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February 21, 2006
Mens basketball fails to claim victory but still wrap up playoff spot
The mens basketball team was defeated by Bethel in a game of cat and mouse last Wednesday.
The Pipers got off to a bad start with the crowd seeing little action except for several missed shots and rebounds on the Hamline side. For Bethel, the Royals were shooting threes and attempting to get quick rebounds doing a good job of keeping the ball on their side.
Sophomore Joe Smock was the first to score for Hamline with a layup with 17:03 on the clock bringing the score to 2-5. Smock’s layup was immediately followed by a 3-pointer from Bethel.
The Pipers called a timeout hoping to get things together and overthrow Bethel’s lead, but after the timeout, the Royals quickly scored off of a jump shot bringing the score to 2-10.
Luck changed briefly for Hamline when a foul was called on Bethel and junior Kyle Foster was able to sink both free-throw shots. The Royals tried to answer this with a 3-pointer, missed and forfeited the ball to Hamline through a rebound by Foster.
Another timeout was called by Hamline which resulted in a jump shot by Smock and a layup by first-year Jon DeRock bringing the score to a close 8-10. However, just when the Pipers thought that they would be able to clinch the lead, the very thing that brought them good luck, brought Bethel good luck as well: a foul. Two free-throw shots and a 3-pointer increased Bethel’s lead 8-15. Senior Charley Good answered the 3-pointer with a jump shot which Bethel answered with another 3-pointer.
With 12:08 left in the game, the Pipers began to take over when sophomore Kory Kelzer scored with a jump shot and Hamline went wild, taking rebounds away from Bethel and making free-throws until the score was 58-62 with Bethel in the lead by only 4 points.
The Royals responded to the disappearing of their lead by playing with desperation. They scored several jump shots to bring their lead to 9 with a score of 61-70. The next minute of the game saw the Royals scoring, then fouling, and the Pipers making their free throws. The teams switched roles with Hamline scoring then fouling, and Bethel making the free throws so that the score was 74-81 with 5:01 left on the clock.
The Royals and Pipers began scoring back-to-back with the Royals maintaining an average lead of 7 points until DeRock scored a 3-pointer followed by a jump shot to bring the score to a 3 point difference (89-92 Bethel) with 15 seconds left in the game. First-year Tony Thrasher led all Pipers scoring with 20 points. The Royals were able to hold the Pipers out for the remainder of the game, winning 89-96.
The Pipers will take on either St. John’s or Gustavus for the MIAC playoffs on Feb. 21.
Posted by dwright at February 21, 2006 12:22 PM
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