December 9, 2016
BLUFFTON, Ohio - A second straight road weekend will see the Bluffton University basketball teams head to Terre Haute, Ind., for a Heartland Conference doubleheader with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Saturday, Dec. 10. The Beavers kicked off HCAC play with a split at Transylvania University last Saturday before sweeping Earlham College at separate venues on Wednesday night.
The Beavers saw their lead swell to 14 points following a pair of JARED WENTLING (Carey) free throws with 15:09 to play on Wednesday night before Earlham standout Elijah Wilson-Thomas went to work for the Quakers. A Wilson-Thomas triple with 39 seconds left put Earlham up 72-71 for the first time in the half. It took a TREY ELCHERT (Jackson Center) trey with 11 ticks remaining to help the Beavers force overtime with the score knotted at 74 apiece after 40 action-packed minutes. Wentling took over in the extra session, netting eight of Bluffton's 14 points as the Beavers squeaked out of Indiana with the 88-87 overtime victory. The 27 points that Wentling tallied marked the first time in his career that the talented sophomore topped 20 markers.
Senior AUSTIN ROHDE (Shelby), who eclipsed 900 career points in the OT victory at Earlham on Wednesday, is 5th in the Heartland Conference with 19.1 PPG. He is hitting 51.6 percent from the field (48-of-93) and 84.8 percent (28-of-33) at the line. Rohde and fellow senior captain Trey Elchert lead the team with 10 steals apiece. The 27 points at Earlham is no fluke as sophomore Jared Wentling is bucketing 14.9 PPG to go along with his team-high 6.6 RPG (8th in the HCAC). Elchert's 5.0 APG is 2nd in the Heartland Conference and he is 7th from distance at 45.2 percent (14-of-31).
Also lighting it up from outside the arc are freshman ANDREW RENNER (Cairo/Bath), 4th in the HCAC at 47.4 percent, and sophomore MARTIN MAKSVYTIS (Dayton/Franklin-Monroe), 5th in the HCAC at 47.1 percent. Renner and Elchert are dropping in 10.6 and 9.9 PPG, respectively. Senior ADAM HOPKINS (Wellington/Keystone) has been efficient off the bench, hitting 17-of-23 from the field for a team-best 73.9 FG percentage.
Bluffton leads the Heartland Conference with a 49.6 FG percentage (197-of-397) and the Beavers 38.4 percentage from deep is 2nd in the HCAC. Their 17.6 assists per game also lead the conference. Bluffton is currently 4th in the conference from the free throw line, knocking down 104-of-141 for 73.8 percent on charity tosses. Sophomore JUSTIS DOWDY (Van Wert/Lincolnview) is 13-of-18 from the field (72.2 percent) while KEVIN CHRISTIE (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) has doled out 17 assists for the Beavers. Maksvytis and ANDREW HUNTER (Arlington) have 16 helpers apiece.
Bluffton will be trying to reverse a recent trend when the Beavers head to Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday. The Engineers have won seven of the past eight meetings en route to a 12-8 advantage in the all-time series. Rose won both contests last season by a combined six points, including a 79-77 victory at Hulbert Arena in the last meeting. The men will tip off at approximately 3 p.m. following the women's 1 p.m. contest with the Engineers. Bluffton will be off next Wednesday for finals before a 4 p.m. clash with Franklin College back in the Sommer Center next Saturday, Dec. 17.
-BEAVERS-