February 10, 2017
BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University men have won four of their last eight games heading into the home stretch. A Monday night victory over Franklin followed by an overtime upset of Transylvania has the Beavers in position to make a run at the Heartland Conference tournament with three games to play.
AUSTIN ROHDE (Shelby) missed his first two free throws against the Pioneers and then knocked down his next 16 en route to 31 points, just two off his career high. He tallied 27 of those counters in the second half and overtime! Sophomore JARED WENTLING (Carey) torched Transy with 25 points on a blistering 10-of-15 from the field. Rohde poured in 26.7 PPG as the Beavers stayed in contention for a berth in the Heartland Conference tournament en route to his second HCAC Player of the Week honor this season.
A pair of conventional three-point plays from Jared Wentling followed by Austin Rohde and JUSTIS DOWDY (Van Wert/Lincolnview) deuces sandwiched around another Wentling bucket had Bluffton large and in charge, up 60-45 with 11:30 to play on Wednesday night. However, the proverbial wheels came off as Defiance scored nine straight points and 30 of the final 40 en route to a stunning 75-70 victory which gave the Jackets a series split this season.
The Beavers will travel to Anderson University for their final road game of the season on Saturday at 4 p.m. Bluffton is on the wrong end of a 52-28 all-time series mark, but the Beavers have won two of the last four meetings, including an overtime victory in the 2014-15 Heartland Conference tournament. AU rode a 16-0 second-half spurt to an 81-76 win in the Sommer Center a month ago on a day in which Rohde pulled within a point of 1,000 career tallies.
Bluffton welcomes Earlham College for the final Wednesday night game of the season in the Sommer Center on February 15. The Beavers have dominated the series recently, winning the past 22 meetings. It took overtime for the streak to continue when Bluffton needed the extra five minutes to defeat Earlham 88-87 back on December 7. The Beavers are a perfect 13-0 against EC since the Quakers joined the Heartland Conference in 2010-11.
Senior Austin Rohde is currently 15th on the all-time scoring list with 1,211 markers. He is 2nd in the HCAC with 20.2 PPG on 154-of-320 shooting from the field (48.1 percent). Rohde is also 6th in the conference in free throw percentage at 86.0 percent (98-114).
Sophomore Jared Wentling is dropping in 14.5 PPG to go along with his team-high 7.5 RPG (2nd in the HCAC). Second in the Heartland with 4.5 assists per game is senior captain TREY ELCHERT(Jackson Center) who has hit 32-of-37 (86.5 percent) from the line and is scoring 7.2 PPG.
Senior ADAM HOPKINS (Wellington/Keystone) and sophomore Justis Dowdy have given the Beavers solid minutes off the bench in the post, combining for 82-of-135 from the field (60.7 FG percentage). Making the most of his opportunity since joining the starting lineup is junior KEVIN CHRISTIE (Miamisburg/Bishop Fenwick) who has netted at least eight counters in 12 of the last 14 games, including a career-high 15 in last Monday's win over Franklin.
Bluffton is 4th in the Heartland Conference in scoring defense at 73.7 PPG and the Beavers 10.5 turnovers per game is 2nd in the HCAC. Their 15.3 assists per game top the conference. Bluffton is currently 4th in the HCAC from the free throw line, knocking down 292-of-392 for 74.5 percent on charity tosses.
-BEAVERS-