2008 Woodie Awards
Centre College hands men's team double-digit loss
By: Brian Fisher
Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Turnovers plagued the men's basketball team Saturday afternoon as the team dropped its first game this season 78-64 to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Centre College. The Tigers committed 24 turnovers in the conference opener and fell to 4-1 on the season and 0-1 in the SCAC.
"Our post guys are turning it over, our guards are turning it over - it was an all-around problem," said head coach Bill Fenlon. "We were not executing and trusting each other, and we had some carelessness and were forcing too many things."
DePauw jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to start the game, but seven unanswered points by Centre put the home squad up for good as the Tigers attempted to play catch-up for the rest of the day.
"We just weren't tough enough mentally or physically," Fenlon said. "We didn't compete well at every level, and competing means playing really hard and continuously keeping your concentration. I guess the good news is that we can't play any worse."
DePauw trailed by as many as 11 in the first half as the Tigers fell behind 34-23 with 5:02 left in the first half before a 9-2 run pulled the lead to within four. But a pair of three-pointers from Centre's Thomas Britt and Matt Nestheide gave the home squad a 42-32 lead heading into the half.
The DePauw team looked like it came ready to play in the second half as senior Stephen Schott scored the first six points after the break.
"We got the lead back down to four right after the half but couldn't get any closer," said senior forward Brian Oilar. "[Centre's] physical nature made it hard to come back, and we didn't take care of the ball well, which doesn't help."
Centre then responded with a 25-10 run of its own, led by as much as 19 at one point and never let the visitors back in the game.
Freshman guard Steve Lemasters led DePauw in scoring with 17 points on four three-pointers, while Schott added 13 and junior guard Mike Moore chipped in with 12.
"[Lemasters] is a great shooter, and he's supposed to make shots when he's open," Fenlon said. "If we would have shown more patience, we could've got more open shots, but we are really pleased with his progress."
After the loss, the team understands that it will have to make several adjustments before heading to Crawfordsville, Ind., Thursday to take on rival Wabash College.
"We are definitely going to have to work on handling the pressure this week in practice," Oilar said. "Wabash plays similar to Centre, and we need to concentrate on running our offense and taking care of the ball."
"Our post guys are turning it over, our guards are turning it over - it was an all-around problem," said head coach Bill Fenlon. "We were not executing and trusting each other, and we had some carelessness and were forcing too many things."
DePauw jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to start the game, but seven unanswered points by Centre put the home squad up for good as the Tigers attempted to play catch-up for the rest of the day.
"We just weren't tough enough mentally or physically," Fenlon said. "We didn't compete well at every level, and competing means playing really hard and continuously keeping your concentration. I guess the good news is that we can't play any worse."
DePauw trailed by as many as 11 in the first half as the Tigers fell behind 34-23 with 5:02 left in the first half before a 9-2 run pulled the lead to within four. But a pair of three-pointers from Centre's Thomas Britt and Matt Nestheide gave the home squad a 42-32 lead heading into the half.
The DePauw team looked like it came ready to play in the second half as senior Stephen Schott scored the first six points after the break.
"We got the lead back down to four right after the half but couldn't get any closer," said senior forward Brian Oilar. "[Centre's] physical nature made it hard to come back, and we didn't take care of the ball well, which doesn't help."
Centre then responded with a 25-10 run of its own, led by as much as 19 at one point and never let the visitors back in the game.
Freshman guard Steve Lemasters led DePauw in scoring with 17 points on four three-pointers, while Schott added 13 and junior guard Mike Moore chipped in with 12.
"[Lemasters] is a great shooter, and he's supposed to make shots when he's open," Fenlon said. "If we would have shown more patience, we could've got more open shots, but we are really pleased with his progress."
After the loss, the team understands that it will have to make several adjustments before heading to Crawfordsville, Ind., Thursday to take on rival Wabash College.
"We are definitely going to have to work on handling the pressure this week in practice," Oilar said. "Wabash plays similar to Centre, and we need to concentrate on running our offense and taking care of the ball."
Be the first to comment on this story