Oilers stung by Yellow Jackets in G-MAC quarterfinal

FINDLAY– The University of Findlay men's basketball team fell to Cedarville 77-70 on February 1st, its second of just three conference losses on the year. The Yellow Jackets gave them deja vu. Cedarville, the eight-seed in the Greater Midwest Athletic Conference tournament, defeated the top-seeded Oilers 67-65 on Tuesday evening in a tough game that almost went the other way down the stretch. The no. 15 Oilers tied the game three times on Tuesday, just once in the second half, but failed to take a single lead. Cedarville's dominance inside and Findlay's inconsistent shooting led to an Oilers loss. "I thought our guys gave great effort," Ernst said. "Sometimes the ball bounces your way, sometimes it doesn't. It's bounced our way a lot this season, we just couldn't make shots and couldn't make 3s. Obviously, we had a couple, late in the game, that were right at the rim and we couldn't convert. We got most of our stuff in transition, and they got most of their stuff in the quarter court. They didn't really shoot the 3-ball any better than we did, but they were more efficient in the paint. We had a hard time scoring at the rim all night, and I think that's really what it came down to."As the game came down to the wire, the Oilers slowly started to shift the momentum, using Croy Gymnasium's energy to come alive. The Yellow Jackets were ahead 66-60 with 2:15 remaining, when junior Josh Thorbahn came up with a big steal, and junior Mekhi Elmore converted a layup on the other end with 1:35 left. Sophomore UF guard Anthony Johnson tipped an inbounds pass off of a Cedarville player as the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over with 1:27 on the clock. Elmore was fouled on a 3-pointer, and sank all three free throws to make it 66-65 with 1:07 remaining. Cedarville inbounded and drove to the basket, where hard-nosed Oilers' freshman Steele Meister drew a charge with 44 seconds to force yet another turnover. Elmore missed a shot on the Oilers' next possession, as Meister grabbed a strong rebound and Ernst used his final timeout. The Yellow Jackets forced a shot-clock violation after UF's timeout, and the Oilers began to foul intentionally. Cedarville made the first free throw and missed the second, and Findlay had 8.2 seconds to go the length of the floor down 67-65. Elmore found a lane to the basket, and missed it with heavy contact, before the ball went off a Cedarville player out of bounds. After some deliberation from the referees, the game clock was changed from 0.7 seconds to 1.3, with the Oilers inbounding under their own basket. Through tough Yellow Jacket defense, junior Max Roth found Meister for a contested mid-range desperation shot, which failed to connect, as the Oilers fell in the opening round of tournament action. "We thought there was only going to be 0.7," Ernst said. "Then they put 1.3 up and it happened quick. Which gave us a couple other options, but we probably would've been better off going out there thinking we had 0.7. When you have a timeout, you can come out of there thinking maybe it's gonna look a little bit better."Probably, what I should've done there late is gone with our starting group and ran one of our regular out-of-bounds plays," Ernst continued. "We couldn't with 0.7, but we could with 1.3. The refs wanted to go so fast. With 1.3, we could've used our playbook. With 0.7, it's almost either gotta be a quick catch-and-shoot or a tip. That changes everything. By the time I realized that, I couldn't put our starting group out there, the horn had already sounded. So, it was a difficult situation, and obviously our execution wasn't very good."Elmore led the Oilers with 19 points and four rebounds. Roth finished with 14, nailing two 3-pointers. Johnson had 11 points and six rebounds. Johnson scored six of his 11 in the midst of a 12-5 Oiler run which cut Cedarville's lead to two points in the second half. "He's just rocksteady, mentally and physically," Ernst said of Johnson. "He doesn't have highs and lows. That's the personality you want of the guy running the team. When you get too emotional in this game, you miss a minute of basketball. You either panic or you gamble, you go desperation mode, and then you lose a game by two points and go 'sheesh.' But, he's poised, always. No matter what's happening. I think that's why he can go from not scoring, not getting any points, to going bing-bing-bing. He never changes the way he plays.""I love him and I love the way he plays," Ernst added. "I have a ton of faith and trust in him, and he's only a sophomore."Junior Jagger Landers ended with six points, five rebounds, and two assists. Thorbahn also notched six points, connecting on two shots from deep to go along with four rebounds. Meister scored four points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman big Alex Kendall added four points and three rebounds. Cedarville's Sam Johnson, who had 10 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, and two steals in the Yellow Jackets' February 1 victory, led all scorers with 19 points and four rebounds. Anthony Ruffolo, Ethan Sellars, and David Okpara each poured in 10 points. Ruffolo notched three rebounds and three assists, while Sellars dished out five assists. Jaylen Davis scored seven points and corralled five rebounds. Tymoteusz Pszczola added six points and six boards. "I hope we get another opportunity," Ernst said. "I think we're too good and we've had too good a season to get it pulled from us. But, when you leave it in the hands of other people, you just never know. That being said, these guys will bounce back. They've bounced back all year, they're a close-knit team."Tuesday's defeat brings the Oilers' record to 24-5 on the season, as they bow out of the G-MAC tournament in an upset loss. Findlay will be waiting until this Sunday at 11 p.m., to see if they are selected for the Division II NCAA Tournament. CEDARVILLEJohnson 7-4–19, Ruffolo 4-2–10, Sellars 4-2–10, Okpara 5-0–10, J. Davis 3-0–7, Pszczola 3-0–6, Thomas 1-0–3, T. Davis 1-0–2. TOTALS: 28-6–67.FINDLAYElmore 6-6–19, Roth 6-0–14, Johnson 5-0–11, Landers 3-0–6, Thorbahn 2-0–6, Meister 1-2–4, Kendall 2-0–4, Bishop 0-1–1. TOTALS: 25-9–65.HALFTIME SCORE: Cedarville, 33-26.3-POINT FIELD GOALS: Cedarville 5-20 (Sellars 2); Findlay 6-25 (Roth, Thorbahn).REBOUNDS: Cedarville 34 (Pszczola, Thomas 6); Findlay 37 (Meister 7).TURNOVERS: Cedarville 14, Findlay 10.