Sat., Feb. 27, 2010

   MARION, Ind. -- Now the University of Saint Francis men's basketball rests, heals, and plays the waiting game.

   Indiana Wesleyan University, the No. 3-ranked team in the NAIA Final Top 25 earlier this week, sidelined the Cougars (23-9) temporarily with an 87-76 win on Saturday at Luckey Arena in a Mid-Centrtal College Conference Tournament Semifinal Game.

  The Cougars will gather Wednesday to view the first live draw for the 2010 NAIA Division II National Tournament in Branson, MO.

  Bethel will play at No. 1 seed IWU (27-5) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to determine the MCC Tournament champion.

  IWU took a 2-0 lead after a USF turnover and led all the way, though the 15th-ranked Cougars never gave up and made several runs at the Wildcats drawing as close as six laste in the second half after slipping behind by 15 in the first 10 minutes.

   "I'm pleased with how we battled, with our effort and how we went to the offensive boards and outrebounded them," USF coach Jeff Rekeweg said on the bus back to Fort Wayne. "We got the ball where we wanted it and (IWU) made some big plays. They started bankin' in 3s and had some bounce up and go in, or roll around and drop in."

   IWU, winners of five straight games and 22 of their last 24, connected on 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half (.583) and 5-of-8 from the arc in the second half (.625).

  "We had George Jones defended really well on one of the 3's he made and he hit two," Rekeweg said.  Jones was 2-for-2 from the arc, 3-for-5 in the last two games and 8-for-24 for the season coming off the bench. It was that kind of day for the Wildcats in the positive and in the negative for the Cougars. It seemed like USF would claw its way back and when IWU needed a shot or play to cool off the Cougars, it got it.

   "As dominant a player (Zach) Coverstone can be, we kept him pretty much under control," Rekeweg said. "Dey didn a pretty good job on him, just 14 points, but it's pretty hard to overcome a team that shoots 60 percent from 3-point range. I wasn't happy with some of our turnovers but we forced them into 21. We had 17.

  "We had it to eight, we had it to six with the ball and there were a couple of offensive fouls. We felt pretty good with the way they shot and the number of turnovers to be down just 10 at the half."

   After trailing by 13 four times in the first seven minutes of the second half, the Cougars slashed the deficit to six, 60-54, with 9:36 to play on a Ferdie Morales-Soto pass to DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis for the score. IWU's Ryan Hetrick knocked down a 3-pointer, but Qadr Owens  answered with a 2-pointer cutting the deficit back to seven, 63-56.

  An IWU 3's spree -- 3 consecutive by Will Hubertz (7:08), Aaron Martin (6:26), and Hubertz (6:05) -- ballooned the Wildcats lead to 72-56 with 6:05 to play. Hubertz hit two free throws at 5:22 for another 16-point IWU lead, but the Cougars carved it to just six with 1:10 to play when Joey Kosiarek slashed to the basket to score with 1:10 to play capping a 14-6 surge for USF.

  "Matt had a good look at the basket earlier in the last 10 minutes that he couldn't get to drop and there was that possession where Dey gets bumped pretty good, his defender goes down and Dey gets called for an offensive foul," Rekeweg said. "There were just too many times that happened. They miss a free throw, but Ferdie doesn't block out and they get the offensive rebound and another opportunity. There's no excuse. But we never gave up against a good team on their floor."

   IWU outscored USF 21-3 from 3-point range in the first half, 15-6 in the second half. Hubertz hit 4-of-7 3's, Hetrick 4-of-6. Aaron Martin hit 2-of-4 and Jones 2-of-4. IWU also outscored USF 20-11 from the free-throw line, the Cougars hitting 11-of-18 from the stripe, IWU 20-of-23.

  In the first half, USF didn't fight back to within seven points twice after trailing by 15, 20-5, with 11:51 to play. Austin Leisure knocked in two free throws at 5:34 trimming the deficit to eight, 28-20, a 15-8 surge for USF. Sawyer-Davis cut it back to eight at 5:11, 30-22, but Jones looped in his first 3-pointer from the right wing. Sawyer-Davis hit a jumper cutting the deficit back to eight, 33-25 with 4:17 to play. Back-to-back IWU 3's (Hubertz and Jones) inflated the lead back to 13. USF had the ball trailing by 10 for the final shot, after Spencer Harris missed two free throws with 34 second to play, but the Cougars lost control of the ball as time ran out and never even got off a shot.

   "It's really tough when you've got a 6-8 or 6-9 guy in the post and you shoot so well from 3-point range to defend," Rekeweg lamented. "We got some good dribble penetration, but Coverstone's in the middle to clean it up for ya. It's not OK just to come close, BUT when you play as hard as we did, even with the mistakes, and the effort is there, it's not as bad as when there's not effort, not playing with a sense of urgency and passion, that's harder to accept. At times we were a little too passionate and lost composure and it hurt us. We didn't allow them to run us off their court like they did the first time we play here. They just made more plays than us today. "