Findlay men lose big to Golden Knights

FINDLAY– In a big-time loss on Saturday, the University of Findlay might have seen a glimpse into its future. And, boy, was it powerful.Gannon University defeated the Oilers 101-79 on Saturday in what was a rout from start to finish. From the opening whistle, the Golden Knights took advantage of every weakness the Oilers had, showcasing their advantages in athleticism, size, and speed. It's not very often that that happens for Findlay, as it's used to outplaying opponents early and cruising to a victory using its hard-nosed press and flashy offensive plays. On Saturday, however, Gannon beat Findlay at its own game."They played a much better version of our style of basketball than we did," Findlay coach Charlie Ernst said. "I thought early in the game, we got it over top of their press a couple times, but we had a very poor conversion rate at the other end. When you can't convert those, that just fuels the frontline press because they're not worried about getting beat behind them. The longer the first half wore on, the more confidence they got in their press. We weren't good enough, and we weren't making enough shots to make them pay for that.""Give them a lot of credit, they took us to the woodshed," Ernst continued. "It's an opportunity to look at ourselves and say there is an idea of how much harder we can play and how much better our press can be. They put on a clinic."Six players ended in double-figures for the Golden Knights; none of them had more than 17, as Gannon used smart passes to spread the wealth offensively. Most of the guards for Gannon are six-foot-four and above, as the Golden Knights took advantage of their size advantage to get to the paint nearly at will. 52 of Gannon's 101 points came on the interior, a place where the Oilers only had 34. Inside the paint was where Gannon thrived, outrebounding the Oilers 47 to 34, including 15 on the offensive glass. "They just wanted it more at the end of the day," UF reserve guard Jayson Levis said. "Offensively, they just kept on grabbing offensive rebounds. Defensively, they really executed their traps and their gameplan.""They out-hustled us, out-scrapped us, for most of the night," Ernst added.Layne Sarver led the Golden Knights in the scoring department, finishing with 17 points and five rebounds, hitting four times from downtown. Lucas Morgan had 14 points, six rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Pace Prosser, who contributed a trio of 3-pointers to Gannon's total of 14, tallied 13 points and four rebounds. Lucas Sekasi was Gannon's primary facilitator, recording 13 points, six assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Jaden Calloway, one of Gannon's few players under six-four, corralled a team-high nine rebounds to go with 12 points and four steals. Victor Desmond added 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists. "That's a very good team," Ernst said. "That's a very good team that played very well."For the Oilers, there were still signs of life in the loss. It was another strong offensive outing for senior wing Mason Brandt. The Leipsic product hit six of his nine shots, going for a team-high 13 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block, securing two offensive rebounds and being a swiss-army knife for Ernst and the Oilers. "I thought Mason played pretty well tonight," Ernst said. There's not a lot of positives to hang our hat on after a game like that, but I would say this about Mason. He's hungry, and it shows. We've got some guys who aren't near as hungry as him, and it got exposed tonight. He's a hungry player right now, he has been this whole pre-season.""This team wouldn't be as good if it wasn't for him," Ernst continued. "He's a rebounder, he helps against the press, he blocks shots, he's gonna compete to the end. I'm proud of him. He doesn't look afraid of the moment, he was on the floor a couple times tonight. I think Mason's got a bright season ahead of him."Point guard Anthony Johnson also had a solid showing on Saturday. Johnson scored 12 points and snagged three boards, getting to the line for eight attempts and knocking down seven of them. Graduate student Josh Thorbahn continued to be effective in his role off the bench, netting two three-pointers and scoring eight points in just 11 