Bookstore Basketball XXXI: No. 6 Splitters knock out SP Shockers again
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Senior Staff Writer
Van Giles inside game opened up the Splitters outside shooters as the No. 6 seed beat No. 11 SP Shockers II, 21-14.
Giles consistently scored on the inside, picking up six points and demanding double teams almost every possession.
"Usually if I can start hitting some baskets, they have to start putting two people on me; then I can kick it out for open shots," Giles said.
While the Splitters moved the ball around effectively for open looks, the Shockers went cold early on and couldn't buy a bucket. The Splitters opened a 12-3 lead before the Shockers finally started scoring.
"They were a tough team. I give them a lot of credit but we just couldn't hit any shots early on," the Shocker's Ben Gilfillan said.
This is the second year in a row that the Splitters have eliminated the Shockers. Last year the Splitters beat the Shockers in the round of 32.
"We were hoping for some revenge but it just didn't happen. They are a senior team so that's all right. We are all just sophomores. We'll be back next year," Gilfillan said.
The victory was in part a statement a game, according to Giles. He said his team, the pre-tournament No. 4 seed, was very upset about being dropped down to No. 6. Commissioners cited an ankle injury to Splitter's Matt Wolbeck as the reason for the downgrade in ranking. Wolbeck played Thursday's game with a brace on his ankle, but it did not appear to affect his game.
"Everyone keeps talking about the ankle, but you saw he played fine today," Giles said. "We are tired of hearing about the ankle."
The Splitters will face third-seeded Project Mayhem in the elite eight. Thanks to the hot shooting of Dan Lustig, Project Mayhem defeated What the Hell are Robster Craws?, 21-16.
Lustig opened the game by scoring the first five points for Project Mayhem en route to a 5-1 early lead for the third seed. However, Robster Craws were able to capitalize on Project Mayhem fouls to bring themselves as close as 17-14 late in the game.
Unfortunately for Robster Craws, hot shooting by Lustig, Luke Mueller, Jason Mayes, Doug Wilson and Brian Rush led Project Mayhem to a late run to seal the win.
No. 4 Lazy Boys beat a scrappy Irish Men squad, 21-17 in other round of 16 action.
Irish Men, playing without Irish assistant basketball coach Lewis Preston, could not match Lazy Boys height inside.
Jason Ditsch's strong inside-outside play helped Lazy Boys build a 20-12 lead before Irish Men mounted a last-ditch comeback effort.
Nick Williams' scrappy point guard play and Brian Kahn's shooting touch rallied the Irish Men to 20-15 before Tommy Walz ended the game with a free throw for Lazy Boys.
"We are a real fundamentally sound team," Ditsch said. "Toward the end of the game, we started getting away from that and playing a lot of 1-on-1. When we went back to fundamentals, we were fine."
Williams' refused to use Preston's absence as an excuse for the loss.
Preston was away on a recruiting trip.
"We've won without him before [in the first round and the round of 64]," Williams said, but acknowledged that his team was vastly different without Virginia Military Institution's all-time leading shot blocker. "Without him, we have to play five guards."
In the last game of the night, No. 2 AdWorks All-Stars shot well from the outside and defeated cold-shooting NDToday.com, 21-15.
Jason Sullivan and Ryan Ostick shot well from the outside for AdWorks, while Carlyle Holiday, Abe Elam and Justin Tuck forced NDToday to defend inside.
"We were hoping that Sullivan wouldn't shoot well today," NDToday's Ali Tahmasbi said.
NDToday's zone would have posed a problem for AdWorks if it hadn't shot so well.
"That's the first we've seen all tournament," Sullivan said. "When you face a zone, you have to shoot well and force them to come out of it. They never came out of it, so we kept getting good looks from the outside."
AdWorks' strategy on defense was to deny NDToday from getting any shots inside.
"We've got some great athletes that can basically shut down the point guards," Sullivan said. If a team does manage to get inside on AdWorks, Justin Tuck's shot blocking skills give the team a "security blanket," according to Sullivan.
With the inside denied, NDToday tried to hit long-range shots but couldn't find its shooting touch.
"I tried to shoot myself out of the slump, and it just didn't happen. That really hurt us," Tahmasbi said.
AdWorks will play No. 7 Mourning Wood today.
Notes
* Saturday's semifinal games are scheduled for 4:45 and 6 p.m. on Stepan courts.
* The championships begin at noon Sunday with the women's championship followed by the Hall of Fame game at 1 p.m. and the open championship at 2 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Friday, April 26, 2002
