Gem City Sports Network

Lady Marauders WIN In Winston-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina – The Central State Lady Marauders picked up a 82-77 road win over the Rams of Winston-Salem State on Saturday.

With the win, the Lady Marauders improve to 2-2 on the year. The Rams fall to 1-3 overall.

CSU trailed 25-17 after the first quarter but outscored WSSU 22-12 in the second quarter and 27-17 in the third to take a 66-54 lead into the final 10 minutes of play.

Sierra Harley gave CSU its largest lead of the night, 72-56, with 8:10 left to play. WSSU responded with 11-0 run to cut the lead down to 5 with 6:28 to play. The Rams cut the lead down to 2 with just under a minute to go but free throws from Sierra Harley and Takyra Gilbert helped seal the win for CSU.

One of the top defensive teams in NCAA Div. II over the last two seasons, CSU recorded 12 steals on Saturday en route to a 19-10 edge in points scored off turnovers. The Lady Marauders also held a 48-34 edge in points scored in the paint.

All five CSU starters scored in double-figures. CSU senior Falon Edwards led the Lady Marauder offense with 18 points. Takyra Gilbert finished with 16 points, 5 assists and 3 steals. Jaeda Davis chipped in with 12 points. Harley and Chavon Banks had identicial stat lines of 11 points and 9 rebounds each.

WSSU was led by 19 points from Tiana Edwards.

CSU will play St. Augustine’s University on Sunday at 2 pm. The game will be played on the campus of Winston-Salem State as part of the Red & White Basketball Classic.

Coach Lewis Shine – Quotes
“Tonight was a great team win on the road.”

“Everyone contributed to today’s win. We did a great job defensively which ultimately propelled us to victory.”

Notes
Saturday was the first meeting between WSSU and CSU since the Lady Marauders became exclusive members of the NCAA Div. II.

Falon Edwards’ 18-point performance is a CSU career high.

Sierra Harley’s 9 rebounds is a personal best

CSU is currently ninth in the nation with 15.7 steals per game.

St. Augustine’s beat Benedict earlier on Saturday, 72-64.

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Marauders Weather Storm

WILBERFORCE, Ohio – The Central State Marauders built a 17-point halftime lead and held on for a 73-68 victory over the Lake Erie Storm on Saturday.

CSU picked up its first win of the season and is now 1-3 entering the Thanksgiving break. Lake Erie dropped to 2-2 overall.

Both offenses struggled to score in the opening minutes before Lake Erie built a lead of 14-8 after a Ryan Middendorf three-pointer at the 10:58 mark. Davone Daniels gave the Marauder offense a jumpstart off the bench with 7 quick points as CSU outscored LEC, 28-6, to take a 36-21 lead at intermission.

Lake Erie cut the deficit down to 6 midway through the second stanza but CSU answered right back as Daniels hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc as his team upped their lead to 14 with 5:39 to play. Lake Erie refused to go away as the Storm hit their next four shots from the field. A Harrison Riggs three ball brought Lake Erie with 3 with 2:08 left to play. Baskets from Oliver Martin and Chris Scott put CSU back up by 7 with 47 seconds left. The Storm pulled back within three with a free throw and three-pointer from Riggs. With 10 seconds to go, the Storm sent Daniels to the line. The senior guard from Indianapolis, Indiana calmly knocked down both free throws for his 20th and 21st point of the night, clinching the game for his team.

Daniels led a CSU bench that outscored the Lake Erie reserves, 43-28.

On his way to a game-high 21 points, Daniels converted 7 of 11 shots and was a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line.

Oliver scored 15 points. Scott recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Lake Erie was paced by Middendorf’s 14 points.

CSU will begin SIAC play next Saturday when they host Albany State at 3 pm.

Head Coach Joseph Price – Quotes
“Led by Davone, our bench gave us the edge in tonight’s win. I also thought Chris Cook and Terrence Gholson gave us some good minutes tonight on both ends of the floor. I am proud of the way our reserves stepped up and delivered at key moments in the game.”

“We had some players finally step up in big moments tonight and we need them to maintain a high level of consistency as we go into conference play.”

“Lake Erie is a very good team. We had our opportunities to take full control of the game but they kept finding ways to get back into the game and they really made our guys work for tonight’s win.”

“We will review the game film and focus on finding ways to more intensity to start the game and playing smarter at the end of the game. Tonight’s game against a quality opponent will really make us better moving forward.”

Notes
CSU played the game without last year’s top scorer in Dwight Richards, Jr. and top rebounder Jeremy Brown.

Both players are expected back after the holiday break.

Daniels scored a season-high 21 points on Saturday.

Daniels transferred to CSU for his senior season. He previously played at St. Joseph’s College (IN).

CSU played a G-MAC opponent for the second consecutive game (Malone & Lake Erie).

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Murray State Race Past Raiders

The Wright State men’s basketball team fell at home to Murray State 80-61 Saturday night.

