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02.11.06
- In the final home
game of the season, the Foresters (24-5, 12-3) defeated the Spring
Arbor University Cougars (18-10, 9-5) 80-62 in front of a packed house
there to bid farewell to seniors Steve Snider and Chase Verba. The
victory brought about a first for the men's program, an unblemished
13-0 record at home during the regular season. The convincing
win also avenged HU's earlier season 91-88 loss to the Cougars.
The Foresters had
things working on both ends of the floor as the offense shot 50% or
better in both halves and finished at 54% for the game, while the
defense limited Spring Arbor to just 31 points in each half on 42%
shooting. The Forester defense also clamped down on Micah
Lancaster, holding the sharp-shooting Cougar guard to 2-12 from the
field for five points. HU also did a better job defensively on
Mike Folkert, who knocked down nine treys in their first meeting.
The Foresters held him to 4-10 from behind the arc for the game.
After taking just a
five-point lead into the break, the Foresters emerged from the locker
room with some of their best basketball of the season. A steal
by Alex Kock resulted in a Verba layup to get the Foresters rolling
and a Doug Sheckler layup capped off an 11-0 run to give HU a 47-31
advantage at the 16:25 mark. With the Foresters up 58-40, Spring
Arbor began to mount a comeback. Over a four-minute stretch, the
Cougars out-scored HU 12-2 to cut the deficit back to single digits at
60-52. After trading baskets, Kyle Ganton stretched HU's lead
back to 12 on a 4-point conversion as he was fouled and drilled the
three in the corner with 7:14 left. The play effectively swayed the
momentum back in HU's favor and the Foresters used it to push the lead
to as many as 19 points down the stretch.
Kock's
double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds paced the Forester
offense. Ganton went 7-12 from the field and 5-8 from behind the arc
to finish with 20 points. Sheckler dropped in 15 points and had
four swats for the Foresters, and Verba added 10 points. Dajuan
Jefferson and Mike Folkert led the Cougars with 19 and 18 points
respectively.
Box Score
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