SPRING ARBOR, MI - Spring Arbor's men's basketball team dug
themselves too deep of a hole in the first half of their game with the visiting
St. Francis Cougars. Despite an incredible
and valiant comeback, there just wasn't enough time left as Spring Arbor came
up just short falling to St. Francis 70-68.
After the first 10 minutes of the game, the cold shooting
Cougars were down by nine points and it wasn't going to get any better as
Spring Arbor just couldn't get anything to fall and Saint Francis seemed like
they couldn't miss. With four minutes
left in the first half, the home Cougars were down 18 points (16-34).
Spring Arbor's leading scorer, Chris Bellamy would hit his
first of eight shots, a 3-pointer, with just 11 seconds left before the break
to cut the deficit to 15 points as the Cougars would head to the locker room
down 23-38 at the half.
It was simply poor shooting that was keeping Spring Arbor
from staying with Saint Francis as the turnovers, and rebounds were fairly
even. The Cougars from Spring Arbor were
shooting only 30% (9/30) from the field, while the Cougars from Saint Francis
were clipping along at 48% (13/27).
Believe it or not, but after the break it didn't get and
better for Spring Arbor and with 9:33 left on the clock, Spring Arbor was still
down 19 points (44-63) and it looked as if the game was getting out of hand.
But Rob Hogans had other plans in mind as he and Caleb Byers
hooked up to score 13 of Spring Arbor's next 16 points and sparked a Spring
Arbor run that would eventually see the Cougars pull to within one point with
45 seconds remaining. Byers hit two
consecutive 3-pointers and Hogans hit another as Spring Arbor would out-score
Saint Francis 24-6 over the next nine minutes.
What hurt the Cougars at the end of the game after Bellamy
hit a field goal to cut Saint Francis' lead to one was that Saint Francis had
only been called for four fouls in the second half. What that meant for the visitors was that
after Saint Francis was fouled and converted one of two free throws for a two
point lead with 10 seconds remaining in the game was that they could foul
Spring Arbor two times without sending the Cougars to the free throw line and
that would eat up five of the 10 precious seconds on the clock.
Head Coach Ryan Cottingham drew up a play to get the ball
into Rob Hogans hands at the end of the game and a slight bobble and aggressive
Saint Francis defense didn't allow Hogans to get off a clean shot as time
expired and once again, Spring Arbor is tied for 2nd place with five
other teams in the MCC.
"Hogans was brilliant tonight," said Cottingham. "He is so explosive offensively and was key
to bringing us back into this game."
The Cougars fall to
15-8 and 6-5 in the MCC along with Saint Francis with the exact same
record. There are four other teams tied
with Spring Arbor at 6-5 in the conference.
Despite the loss, Spring Arbor is still only two games behind Grace
College who also lost tonight.
The Cougars are back in action on Saturday as they travel to
Indianapolis to play Marian College at 3:00
