Posted: Jan 13, 2010
January 13, 2010
By: Josh Bruner, sports information assistant
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Bluffton University men were outscored 35-32 in the second half as Manchester kept the Beavers winless with a 70-61 victory on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. The loss dropped the Beavers to 0-7 in the HCAC and 0-16 overall, while the Spartans jumped to 4-2 in the HCAC and 10-5 on the season.
The Spartans started quickly, as they were led out of the gates with a TYLER HENN three-pointer. The Beavers responded with a BRENT FARLEY (Lima/Shawnee) jumper. The Spartans once again hit from behind the arc, this time from MITCH SCHAEFER. The Beavers made it 6-5 with their first three of the night by MYCHAL HILL (London/Jonathan Alder) with 16:29 remaining.
The Beavers tied the game with a NICK LEE (Mt. Blanchard/Vanlue) triple, making the score 18-18. The Spartans answered with one of their own before SCOTT SCHNIPKE (Kalida) dialed long distance for the Beavers to tie the game once again at 21 with just less than 10 minutes in the first half.
The Spartans finally managed to get some separation with two consecutive Schaefer three-pointers, putting the Spartans up 32-25 with just under two minutes left in the period. The Beavers trimmed it to 35-30 at the break following a Mychal Hill jumper.
The Beavers came out of the half ready to make it a game, as freshman JOSH FISHER(Rockford/Parkway) hit from distance to pull the Beavers within two. The Spartans went on a 7-0 run to go ahead 42-33 with 17:25 left to play. The Beavers slowly picked away at the lead, pulling within two thanks to another Fisher three with 14 minutes left in the game.
The Spartans once again responded to the Fisher three with a quick 8-0 run, making it 55-45 with just under 10 minutes to play. The Spartans opened their biggest lead of the night, 62-51, after a J.T. Hooks layup with five minutes left.
The Beavers cut it to five with consecutive deep balls by Lee. The clutch free throw shooting for the Spartans proved to be too much for the Beavers as the Spartans went 6-of-6 in the final minute to capture a 70-61 victory.
Leading the scoring column for Bluffton was Lee who put up 19 points off the bench, going 5-of-9 from outside the arc, and 7-of-12 from the field. Closely following Lee were Hill with 15 and Fisher with 13, both hitting two from behind the arc. Schnipke and Farley each added six for the Beavers. JOSH EICHAR (North Baltimore) pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
Manchester was led with two double-digit scorers. Schaefer, who went 5-of-10 from deep and 2-for-2 from the line, for a total of 17, and JORDAN MOSS, who went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and 3-of-5 from the field for 15 points, paced the home team. JASON SPINDLER and NATHAN FERCH each added nine for the Spartans.
The Beavers ended the game shooting 22-of-58 (37.9 percent) and 7-of-10 (70.0 percent) from the line, as well as 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) from behind the arc. Manchester was 23-of-45 (51.1 percent) from the field, 16-of-20 from line (80.0 percent) and 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from outside the arc. The Beavers pulled down only 26 boards compared to 35 for the Spartans, but Manchester turned it over eight more times (23-15).
The Beavers will be back in action next Wednesday, January 20, when they host long-time rival Defiance College in Founders Hall. The game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m.
-BEAVERS-