Gator Tourney Run Ends Against OWU

Feb 29, 2008

BOX SCORE

WOOSTER, Ohio – Turnovers and a .375 shooting mark from the field plagued the Allegheny men’s basketball team (12-15) as the Gators fell 79-63 to Ohio Wesleyan (19-7) in the semifinal round of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Friday.

The Gators scored the game’s first five points with a Ben Torsney (Morgantown, W.Va., Morgantown) layup and a Larry Sharp (North Wales, Pa./Germantown Academy) three-pointer while holding the Bishops scoreless for the first 3:47 of the game.

Ohio Wesleyan finally got on the board and went on to tie the game, at 10-10, following a Kyle Miller layup at the 10:39 mark. The Gators regained the lead with four straight points from Greg Richards (St. Albans, Vt./Shenendehowa) but saw OWU answer with a 7-0 run ending with 8:02 left on the clock.

Guard Craig Devinney (Allison Park, Pa./Shaler) pulled the Gators even with a triple on Allegheny’s next possession but the Battling Bishops once again answered with back-to-back three-pointers to go ahead by six with 6:52 left in the half.

Things went downhill from that point as Ohio Wesleyan outscored Allegheny 8-0 over a late two-minute span, eventually taking a 39-29 lead into intermission.

Allegheny went scoreless over the first 3:49 of the second half and could never trim the deficit below eight the rest of the way as the Bishops defeated the Blue and Gold for the third time in 2008.

George Raftis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Sewickley Academy) and Devinney led the Gators with 17 and 13 points, respectively, while Raftis totaled a game-high nine rebounds. Torsney chipped in with 10 points and seven boards in his final game as a Gator.

Kyle Holliday paced the Bishop effort with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Miller and Brian Cafarella also reached double-digits with 17 and 10 points, respectively.

Ohio Wesleyan moves on to play the winner of the Wabash/Wooster contest being played later tonight for a chance at an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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