Bison Surge In Second Half Behind Crace, Seeber, and Tatum To Edge Colonels, 74-66
ALLENTOWN, PA–On Friday afternoon, GMC Hoops made the long trek to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania to see one of the two opening round game’s on the men’s side of the Scotty Wood Tournament. Today marked the second year in a row that the site has covered this tournament. Last year, William Paterson defeated Moravian handily as two players from the GMC, Tim Lucas (Old Bridge) and Alec Mayo (East Brunswick) played in the contest for WPUNJ and Moravian respectively. Today’s game again features two players from the GMC that have moved on to the college level. Both are on the same team as Steve Blish (Monroe) and Craig Thomas (Cardinal McCarrick) are teammates on the Wilkes University Colonels squad. Today the Colonels are taking on Gallaudet University.
Blish is a sophomore at Wilkes pursuing a Nursing degree while Thomas is a freshman at the school pursuing a Computer Science degree. Thomas recently earned the GMC Hoops Scholar Athlete Award for the 2009-2010 season. Thomas helped lead the Eagles to two straight Non-Public B South Finals appearances were they lost both times to Trenton Catholic. He was also a member of two GMCT Final Four teams at McCarrick including the school’s last conference title in 2008. Last year, the Eagles made it to the GMCT Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Blish helped lead Monroe to its second ever GMCT Final Four, and the first of two straight such appearances back in the 2008-09 season. The then fifth seeded Falcons would lose to eventual champion, Piscataway in the 2009 semis after knocking off GMC White Division rival, Colonia in the quarterfinal round.
Both Blish and Thomas were three year varsity players at their high schools. Blish ended his career with 1,030 points at Monroe. Wilkes University is located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania near Scranton. It is a Division III school along with the other teams that are competing in this tournament. Galludet’s nickname is the Bison, and are located in Washington D.C. Wilkes competes in the Freedom Conference, and went 13-12 last season including a 4-10 record in conference play. Two of those victories were over FDU-Florham. Gallaudet University plays in the North Eastern Athletic Conference, and went 5-19 last season including an 0-16 mark in conference play. The Colonels have six players from the Garden State while the Bison has none. Chris DeRojas led Wilkes last with 12.3 points per game, 74 assists, and 41 three pointers while Tony Tatum led Gallaudet with 11.5 points per game, and 18 blocked shots.
It appeared that Wilkes was going to win this one easily. Despite several rallies by Gallaudet in the first half, the Colonels took a 17 point lead into the locker room at halftime. Then, after a 7-4 run by the Bison to start the second half, Wilkes got two field goals to take a 51-33 lead with 15:30 left. However, Gallaudet stormed back with a 31-3 rampage over the next 8:21 to take a 64-54 lead with 7:09 to play. The Colonels would never recover from that despite getting to within five points and four points on several occasions down the stretch, and the Bison came away with the 74-66 victory. According to the article from GoWilkesU.com, Gallaudet was 17 of 32 from the floor for 53 percent in the second half including 8 of 14 from three point range. Layton Seeber lead all scorers with a game high 24 points while Tony Tatum and Tyler Crace each chipped in with 16.
Kendall Hinze led Wilkes with a double double of 20 points and 12 rebounds. Chris DeRojas contributed with 13 points and 8 boards while Matt Mullins chipped in with 10, and Paul Huch added 9 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. For the game, Wilkes shot 26 of 64 from the floor for 41 percent while Gallaudet shot 28 of 61 for 46 percent. The Colonels struggled from long distance going 1 of 13 while the Bison shot 12 of 30. Gallaudet outscored Wilkes by a margin of 36-3 in points scored from beyond the arc. Wilkes fared better at the line going 13 of 17 at the charity stripe, but was only 2 of 4 in the second half while Gallaudet made 6 of 8 from the line for the game with all of the attempts coming in the second half. Wilkes outrebounded Gallaudet by a margin of 41-32 including a 13-5 advantage on the offensive boards. The Bison won the turnover battle (18-19), had more assists (17-16), blocks (4-2), and steals (12-9). The Colonels committed fewer fouls (12-16).
Returning to the individual stats front, Seeber was 8 of 15 overall from the floor for Gallaudet including 4 of 9 from beyond the arc while going a perfect 4 of 4 from the line. Tatum went 6 of 13 from the floor including 2 of 3 from downtown while also grabbing six rebounds and blocking a shot. Seeber also added 4 assists, 3 blocks, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Crace was 6 of 8 from the floor including a scorching 4 of 5 from long range while three rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes of play. For Wilkes, Hinze was 9 of 13 from the field and 2 of 3 from the foul line. He also had three assists and three steals. DeRojas had four field goals including a three, and was a perfect 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. DeRojas also handed out an assist in 35 minutes of play. Huch made 4 field goals, and also collected 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. See the complete box score of the game courtesy of Wilkes University.