minutes. Sophomore wing Steele Meister, possibly the hardest-playing Oiler, posted six points and six rebounds in a season-high 23 minutes. Senior guard Luke Denbow, who has been stepping up in his new-found role, scored eight points, adding two rebounds and two steals in just 13 minutes. Levis, another Oiler stepping up this season, went for six points, two rebounds, and a steal in nine minutes, bringing a spark for the Oilers in limited action. Denbow and Levis' continued ability to come in and make an impact on finite time is a testament to just how deep this Findlay roster is. "I'm playing my hardest every time I step on the floor. I know my guys have got my back when I'm out there, so I just gotta keep trying. When the next guy comes in, it's the same for them as well.""Whatever the team needs, that's what I'm willing to do," Levis said. "Whether that's playing five minutes a night or playing zero. I'm just that kind of player, and I think Luke is too. It's next man up mentality, as we're so deep. Coach can literally go to anybody on our bench, and they can produce right away."Coach Ernst truly can go to anyone on the Oilers' bench, and did so midway through the second half on Saturday. Findlay High graduate Javonte Hill, who red-shirted last year and had been out with an injury to start this season, was spotted participating in warmups and wearing a uniform for the first time prior to Saturday's tipoff, but didn't see any action in the opening period. That changed in the second half, as Hill took off his warmups and jogged to the scorer's table with 13:38 remaining in the contest to a barrage of cheers. Hill played just three minutes and recorded one steal and no points, but his impact was easily identifiable. At six-foot-two with a six-eight wingspan, it seemed that nearly every time Gannon attempted a pass near Hill, he was getting a deflection. Hill's confidence seemed to be high, and he looked like he belonged out there with a group of veteran players on both teams. "He just got cleared on Thursday, and today's Saturday," Ernst said. "He hasn't practiced in three months. I really had no intention whatsoever of playing him today, it was supposed to just be warmups. I made the decision at halftime of, you know what, I'm gonna put him out there and see how he does. This is a kid that hasn't played in a game in two years. Really, he did pretty well.""Maybe just that couple of minutes that I gave him, might be enough to help his confidence moving to the next game," Ernst added. "He's no doubt going to be a factor on our team. He plays with a heart and a motor, and we all know he's extremely talented. I (would) say that he's gonna be a real factor in our press."Another Oiler and former Trojan that played well despite the result was Jake Bishop. Bishop's intensity at his six-foot, 180-pound frame is hard to replicate, and often leads to mismatches on both sides of the ball."Jake Bishop, that guy's gonna scrap and claw right to the end," Ernst said. "It doesn't matter if he's guarding a six-six guy, you can count on it. Jake Bishop is a perfect example of a guy, I'm gonna look at his stat sheet. He scored five points, he took four shots. I really thought all the shots he took were good shots. He had four rebounds, he tied them up twice on jump balls, and probably gave us a chance to rebound some other ones just from getting his hands on them. He just fights, and scraps, and plays himself to sheer exhaustion."With their first loss of the new season, the Oilers are now 3-1 and will play their next four games in Croy Gymnasium as part of a six-game home stretch. On Tuesday, Findlay hosts 3-1 Wayne State at 7 p.m., a team that Findlay defeated 88-79 in a road matchup early on last season. GANNONSarver 6-1–17, Morgan 4-5–14, Prosser 5-0–13, Sekasi 6-0–13, Desmond 6-0–12, Calloway 5-2–12, Mackenzie 3-0–7, Wamsley 2-1–7, Idiaru 2-1–6. TOTALS: 39-10–101.FINDLAYBrandt 6-0–13, Johnson 2-7–12, Thorbahn 2-2–8, Denbow 3-2–8, Meister 2-1–6, Levis 2-2–6, Kendall 3-0–6, Bishop 1-3–5, Elmore 2-0–5, Landers 2-0–5, Ioppolo 2-0–4, Francis 0-1–1. TOTALS: 26-19–79.HALFTIME SCORE: Gannon, 49-33.THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS: Gannon 13-34 (Sarver 4); Findlay 8-29 (Thorbahn 2).REBOUNDS: Gannon 47 (Calloway 9); Findlay 34 (Meister 6).TURNOVERS: Gannon 16, Findlay 20.