November 22, 2000

Titans go home with win

By Matt Steiner
Sports Writer

Basketball fans at Tiffin University's Gillmor Center witnessed a nail-biter of a basketball game Tuesday. Westminster came in at 2-0 and the 1-1 Dragons gave them all it could handle.

It came down to a last second effort for the Dragons. But, TU guard Nil Townsend couldn't sink a leaning jumper from the top of the key, sending the Titans home with an 83-82 win and a 3-0 record. Tiffin falls to 1-2 after its home opener.

The buzzer-beating attempt was set up when the Dragons' Brian Thompson fouled Westminster forward Chad Phillips with TU leading 82-81. Phillips stepped to the foul stripe and drained both shots, giving the Titans the lead with just 10.5 seconds left in the game.

After the Dragons used their final timeout to talk things over, Townsend took the inbound from Kipp Huntsberger, searched for an open man underneath, but when nothing developed he streaked across the lane and tossed up the prayer.

"We had to contest the shot," Westminster coach Jim Dafler said. "But, we couldn't foul him. He had made a shot like that a little earlier, but he got moving laterally and made it a tougher shot. It was pretty lucky on our part."

Luck had went the Titans' way for the second time in the final minute.

After Thompson hit two free throws of his own to put the Dragons up 80-78 at the one minute mark, Dafler called for his squad to look for an open 3-pointer.

The call went to Phillips at the top of the arc.

"We said at the time out, 'If the 3 is there take it. If not, we had our other guy posting and if not, we're going to reverse it and keep running our offense,'" Dafler said. "But their guy fell down in the lane and (Phillips) was so wide open, he felt like he had to take it."

The guy who fell down was Thompson, making him the scapegoat on yet another crucial play as the shot didn't miss.

Phillips proved to be a thorn in the Dragons' side the entire game, scoring 29 points and leading his team with 10 rebounds. In the second half, the Titans made sure the ball touched his hands on almost every possession.

"He was averaging 27 (points) coming in," Tiffin coach Steve Fleming said. "We knew from the get-go that he's one of their go to guys. He creates a lot of mismatch problems. He's 6-6, he can handle it and shoot it. He's a heck of a player."

After Tiffin jumped out to an early 11-7 lead, Westminster took a 13-11 advantage at the 12:50 mark of the first half and held the lead most of the game. With the exception of the final minute, the Dragons led just three times after that point -- once at 19-17, then at 22-19 and again at 51-49.

The visitors led by as much as 10 with 6:38 left in the first half, but for the rest of the contest, TU held within five points due several Westminster turnovers.

Turnovers plagued the Titans the entire game. They committed 20, including 11 before the intermission.

However, cold shooting by the Dragon offense did them in. Tiffin shot just 34 of 62 (38 percent) from the field and hit just three triples on fifteen attempts. In contrast, Westminster nailed 54 percent of its shots from the floor.

"Our guys were frustrated," Fleming said. "Usually, they're going to knock those shots down. It's tough to get on them offensively, when they're getting good shots. They just weren't knocking them down."

Despite the frigid offense, the Dragons had four players in double figures. Center Josh Martin led the way with 25 points, most of those coming in the paint. Tarik Dear scored 17, Thompson added 12 and Kipp Huntsberger had 11.

Foul shooting proved the biggest strength for Fleming's team. TU made 85 percent from the foul line, outscoring the Titans 23-12.

Westminster's Henry Klinar scored 20 points to go along with Phillips' 29. Joe Wilson also reached double digits with 12 for the Titans.

TU's Martin was the game's high rebounder with 12, including five offensive.