The UMD men's basketball team defeated Point Loma 89-85 on Friday in its first game of the season to require overtime. The Bulldogs kicked off the inaugural Small College Basketball Champions Classic with a bang and look to go perfect in regular-season tournament play tomorrow against Ferris State.
What a start it was for
Jack Middleton- the senior guard put up eleven of the Bulldogs' first 12 points. It's odd for something like that to happen. It'd be even more bizarre if it happened for both teams on the same night. Enter Point Loma's Tobin Karlberg. This senior guard had 12 of his team's first 15 points in his own right, which was enough to leave the Sea Lions up 15-12 with 13:37 to go in the first half. After that score, the gamed opened up a bit more, getting others involved. What resulted was a contest that was just as tight-knit as it had been when it was mano-a-mano earlier. By the time the score was 28-28 with 6:40 left to play in the frame, the matchup had been tied seven times and was subject to five lead changes. Never had one squad led by more than four.
The Bulldogs then decided to change things a little bit.
All of the sudden, four hard-earned
Charlie Katona points in the paint and a
Joshua Strong three-ball had given UMD its biggest lead of the night at 35-28 with 4:20 remaining in the half. The Sea Lions would keep in the fight, but they couldn't draw within any less than five points of the Bulldogs before halftime finally struck. The midway score read 39-34 UMD.
Middleton had competition for the role of team's leading point-getter heading into the half, with he and Strong each having 11. They both did it pretty efficiently, too, Middleton going 3-5 from the field and Strong going a cool 4-5, including going 3-3 from deep.
After a back-and-fourth affair in the first half, the Bulldogs ruled supreme over the second frame for most of its duration. The Sea Lions had gotten within four points of tying things again a few times before the midway mark of the half, but the Bulldogs crossed over that plateau with a 62-50 lead. They'd led by as much as 14. Even with just 5:46 to go, UMD still held control of the game by double-figures at a score of 66-56.
Alas, nobody ever told Point Loma to stop battling.
It took a little over two minutes for the Sea Lions to cut their deficit in half, trailing just 68-63 with 3:37 left to go. As if it would be anyone else in a moment like this, Point Loma standout Kyle Anderson then drew a foul shooting from beyond the arc and sank all three of his subsequent free-throws. 68-66 UMD with 2:55 to go.
With Middleton at the line and just a minute-thirty remaining to hold on to a three-point advantage, things looked pretty good for the Bulldogs. The outlook was even clearer when Middleton drained both attempts to make it a two-possession game. As they say, looks aren't everything.
A Luke Haupt two-pointer brought the Sea Lions back to within a score. Haupt when then put in some work on the other side of the floor by grabbing a defensive board to allow his team to call a quick timeout with 13 seconds remaining. What followed was déjà vu in its most unfortunate form. Anderson was fouled- again. While shooting- again. And it was a three- again.
As Anderson drained the last of his free throws to go perfect from the line, The Bulldogs' lead officially faded away. There'd be a late buzzer-beater effort by
Drew Blair to steal the game for UMD regardless, but that effort came up empty.
It was only natural that the game with an 8 p.m. tip-off would be the one to go to O.T.
No skin off of the Bulldogs' backs, though- they came into the extra frame red-hot. UMD snagged six quick unanswered points to open the frame and give the Bulldogs a 78-72 lead with 3:25 remaining. UMD's overtime hold grew to as much as nine at scores of 83-74 and 84-75, the latter occurring with just 1:48 left on the clock.
Still, the Sea Lions simply wouldn't go away. Fast forward a little less than a minute, and it was again a one-shot contest at 84-81. Brian Goracke for three- got it. Luckily,
Charlie Katona had scored a buffer free throw, making the score 85-84 with twelve ticks left.
After Blair sunk a pair of free-throws to give his team a three-point edge, the Bulldogs were able to get crafty. They fouled Point Loma with just four seconds left to prevent them the chance of getting up a three-ball. After one free-throw didn't fall for Shamrock Campbell, UMD was really in business. They'd get fouled themselves at a score of 87-85 to be able to put a stamp on the contest with two more Blair free throws to win 89-85.
Aaaaaaaaand exhale.
WORDS FROM WIECK:
When you book a program like Point Loma, you expect a battle, and the Bulldogs sure weren't stiffed of one. Battles call for big-time performers, and luckily, UMD didn't have to go without these, either.
Take Blair, for example. The redshirt-senior didn't have the greatest of shooting nights, but what he did bring to the table were big performances in areas crucial to close contests like this: free-throw making and rebounding. Blair had 13 boards, and if you took just his 11 made free throws out of his team-leading 23 points, that would've been enough for him to have hit his double-double. In a game that was perhaps destined to be a war in the paint, Blair was a standout soldier. Really, though, UMD head coach
Justin Wieck was happy with everyone's efforts to force the issue offensively.
"With (Point Loma's) style of defense, you are almost forced to get downhill and get to the paint," Wieck said. "Drew and a lot of our guys did a great job of that tonight. We generated 36 FT attempts."
Then there's a performance like Strong's.
Strong wasn't a primary rebounder on this night, and he only went to the line once. What he did do was make just about every single basket he made from the field, closing the night 6-7 with 17 points. That seems to be a trend with Strong this year- if he's called upon to do something, he's probably going to do it well. Wieck gave Strong kudos for his continued ability to do just that throughout the young season.
"(Strong) has really improved from last season," Wieck said. "He is a sixth starter for us. He has a great change of pace and can really knock down shots right now. He brings a great energy to our team, and he's made a huge impact on our success so far."
Both Blair and Strong likely would have preferred to put the game on ice before it reached overtime, but if you're going to head into an extra frame, you might as well tackle it with full force. That's exactly what the Bulldogs did.
UMD shot 3-5 from the field in OT, including a perfect 2-2 from beyond the arc. They also shot twelve more free throws and parlayed those into nine additional points.
Wieck liked what he saw in this showing, but given the makeup of his team, it didn't surprise him.
"I was proud of how our guys responded," Wieck said. "We had the game won in regulation but kind of gave it away. Our guys had a great demeanor coming out for overtime. That's what old and experienced teams are supposed to do."
