Second Half Ends Statesmen Campaign
William Penn University Athletics
Clinton–A storied program in recent years, the Penn men’s basketball team concluded a difficult season with another tough loss, this time a 70-67 decision to Ashford in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Quarterfinals Wednesday.
Prior to this year, the sixth-seeded Statesmen (14-16) had posted seven-straight winning seasons and had not lost their first game in the league tournament since 2002-2003. It was also the program’s first losing campaign in the MCC (6-10) since its inaugural year in 2001-2002.
In a season of many near misses, each of the team’s last seven losses were by seven points or less, including five by three or fewer.
Penn dominated the #3 seed Ashford (21-10) in the early going, pulling out to a 23-7 lead with 8:40 left in the first half. The advantage grew to a game-high 18 points in the final minute before the Saints scored four seemingly meaningless points to narrow the margin to 14 at 33-19 at intermission.
Those points unfortunately were just the start of what the home team had in store for the Statesmen the remainder of the night. Ashford was only 2-of-15 from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes, but found its groove after some halftime adjustments. Highlighted by four deep balls, the Saints surpassed their first-half tally in just over six minutes to pull within two at 41-39 with 13:41 still on the clock.
Penn remained on top for several more minutes, extending the edge up to six with 8:17 remaining, but Ashford finally claimed its first lead at 62-59 on another three-pointer (AU finished 7-of-13 from three-point land in the second stanza).
Wiebe Goodyk (So., Oskaloosa, Iowa Central CC) answered right back with the final of his four three-pointers. He finished with 16 points in the loss.
The teams exchanged buckets again before Ashford poured in consecutive buckets to take a team-high four-point lead with 26 seconds left.
Desperately trying to extend his collegiate season one more game, Nick Coffey (Sr., Hinsdale, Ill., Hinsdale Central HS) gave Penn life just nine seconds later with a three-pointer, making the score 68-67. Coffey finished his career with a 15-point performance, highlighted by a trio of trifectas.
The Saints’ Javier Valdez was immediately fouled and cashed in both free throws, forcing the Statesmen to make a shot from the perimeter to tie the game and force overtime.
Coffey got the ball in the right corner, but a tough, leaning attempt went off the mark. Ashford gathered up the loose ball and an outlet pass to Jason Landry should have ended the game, but the Saint player chose to add some emphasis to the win and tried a windmill dunk. His attempt, with about five or so seconds left, was fortunately unsuccessful and the ball bounced hard off the rim, going directly to Coffey just shy of half court.
The senior had time to take a few dribbles before firing up a desperation three at the buzzer, but it would not fall and Ashford, for the second time in five days (also a 61-60 winner last Saturday), escaped with the win.
The Saints now host #7 seed Clarke in Clinton in Friday’s semifinal round. The Crusaders upset #2 Mount Mercy 97-90, which only adds salt to an open wound as Penn would have hosted Clarke in that semifinal game by being the higher seed.
In other MCC Tournament action, #1 Iowa Wesleyan rallied to knock off #8 Viterbo 69-66 and #4 St. Ambrose defeated #5 Grand View 71-56. At one point during the evening, all of the three lowest seeds were in position to win.
Penn held a nominal 45.5%-43.9% edge in shooting, but for just the seventh time this year, the team was outrebounded, losing the edge 37-20. The 20 boards, including just seven in the second half, were by far a season low. It surprisingly only led to a 13-7 advantage in second-chance points for the Saints.
The Statesmen committed just ten turnovers, while forcing Ashford into 13, good for a 14-6 margin in points off turnovers.
Brandon Beasley (Jr., Indianapolis, Ind., Columbus State CC) led all scorers with 17 points and also corralled a team-high six rebounds. He stole a contest-high three passes as well.
Blake Walker (Fr., Smyrna, Ga., Campbell HS) added eight points and six assists (team high).
“This was a tough one to swallow,” Statesmen Head Coach John Henry said. “It is tough enough to lose a game like this, but to have it end the season and the careers of our seniors, it really hurts. This one will sting for a while.”
“We played really well in the first half, but they responded with a great second-half effort and simply appeared to want it more,” Henry added. “We do not get outrebounded like we did tonight and that is probably the most disappointing part of it all. We will evaluate the program during the offseason and hopefully be back fighting for the league title next year.”
The loss ends the collegiate careers of Coffey, Deon Bergeron (Lake Charles, La., Grand Lake HS), Boris Bobic (Sr., Subotica, Serbia, Lakeland CC), and Ryan Wilson (Sr., Ballwin, Mo., Missouri-Kansas City).
