University of Findlay forward Alex White banks in a shot between Kentucky Wesleyan’s Brandon Hatton, left, and Dakota Quinn in Saturday’s Great Midwest Athletic Conference game at Croy Gymnasium. UF won the game 92-65. (Photo by Matthias Leguire.)
By ANDY WOLF
Staff Writer
To no surprise of University of Findlay men’s basketball coach Charlie Ernst, his team stepped up its game when do-it-all senior forward Taren Sullivan went down with a left-ankle injury late in the first half of Saturday’s matchup with Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Oilers got contributions from everyone to keep their lead and cruise to a 92-65 Great Midwest Athletic Conference victory at Croy Gymnasium with ESPN in house.
“After the magnitude of ESPN being here and what our goals are for this season, Taren’s injury, it’s hard to say what’s the biggest storyline of the day,” Ernst said. “On one hand, you’d like to say we had a great crowd and so forth. Like I told someone (from ESPN) yesterday, ‘You’re going to witness an atmosphere that we have a lot of times here at Croy.
“No disrespect to ESPN, but we have a great atmosphere almost every home game. Obviously, Taren going down was a blow but, as I just told the team, it’s not the first time I’ve been a part of an injury.”
Just last season, Findlay lost current starters Austin Gardner and Alex White to season-ending knee injuries by game 11 and still made the Sweet 16.
The No. 13-ranked Oilers (20-2, 14-0 GMAC) secured a 20-win season for the 16th time in 17 seasons and upped their win streak to 16 games. UF has not had a losing campaign since 1981-82, a span of 36 seasons.
White broke out for a career night, regardless of Sullivan’s injury.
The 6-foot-7 junior scored a personal-best 22 points — 13 before Sullivan went down — grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots.
Sullivan exited the game at the 4:46 mark after skying high for a rebound and redirecting his body to start the transition.
His left ankle rolled as he landed and he needed a few minutes before getting helped off the court.
Sullivan entered Saturday’s game either first or second for UF in scoring (18.6), rebounds (6.4) and assists (3.1). He had already racked up five points, five rebounds, an assist, three steals and two blocks in 13 minutes.
Among those players who stepped up were Liberty-Benton freshman Anthony Masterlasco after replacing Sullivan.
Masterlasco factored in his first double-digit GMAC game with 10 points and he tallied six rebounds and two assists.
“It was awful that he want down but we knew we had people that could step up,” Masterlasco said. “We’ve got a lot of talent on our bench. … Taren’s an exteremly good scorer, he’s an offensive rebounder. When I came in, I knew I could fall in through that; rebounding, crash the boards, play good defense.”
While the bench did tally 26 of their 32 points after Sullivan went down, Masterlasco made an immediate impact.
First, he split a pair of free throws and quickly scored in transition off a turnover to help UF take a 42-33 halftime edge.
Masterlasco opened the second half with a bang, scoring via putback and another second-chance bucket a few minutes later to extend UF’s lead to 55-46.
In between those scores, he bounced an entry pass to Gardner on the left block for an easy lay-in to make it 51-43.
Masterlasco noted the positive spurt as being something to help his confidence going forward.
“It was definitely big, especially ESPN coming in and all,” Masterlasco said. “It’s definitely something to look forward to in the future.”
Martyce Kimbrough (18 points) lit up Croy Gymnasium with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cement a 13-4 run and give the Oilers their largest lead at 68-50 with 11:16 to go.
The Panthers never came within 15 points.
“Knowing ESPN coming in, that was definitely something to be excited about,” Masterlasco said. “We prepared like usual. We know our opponent. Just play hard and do our thing.”
UF’s Elijah Kahlig made five 3-pointers in nine attempts for 15 points.
Aaron Overhiser (6-8) spelled White for 14 points and six rebounds off the bench.
“Depending how long we’re without Taren, we’re going to need more from both of those guys and they’re more than capable,” Ernst said of White and Overhiser.
The Oilers utilized good ball movement to shoot 50 percent (34 of 68) overall and set a season high of 28 assists in GMAC play.
“That’s excellent. We talked about that before the game,” Ernst said. “We talked about three things. No. 1 assists, what our goal is every game and how we’re not where we want to be season-average so we’re going to have to start cranking that area up.”
Rasheide Bell led KWC (12-11, 6-7) with 18 points, while Brandon Hatton added 15.
KENTUCKY WESLEYAN (12-11, 6-7 GMAC)
Harris 6-11 0-0 13, Warnock 3-6 0-0 6, Hatton 6-12 0-0 15, Dzierzawski 3-9 3-4 10, R. Bell 7-10 2-2 18, E. Bell 1-1 0-0 2, Redix 0-1 0-0 0, Milligan 2-6 0-0 5, Quinn 4-7 0-0 8. TOTALS: 32-63 5-6 — 77.
FINDLAY (20-2, 14-0 GMAC)
Sullivan 2-5 0-0 5, White 9-11 4-5 22, Gardner 2-4 0-0 4, Kimbrough 6-17 1-2 18, Kahlig 5-9 0-0 15, Smith 0-3 2-2 2, Schmock 1-3 0-0 3, Masterlasco 3-6 4-6 10, Ashley 1-2 0-0 3, Overhiser 5-8 3-6 14. TOTALS: 34-68 14-21 — 96.
HALFTIME: Findlay, 42-33.
3-Point GOALS: Kentucky Wesleyan 8-19 (Harris 1-2, Hatton 3-6, Dzierzawski 1-4, R. Bell 2-3, Redix 0-1, Milligan 1-3); Findlay 14-34 (Sullivan 1-3, White 0-1, Kimbrough 5-13, Kahlig 5-9, Smith 0-2, Schmock 1-2, Ashley 1-1, Overhiser 1-3).
rebounds: Kentucky Wesleyan 32 (Warnock 7); Findlay 37 (Kimbrough 7). ASSISTS: Kentucky Wesleyan 14 (Dzierzawski 4); Findlay 28 (Gardner 9). STEALS: Kentucky Wesleyan 3; Findlay 9 (Sullivan 3). BLOCKS: Kentucky Wesleyan 3 (Quinn 2); Findlay 5 (Sullivan & White 2). TURNOVERS: Kentucky Wesleyan 11, Findlay 7. TOTAL FOULS: Kentucky Wesleyan 16, Findlay 10. FOULED OUT: None.
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