November 29, 2014
LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Transylvania University men’s basketball team fell to the Spalding University Golden Eagles on Saturday afternoon by a score of 80-63, despite shooting 52% from the floor. The loss marks the Pioneers’ third straight defeat to start the season.
Transy jumped out to an early 9-3 lead after a three-pointer from freshman guard Sam Sergeant, two layups from freshman guard Jake Williams and another layup from sophomore guard Alex Jones. With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, the Pioneers held a five-point advantage, 11-6.
From there, Spalding would go on a 28-14 run over the course of the next ten minutes to take a 34-25 lead at the 1:40 mark. During that run, the Pioneers would turn the ball over four times, while making only five field goal attempts. On the other side of the ball, the Golden Eagles would 60% from the field during the stretch, knocking down six of 10 shots, including two three-pointers.
During the run, Spalding pressed the Pioneers and attacked on the offensive side, which gave the Pioneers issues according to head coach Brian Lane. “We got off to a terrific start but did not handle Spalding’s pressure very well,” said Lane.
With 55 seconds remaining, Sergeant would foul Spalding guard Brandon Goeing on a three-point attempt. Goeing would sink the three ensuing free throws, to give the Golden Eagles a nine point lead. After Transy sank a couple of free throws, Goeing nailed a three-pointer with 33 seconds left and Spalding took a 10-point lead into the locker room.
The lead was surprising, considering the Pioneers shot 55% from the field in the first half. However, seven turnovers and 13 personal fouls in the first 20 minutes put Transylvania behind the eight-ball heading into the second half.
In addition to the turnovers, Transylvania allowed Spalding to pull in six offensive rebounds in the first period, contributing to the Pioneers’ mid-game deficit. “Turnovers and giving up second change opportunities put us in a hole headed to halftime,” Lane said.
The second half saw much of the same as Spalding extended their lead to 18 in the first five minutes of the half and with 15:15 remaining in the period, the Golden Eagles led 51-33. A jumper from Sergeant, a three-pointer from Williams and a jump shot from freshman forward Robert Dence would close the gap to 53-40 with 13:04 remaining.
The Pioneers would continue to close the gap from the 13 minute mark until 10:35, when a layup by sophomore guard Mason Monroe pulled Transy within single digits, as they trailed 55-46. It would be the closest Transylvania would get for the remainder of the game as Spalding extended their lead over the final 10 minutes.
Spalding would outscore Transy 25-17 in the last 10 minutes of regulation. Their largest lead would come with 17 seconds left after Zack Humphrey sank a free throw for the Golden Eagles. The 80-63 margin would be the winning gap for Spalding.
Transylvania outshot Spalding from the field, knocking back 52% of their field goal attempts while Spalding converted 49% of their attempts. The rebounding and turnover margins were narrow as Spalding only outrebounded the Pioneers by one, 27-26 and committed only two fewer turnovers, 12-10.
The Pioneers struggled to score, however, as only two players, Williams and Jones, scored in double figures. Jones and Williams scored 17 and 14 respectively, to combine for more than 50% of the team’s points.
Lane was not discouraged, however, and noted that his team shot well and was working towards its conference schedule. “Rarely do you shoot 52% from the field and get beat, but it happened tonight,” he said. “Now we have a big week ahead of us as we go into conference play. I set up a difficult schedule early on to try to better prepare us for conference and hopefully it pays dividends with our younger guys.”
Transylvania falls to 0-3 on the season as they head into their Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule. They will spring back into action on Wednesday, Dec. 3 when they travel to Cincinnati to take on HCAC foe Mount St. Joseph at 7:30.
