March 14, 2010

Box Score

Owensboro, Ky. - Grand Valley State and Saint Joseph's played an instant classic in the Midwest Region semifinals on Sunday night (Mar. 14), with the Pumas prevailing by a 78-76 score in overtime. Saint Joseph's tied the score at 66-66 with a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to the extra session, where the Pumas scored on a layup with 1.3 seconds left to pull off the thrilling victory and advance to the Midwest Regionial championship game.

GVSU's season ends with a 22-9 record, as Saint Joseph's improves to 19-11 on the year. The Lakers were the #5 seed in the tournament and the highest remaining seed left, after #6 Quincy defeated #2 Bellarmine in the night's first semifinal game on Sunday night. Saint Joseph's was the last team into the regional as the #8 seed, while the Pumas knocked off #1 Kentucky Wesleyan by a 72-70 score on Saturday night. When Grand Valley State defeated Findlay 68-56 in the quarterfinal game, it set the stage for what ended up being a tremendous semifinal game down the stretch.

The Lakers trailed 11-1 in the opening minutes against Findlay on Saturday night in the quarterfinals, but turned that around to a 7-0 start against Saint Joseph's on Sunday night. All three buckets were products of the fast break, as freshman point guard Breland Hogan scored on a fast break layup, as did sophomore guard Alvin Storrs. Freshman guard Tony Peters drained a three-pointer just 36 seconds later which came off GVSU's transition offense to put the first seven points of the game on the board.

Peters kept up his strong early play by scoring on a reverse layup a minute later and dishing inside to sophomore center Nick West for a slam dunk at the 14:30 mark, giving the Lakers an 11-5 advantage. A jumper from Storrs inside the paint made the score 17-11 and after the Pumas scored, junior forward Toreau Brown scored inside on a pair of buckets from classmate Justin Ringler. Brown slammed home a pass from Ringler and then added a fast break layup (and the ensuing free throw) less than a minute later to up the Laker lead to 22-15 with 8:43 left in the half.

Grand Valley State held a slight lead over the next few minutes, using two free throws from Brown and a nice pull-up jumper from Ringler to push ahead 29-22 at the 4:28 mark. The Lakers looked like they would pull away after getting two free throws from Storrs to lead, 31-24, but Saint Joseph's scored five straight points in less than 10 seconds on a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to make the score, 31-29. GVSU responded with a trifecta from junior K'Len Morris and a fast break bucket from Peters to re-gain a seven-point lead at 36-29 with just under a minute left.

SJC, however, would get the final two buckets of the half, scoring on a jumper from Andrew Helmer and a three-pointer from Austin Peebles at the buzzer to cut the score to 36-34 at halftime. The Lakers shot 46.4 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and made 8-of-9 free throw attempts, while Saint Joseph's shot 42.3 percent from the floor and made 9-of-12 free throws, but connected on just 3-of-11 three-pointers. GVSU owned a 22-12 rebounding advantage, which helped lead to a 22-10 edge in points in the paint.

The Lakers made a strong push to start the second half, just as they did when scoring the first seven points of the first frame. Hogan drained a three-pointer, which was followed by a jumper from freshman center Corey Jones. Then the juniors - Brown and Ringler - made consecutive jump shots to give GVSU its biggest lead up to that point at 45-34 with less than 17 minutes remaining in the game.

Saint Joseph's kept chipping away at the Laker lead, cutting the score to 48-42 before Peters drilled a three-pointer from the left corner to establish a nine-point advantage at 51-42. After a Puma bucket, West scored four straight points on a jumper and two free throws to push back to a 55-44 lead. However, SJC scored six straight points on two shots and a pair of free throws to get back within 55-50 with just over eight minutes left.

Leading 57-54, the Lakers received two free throws and a layup from freshman Nick Carreri off a beautiful feed from Ringler for GVSU's first field goal in more than five minutes of play. Grand Valley State led 61-54 before Saint Joseph's scored seven of the next nine points to get the score to 63-61 with less than three minutes left in the game. Ringler then answered on a reverse layup as the shot clock expired to regain a four-point advantage at 65-61 before SJC's Helmer scored on a layup of his own to get within two points at 65-63 at the 1:59 mark.

On the next few possessions, neither team could find the bottom of the net, as Saint Joseph's missed a good look at a three-pointer, then GVSU turned the ball over out of bounds. On the Pumas' next possession, they were swinging the ball around the perimeter and found Michael Horton in the right corner, but he stepped out of bounds with 10.1 seconds left to give the ball back to Grand Valley State.

Hogan was fouled with 8.8 seconds left and split the two free throws to make the score 66-63. Saint Joseph's brought the ball down, lost it near midcourt, and almost did not get a shot off before Dayvon Sloan lifted a three-pointer that hit the front rim, popped up into the air, and dropped through the net with no time on the clock, tying the game at 66-66.

In the extra session, Sloan continued the scoring with a layup for Saint Joseph's first lead of the entire game, which was answered by a pair of free throws from Ringler. Storrs then drilled a three-pointer from the right corner to put the Lakers ahead, 71-68. SJC's Marcus Jackson then scored four straight points on two free throws and a layup to put the Pumas back on top, 72-71, nearing the two-minute mark. Brown came back for the Lakers and made a pair of freebies, which was quickly answered by a jump shot from Helmer. At this point, Saint Joseph's led 74-73 with 1:40 left in the game.

GVSU tied the score at 74-74 when Hogan split a pair of free throws with 1:23 left. Phillip Collins, who was the hero for the Pumas in their win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday night, made a jumper to put Saint Joseph's back on top, 76-74 with 1:08 remaining. After a Laker offensive board, Ringler was fouled and made both free throws to tie the game at 76-76. On SJC's next possession, Helmer drove to the lane, and dropped a bounce pass to Collins, who was cutting to the hoop. He scored the bucket with 1.3 seconds remaining to give the Pumas a 78-76 lead. Ringler then fired a baseball pass all the way down the court, which Storrs picked up after a deflection, and got up an off-balanced jumper that was off target, giving Saint Joseph's a heartbreaking victory over the Lakers.

It was the first time Grand Valley State lost in overtime this year, as the Lakers were 2-0 heading into the contest. For the game, GVSU shot 46.9 percent from the field, made 5-of-9 three-pointers and connected on 25-of-33 free throw attempts. Saint Joseph's knocked down 47.4 percent of its shots, but were just 6-of-21 from three-point range for a 28.6 percent clip. The Pumas were 18-of-22 from the free throw line and SJC made 5-of-6 field goals in overtime.

Grand Valley State owned a huge 38-23 rebounding advantage, but committed 15 turnovers to just seven for Saint Joseph's. The Pumas held slight edges in points in the paint (36-34) and points off turnovers (12-11), while both teams had 29 points from their benches. GVSU led in second chance points (10-1) and fast break points (10-2).

Four Lakers scored in double figures, led by Ringler's 14 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists, as he made 8-of-10 free throw attempts. Brown nearly totaled a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Peters scored a career-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Storrs added 10 points for the Lakers, while Hogan scored nine points. Three Saint Joseph's players tallied double figures, as Helmer scored a game-high 18 points, while Collins added 16 points and Sloan provided 15 points off the bench.