Ferris State shoots well, holds off Findlay in NCAA tournament

NORTH CANTON – In the first matchup of the season between Findlay and Ferris State, the Oilers had one of their better performances from the floor, going 29-of-60 and picking up a 86-74 win back in November.In Friday's rematch in the NCAA Division II tournament, UF continued its hot shooting against the Bulldogs, going 31-of-63 and making 12 3-pointers.The only problem was that Ferris State was hotter, going 29-of-56 and a gaudy 20-of-28 from the free-throw line, as the Oilers fell 87-81."I thought our execution was good enough to win the game and we shot the three better than we have all year," Findlay head coach Charlie Ernst said."I think we've had two or three games this year where we've made 10 or more threes. Today, we made 12 on 26 shots."Normally, that'd be enough, but give Ferris State credit. They made some tough shots; they have some shot makers and I think maybe their depth wore us out at the end of the day."Ferris State will play Hillsdale today at 5 p.m. in the regional semifinal, after the Chargers fended off Cedarville, 68-61."We've played Findlay a number of times in the national tournament — this being the third time in recent history — and it's a familiar opponent," Ferris State's head coach Andy Bronkema said. "We know how well-coached those guys are and how hard they're going to play."He was right.Even though the Oilers trailed almost the entire second half—except for a short stint when Joey Edmonds (13 points) converted an and-one that put UF up, 55-53 with 11:54 left — it was never more than an eight-point game during the last 20 minutes of play.And that was with Nate Bruns and Brady Wildermuth on the bench in foul trouble.Like he has for the last month-and-a-half, Deven Stover picked up the slack, finishing with 11 points and four boards off the bench."He's been unbelievable for these last six weeks," Ernst said of Stover."There's probably people out there going, 'Did Coach Ernst go out and recruit this guy six weeks ago?' He's been that good and more than the production, he's an unbelievable teammate."I love to coach him and he's the first one to congratulate his teammates. When guys like him succeed, man do those guys love it."Though Edmonds was able to put UF in front nine minutes into the second half, Ferris State regained the lead and was able to hold it, mostly because of Lee Higgins' work from the free-throw down the stretch.In the last two-and-a-half minutes of regulation, Higgins finished 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. He scored a game-high 22 points. The Bulldogs' leading scorer, Walt Kelser, dropped 22 points as well."I thought both teams deserved to win and both teams played hard, but our guys closed it out and I couldn't be prouder of them," Bronkema said."It was a real group effort for us and a lot of guys contributed in a number of ways. There was some foul trouble that we had to get through and even right at the end there with the free-throw contest."The Oilers finish the 2021-22 season with a 19-11 record.It also marks the end of the careers of several Oilers—Brady Wildermuth, Ethan Linder, Tre'Maine Gray, Anthony Masterlasco and possibly Deven Stover and D'Ondre Palmer."Not that it's not sad when guys leave when they're one or two-year guys, but for these guys, it's four or five years," Ernst said."Nearly every guy in our program are guys we recruit out of high school and you fall in love with them in a lot of ways."Masterlasco finished with a team-high 18 points and six rebounds in his final game wearing a Findlay uniform.And he's worn that uniform quite a bit—more than anyone ever.The Findlay-native and Liberty-Benton graduate finished with 143 games played, as well as 1,388 career points. He finishes his career in 21st-place in scoring.And while the loss stings, there's no place he'd rather be on Friday then playing for the Oilers."I knew coming out of high school that there was no other place I wanted to go," an emotional Masterlasco said."Coach Ernst came and recruited me—Ethan Linder too, we talked about playing together—and I knew right away that there was no better opportunity than that. It's meant everything having this fifth year and I never thought otherwise about coming back."I knew I was coming back and I'm so happy and glad that I did. I wanna thank the coaches for everything over this team, all my teammates and everybody's that been here with me. I wouldn't have changed this for the world." FINDLAY (19-11)Masterlasco 7-8 0-0 18, Bruns 7-15 0-1 15, Wildermuth 1-2 0-0 2, Gray 4-9 1-2 11, Edmonds 4-12 3-3 12, Stover 4-7 3-5 11, Linder 2-3 0-0 6, Thorbahn 1-4 0-0 3, Swaine 0-1 0-0 0, Stone 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 31-63 7-14 81.FERRIS STATE (22-8)Ryan 4-7 3-4 11, Aluyi 2-7 1-2 6, Kelser 9-17 2-5 22, Higgins 5-8 10-11 22, Scholler 3-4 2-2 11, Davidson 3-6 1-2 8, Hazelton 1-3 0-0 2, Grazulis 2-2 1-2 5, Bingham 0-2 0-0. TOTALS: 29-56 20-28 87.HALFTIME: Ferris State, 42-35.3-POINT GOALS: Findlay 12-26 (Masterlasco 4-4, Bruns 1-4, Gray 2-5, Edmonds 2-6, Linder 2-2, Thorbahn 1-4, Swaine 0-1); Ferris State 9-20 (Aluyi 1-3, Kelser 2-6, Higgins 2-5, Scholler 3-3, Davidson 1-2, Hazleton 0-1).REBOUNDS: Findlay 34 (Masterlasco 6, Bruns 5); Ferris State 36 (Ryan 8).ASSISTS: Findlay 18 (Gray 6, Edmonds 5); Ferris State 13 (Hazelton 3, Kelser 3, Grazulis 3).STEALS: Findlay 6 (Masterlasco 2, Edmonds 2); Ferris State 6 (Scholler 3).BLOCKS: Findlay 5 (Bruns 2); Ferris State 5 (Scholler 2).TURNOVERS: Findlay 12; Ferris State 11.