, the Oilers made a run started by a Brad Rethman dunk and ended by a pair of 3-pointers by Tony Hiser. Kyle Hunt scored four points and Charles Warren hit a trey during the rally, and the Dragons went into the locker room at halftime trailing 44-31.
"I think there came a point where we stopped competing," Fleming said. "That's the most disappointing thing about the game to me. I told them after the game that they cheated themselves and the game when they did that. Findlay's a very good team, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see them go to the tournament and do some damage, but we could have done more.
"I don't really want the win-loss record to dictate how we think of ourselves. It's important to me that our guys measure things by how close we come to playing to our potential every night and how we improve game-to-game. I feel like we took a step backwards tonight, and I think our guys need to take this holiday and take a good look at themselves."
Findlay picked up where they left off when the second half began. After Westfall scored the first basket of the second half, the Oilers would scored 22 of the next 30 points. The biggest lead of the game came with 5:34 left, when a tip-in by Roni Gordon made the score 78-48. The Dragons would get no closer than the final score.
The Tiffin bench did outscore Findlay's, 45-39, and all three double-figure scorers for the Dragons came off the pine. Townsend was 5 of 8 from the floor and hit all seven of his foul shots on his way to a game-high 17 points. Townsend had an excellent all-around game with five rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Huntsberger and Joel Richards (4 of 6 from the floor) scored 11 points each. Westfall added eight rebounds and seven points. As a team, the Dragons were 18 of 27 from the foul line.
Findlay shot 52 percent and was 10 of 22 from 3-point range compared to 0 of 7 for TU. Hunt led the way with 14 points while Rethman added 12 and Marwan Gaines scored 10.
"They're a very physical team from a physical conference, and it does us a lot of good to play them twice because we'll be a more physical team for it once our league season begins," Fleming said. "With as big as they were, we were only outrebounded by four. We just need to stop having those lapses where we forget about the scouting report and everybody wants to do their own thing."