Editor’s Note: Coverage of this game is based off of a live video stream.
The Bishops tentative dominance over the Hobart Statesman was apparent from the beginning. After overcoming a small, 4-point Senator lead, the Bishops were on top almost the entire game—except for when it mattered. At the end.
With 47:02 seconds in the game to go, the Bishops still had a 4-point lead. By 24:40 seconds, they were down by 1 point. And, by the end of the game, with a last ditch timeout, the Senators finished their 10-point streak and took the game from the Bishops, pushing the final score to 64-60.
The Bishops may have been upsetted in the last few minutes, but their plays still packed heat.
With over six minutes left in the first half, senior wing Tim Brady gets the court to himself, and hammers in a slam dunk.
Later, after halftime, junior guard Andy Winters and Spalding work together to dunk another basket.
With under two minutes to go in the second half, Winters tries to save a ball for the Bishops, goes beyond the court, and lands on an NCAA table, startling staff officials and ripping off the table’s covering.
Junior post Greg White said that OWU had a decent strategy–to not give Hobart any possessions. He said executing that strategy was the hardest part of the game.
“Coach Dewitt has consistently mentioned that we need to play for 40 full minutes and not take any possessions off, but we let a few possessions get out of our hands and did not convert some key shots and did not convert some key defensive plays,” he said.
White said this about the game, the team overall, and its future:
“Regardless of the outcome, and knowing that we fell short of our goal to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, it has been a good season for our basketball team and we look to carry our momentum and experience over to next season, and work on our individual and team weaknesses in the off-season. We will have everyone back on our team but our graduating leading scorer, Tim Brady, who will be greatly missed, as his offensive game and leadership will be a challenge to replace.”
Coach Michael DeWitt said the season was successfull overall.
“In the last three minutes, we simply didn’t continue to do the things we had done all game,” he said. “We made some mental mistakes, and a good team like Hobart will take advantage of those mistakes. It was a disappointing end to an excellent season. We overcame a lot of obstacles and deficiencies to have success because of our great effort and team chemistry.”
Winters said the team was not concentrated. “We lost focus the last few minutes,” he said. “We had the lead the entire game and all it took was a couple of back to back plays to get them the lead. We fought very hard for the majority of the game but did not close it out and it cost us. As a captain of the team I feel responsible for (the) outcomes of our games … A great thing about the guys on our team is no one points fingers for any loss … I wouldn’t ask for a better group of teammates and people to be with this year.”
This matchup concluded OWU’s men’s basketball season. The Bishops went 11-5 in their conference matchups and 20-8 overall.