Sat., Jan. 23, 2010

   UPLAND, Ind. -- By the time the University of Saint Francis had secured its second road win of the week, 73-68 at Taylor University, the Cougars' 20-point lead with five minutes to play was a distant memory.

   It served as a reminder that as the No. 8 team in the most recent NAIA Top 25 Poll, the target on the Cougars' back is much bigger and may get even bigger when the new Top 25 is released. Yet the Cougars' answered the challenge made even more difficult with their leading scorer, DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis, having arguably his poorest shooting game in nearly two years with USF.

  Sawyer-Davis, the No. 2 scorer in the Mid-Central College Conference averaging xx.x ppg, managed just five points and connected on just 1-of-10 shots. USF prevailed anyway leading the entire 40 minutes with all 10 Cougars who played scoring at least two points. Qadr Owens led USF with 14 points, Kevin Bloom added 12, Ferdinand Morales-Soto 11 and five more Cougars scored at least five points. Sawyer-Davis had his string of double-figure scoring games ended at 43, but told coach Jeff Rekeweg that all he cared about was that the Cougars won.

  "If you'd have told me Dey was gonna go 1-for-10 and score five points, I'd have said we would be in trouble," USF coach Jeff Rekeweg said. "But played well defensively, we got strong contributions from everybody who played. When Dey got shaken up in the second half, Kevin Dawson came in and did a nice job providing some points.

  "Dey got some good looks, they just didn't go down."

  USF jumped out to a 7-0 lead, extended it to 26-11 with 6:58 to play in the first half and at 5:16, Owens scored on drive in the paint opening up a 33-13 lead with 5:16 to go before missing the free throw. TU woke up and charged back with a 15-8 finish to the half to trail 41-28 at the half.

  The Trojans charged out ot the gates in the second half with a 12-2 start cutting the deficit to 43-38 on a Nate Casper jumper. Bloom came off the bench and 35 second later buried a 3-pointer for a 48-40 USF lead at 15:12 and gradually pushed the lead to double figures. TU bounced back trimming the deficit to 60-56 on Casey Coons' 3-pointer at 5:57, but again USF improved control rising to a 68-56 lead with 3:55.

  "We got careless and TU was playing loose with no real pressure," Rekeweg said.

  TU got two free throws, then back-to-back 3-pointers from Tommy Peller and Casey Coons off USF turnovers. The Trojans only trailed 68-64 with 2:55 to play. Sawyer-Davis and Coons traded free throws, then Owens and Kasper followed suit. TU trailed 72-68 with 1:06 to play and didn't score again. Coons missed a 2-pointer, Drew Tower missed a 3-pointer, Coons missed a 3-pointer and Ethan Hussey stole the ball with two seconds left to lock up the W for USF.

  The Cougars resume play on Tuesday night playing host to Spring Arbor at Hutzell Athletic Center. USF lost at SAU 80-69 on December 1, the fifth straight loss to the 'other' Cougars in the MCC.  SAU swept three games between the two institutions in 2008-09.

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