Oilers Fall 83-74 in Owensboro
Owensboro, Ky. – The University of Findlay men's basketball team dropped its' fourth game in five tries on Saturday, Feb. 11, an 83-74 defeat at the hands of the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers. With the loss, the Oilers, which made the NCAA DII Midwest Regional last season, fall to 13-11 overall and 8-8 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) while KWC improves to 12-12 and 8-8 in the league. The top eight make the G-MAC postseason tournament and as it stands now, Findlay, KWC, and Tiffin are all knotted up at 8-8 and hold the 7,8, and 9 spots in the standings, respectively.
Saturday's contest was tight for the first ten minutes and Findlay actually had a 21-18 advantage midway through the first half. However, a quick 6-0 run by KWC put the home team ahead 24-21, and that lead would remain for the rest of the game as the Oilers could never quite get back over the hump against the Panthers, who seemed to answer every Findlay run with a run of their own.
KWC hit 50% (24-of-48) from the floor including 8-of-22 from deep while the Oilers hit 29-of-64 (45.3%) and 10-of-27 from deep. Findlay was outrebounded 25-to-29.
As has been the case all year, the Oilers did not have many problems on offense and scored just under their season average of 76.3 ppg, but defensively, stopping the opposition has been a challenge as the Orange and Black have allowed 76.0 ppg., which is 12th in the conference. That again came to fruition as the Panthers, which rank seventh in the league at 72 ppg, went well above that average on Saturday night.
Senior Nathan Bruns led the way with another big game, scoring 20 points and grabbing seven rebounds and collecting three assists. The Chickasaw, Ohio native now sits at 1,439 points and sits in 19th on the Oilers' all-time scoring list after passing Tim Hamen (1995-99) and Fred Polinski (1956-59) today.
Coming off the bench, sophomore Josh Thorbahn had an efficient night, scoring 11 points on 4-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-4 from deep. He grabbed five boards and recorded an assist and a steal.
Senior Joey Edmonds was the final player in double-figures, scoring ten points and collecting a team-high four assists.
Findlay is now in a situation where every game's importance is magnified as, with four games to go, they would like to win at least three to make sure they get a spot in the postseason tournament. It is not an easy stretch, either, beginning on Thursday, Feb. 16 as the Oilers welcome the Walsh Cavaliers which still are vying for a conference regular-season title. Thursday's game in Croy will tip off at 7:30 pm.