The Colonels went to work early, and winning the opening tip, and then proceeded to head down the court for a layup, and a 2-0 lead. Wilkes, which scored on each of its first four possessions (4 of 4 FG), scored again with a layup for a 4-0 lead. The Colonels then added two more layups for a 8-0 lead as Gallaudet called for time at the 18:34 mark of the first half. Following the timeout, the Bison rallied with five unanswered points including a layup at the 17:34 mark, and a three pointer to pull within 8-5. Wilkes then made two foul shots at the 16:07 mark, and one of two from the charity stripe at the 15:07 mark to go up 11-5. Tony Tatum then got Gallaudet going with a layup off an alleyoop pass to close the gap to 11-7. The Colonels then went to the free throw line again at the 14:34 mark, and swished another two for a 13-7 lead. Layton Seeber then connected on a three pointer from the right wing for a 13-10 Wilkes lead. The Bison then closed the gap to one as they capped the 7-0 run with a layup for a 13-12 score before the Colonels ended a three minute scoring drought with a layup for a 15-12 lead.
The layup underneath sparked a 8-2 burst that included a layup while being fouled by a Gallaudet player, but the bonus free throw was missed, and the score stood at 21-14 with nine minutes to go in the half. Wilkes added two more scores for a 12-2 run, and a 25-14 lead before Gallaudet answered with a three pointer to close the gap to 25-17 with eight minutes to go in the half. After a Wilkes score, Tatum struck again with a three pointer to pull his team within seven at 27-20 at the 6:17 mark. The Colonels kept the Bison at arm’s length though with an 8-2 run over the next two plus minutes to take a 35-22 advantage before Tatum handed out an assist on a layup, and then Gallaudet got a steal that was converted into points on a jumper for a 35-26 score as Wilkes called for a full timeout with under four minutes to play in the first half.
Following the timeout, the Colonels scored six unanswered points including a layup at the 1:45 mark, and a drive for a layup at the 1:28 mark for a 41-26 lead as Gallaudet called for time. Wilkes then added another score with under a minute to go to end the half with an 8-0 spurt for a 43-26 lead. Thomas and Blish did get in with 30 seconds to go in the first half. The second half started out with Layton Seeber going to town with all seven of Gallaudet’s points including a jumper, a baseline drive for a layup, and a three pointer to cut the deficit to 47-33 before Wilkes called for time at the 17:45 mark. The Colonels did get their four points off of offensive rebounds though. Following the stoppage, Wilkes got on the scoreboard with a basket for a 49-33 lead with 17:29 to go in the game. Wilkes then added another score for a 51-33 advantage with 15:30 remaining.
Gallaudet wouldn’t go away though with a layup by Brandon McMillan, a layup by Tyler Crace off an assist by Tatum, and then a three pointer by Crace off a pass to the right wing by Seeber to pull within 51-40 before calling timeout to preserve possession at the 13:17 mark. Out of the timeout, the Bison set up a play for Seeber, who drained a three from the left side at the 13:08 mark for a 51-43 Wilkes lead. Gallaudet continued to climb back into the game on a jumper by Seeber, and a three by McMillan to close the gap to 53-48 as the Colonels called for time at the 11:38 mark. Following the stoppage, Crace hit another three from the left wing, and scored a fast break layup at the 10:22 mark to tie the game at 53-53. Tatum then gave the Bison its first lead of the game at 55-53 with another layup at the 9:24 mark. The Bison onslaught would continue.
Following a lane violation on the first free throw, and a make on the second by Wilkes with about nine minutes to go in the game, Crace struck for a three from the left side, and Jocus Houston followed with another from the right wing for a 61-54 lead as the Colonels called for time with 8:14 to play. Crace then gave the Bison a ten point lead on another three at the 7:09 mark. Up to this point, Wilkes had been outscored 31-3 in a span of 8:21. The Colonels then added a free throw to pull within single digits, but were unable to score down low on a subsequent possession as Tatum came up with a monster block. Both teams then exchanged turnovers before the Bison got the ball, and called for time at the 5:05 mark with the score still 64-55. On the ropes, Wilkes fought back with a layup at the 4:30 mark, and a put back at the 3:53 mark to pull within five again at 64-59. The Colonels then drew an offensive charge on Tatum at the 3:38 mark.
The Bison wouldn’t let the Colonels get any closer as Tatum scored a layup with 2:48 to go, and Seeber followed with a pull-up jumper from the right side to give Gallaudet a 68-59 lead with 2:03 remaining. Wilkes continued to put up a good fight with a layup down low at the 1:51 mark, and then a three pointer by DeRojas from the left wing at the 1:30 remaining. The Colonels forced the Bison to go to the line with about a minute left, and they went 0 of 2 from the charity stripe, but Wilkes couldn’t take advantage with a backcourt violation with 46.4 seconds to go. After Gallaudet got a pair of free throws to take a 70-64 lead, DeRojas struck with a jumper to close the gap to 70-66 with 32.5 seconds to play. However, the Colonels couldn’t get any closer as the Bison ended the game with four free throws for the 74-66 win.
With the victory, Gallaudet opens the season at 1-0 while Wilkes, which defeated Penn State Hazleton in its opener (74-43), falls to 1-1. Read the full play by play courtesy of Wilkes University.