DMACC men win defensive battle
|
| CNA photo by BEN FROTSCHER
Going between: SouthwesternÕs Royce Phillips tries to split a pair of DMACC defenders in the first half. The Spartans rallied from a 14-point second half deficit, but fell 58-51. |
A second-half run came up short by the Southwestern men here Wednesday in a 58-51 loss to 14th-ranked Des Moines Area Community College.
Poor shooting hampered the Spartans on a night where tough defense kept them in the game against the Bears, who improved to 4-2 in the ICCAC (third behind Kirkwood and Iowa Lakes) and 15-4 overall.
Southwestern is in a fifth-place tie with Iowa Central at 2-4 in the league, and 12-7 overall.
Southwestern led early, taking a 10-7 lead after a Laurice Ellison dunk. But after an Ellison jumper gave the Spartans a 16-14 lead with 11:24 left in the first half, DMACC ended the half on a 19-7 run, which included four 3-pointers.
The Spartans were down 35-23 at halftime.
DMACC went ahead by as many as 14 points early in the second half, but the Spartans made a comeback with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Shots by Terrance Morgan and Kristian Williams, followed by a Tyler Raasch 3-pointer, cut the lead to seven. A Ryckey Harper drive, along with 1-of-2 free throws from Williams, cut the lead to four with 4:18 remaining.
But that’s as close as Southwestern could get. After Ellison connected on 1-of-2 free throws to get it back to a five-point game, DMACC’s Brent Jackman’s 3-pointer put eh game away with 1:37 remaining, giving the Bears a 55-47 lead.
“Defensively we did a great job,” coach Jerry Drymon said. “The No. 14 team in the country had only 15 points in the first 17 minutes of the second half. We went on a nice run to get it to 50-46, but then we couldn’t make the big shot when we needed it.”
DMACC’s zone defense concentrated on denying Division I signee Anthony Davis in the middle of the Spartan offense, Drymon said.
“The zone collapsed on Davis. They tried to take him away from us,” Drymon said.
Davis finished with seven points after notching 26 points Monday against Central JV. Ellison led the Spartans with 13 points and point guard Terrance Morgan had 11. Tyler Raasch scored all of his eight points in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Jackman, sophmore from Green Bay, Wis., led DMACC with 20 points and former PCM guard Grant Burns, a preseason All-American, hit three 3-pointers in scoring 13 points.
Tonight the busy week continues for Southwestern with a 7 p.m. home game against Simpson JV, which includes former Creston guard G.G. Harris and Eric Burmeister of Lewis Central.
Southwestern hosts Clinton in a league game Saturday at 3 p.m.
DMACC (58) — Brent Jackman 20, Rodney Grace 16, Grant Burns 13, Kenny Neelon 5, Vince Marshall 3. Totals — 19 12-17 58. 3-point goals — 7 (Jackman 3, Burns 3, Neelon 1). Team fouls — 14.
SOUTHWESTERN (51) — Laurice Ellison 13, Terrance Morgan 11, Tyler Raasch 8, Anthony Davis 7, Ryckey Harper 5, Royce Phillips 4, Kristian Williams 3. Totals — 21 5-9 51. 3-point goals — 4 (Raasch 2, Morgan 1, Harper 1). Team fouls — 18.
DMACC — 35 58
SWCC — 23 51
