Sat., Feb. 21, 2009

  MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- University of Saint Francis coach Jeff Rekeweg was disappointed to lose a 74-73 heartstopper to No. 3 Bethel College, but he liked what he saw in the Cougars' lockerroom after the game.
   "There wasn't one player who felt good about coming close," Rekeweg said. "Our players came here to win. Our team was very upset about the game."
   The Cougars will get their next chance to win on Wednesday (Feb. 25) when Spring Arbor University travels to USF for a first-round Mid-Central College Conference game. That's when the Cougars can ease some of the sting of Saturday's defeat.
   After BC senior All-American candidate William Walker gave the Pilots a 74-73 lead with about four seconds left, USF got the ball in to its own All-American candidate DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis, but his shot with Walker flying at him missed the mark at the buzzer before a partisan BC crowd of just under 2,000.
   "We got the ball to our best player and (Walker) did a good job of challenging the shot," Rekeweg said. 
   Maybe it was the senior experience of Walker that made the difference as he ''out-willed" Sawyer-Davis in a 'refuse-to-lose' shootout. Walker scored BC's seven points of the game. Sawyer-Davis scored USF's last seven points of the game, but left two points on the table missing at free throw at 3:28 and again at 1:34 after he scored giving USF a 73-70 lead. USF had two possessions prior to the game-ending shot, but Ferdinand Morales-Soto was whistled for traveling with 55 seconds to play, but USF got the ball back when Caleb Ladig was called for offensive foul with 51 seconds left.
   USF returned the favor when Austin Leisure lost control of the ball with 14 seconds left and setting up Walker's short game-winning jumper.
   "I can live with tryin' to make a play, but we knew what they were going to do on that last possession, we talked about it during the timeout, and then we go out and do what we talked about not doing," Rekeweg said in reference to the play Walker scored on to win.
   BC, which finishes regular-season play with a 27-3 overall record and MCC champs with a xx-x record, jumped out to a 36-27 lead scoring three quick baskets to start the second half. USF charged back tying the game at 38 on Kreigh Hentrup's layup with 15:42 to play. The Pilots regained the lead and the two teams traded baskets for the next 10 minutes with BC never leading by more than four points. USF finally got its first lead of the game when BC got so caught up in stopping Sawyer-Davis that Matt Edmonds scored for a 66-65 lead on a feed from Sawyer-Davis with 2:57 to play.
   After Laidig re-gained a 67-66 BC lead, Sawyer-Davis scored again at 2:31. After a Ryne Lighfoot turnover, Sawyer-Davis pushed the USF lead to 71-67 with two minutes to play. Walker scored at and was fouled by Edmonds with 1:42 reviving BC hitting the free throw as well and bringing the Pilots with a point, 71-70. Sawyer-Davis scored at 1:34, but missed the free throw setting up the last second drama.
   Sawyer-Davis finished with 19 points, 16 in the second half. Hentrup finished with 18 points including 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. Edmonds finished with 11 points, but he fouled out at 1:42 to play.
   Walker finished with 31 points for the Pilots, 20 in the second half and he grabbed 12 rebounds.