Oilers drop third-consecutive game

FINDLAY– The University of Findlay men's basketball team is in perhaps its worst rut of the season, now having lost three in a row, with its playoff chances slipping by the game. As the reigning regular-season conference champion a year ago and returning nearly its entire roster, Findlay has some soul-searching to do with just two games remaining before the postseason begins. The Cedarville Yellow Jackets defeated the Oilers 85-75 Thursday, after being down by one at the break. After a back-and-forth first half, Cedarville's newly-patented zone defense began to take effect. The Yellow Jackets broke a five-game losing streak against Ashland a week ago, and now picked up their third consecutive victory. A large part of that has been a new zone defense, which Cedarville's height and length have turned into one of the better defenses in the conference. "That zone that they've been running the past couple of games has really gotten good," Findlay senior forward Jagger Landers said. "As you can see, it stalls a lot, slowed us down a little bit. We tried picking them up in the full court, we threw a lot of different looks at them. We've just gotta be a little better at it. We've gotta regroup, because we have two of the most important games of the year coming up. Outside of this game, we've kinda got to flip the page and have full confidence stepping into those two, those are must-win."Cedarville began the second half on fire, as a 7-2 start turned into 10-2, then 15-4, 18-6, and finally a 24-9 run before Findlay began to show signs of life. That second-half stretch, however, all but sealed the Oilers' fate. "That zone made us uncomfortable," Oilers coach Charlie Ernst said. "We practiced against it all week, but they've got great length and activity in it. Obviously, just like maybe our press is hard for them to mimic in practice, their zone's hard for us to mimic in practice. We just never really got comfortable in it. I felt like the game got away from us. We had three or four live-ball turnovers in a row, and the game went from a one-point game to a seven or nine-point game just like that. Then it seemed like from that point forward, we struggled to get enough stops in a row to get back in the game."Three 18-and-up scorers for Cedarville also did in the Oilers, as no matter what Findlay's defense tried to throw at them, the Yellow Jackets found a way to convert on offense. Jaylen Davis paced the Yellow Jackets with 21 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, hitting four triples at a 50-percent clip. Point guard Anthony Ruffolo poured in 18 points, four boards, and four assists, going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Skilled post-player Sam Johnson also chipped in 18 points, corralling five rebounds as well. Jordan Jonathan recorded nine points. Ethan Sellars had six points, three rebounds, and three assists, while Jonathan Whiteside also tacked on six. Findlay High School alum Jake Bishop led the Oilers off the bench, connecting on six of his eight three-point tries for 20 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Starting guards Mekhi Elmore and Anthony Johnson put up 11 and 10 points, respectively. Senior forward Jagger Landers had eight points, eight rebounds, and two steals, netting a pair of triples. Findlay shot just 37-percent from the floor, 32-percent from downtown, got out-rebounded, out-assisted, and out-played in nearly every major facet of Thursday's game. "We have to play our best basketball," Landers said. "We have to play the most confident we can coming up and turning the corner. We've seen other teams do it, we're now in a different position. Our backs are against the wall, but we can do it. We have guys coming back, we have the experience. It starts from the top, starts from guys like me. We've just gotta be a little bit better, and piece a few together."For a team potentially on the bubble looking ahead to the postseason, Findlay will have to find a way to turn things around. At 9-9 in G-MAC games and 15-11 overall, the Oilers have just two games left to keep their game in the playoff picture. "I believe in our team," Ernst added. "We're in a tough part of our season right now, I know these guys are hurting. But, we still have two regular-season games. We've gotta find a way to get into the tournament, that's really what our focus is."A road contest against the Hillsdale Chargers (10-15, 7-10 G-MAC), who already have a 78-72 win over the Oilers in Croy Gymnasium, will be Findlay's first test. The Oilers wrap up the regular season against conference rival Ashland (19-7, 13-5), whom the Oilers lost to in a double-overtime thriller on the road back on January 5. CEDARVILLEDavis 6-5–21, Ruffolo 6-3–18, Johnson 7-3–18, Jonathan 4-0–9, Sellars 2-0–6, Whiteside 2-2–6, Gibson 2-0–4, Blair III 1-0–3, Harmison 0-1–1. TOTALS: 30-14–85.FINDLAYBishop 7-0–20, Elmore 4-2–11, Johnson 3-3–10, Landers 3-0–8, Meister 2-2–7, Thorbahn 2-0–5, Hill 2-0–5, Roth 0-4–4, Kendall 0-3–3, Ioppolo 1-0–2. TOTALS: 24-14–75.HALFTIME SCORE: 34-33, Findlay.THREE-POINT FIELD GOALS: Cedarville 11-22 (Davis 4); Findlay 13-40 (Bishop 6).REBOUNDS: Cedarville 32 (Davis 8); Findlay 30 (Landers 8).TURNOVERS: Cedarville 9, Findlay 6.