IPFW raced out to a 10-2 lead at the Vadalabene Center and SIUE was unable to recover despite a much-improved effort in the second half in a 70-55 season-opening loss.
“Our first half killed us,” Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. “We just got off to a bad start offensively and defensively.”
The Cougars came out flat from the opening tip, shooting 25 percent from the field and turning the ball over nine times, allowing the Mastodons to jump out to an 18 point lead with 2:44 remaining in the first half.
Forrester said the Cougars were not up to the challenge from the start.
“We didn’t compete hard enough to match their aggressiveness on the defensive end,” Forrester said. “They made their shots. Whenever we made a mistake, they made us pay for it.”
The Mastodons were led in scoring by Frank Gaines and Zach Plackemeier, who each finished the game with 16 points. The senior duo combined to go 12-14 from the foul line as well.
Senior Ben Botts had 7 points, on 2-3 shooting from three point range.
“That’s the way I expect seniors to play,” IPFW Head Coach Dane Fife said. “We expect Plackemeier and Botts to play a solid floor game, defend and hit open shots. Ben didn’t force any shots tonight and let the game come to him. It ultimately never did on the offensive end, but he played the best defensive game tonight I have seen him play.”
SIUE was able to inch closer in the second half and cut the lead to single digits, although IPFW prevented the Cougars from closing the gap completely.
Forrester said the team had to do things differently in the second half.
“I didn’t like the way they came out of the first half, but they did pick it up,” Forrester said. “We got going a little bit and our defense made some stops.”
The defense was the reason SIUE was able to cut into IPFW’s robust halftime lead.
SIUE made five consecutive defensive stands, but couldn’t get any closer than eight points with 10:44 remaining.
Forrester’s biggest concern with the Cougars offensive totals was their output from three-point range. The Cougars were just 3-20 from distance, with Cornelius Chatt going 2-8, finishing with 12 points, and Michael Messer hitting the other, going 1-2 with five points.
Forrester said the Cougars inconsistencies stemmed from bad shot selection.
“I know we are a better shooting team than that,” Forrester said. “We took a lot of pressure shots with the shot clock running down. We were very sloppy in the first half and didn’t execute on offense at all. We didn’t move the ball, didn’t set screens and didn’t cut hard enough.”
Fife said IPFW played a young SIUE team at the right time in the season, while they are still trying to find themselves on the court.
“We wanted to guard the three point line. Chatt and [Corey] Wickware made some big shots down the stretch against Webster, and we knew [Mark] Yelovich could shoot,” Fife said. “We were very fortunate to catch SIUE when we did, because they have new guys who are trying to find their way. It was kind of perfect timing for us. If everyone was healthy, our guys, their guys it would be a brawl.”
The Cougars received a scare late in the game. Yelovich found himself lying awkwardly on the floor after driving to the hole and scoring his team-leading 15th points of the night. Forrester said Yelovich had cramping issues, and should be available for the Cougars game against Illinois State Sunday.
“We are trying to get some fluid in him and get him ready for Sunday’s game,” Forrester said. “Mark’s a leader on and off the court and we lean on him a lot. He burdens a lot of what we do.”
IPFW out-rebounded SIUE 37-34. The Cougars were led by Nikola Bundalo, who finished with his third career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
“Nik got us off to a great start rebounding and did a good job being aggressive around the basket,” Forrester said. “He missed some good looks, especially in the first half, but played well all around for us tonight.”
Former Cougar Terrance Williams played four minutes in the first half for IPFW, and finished with one point from the free throw line.
The Cougars play at Illinois State Sunday at 2 p.m. Forrester says he expects a physical game from the Redbirds in their season opener.
“Knowing ISU and their coach Tim Jankovich, they are going to be a very long and athletic team, very physical, even more physical and athletic than IPFW,” Forrester said. “We have to come ready.”
2 comments:
did anyone go to the ISU game????? I want to know what the technical fould was on and also if there really was that big of a foul discrepency sounded almost like there was some biting of the tounge by the coach!!!! I know that it probably would have not mattered but you never know sounded like every time we got in a rythym the refs blew the whistle like 4 times on siue in a row especially on and ones and crap.....seemed like every foul was a shooting foul that is almost unbelievable
Wasn't there because of the soccer game. The box score says Mitchell, have not heard back from coach Forrester after leaving him a message this morning. Will see what I can do.
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