Bethel Grounds Grace
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Photo By Gary Nieter, Times-Union
One mistake is all it really took against Grace Tuesday at Lancer Gym.
The Lancers, who led by one at halftime, 36-35, were trailing the Pilots 57-56 with just over 9 1/2 minutes left in the game when Bethel's Jeff Clay was fouled by Grace's Brent Damer. Clay's layup was good, and he had a free throw coming.
Damer got the ball after the basket and slammed it to the court in frustration. The ball got away from him, and the official near the play called a technical. With the personal and the technical, Damer went to the bench with five fouls. Clay went to the free throw line and made three free throws to give Bethel a 62-56 lead.
It was the opening the Pilots needed. Sensing the Lancers were down emotionally from the exchange, the Pilots went on a 18-4 run and never looked back in their 82-67 Mid-Central Conference win.
Bethel is now 20-3 overall and 6-1 in the MCC. Grace falls to 16-8 and 3-4.
"I thought the technical was big," Bethel coach Mike Lightfoot said. "It was anybody's game at that point. It was a big momentum swing. It was good of our kids to take advantage of that situation. From that point on, we even picked things up more defensively."
It was a play that should have never happened, but unfortunately did for the Lancers.
"The technical was a very costly situation," Grace coach Jim Kessler said. "We came out of that down six. We were never quite able to recover. You don't want to get behind Bethel late."
Grace led at halftime in part behind the play of Andy Schmidt and Bert McLaughlin, who combined to score 24 of the Lancers' 36 points at the break. But the Pilots put the claps on both players and allowed them only seven combined points in the second half as Bethel outscored Grace 47-31 in the second stanza.
"Grace played very well in the first half," Lightfoot said. "Schmidt and McLaughlin controlled the game. We just allowed Schmidt to do too many things in the first half. In the second half, we were able to contain him a little bit more. We just had to do a better job of getting through their screens and getting on them and making them put the ball on the floor. I thought in the second half we did that and did a better job of playing halfcourt defense. We didn't give them easy looks at the basket."
Grace did a nice job itself on defense, holding Bethel to 15 points below its season average of 97 points a game. The Lancers, especially Schmidt, held MCC leading scorer Rico Swanson to 12 points, 14 points under his average.
"Andy played more as our point guard in the second half," Kessler said. "Maybe we could have used him more as a 2-guard. We did a good job against Swanson. It took a lot out of Andy to guard Swanson."
Swanson had a tough defensive assignment of his own, chasing McLaughlin through the Grace picks all night long.
"Especially in the first half, they did a great job on Rico," Lightfoot said. "He had a tough assignment in guarding McLaughlin. He was putting a lot of energy on defense. While that was going on, we had to have other people step up."
Stepping up were Clay and Dave Haverstack, who led Bethel with 21 points each. Ryan Bales added 17.
"Rico has carried us through the first half of the conference season," Lightfoot said. "We want other people to be able to contribute."
Kessler said that Bethel is definitely deserving of its No. 1 ranking.
"That tempo does not favor them," Kessler said of the first half. "I am sure he (Lightfoot) wanted create possession. He came out in the second half and gambled and trapped a lot, and it worked. We knew what to expect from Bethel. They are very strong, and they created a lot of possessions late in the game. Most coaches think that they are the best in the country because that is how they have been ranked."
But Kessler was still happy with the way his team played, especially on the defensive end.
"Bethel is a fine offensive team," Kessler said. "We didn't do a good job of containing some of their offensive runs.
"Aside of five-minute stretches here and there in the game, I was pleased with our men," he said. "I can't fault them. They battled. We just ran out of people. We didn't have them in the first place, and then we lose one to an ankle injury (Brian Gornik) and one to an eye (Ben Elliott). That made us shallow. It created mismatches."
Grace hosts Marian College Saturday. [[In-content Ad]]
Photo By Gary Nieter, Times-Union
One mistake is all it really took against Grace Tuesday at Lancer Gym.
The Lancers, who led by one at halftime, 36-35, were trailing the Pilots 57-56 with just over 9 1/2 minutes left in the game when Bethel's Jeff Clay was fouled by Grace's Brent Damer. Clay's layup was good, and he had a free throw coming.
Damer got the ball after the basket and slammed it to the court in frustration. The ball got away from him, and the official near the play called a technical. With the personal and the technical, Damer went to the bench with five fouls. Clay went to the free throw line and made three free throws to give Bethel a 62-56 lead.
It was the opening the Pilots needed. Sensing the Lancers were down emotionally from the exchange, the Pilots went on a 18-4 run and never looked back in their 82-67 Mid-Central Conference win.
Bethel is now 20-3 overall and 6-1 in the MCC. Grace falls to 16-8 and 3-4.
"I thought the technical was big," Bethel coach Mike Lightfoot said. "It was anybody's game at that point. It was a big momentum swing. It was good of our kids to take advantage of that situation. From that point on, we even picked things up more defensively."
It was a play that should have never happened, but unfortunately did for the Lancers.
"The technical was a very costly situation," Grace coach Jim Kessler said. "We came out of that down six. We were never quite able to recover. You don't want to get behind Bethel late."
Grace led at halftime in part behind the play of Andy Schmidt and Bert McLaughlin, who combined to score 24 of the Lancers' 36 points at the break. But the Pilots put the claps on both players and allowed them only seven combined points in the second half as Bethel outscored Grace 47-31 in the second stanza.
"Grace played very well in the first half," Lightfoot said. "Schmidt and McLaughlin controlled the game. We just allowed Schmidt to do too many things in the first half. In the second half, we were able to contain him a little bit more. We just had to do a better job of getting through their screens and getting on them and making them put the ball on the floor. I thought in the second half we did that and did a better job of playing halfcourt defense. We didn't give them easy looks at the basket."
Grace did a nice job itself on defense, holding Bethel to 15 points below its season average of 97 points a game. The Lancers, especially Schmidt, held MCC leading scorer Rico Swanson to 12 points, 14 points under his average.
"Andy played more as our point guard in the second half," Kessler said. "Maybe we could have used him more as a 2-guard. We did a good job against Swanson. It took a lot out of Andy to guard Swanson."
Swanson had a tough defensive assignment of his own, chasing McLaughlin through the Grace picks all night long.
"Especially in the first half, they did a great job on Rico," Lightfoot said. "He had a tough assignment in guarding McLaughlin. He was putting a lot of energy on defense. While that was going on, we had to have other people step up."
Stepping up were Clay and Dave Haverstack, who led Bethel with 21 points each. Ryan Bales added 17.
"Rico has carried us through the first half of the conference season," Lightfoot said. "We want other people to be able to contribute."
Kessler said that Bethel is definitely deserving of its No. 1 ranking.
"That tempo does not favor them," Kessler said of the first half. "I am sure he (Lightfoot) wanted create possession. He came out in the second half and gambled and trapped a lot, and it worked. We knew what to expect from Bethel. They are very strong, and they created a lot of possessions late in the game. Most coaches think that they are the best in the country because that is how they have been ranked."
But Kessler was still happy with the way his team played, especially on the defensive end.
"Bethel is a fine offensive team," Kessler said. "We didn't do a good job of containing some of their offensive runs.
"Aside of five-minute stretches here and there in the game, I was pleased with our men," he said. "I can't fault them. They battled. We just ran out of people. We didn't have them in the first place, and then we lose one to an ankle injury (Brian Gornik) and one to an eye (Ben Elliott). That made us shallow. It created mismatches."
Grace hosts Marian College Saturday. [[In-content Ad]]