January 26, 2005
Milestone night for Grove City
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Grove City College head men's basketball coach Steve Lamie earned his 100th collegiate coaching victory Wednesday night as the host Wolverines rolled past Thiel, 65-50, in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at the Grove City College Arena.
The win came in Grove City's 2,000th all-time men's basketball game. The victory is Grove City's 100th all-time win against Thiel and is also the Wolverines' eighth straight PAC victory, which ties the school record. Overall, Grove City (11-7, 4-0 PAC) has now won six consecutive games and remains atop the PAC.
Senior center Phil Bushre (Swartz Creek, Mich./Swartz Creek) poured in 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Wolverines while guards Mike Lukcic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) and Matt Phillips (Bainbridge, Ohio/Kenston) both hauled in 10 boards. Phillips also had a career-high eight assists.
Grove City held a 32-11 edge on the glass in the first half and out-rebounded Thiel, 47-24, for the game.
Grove City broke the game open in the first half, limiting Thiel (4-14, 0-4 PAC) to just 19 percent (5 of 26) shooting in the first half. The Wolverines assembled an 18-0 run in the first half and took a 34-15 lead into the intermission. A lay-up by senior forward Ryan Eller (Erie, Pa./Iroquois) ignited the run. Eller finished with 13 points while senior guard J.D. Collar (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) added 10 points.
Grove City led by as many as 30, 53-23, midway through the second half before the Tomcats battled back. Thiel pulled to within 57-44 with four minutes left on a Stephen Laird basket. However, a Lukcic three-pointer with 2:59 left helped seal the victory.
Laird led Thiel with 13 points while Joe Herrmann and Daryl Moore each had 11 points.
A 1985 Grove City grad, Lamie is 100-73 in seven years as head coach. All-time, Grove City is now 1,112-888. Grove City will close the first half of the PAC schedule Saturday afternoon at Bethany.
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