FORT WAYNE, IN ?" Matt Howe stepped up in a very big way
Tuesday night scoring 31 points and grabbing seven boards as Spring Arbor
University defeated the University of Saint Francis 84-72 on the road in Fort
Wayne, IN.
The Cougars big man was 11 of 18 from the field and hit 9 of
11 free throws in 36 minutes of play.
Chris Bellamy continued his rock solid play pouring in 21
points and hauling down a game high 11 rebounds. Bellamy is averaging 18.4 points per game and
8.1 rebounds per contest on the year.
Spring Arbor never trailed in the game as Howe started the game's
scoring a minute and twenty seconds into the game and led the entire way until
the final buzzer. Although the Cougars
built a 15 point lead with 8:48 to go in the first half, St. Francis cut into
the lead to only trail the Cougars by two points at the intermission.
Spring Arbor would methodically rebuild the lead coming out
of the half to double digits and maintain the lead to finish out the game.
Rob Hogans chipped in 12 points in the game and Caleb Byers
was the fourth Cougar to score in double digits adding 10 points.
As a team, the Cougars were 26 of 29 from the charity stripe
hitting 89.7% for the game to improve upon the season average of 78.9%
(146-185). The Cougars have historically
been one of the NAIA's best free throw shooting teams.
Spring Arbor improves to 6-3 on the year and 1-1 in MCC play
while St. Francis drops to 5-4 and 1-1.
The Cougars will return home for a Saturday match-up with
Marian University at 3:00.
