| 11.26.05
- The NAIA Division I
16th-ranked Cougars of St. Xavier University (7-2) survived an upset
bid by the Division II 7th-ranked Foresters with the 87-82 win.
St. Xavier led most of the first half and took its largest lead on a
3-point bucket by Jason Genova that put the Cougars up 42-30 with 2:46
left in the period. Sensing that the game was slipping away, the
Foresters turned up the heat defensively and forced St. Xavier into
three consecutive turnovers. HU capitalized on the miscues and
finished the half with a 10-0 run to close the gap to 42-40 at the
break.
The Cougars regained a little
momentum to start the second half out-scoring HU 7-2 over the first
2:30, but again the Forester's defense came up big. Over the
next four minutes, HU drew three charges on Adam Gregoriou and forced
him into a fourth turnover, allowing the Foresters to mount a
comeback. A 54-51 HU lead mushroomed into a 63-54 advantage when
Alex Kock, Ty Riddle, and Kyle Benge each drained a long bomb on three
successive possessions.
But St. Xavier
still had a run left. The Cougars turned the tables on HU
forcing four turnovers in eight possessions to knot the score at 67-67
with 5:46 to play. Two free throws by SXU's Dan Bolger gave the
Cougars a 77-75 lead with 2:24 left, forcing the Foresters to play
catch-up down the stretch. Benge got HU back within two at 84-82
with two charity tosses with :18 left on the clock. Kock fouled
Bolger as the Cougars inbounded the ball. Bolger hit the first
but missed the second to open the door for HU. Kock rebounded
the miss and got the ball to Kyle Ganton. With six seconds
remaining, Ganton's three to tie was off the mark and St. Xavier's
Jason Genova grabbed the rebound. HU fouled Genova who knocked
down both shots to seal the win.
Kock led all
scorers in the game with 30 points on 11-18 shooting, including 6-11
from behind the arc and 2-3 from the line. Ganton was the only
other Forester to reach double figures with 16. Genova paced the
Cougars with 28 points, including 8-11 from downtown. HU hit
three more field goals than St. Xavier in the game, but the Cougars
went 20-25 from the line as compared to 7-9 for HU. The loss
drops the Foresters to 8-2 on the season.
In Friday night's
game, the Foresters (8-1) put on a shooting clinic to get the 84-75
win over Olivet Nazarene University (3-5). In the first half, HU
had no trouble finding the bottom of the net, shooting 61.5% (16-26)
from the field, 66.7% (6-9) from 3-point range and 5-5 from the line
to take a 43-38 lead to the locker room. In the second half, the
Foresters missed just eight field goal attempts, bumping up their
field goal percentage to 65.3% and they went 10-11 at the line to earn
the victory. Alex Kock posted a double-double in the game with
21 points and 10 rebounds to lead HU. Coming off the bench, Kyle
Benge and Kyle Ganton added 18 and 15 points respectively. Steve
Snider had 13 and Chase Verba finished with 10. ONU's Stan
Chrismark led the Tigers with 15 points.
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