November 22, 2000

'Berg takes sweet win over Defiance

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

A sweet night for the Heidelberg men's basketball team couldn't have ended in a sweeter way. Or in a more fitting way, for that matter.

When Ryan Niemic turned a Ryan Forry lob into an emphatic dunk with 12 seconds left in the game, it provided the perfect spotlight for the two players most responsible for The Berg's 84-68 victory over previously unbeaten Defiance.

Forry came off the bench and hit three of his four 3-point attempts, scored 13 points and handed out six assists, none more prettier than the alley-oop to Niemic.

"The key to the game was Ryan Forry," Heidelberg coach John Hill said. "He came into the game and ran the show. He had no turnovers and he got the ball to the person who needed to have the ball. He came in in the first half and got the job done, and he put the nail in the coffin at the end when he threw the lob to Niemic for the dunk.

"I haven't seen the stats so I don't know how many points he had, but Ryan Forry did a tremendous job."

Niemic, too, played a key role in Heidelberg's second victory in three games.

The 6-foot-9 junior scored 21 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, blocked seven shots and dished out a pair of assists. He also helped seal the deal by hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line in the second half.

Inside play from Niemic and Lucas Messer (seven points, four rebounds), also helped pave the way for the outside shooting of Forry and Randy Evans, who sank three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 22 points.

"In other years we really haven't had an inside game, but this year we have five post men," Hill said. "Niemic had a real solid game and Messer didn't have a great game, but we got good post all around tonight.

"We were trying to go inside and they were trying to stop us from going inside so that makes it easier to get the 3."

Fittingly, Heidelberg's biggest shot of the game came from beyond the arc. In a matter of two minutes, the Yellow Jackets had trimmed an 11-point deficit to 55-52 on a Jason Hervey 3-pointer at the 10:15 mark of the second half.

Heidelberg had made just one basket during the previous six minutes, but Will Arter spotted up for, and drained, a wide open 3-pointer to push it back to 58-52.

On Defiance's next possession, Heidelberg's Ryan Szepiela swatted a Gavin Sever shot, and ended up with a layup at the end. Those were the first two buckets of an 11-2 'Berg run that had the lead back to 12 (66-54) with 6:49 remaining.

"It was a tiring game because (Defiance) loves to press and they make you play for 40 minutes," Hill said. "And their press hurt us some, but we were able to adjust, take a timeout and set up an offense to get the ball inbounds and attack.

"The press hurt us a little, but for the most part we were able to get our big guys involved in the press, make a penetrating pass and then take advantage of it."

Heidelberg turned the ball over 21 times to Defiance's 22. The 'Berg shot 50 percent (29 of 58) from the field, while holding the Jackets to 40 percent (22 of 66).

Frank Kill led Defiance with 15 points. Sever finished with 14 and Jason Smolenski 12.