JEN HANTZ
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER
The Barons celebrated their first victory of the season against Grove City College Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m., winning by a slim, 76-68.
The Grove City Wolverines were quick in winning the tip and racing to the basket for a shot, but senior center Matt Trent caught the rebound, giving senior forward Joe Schriner a chance to score a three-pointer. The Barons kept up the pace with a layup from Trent followed by a foul shot.
By 15:55, the Wolverines finally scored their first two points, but the Barons plowed ahead with two points each from junior center Joe Vernau, junior guard Sean Hickey and sophomore guard Andrew Salasek, with a foul shot bringing the score to 12-4.
The Barons kept their game up with some quick passes around the paint till Hickey shot a three-pointer. The Wolverines struggled across the court and scored two layups, but the Barons were still on top by the end of the first half, 32-22.
After halftime, the Wolverines picked up their game, scoring a layup within the first two minutes, but the Barons were quick to jump back with a three-pointer from Hickey. The Wolverines came back with a layup, but Hickey followed with another two points. The teams wrestled on the court for the ball until senior guard John Noce scored a layup, followed by junior forward Dalton Davis with another. Trent scored two points off of a foul shot; then, the teams went into a timeout.
After the timeout, the Wolverines came back hard with two layups, but Trent shot a two-pointer, followed by Hickey with a three-pointer. Schriner scored another two points with the Wolverines following closely behind. The Wolverines soon gave the crowd a scare with a couple layups as the score came close, 53-50. Determined to keep the Wolverines at bay, Hickey shot a three-pointer.
The Wolverines started slipping up in their foul shots while the Barons cruised along with foul shots from Trent and Noce, earning the Barons the lead, 62-54. Things were rough on the court in the last minute of the game as players kept shooting foul shots. The Wolverines shot a layup followed by a Baron foul shot from sophomore guard Justin Mack. With 14.2 seconds left on the clock, the Wolverines went for their final layup but to no avail as the Barons won, 76-68.
Head coach Joe Wallace was impressed by the team’s performance and by the support of the crowd. “Sean Hickey was locked in and made huge shots down the stretch. Our defense and rebounding was the key.” Wallace said the game was a “huge win for us.”
The Barons next home game will be Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. against Hilbert College.