February 4, 2012
Grove City nips Westminster on Hall of Fame Day
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team completed a season sweep of Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Westminster Saturday afternoon by pulling out an 80-78 home win over the Titans on Hall of Fame Day in the Grove City College Arena.
Westminster's Doug Smith missed a game-winning three-point attempt as time expired, giving Grove City its second straight win.
Freshman guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's) led the Wolverines with 26 points and senior guard Brett Matson (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland) fired in 20 points.
Grove City trailed by as many as eight, 34-26, before cutting the gap to 42-38 by halftime. The Wolverines surged ahead early in the second half by scoring 11 of the first 14 points in the period. Senior center Kris Verderber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) started the half with a layup and freshman guard Josh Patterson (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) tied the game at 42 with a layup.
Consecutive baskets by Marmelstein put the Wolverines ahead 49-45 with 17:32 left in the game.
Later in the half, back-to-back deuces from freshman guards J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) and Christian Durbin (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) gave Grove City its biggest lead of the half, 73-67, with four minutes left.
Both teams shot 29 of 56 (52 percent) from the field for the game. Westminster went 13 for 23 (57 percent) on three-pointers while Grove City made 9 of 22 (41 percent) three-point attempts. The Wolverines made 13 of 15 free throws while Westminster sank 7 of 9 attempts.
Ben Donlow led Westminster (5-16, 4-9) with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Anthony Thomas added 21 points and Reuben King fired in 13. Grove City did own a 29-28 edge in rebounds, though. Matson led Grove City with eight boards and Marmelstein pulled in five.
Durbin and Schwartz both had six assists and Matson had four assists. Westminster committed 10 turnovers and Grove City had only nine.
Marmelstein tied the single-game school record with six three-point goals. The second half featured seven lead changes.
Nine of Grove City's 13 conference games have been decided by four points or less.
Grove City (9-12, 5-8 PAC) will visit conference rival Washington & Jefferson next Saturday at 4 p.m.
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-Fred Schwab (1970-74) 1,215
8-Deron Ryan (1984-88) 1,205
9-Tim Mokma (1987-91) 1,197
10-Bill Fox (1975-79) 1,192
11-Tom Robinson (1957-62) 1,181
12-Mark Smith (1979-83) 1,171
13-Andy O'Keefe (2006-10 1,164
14-Jim Wherley (1993-97) 1,162
15-Bart Niemeyer (1958-62) 1,145
16-Shawn Carr (2004-08) 1,121
17-Benjamin Davis (1990-94) 1,094
18-Ryan Gibson (2005-09) 1,079
19-Dave Marovich (1962-65) 1,072
20-Ron Arrington (1962-66) 1,069
21-Ryan Eller (2001-05) 1,068
22-Mike Donahoe (1975-79) 1,051
23-Dan Von Handorf (1992-96) 1,029
24-BRETT MATSON (2008-) 1,021
25-Dutch Leonard (1955-59) 1,013
Go back to Wolverine Basketball Home Page