W&L Men's Basketball Notes - Week 3
Games this week:
Game 5: W&L (2-1, 0-0 ODAC) vs. Catholic (3-2) •
Mon. • 7:00 pm
Game 6: W&L vs. Bridgewater (2-2, 0-0) • Wed. • 7:00
pm
Game 7: W&L at Averett (1-4) • Sat. • 2:00
pm
Last time out • W&L 77, Emory & Henry 72 •
11/28/09
Senior forward Zac White recorded a career-high 27 points as
Washington and Lee rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to
defeat Emory & Henry, 77-72, on Saturday afternoon at the King
Center. The game was closely contested through most of the first
half, but Emory & Henry took a seven-point lead (36-29) going
into the half after recording an 8-1 run over the final two
minutes. E&H then opened up the second half on a 10-3 run to
build its largest lead of the game at 46-32 with 17:41 remaining.
However, the Generals chipped away at the lead with White notching
14 of his 27 points over the next 8:36 to help pull the Generals to
within two points. A jumper from first-year guard Hans Harris tied
the game at 55-55 with 8:04 remaining and he would add the go-ahead
jumper at 7:24 to put the Generals up for good at 57-55. With the
win, the Generals recorded their fifth victory at the King Center
since 1990. White went 9-for-15 (60.0 percent) from the field,
8-for-11 (72.7 percent) from the line and scored 20 points in the
second half, en-route to posting his career high in points. Fellow
senior forward Ben Goetsch added his first double-double of the
season with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Catching up with Catholic
W&L and Catholic are meeting for the 23rd time, with the
Cardinals holding a 13-9 advantage in the all-time series. CUA has
won two of the last three meetings, including an 80-68 victory over
W&L last season. Catholic enters Monday’s contest with a
3-2 overall record after posting two straight victories in
convincing fashion. CUA most recently defeated Haverford, 70-37,
and knocked off Gettysburg, 69-48. CUA outscored Haverford 39-14 in
the second half to blow open what had been an eight-point game at
the break. Junior forward Jason Banzhaf scored a team-high 14
points and junior guard R.J. Dixon added 10 points in the victory.
On the year, Banzhaf is the lone Cardinal averaging in double
figures with 13.8 points per game on 54.9 percent shooting from the
floor. He is also adding a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game.
First-year forward Chris Kearney is contributing 8.6 points and 5.4
rebounds per game and Dixon is chipping in 6.8 points, 4.8 assists
and 2.8 steals per game.
Last Time Against Catholic • CUA 80, W&L 68
• 11/19/08
CUA went on a 12-3 run to start the second half and led the rest
of the way in posting an 80-68 victory over W&L in Washington,
D.C. The Generals held a 34-33 lead at the break, but the Cardinals
used the aforementioned run to assume a 46-36 advantage with 17:41
left in the game. W&L chipped away at the lead, eventually
cutting it to a two-point game at 50-48 with 12:31 left, but CUA
immediately went on a 13-2 run to stretch their advantage to 63-50
with 8:59 left en route to the victory. W&L was paced by
forward Ben Goetsch, who totaled a then-career-high 18 points and
grabbed seven rebounds. Junior forward Zac White notched 18 points
on 7-of-11 shooting.Catholic, which shot 57.7 percent from the
floor in the decisive second half, was paced by forward Jason
Banzhaf’s 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor and
guard R.J. Dixon posted 16 points.
Assessing Averett
Washington and Lee is 6-3 all-time against the Cougars, though AU
has won each of the last two meetings, including a 78-65 win in
2006. Averett enters this week sporting a 1-4 overall record
following a 60-42 win over Otterbein last week. Averett shot over
55 percent from the field and erupted for 41 second-half points in
posting its first win of the season. Sophomore guard Kenny Hart led
a balanced offense with team-high 11 points. Sophomore guard Chris
Pagentine added 10 points and senior forward Mike Miller chipped in
eight points and nine rebounds. On the season, the Cougars are led
by Hart, who is averaging 13.5 points per game while connecting on
34.3 percent of his three-point attempts. Senior forward Chad
Hardway is averaging 8.3 points per game and sophomore forward
Ruben Pierce leads Averett with 4.8 rebounds per game. As a team,
the Cougars have been outscored by an average of 16.6 points per
game, have been outrebounded by 10.3 rebounds per game and are
shooting just 38.2 percent (99-259) from the floor.
Brushing up on Bridgewater
The Eagles enter the week with a 2-2 record and will be playing
their ODAC-opener against the Generals. W&L is 72-44 all time
against Bridgewater. BC took both regular season contests from the
Generals last season, but W&L captured a 10-point victory in
the semifinal round of the ODAC Championship to advance to the ODAC
Finals. Most recently, Bridgewater fell to Southern Virginia
by a final score of 91-65. SVU shot 55.8 percent from the floor and
61.1 percent (11-18) from the arc to even up the Eagles’
record at 2-2. Senior forward Jake Johnson led the way with 10
points and nine rebounds for Bridgewater while junior forward Segar
Jordan also scored 10 points. On the season, the Eagles are led by
senior guard Dominic Trawick, who is averaging a team-high 21.5
points per game, while adding 5.8 rebounds per game. Johnson is
chipping in 11.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and senior guard
D.J. Billups is averaging 7.0 points and 3.5 assists per game.
