Friday, January 21, 2000

Dragons bring down 3rd-ranked NAIA team

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

History must be the favorite subject of the Tiffin University men's basketball team, because the Dragons sure like to repeat it.

The last time the Dragons beat American Mideast Conference rival Mount Vernon was a few years ago when the Cougars were ranked fifth in the NAIA, and Tiffin knocked them off with buzzer-beater in overtime.

Thursday, the stage was set for a repeat, and both teams did the best they could to make it happen.

Each played great defense. Each played superb offense.

And although it didn't come down to a last-second shot, the Dragons once again found a way to slip by the Cougars, No. 3 this year, with an 89-85 victory.

It was the biggest upset in school history, and TU coach Steve Fleming knew of three big reasons for the huge win.

"I think they were fired up for a few reasons," he said after the Dragons improved to 8-8 overall and 5-3 in the AMC. "First of all, it's Mount Vernon, who's third in the country, who's been winning this conference for a couple, three years.

"We've got Jemal (Harris) back, and it's the first game at home with our students back," he said.

"We kept telling them, 'You've got to win the hustle plays, you've got to have great intensity and great enthusiasm,' and the guys really responded," Fleming said.

Boy, did they.

* They hit 52.5 percent of their field goal attempts, which included going 11-of-21 from 3-point range, and 14 of their 19 foul shots.

* They had five players reach double digits in scoring, with Josh Martin leading the way with 17.

* They out-rebounded the Cougars 31-29, with Martin snaring 13 game-high boards.

* They forced 18 turnovers while only committing only 13.

"That was just a total, total team victory," Fleming said. "Everybody contributed. Everybody who got in played a crucial part, even the guys on the bench."

It was close practically the whole game.

Mount Vernon, which entered the game 17-1 and 7-0 in conference play, held leads through most of the first half and was up 23-17 with 11:23 before intermission.

Then the Dragons went crazy.

Antonio Robinson threw down a dunk on a fastbreak and hit a foul shot and Kipp Huntsberger and Doug Taylor, who finished with 10 points, each nailed a 3-pointer to go up 26-23 at the 8:07 mark.

Huntsberger hit another bucket between two scores by Mount Vernon's Lenny Foyer and Tiffin's Wayne Belcher made a jumper and a foul shot for a 31-27 Dragons' lead.

Then it became a 3-point contest.

Carey graduate Jamie Young scored all 12 of his points off 3-pointers in the last 4:12 of the half for Tiffin while Kenny Chaffin of Mount Vernon had three of his own over the same time period before the first half ended with the Dragons up 45-38.

In the second half, Mount Vernon chipped away at the lead, only to have Tiffin rally and build it back up again.

But no lead was safe from the Cougars' 3-point attack.

Adam Stevens, a 6-6 forward who ended with 30 game-high points, went 4-of-6 from 3-point range in the second half while the rest of the Cougars hit three more.

The 3s and other buckets helped whittle down Tiffin's lead as the second half wore on.

Several times, the Cougars hit buckets to trail by only a point, but Tiffin would answer with a basket of its own.

Then Mount Vernon grabbed its first lead of the second half, an 85-84 edge, when Stevens hit a jumper with 1:22 to go.

However, Huntsberger, who ended with 12 points, knocked down a pair of foul shots just eight seconds later to put the Dragons back on top for good 86-85.

Mount Vernon's hopes of retaking the lead slipped away when Stevens let a pass go through his hands and out of bounds with 54.2 seconds to play.

Harris, returning to the Tiffin lineup for the first time this season, then hit a foul shot with 25.8 seconds to go to put the Dragons up 87-85.

Stevens had a chance to give the Cougars the lead in the closing seconds, but his 3-pointer was off the mark and Harris was again fouled and sent to the free throw line with 2.5 seconds left.

He sank both to end with 13 points and make it 89-85 to ice the game for the Dragons.

It would have been easy for Mount Vernon coach Scott Flemming to say his team hadn't performed well in the loss, but he said both teams just played outstanding games.

"I would say this is more about Tiffin playing really well than us letting down," he said. "We battled here tonight. We gave ourself a chance to win the game there at the end., but it just didn't work out for us.

"They're a good team," he said about the Dragons. "They're a team who has as much talent as anybody in the conference, and we knew that coming in here. We weren't surprised by the way they played."

Neither was Tiffin's coach, who added the win should be a big boost for the Dragons' morale.

"They've worked extremely hard all year and this was a good confidence builder for our team," Fleming said.

The Dragons will look to build off that confidence Saturday when they host AMC foe Point Park College at 7 p.m. The junior varsity team takes on the TU alumni at 4:30 p.m.