SPRING ARBOR, MI - A win is a win, and Head Coach Ryan
Cottingham will take this one and run.
It's not very often that you can get away with shooting 35% from the
field and walk away with the win, but Spring Arbor University did just that
defeating Taylor University 58-48 at home.
Senior Willie Pickvet scored the game's first 7 points as
the Cougars held Taylor scoreless for the first 5:48 of the game. Matt Howe grabbed an offensive rebound and
successful put-back for a 9-2 Spring Arbor lead. Pickvet would finish the game with 19 points
and a game high 9 rebounds.
The shooting on Bockwitz court turned as cold the weather
outside before the halftime break with Spring Arbor shooting 25.8% (8-31) and
Taylor hitting 26.1% (6-23) which translated to a Spring Arbor 18-13 lead.
Taylor opened the second half cutting Spring Arbor's lead to
two points and then DJ Baisden started taking over. Baisden scored 16 of his 19 points in the
second half, in fact, Baisden scored 12 points in the first 7:50 to start the
second half to give the Cougars a 15 point lead (36-21).
The Trojans from Taylor kept scratching their way back and
cut the Cougar lead to six points (43-37) with 6:19 to go in the game. Then it was Sophomore Chris Bellamy's opportunity
to turn back Taylor's attempt at a come from behind win. Bellamy scored seven of the Cougar's last 9
points to squash the hopes of the Trojan faithful.
Bellamy turned in, yet again, another solid, workman-like
performance scoring 14 points and hauling down 8 rebounds.
Spring Arbor entered the game as the number one free throw shooting
team in the NAIA DII at 78.5%, Taylor University was 3rd nationally
at 76.8%. Staying true to form, the
Cougars were 11 of 11 from the line to bolster their lead over Taylor which
went 10 of 14 (71.4%).
Spring Arbor will head to Bethel College on Saturday for a
3:00 tip before coming back home for the men's final home game of the regular season
on Tuesday, February 8 against MCC Leading Indiana Wesleyan.
