Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Scholtes drops 26 in loss to NCAA's Trine University

 
The third-year forward led all players in points, and went 6-for-7 from three point range
LONDON, Ont. - After a long layoff following their first exhibition game in mid-August, the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team was back on the court Monday night, again playing host to an NCAA team, the Trine University Thunder. Despite outscoring the Indiana school 46-35 for the final three quarters, the Mustangs allowed 32 points in the first quarter, putting them in a hole they couldn’t climb out of, losing 67-57.

“If you spot a team a 22-point lead in the first quarter you’ve got your work cut out for you the rest of the game,” said Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell. “We basically gave up 25 points in the second half and 32 in the first quarter. We turned the ball over 28 times and were 11-for-29 from the free throw line. You throw those three things in there it’s going to be very difficult to come out with a win.”

The night got off to an unusual start for the two teams, as a few minutes before tip off an unexpected power outage effected parts of the main Western campus, including Alumni Hall. After a few minutes of deliberation Western officials decided to move things next door, and host the game at Thames Hall.

Following a quick turnaround by officials and the event staff, the two teams moved over to the more intimate confines of Thames Hall and got things underway only slightly later than expected.

The delay didn’t seem to affect the Thunder, who stormed out to an early lead on impressive shooting, going 14 for 18 from the field, including hitting four of five shots from three point range. As strong as Trine was from the floor, Western couldn’t get things going, hitting only four of 12 shots from the field, and going two for six from the line to end the quarter down 32-11.

Western turned things around in the second quarter, outscoring Trine 17-10, largely on the shooting of third-year forward Peter Scholtes. Scholtes scored all but three of the Mustangs points in the second frame, including going a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc to make it 42-28 for Trine at the half.

Things continued to turn in the Mustangs favour in the third quarter, with multiple players including Scholtes, Jermaine Bernard and Quinn Henderson all getting involved in the scoring, to allow the Mustangs to close the gap to seven, with Trine leading 50-43 heading into the final frame.

Entering the fourth quarter the Thunder settled down and began to regain control of the game, jumping out to a 17-point lead midway through the final quarter. Late in the game Western began to reassert themselves, closing the gap to 10 with just over a minute left, and then closing to within eight in the final minute. However, that was as close as the Mustangs would get, with the Thunder taking a 67-57 victory.

Leading the way for the Mustangs all night was Scholtes, who dropped in 26 points, double the next leading scorer for either team, including hitting six of seven three pointers. Although the exhibition season is only two games old, Scholtes is emerging as a leader on this young Mustangs team, particularly on the offensive end.

“Pete’s the most proven scorer on our team, he averaged 16 points per game last year, he’s obviously proven at this level he can score. We’re going to have to have him score quite a bit, but we really need a second, third and fourth guy to come forward and put some points on the board for us,” said Campbell.

Next up for the Mustangs is a trip to Calgary for the Calgary Cup tournament hosted by the Dinos from October 11-14.

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