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Wednesday, December 2, 2009
By STEVEN MARSH - Sports Editor
FERRUM -- Nick English will have a good reason to search for his name in the boxscore from Ferrum College's most recent outing on the hardwood.
English, a sophomore, tallied a career-best 20 points Monday night to lead a quartet of Ferrum double-figure scorers in the Panthers' 76-72 non-conference men's basketball triumph over Emory & Henry College (E&H) at William P. Swartz Gymnasium.
English's effort was pivotal as the Panthers (2-4) put an end to a four-game home-court losing streak and a skid of four straight setbacks to teams from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).
E&H (0-1 in the ODAC, 1-4 overall), which made its first appearance in Swartz Gym since 1993, trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half and was 12 points in arrears (60-48) with 6:30 left.
But in those last 6 1/2 minutes, the Wasps had nine scoring possessions and on six of those, they either netted a 3-point field goal or a three-point play.
E&H pulled to within three points on three different occasions in the closing minute.
But the Panthers were able to preserve their advantage by swishing free throws. For the game, Ferrum was 21 of 23 from the line, including a perfect 12 of 12 showing in the last 4:53.
"It was good that we had to play the game out at the end because there are going to be a lot of games throughout the year that are tight down the stretch, so to get through that experience successfully early in the season with a lot of young guys on the floor was good,' Panthers head coach Bill Tharp said.
"We needed to win in the worst way and I'm happy that we did. It was at little too frantic (at the end), but we really shot free throws well; we made them all down the stretch.' Tharp said.
"I got scared at the end, but we hit some clutch free throws,' said English, one of four Ferrum players to post a perfect free-throw shooting clip -- he was 4 of 4.
English was 8 of 11 from the field and was one of three Ferrum players who logged 30 or more minutes on the floor.
"There were a lot of good shots out there. My teammates were looking for me and I was finding the open spots,' said English, who prepped at Group AA Blacksburg.
English said he has struggled offensively this season.
"It was probably me just needing to get back into the rhythm of things, getting my feet wet again,' English said.
Tharp said English, Alton Whitby, Shon Goode and Gary Brandt are all capable of providing the Panthers with complementary scoring in the post.
"We need to get a few more rebounds from Nick (English had two, both of which were on the offensive end of the floor), but he did score a lot of points which was good to see,' Tharp said. "He shot the ball real well.
"I told all of those guys (English, Whitby, Goode and Brandt) that we'll give you all a chance in the game, but the guys who play the most minutes are the ones who are accomplishing more. I think they all can contribute, we just need them to,' Tharp said.
Ferrum's main threat in the post is Derek Mitchell and he registered his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-best 17 rebounds.
The teams played a grind-it-out first half as only 50 points were scored with Ferrum ahead 29-21 at intermission. The count was 16-10 at the 7:57 mark. E&H scored the game's first five points, but the Wasps didn't break the 20-point mark until 45 seconds were left.
In the second half, the two teams combined for 98 points with E&H winning the stanza 51-47.
Despite a 1 of 16 showing from 3-point range, Ferrum managed to converted 45.8 percent of its shots (27 of 59). Ferrum's turnover total was high (19), but fewer than E&H's (23).
"And we'd been shooting the ball better than we had in the past,' Tharp said. "To be honest, 12 of the 16 (threes) that we missed were probably good shots that I'd want us to take on any given night...We've just got to knock them down. Tonight, we really didn't shoot the ball well (from 3-point range), but everything else was working offensively.'
Daryl Hart finished with 16 points on a 6 of 13 shooting display and Henry Hall tallied 13.
JD Dyson paced E&H with 18 points. Josh Cunningham netted 15 by swishing 5 of 11 3-point tries and Terrance Grigg collected 14.
For the game, the Wasps were 10 of 30 from 3-point range; they were 8 of 18 after intermission.
"They hit some tough (3-pointers) and late in the game, we've got to have better presence of knowing that they're in desperation mode,' Tharp said. "...They made some shots to make it an exciting finish. Fortunately, we made a lot of free throws.'
Ferrum returns to action Saturday against Lancaster (Pa.) Bible College. The non-conference contest tips off at 3 p.m.
EMORY & HENRY -- 21/51 -- 72
FERRUM 29/47 -- 76
EMORY & HENRY (72) -- Dyson 5 6-6 18, Stafford 2 4-7 8, Teague 2 0-0 4, Grigg 7 0-0 14, Cunningham 5 0-0 15, Pearman 2 0-0 4, Rigney 3 0-0 9, Green 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0-0 0, Short 0 0-0 0, Hayden 0 0-0 0, Larimer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26 10-13 72.
FERRUM (76) -- Wade 3 0-1 6, Hart 6 4-5 16, English 8 4-4 20, Mitchell 6 5-5 17, Hall 3 6-6 13, Firebaugh 0 0-0 0, Hamilton 0 2-2 2, Benjamin 1-3 0-0 2, Whitby 0 0-0 0, Goode 0 0-0 0, Brandt 0 0-0 0.
Halftime score: 29-21 Ferrum Three-point goals: Ferrum 1-16 (Wade 0-3, Hart 0-4, Hall 1-4, Firebaugh 0-2, Hamilton (0-3), E&H 10-30 (Dyson 2-6, Cunningham 5-11, Rigney 3-11, Green 0-, Hayden 0-1). Rebounds: Ferrum 37 (Mitchell 17), E&H 32 (Dyson 7). Assists: Ferrum 8 (Hamilton 4), E&H 14 (Stafford 6). Turnovers: Ferrum 19 (Wade 7), E&H 23 (Stafford 6). Blocked shots; Ferrum 3 (Hart 2), E&H 0. Steals: Ferrum 10 (Mitchell 3), E&H 10 (Stafford 3, Cunningham 3). Total Fouls: Ferrum 17, E&H 24. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: Hall (Ferrum), Stafford (E&H).
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