Last Time Against Bridgewater • W&L 77, BC 67
• 2/28/09 (ODAC Semifinals)
Eighth-seeded Washington and Lee shot 61.1 percent (11-18) from
the floor in the second half en route to knocking off fourth-seeded
Bridgewater, 77-67, in semifinal action of the ODAC Men’s
Basketball Tournament. Forward Ben Goetsch scored a
then-career-high 19 points and the Generals out-rebounded the
league’s second-best rebounding team (36-34) to become the
first-ever No. 8 seed to advance to the championship game. Despite
shooting just 36.7 percent (11-30) in the opening half, W&L
connected on six three-pointers and hit 8-of-12 free throws in
leading by as many as 11 points (16-5) in the first 20 minutes en
route to grabbing a 36-35 lead at the break. Bridgewater’s
Robert Rice connected on a jumper to open the second stanza and the
Eagles held a slight advantage until a jumper by senior forward
Ryan Owens put W&L back on top (43-42) at the 14:50 mark.
Bridgewater regained the lead (44-43) on the next possession
courtesy of a D.J. Billups jumper, but Owens connected on a lay-up
at the 12:23 mark to give W&L a 45-44 lead and the Generals
would not trail the rest of the game en route to the 10-point
triumph. In addition to his 19 points, Goetsch added seven
rebounds. Owens and senior guard Chris McHugh scored 11 points
apiece, while forward Zac White added 10 points. Guard Dominic
Trawick led Bridgewater with 18 points, while Justin Reavis scored
15 points and collected nine rebounds. Rice chipped in 12 points
for the Eagles.
Strong Start = Strong Finish
W&L is 34-6 in its last 40 games when leading at the break and
has compiled a 68-28 (.708) record over the past 11 years when it
leads at the break. W&L has won a total of 91 games during that
stretch, meaning that the Generals have led at halftime in nearly
75 percent of their wins during the last 11 years.
Firing Blanks
Bridgewater senior guard Dominic Trawick is currently leading the
ODAC is scoring with 21.5 points per game and W&L senior
forward Ben Goetsch is right behind him at 21.3 points per game.
However, despite boasting the ODAC’s most prolific scorers,
W&L and BC rank last and next to last in scoring offense with
64.5 and 70.8 points per game, respectively.
Dialing it in
Senior forward Ben Goetsch had a breakout season in 2008-09 and
established himself as one of W&L’s most productive and
efficient players, posting averages of 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds
per game, while shooting a team-high 51.9 percent (109-210) from
the floor. Thus far in 2009, Goetsch has posted averages of 21.3
points and 8.5 rebounds, while shooting a blistering 62.3 percent
(33-53) from the floor. He is currently second in the conference in
scoring (trailing only Dominic Trawick from Bridgewater) and third
in rebounding.
Hit on 20?
Entering this season, senior forward Ben Goetsch had never
recorded a 20-point game, with 19 being his career high. However,
Goetsch has already posted games of 29 points and 23 points this
season. Goetsch must also like seeing Catholic and Bridgewater on
the schedule this week. Last season, Goetsch set what was then a
new personal best with 18 points against Catholic, only to exceed
that mark with 19 points against BC in the ODAC Tournament. If
Goetsch can somehow set another personal best in scoring, he would
become the first General to score 30 points in a game since Greg
Bienemann ‘08 scored 37 against Emory & Henry in
2008.
Ey See You
First-year forward J.D. Ey has been one of a number of fresh faces
making large contributions this season. Ey is currently third on
the team in scoring with 7.3 points per game and second on the team
with an average of 5.8 rebounds per game. He has been in the
starting lineup in each of W&L’s first four games and
became the first General to start in his first career game since
Femi Kusimo ‘08 did so in the 2004-05 season-opener.
Cold as Ice
Sophomore guard Jon Guest knocked down four free throws in four
attempts in the last five minutes of the season-opening win over
Greensboro. Guest is a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe in
the last five minutes of regulation and overtime for his career. As
a team, W&L is hitting on 80.6 percent (25-31) of its
free-throws taken in “crunch time”, compared to just
49.1 percent (27-55) of its attempts in the other 35 minutes of the
game.
Second Chances
In their three-point win over Otterbein, the Generals held a 34-25
advantage on the boards, but more importantly, had 15 offensive
rebounds to Otterbein’s three, as well as 16 second-chance
points to Otterbein’s three. On the season, the Generals have
57 offensive rebounds (14.3/game) and have given up only 37
offensive boards (9.3/game) to their opponents.
Fifty Nifty
W&L failed to reach the 50-point barrier in suffering it first
loss of the season, 63-46, to Case Westen Reserve. Since coach
Hutchinson took over, W&L has failed to reach the 50-point mark
on 23 occasions and the Generals hold a 1-22 (.045) mark in those
contests. When reaching at least 50 points, the Generals have
posted a 56-77 record (.421) under Hutchinson. W&L’s last
win when scoring fewer than 50 points was a 49-44 triumph over
Lynchburg on Feb. 8, 2004 in Lexington.
Handy Hans
First-year guard Hans Harris has made several key buckets early in
the season. In the win over Greensboro, it was Harris that knocked
down back-to-back three pointers in the second half to give W&L
a lead that it would not relinquish on its way to a 67-55 win. In
Saturday’s win over E&H, Harris hit consecutive mid-range
jumpers to complete the Generals’ 14-point comeback and give
W&L a 57-55 lead that it would not give up.