First Half Highlights

The Raiders won the tip and followed it with a 12-footer by Parker Ernsthausen to take the 2-0 lead.  The score stayed tight with no team leading by more than four until the Racers started pulling away with less than two minutes to play in the half.  MSU led 36-39 at the buzzer.  Freshman Loudon Loveled the Raiders with eight points and five rebounds while senior Grant Benzinger added two threes for six points.  Tye Wilburn, starting tonight, had four points and two steals.  Murray State led 21-16 on the boards as the Raiders shot 41.4% from the field.  The score was tied seven times and the lead changed hands four times.

Second Half Highlights

The second half started much like the first half with both teams exchanging baskets as the Raiders drew within one point at 16:59 and three points at 9:56 but could not get over the hump.  In the final nine minutes, the Racers lead grew to the final deficit of 19 points as MSU outscored WSU 24-12.  Love ended the game with 14 points and eight rebounds while Benzinger had 13 points with four free throws.  Ernsthausen and Everett Winchester each had nine points.  The Raiders did have 24 points in the paint and 18 points off MSU’s 15 turnovers.

Next Up

Tiffin comes to town Monday night at 7 pm to take on the Raiders.

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Earlham Wins First Of The Year

OBERLIN, Ohio – The Earlham College basketball team got a stop on the final possession to secure a 72-71 victory over Franciscan University (Ohio) in a back-and-forth contest played at Oberlin College on Saturday afternoon.

The entire game was played within a 10-point window as both Earlham and Franciscan held 5-point leads at times.

The Quakers opened up their first 5-point edge six minutes into the game on a put-back layup from Elijah Wilson-Thomas to give Earlham a 14-9 lead. A 9-2 run from the Barons that followed put Franciscan up 18-16 midway through the first half.

The Quakers regained the advantage when Blake Bonin stole a Baron pass and found Tarig Eldosougi for a transition layup with 6:23 to play in the first half. Earlham clung to a small lead over the next four minutes, but a 7-3 run from Franciscan to close the half put the Barons up 36-34 after 20 minutes.

As the second half began, Franciscan gained a 5-point lead of its own when Jacob Divens connected on a layup at the 16:25 mark, making the score 44-39. Earlham’s defense answered as it allowed just four points over the next five minutes. Josh York ended the Barons’ drought, but a Wilson-Thomas basket put Earlham ahead 54-50 with 11 minutes remaining in regulation.

The lead exchanged hands five more times in the game including the last time when a Wilson-Thomas triple game the Quakers a 68-67 edge with 3:13 to play. Two missed shots from Franciscan and jumpers from Wilson-Thomas and Kenneth Stalling Jr. forced a Baron timeout with the scoreboard reading 72-67 and 2:25 on the clock.

Earlham would not score again, but it wouldn’t need to as the Quakers got what proved to be the game-winning stop as Divens’ triple try was off the mark as time expired.

Both team shot 43 percent, but the Barons made 32 field goals compared to 26 for the Quakers. Earlham made up the difference at the free throw line, however, converting 16-22 attempts compared to just 4-7 for Franciscan.

Individually, Wilson-Thomas led Earlham with 26 points on 10-15 shooting. Stalling Jr. added eight points and four steals while Eldosougi turned in six points and nine rebounds off the bench.

The Barons were led by the duo of Keoni Sablan and Matt Trent combined for 27 points in defeat.

Earlham improves to 1-1 on the year with the win and face host Oberlin tomorrow (Sunday) at 1 p.m.

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Earlham Ladies Lose To Denison

GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Earlham College women’s basketball team nearly erased a 12-point deficit at halftime, but Denison University held the lead for a 68-61 win over the Quakers in the season-opener for Earlham on Saturday afternoon.

The Quakers took a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter when Mariah Flynn connected on a jumper with 3:08 to play. The Big Red closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run, however, and led 18-10 after 10 minutes of play. Denison continued that momentum through the second quarter, outscoring Earlham 15-11 to take a 33-21 lead into halftime.

Denison maintained its edge throughout the majority of the third quarter, forcing first-year head coach Shauna Watson to call a timeout at the 1:38 mark with her team trailing 47-36. The Quakers responded well as a jumper from Zoe Curtis, a layup from Camryn White and a triple from Kyndall Spears cut the deficit to 47-43 after three quarters.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, and old-fashioned 3-point play from Flynn got Earlham within two points at 53-51. Unfortunately for the Quakers, an 8-1 run from the Big Red over the next four minutes put the game out of reach.

Earlham shot 10 percent higher (42.6-to-31.9) than Denison in the game, but took 18 less shots from the field. The hosts held a slight 46-38 edge in rebounding as well as making six more free throws.

Individually, Flynn finished with 15 points and eight rebounds for Earlham. Curtis added a career-high 14 points while White dished out five assists. Kayla Bowling added four steals off the bench.

Addie Buzas led Denison individually with 14 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes. Brittany Atkinson added 11 points off the bench.

Earlham dips to 0-1 with the loss and faces Kenyon College tomorrow (Sunday) at 1 p.m.