Dec. 16, 2006

Final Stats

Erie, Pa. - The Rock engaged in a tooth-and-claw battle Saturday night with a pesky pack of Timberwolves and wound up on the losing end of the battle.

Northwood University of Michigan trailed by nine points with four minutes left to play before it roared back to score 15 unanswered points en route to an 89-87 decision over SRU in the opening game of the Mercyhurst College tournament.

The loss was the third straight suffered by interim head coach Jamal Palmer's Rock squad and dropped the Green and White's season record to 2-6.

Northwood, on the other hand, recorded its third straight win after an 0-5 start to the season.

The Rock will look to end its skid on Sunday when it play in the tournament's consolation game at 3 p.m. SRU will meet the loser of Saturday's second game between host Mercyhurst and Columbia Union.

A bright spot in The Rock effort was the individual performance of wingman Jamar Scales, who had team-high totals of 26 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Matt Schaefer chipped in 18 points, five rebounds and four assists; Erroll Robinson added 11 points and Glenn Reepmeyer and Brandon Thompson had 10 points each. Reepmeyer, who battled foul problems and eventually fouled out, also grabbed five rebounds.

A frigid 38.2% (13 of 34) shooting effort by The Rock, combined with a toasty 63.0% (17-27) efficiency by Northwood, proved to be the difference in the opening 20 minutes.

The Rock's shooting touch warmed considerably in the final 20 minutes -- SRU hit on 18 of 36 shots (50%) from the field in the second half -- but, in the end, it went for naught.

The Wolves went on a 9-0 run midway through the opening stanza to take a 27-21 lead and remained in the lead through intermission, although The Rock trimmed the deficit to one point (37-36) with 2:15 left.

The Rock, which trailed 41-38 at halftime, had the hot hand early in the second half as it went on a 12-4 run to open the stanza and had a 50-45 lead with 15:30 left to play.

That proved to be just the start of a series of spurts produced by the teams.

Northwood responded with a 5-0 run of its own to knot the score at 50-50 with 14:45 left before the teams traded buckets and leads for the next few minutes.

SRU ran off seven unanswered points to take a 69-62 lead with eight minutes left, only to see the Wolves respond with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the score at 69-69 with 6:30 left.

The Rock came right back with a 10-1 run -- Scales accounting for six of the points -- in the next two minutes and held a 79-70 lead with four minutes left.

That proved to be the end of The Rock's joy, though, as Northwood ran off 15 unanswered points in the next two and a half minutes to take an 85-79 lead with 1:30 left.

The Rock twice trimmed the deficit to two points in the final minute of play, but could not overcome that decisive Wolve attack.