Jimmies men's hoops get convincing 87-77 win over Midland
Feb. 10—JAMESTOWN — The University of Jamestown men's basketball team withstood a late run from Midland University as they got an 87-77 win on Saturday, Feb. 10, at Harold Newman Arena.
The Jimmies (13-11, 8-8) forced the Warriors into two quick timeouts in the first half, the first one with the Jimmies up 16-11 and the second one came when the Jimmies were up 20-15. Through the first half, the Jimmies shot 48.4% from the field and forced the Warriors to shoot 36.4% from the field. The biggest difference in the first half was the Jimmies' ability to punish the Warriors' mistakes as they scored 12 points off six turnovers. Meanwhile, the Jimmies only gave up five points off their four turnovers to go into the half up 42-32.
"We want to play with a little more tempo, a little bit faster, not taking bad shots and not turning the ball over but playing at a higher tempo," Jimmies head coach Greg Ulland said. "So on any missed shot we want to push the ball and on the makes we want to push the ball. I think we put ourselves in positions playing together, driving, kicking and then obviously everything looks good when you're knocking down shots just like you saw for half the game when things were really clicking for us but that all comes back to making shots, just thought we just tried to play at a faster tempo, something that we haven't really implemented yet but now I feel like that's what we're more comfortable doing."
The second half started with a frenetic pace as there were a combined 49 points scored over the first ten minutes. Over that stretch, the Jimmies were able to push a ten-point halftime lead out to a 21-point lead at 72-51. The Warriors (9-16, 4-13) attempted to fight back cutting their deficit to ten points at 87-77 but it was too little, too late for the visitors.
The Jimmies' Antonio Chandler finished the game with 22 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season after the Jimmies win over the Warriors on Jan. 6, when the Piscataway, New Jersey native finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
"We knew the game plan going in and we just executed," Chandler said. "So, I did my part getting offensive rebounds, anything I need to do to help my team."
The win means the Jimmies have officially clinched a spot in the GPAC postseason tournament.
"It's nice," Ulland said. "It's nice that we get to play an extra game now it's a matter of what are you gonna do with it. You get that opportunity to go and play an extra game at the end of the season, how are you gonna attack the process and attack the day and we gotta continue to go back to one day at a time, going Monday, what does that look like. We're getting a little better Monday, a little better Tuesday, so when we play Dordt, which is a really tough opponent at their place, we need to be better than what we were today."
The Jimmies are back in action at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 14, when they go to Dordt University.
MU 77, UJ 87
MU: 32 45 — 77
UJ: 42 45 — 87
Points leaders:
MU: Jake Orr 18, Derek Merwick 14, Ryan Larsen 12
UJ: Antonio Chandler 22, Cole Woodford 20, Colby Vazquez 18
Assists leaders:
MU: Merwick 7, Orr 4, Larsen 1, Jack Cooper 1
UJ: Will Cordes 5, Vazquez 4, Christian Lietz 3
Leading rebounders:
MU: Orr 6, Merwick 6, Larsen 5, Nick Dolezal 5, Cooper 3, Jake Rueschhoff 3, Colton Uhing 3, Rece Kissinger 1
UJ: Chandler 11, Silas Bennion 8, Lietz 6
