Sat., Feb. 14, 2009

   WINONA LAKE, Ind. -- In a tale of two halves for the University of Saint Francis, the second half is one the Cougars would love to forget.
  No. 20 Grace College used a 44-22 offensive outburst in the second half to subdue the upset-minded Cougars 75-58 on Saturday afternoon. DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis scored 23 points for USF, his sixth consecutive game with 20 or more points, but only Ferdinand Morales-Soto managed to join Sawyer-Davis in double figures with 11, 10 in the first half.
  USF (16-12, 8-6 MCC) shot just .349 for the game, though the Cougars did hold a 36-31 halftime lead. In the first half, USF rallied from a 20-15 deficit outscoring GC 21-16 to hold the advantage at halftime.
  In the second half, a Kreigh Hentrup 3-pointer increased the USF lead to 39-31 with 19:46 to play. Sawyer-Davis scored giving USF a 41-33 advantage with 18:59 to play. USF threatened to add to the lead but with 18:17 to play, Matt Edmonds had his shot blocked by GC's Eric Gaff. Both teams struggled to scored and with 17:42 to play, Edmonds hit two free throws helping USF to a 43-35 lead. Sawyer-Davis scored giving USF a 45-39 lead, but by the time the Cougars scored again the Lancers controlled the momentum. GC used a 13-0 run to vault into a 52-45 lead and USF got no closer than three the rest of the way.
  After Nate Bojrab's basket cut the difference to 56-53, the Lancers pulled away outscoring USF 19-5 in the final 6:14 of the game.
  "We got open looks, we just couldn't knock enough down to matter," USF coach Jeff Rekeweg said about the second half.
  Hentrup's 3-pointer in the first minute was the only trey the Cougars knocked down in the second half missing their last 10 attempts. GC only connected on two, but the Lancers (20-8, 11-4 MCC) connected on 10 more shots than USF. The Cougars shot .250 in the second half hitting just 7-of-28 shots. GC connected on 17-of-28 shot, a .607 percentage. USF didn't fare much better on the glass getting outrebounded 43-31. Sawyer-Davis led USF with eight rebounds.
  With Sawyer-Davis scoring 14 points and Morales-Soto 10, the Cougars rallied to take a 36-31 lead by the end of the first 20 minutes. GC led 20-15 after a David Hentry 3-pointer, but Sawyer-Davis scored starting USF on a 21-11 finish to the first half. Morales-Soto converted a 3-point play with 6:05 left in the half putting USF in the lead 25-23, the Cougars first lead in the game. A Kreigh Hentrup free throw pushed the USF edge to 26-23, and after a Dayton Merrell basket for GC, Hentrup nailed a 3-pointer for a 29-25 USF lead at 4:43. Sawyer-Davis popped in a 3-pointer for a 32-25 lead at 4:10. He added another basket at 2:04 for a 34-27 USF lead and Hentrup hit a bucket at 1:16 for a 36-29 lead. Kyle Plumlee hit two free throws and 1:00 and both teams missed a shot in the last minute for a 36-31 USF lead.
   "We were hittin' shots, it's as simple as that," Rekeweg said referring to the first half. "We did a much better job of executing than we did against Wesleyan, we just couldn't get shots to fall in the second half. A couple breaks didn't go our way and they got a little momentum. We just couldn't get it back. They are a good team and once they got the momentum, there was just no getting it turned around if we didn't make some shots."
   USF slips to 12-4 in games that its has held the lead at the half and have lost two of the last three games where the Cougars led at halftime. Prior to the last three games the Cougars had won six straight when leading at halftime and 10 of the last 11.
   The Cougars play host to Huntington University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It will be Senior Night and the Cougars can lock up fourth place in the MCC AND a first-round MCC Tournament home match with a win over the Foresters. USF will recognize seniors Nate Bojrab, Eric Eaton, Kreigh Hentrup and Shane Denny.
   USF closes regular season play next Saturday at No. 4 Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind., at 3 p.m.