GWU Loses Third Straight, Drops 61-57 Decision To High Point At Home
February 14, 2009 | Men's Basketball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Needing a win and facing a High
Point team with just three wins in Big South play, Gardner-Webb
struggled mightily in a deflating, 61-57, loss on its home court
Saturday.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (11-14, 7-8 Big South) lost their third in a
row and, instead of pulling closer to the top half of the league
standings, fell to sixth on the conference ladder – and would
be the fifth seed in the conference tournament if the season ended
Saturday. GWU also finds itself dangerously close to Winthrop,
Coastal Carolina and High Point – three teams now directly
behind in the league race.
Gardner-Webb fell behind by as many as eight points in a sloppy
first half that saw the ‘Dogs dish off just three assists to
11 turnovers – which allowed High Point 18 easy markers in
building a 29-23 edge at intermission. GWU made just seven shots in
the first 20 minutes, and was just 7-of-14 at the free throw line
to negate any potential advantage of going to the bonus early.
The ‘Dogs came out firing more efficiently to start the second
half, taking a 36-35 lead at the 15:15 mark on two Brandon Jackson
free throws. That lead would bulge to five points on a layup by
Jonathan Moore with 13:29 to play, but High Point (8-17, 4-11 Big
South) would whittle the lead back down and eventually tie on a
three-point play by Nick Barbour with 9:29 left.
GWU regained the lead and pushed its edge back to five with 6:49
left on a three-pointer by Aaron Linn, but Barbour would key what
wound up a decisive 12-4 run by High Point that put the guests up
56-52 with 1:19 left.
The Runnin' Bulldogs caught enough breaks in the final minute to
tie or win, however. High Point missed three of its four free
throws within a 24-second stretch to keep its lead at four, and
Linn drained a three with 17 seconds left to make the score
57-56.
Jacob Iati then missed the second of two free throws on the other
end, leaving the Panthers up just 58-56 with 12 seconds left –
and GWU made a push to tie. Grayson Flittner, making his first
appearance in four games, but still noticeably hobbled, drove the
lane and was fouled with 4.2 seconds left – but missed the
second of two free throws to leave GWU down one.
Joseph Appiah made the second of two free throw chances with 2.1
seconds left but, after a timeout, C.J. Hailey's baseball pass was
tipped and Barbour recovered the carom with 0.7 seconds left and
was fouled. The freshman sank both free throws for the final
margin.
Barbour finished with a game-high 28 points to pace High Point,
which played its third game in a row without All-Big South guard
Eugene Harris (12.3 ppg). The Panthers shot just 39.2 percent for
the game, but made an efficient 5-of-11 from long distance, with
Barbour making 4-of-9 from that range. Steadman Short, another
first year player, added 14 points and a team-high seven
boards.
The Panthers hit just 55.2 percent from the free throw line
(16-of-29) and were outrebounded 39-32. The High Point win boiled
down to conversion of Gardner-Webb miscues, however, as the
Panthers scored 33 points off of 20 costly Bulldog turnovers.
Linn led Gardner-Webb with 21 points, making 9-of-16 shots in 24
minutes before fouling out with 0.7 seconds left. No other GWU
player touched double digits. Joshua Henley had six points and 14
rebounds in the paint, Auryn MacMillan scored eight and Hailey
scored six. Flittner, who started, was out of rhythm after missing
over two weeks of action – missing all seven of his field goal
attempts and making just 2-of-4 from the charity stripe in 25
minutes.
GWU was also ice cold from the floor, making just 17-of-44 shots
(38.6 percent) and 5-of-22 three-pointers (22.7 percent). The
‘Dogs had a chance to own a sizeable edge at the free throw
line, but made just 18 of their 31 attempts.
Gardner-Webb must now face a hungry Winthrop team on Wednesday
night in Paul Porter Arena. The Eagles (7-18, 6-9 Big South) beat
Presbyterian 50-47 on Saturday afternoon, and sit just a game
behind GWU in the fight for seeding in the upcoming Advance Auto
Parts Big South Conference Tournament. Tip for Wednesday's contest
is set for 7 pm ET.
