January 21, 2015

Turnovers cost Wolverines against Bethany

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team was outscored 23-11 in points off turnovers, and that proved to be the difference as the Wolverines fell to the visiting Bethany Bison 79-68 on Wednesday night in Presidents' Athletic Conference action in the Grove City College Arena.

Senior guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's) led Grove City (7-10, 2-6 PAC) with 15 points and five rebounds while freshman post Cory Huff (Kersey, Pa./Elk County Catholic) and senior forward Brian Giesler (Harrisville, Pa./Slippery Rock) added 14 and 12, respectively.

The Wolverines took an early 4-3 lead, but Bethany (9-8, 4-4 PAC) would hit five threes as part of a 14-3 run to lead 17-7 just past the midway point of the first half. Grove City would cut the deficit to five on three occasions, with a layup by senior guard J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) making it a 23-18 game with 5:33 remaining in the period.

Bethany would counter once again with a 10-2 run to take their largest lead of the half at 33-20 with 3:11 left, but after the team's traded buckets, Marmelstein would hit a three and a late Huff free throw would cut the margin back to single digits for a 35-26 halftime score.

Alan Harper led all scorers with 10 first-half points for the Bison while freshman Jon Grim (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk) led the Wolverines with six. Both teams shot 39 percent from the floor in the first half, but nine Grove City turnovers would lead to eight additional shots for the Bethany.

The Bison advantage would teeter between nine and 12 points early in the second half, and a pair of Delonte Joyce free throws with 15:42 remaining would give Bethany a 44-33 lead. Grove City would fight their way back into the game, as Marmelstein hit a three and Huff followed with consecutive hoops to cut the lead to four points at 44-40.

Junior Caleb Knudsen (Saylorsville, Pa./Pius X) and Huff would each answer Bethany baskets with scores of their own to keep the margin at four, and Grove City would have two chances to cut further into the lead. However, the Wolverines would commit turnovers on both possessions, the second leading to a Joyce three that sparked a 10-0 Bethany run to push the lead back to 14 at 58-44 with 8:20 remaining.

From there, Grove City would have a few glimpses of life, but Bethany hit 15 of 22 free throws down the stretch, including a perfect 8-for-8 from Joyce, to seal the win.

For the game, the Wolverines shot 45 percent of the floor but made just 26 percent of their attempts from three-point range (7-27). Bethany, who was shooting 28 percent from three coming into the game, hit 10 of 24 from deep and outscored the Wolverines 17-9 at the foul line.

Grove City outrebounded Bethany 44-35, led by a game-high 12 from Knudsen.

The Wolverines will look to get back on track Saturday when they visit Washington & Jefferson for a 4 p.m. PAC road game.

Box Score

GROVE CITY'S 1,000-POINT CLUB

1-Jeff Claypool (1965-69)            2,234
2-Bob Crow (1979-83)                 1,450
3-Joe Buckley (1985-89)              1,413
4-John Cochran (1966-70)             1,352
5-Tanner Prosser (1999-2003)         1,263
6-Mark Timko (1991-94)               1,255
7-MITCH MARMELSTEIN (2011-Pres.)     1,247
8-Fred Schwab (1970-74)              1,215
9-Deron Ryan (1984-88)               1,205
10-Tim Mokma (1987-91)               1,197
11-Bill Fox (1975-79)                1,192
12-Tom Robinson (1957-62)            1,181
13-Mark Smith (1979-83)              1,171
14-Andy O'Keefe (2006-10)            1,164
16-Jim Wherley (1993-97)             1,162
16-Bart Niemeyer (1958-62)           1,145
17-Shawn Carr (2004-08)              1,121
18-Brett Matson (2008-12)            1,108
19-Benjamin Davis (1990-94)          1,094
20-Ryan Gibson (2005-09)             1,079
21-Dave Marovich (1962-65)           1,072
22-Ron Arrington (1962-66)           1,069
23-Ryan Eller (2001-05)              1,068
24-Mike Donahoe (1975-79)            1,051
25-Dan Von Handorf (1992-96)         1,029
26-Dutch Leonard (1955-59)           1,013