Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Sports

Kenna Corley/Collegian photographerJarrett Tyler, junior guard, drives past a Sterling defender in Thursday night's game. [Click to enlarge]

Kenna Corley/Collegian photographerAlwyn Jordan, junior guard, pulls up for a jump shot against a Sterling defender. The Moundbuilders came away with a victory against the Warriors Thursday night in Stewart Field House 59-56. [Click to enlarge]

Each person in the gym on Saturday night had a different moment when they realized that the Southwestern College men's basketball season was officially over. For the five seniors on the team, that realization is probably a little tougher to handle this year than in the past. The sport that they've dedicated a good part of their lives to is simply done. No more practices. No more games. No more next year. Although preseason rankings predicted the Builders to take first in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, the season played out a little differently than expected. The men landed in a three-way tie for second, and were the fourth-place seed heading into the KCAC tournament, their second chance to take the season to the national tournament. After winning the opening game with a close win over Sterling College, the men then had to travel to Ottawa University to face off against the Braves. "It was a hard game, and they came out ready to play," Cedrick Riley, senior forward, said. "Even when we would put pressure on them, they were still throwing up shots and making them. It's hard to guard when a team's on fire like that. I think it was a lot about what they were doing, and not what we weren't. We can't really point fingers and say that we did this and this wrong." Alwyn Jordan, junior guard, said, "Every time we got a rhythm going, they'd come down and hit a three or make a lay-up. When there was 11 minutes left and we were down by 30 points, I realized that we didn't have the time left to come back." The men ended up losing their final game of the season 103-78. Ottawa shot .500 from field goal range, .481 from three-point range, and .750 from the free throw line compared to Southwestern's .408, .238, and .600 respectively. The Builders were also outrebounded by 15. Riley said, "You never wanted to really believe it, even when the time was running down. I'll miss just hanging with my teammates and goofing around and all that fun stuff. Even when things weren't going right we tried to have a little bit of fun, and make something fun out of it." Jesse Overfield, senior forward, said, "Preseason does make it feel a little bit worse. We may have been overrated, but I think we could've lived up to what we were ranked. We just didn't do it." Jordan said, "We were looking ahead. We just got ahead of ourselves and I think that played a part. Instead of coming out to play every night, we tried to race through the conference." The Builders ended their season with a 12-6 conference record and an 18-12 overall record. Overfield said, "I'll miss my teammates, they're like a family. Sometimes you get tired of playing basketball daily, but I'll miss that." While the seniors will move onto bigger and better things next year, the rest of the team is stuck analyzing what went wrong until next season when they can correct it. Jordan said, "I'm trying not to think about it, but as the week goes by I know I will. I'm disappointed with how the season ended up. We should have won conference. We should be going to nationals." Paige Carswell is a freshman majoring in communication. You may e-mail her at paige.carswell@sckans.edu. 2/28/08 Sterling College (56) Stephenson 3-7 0-0 6, Stover 3-7 0-0 7, Brazelton 3-5 1-2 7, Friess 2-10 2-2 6, Woods 3-4 0-0 6, Schnurr 2-2 0-0 6, Goodrich 4-5 0-0 10, Stewart 0-3 2-2 2, Mondaine 0-2 0-0 0, Moss 3-4 0-0 6, Totals 23-49 5-8 56. Southwestern College (59) Merrifield 1-3 0-0 2, Riley 3-4 0-0 6, Diggles 0-1 4-5 4, Tyler 0-4 0-2 0, Jordan 9-17 3-3 23, Sanchez 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson 0-2 0-2 0, Brown 2-6 3-4 8, Moore 0-0 1-2 1, King 5-9 1-2 13, Totals 21-47 12-20 59. Sterling 28 28_56 Southwestern 23 36_59 3 Point Goals - Sterling 5-17 (Stephenson 0-1, Stover 1-3, Brazelton 0-1, Friess 0-3, Schnurr 2-2, Goodrich 2-3, Stewart 0-3, Mondaine 0-1), Southwestern 5-12 (Tyler 0-1, Jordan 2-5, Jackson 0-1, Brown 1-2, King 2-3). Fouled Out - Southwestern (Merrifield). Rebounds - Sterling 31 (Stephenson 5), Southwestern 25 (Jordan 6). Assists - Sterling 17 (Stephenson 4), Southwestern 12 (Diggles 4). Total Fouls - Sterling 18, Southwestern 11. Technical - None. A - 550. 3/1/08 Southwestern College (78) Merrifield 2-3 0-1 4, Riley 5-5 2-4 12, Diggles 4-11 0-1 8, Tyler 3-6 0-0 7, Jordan 3-14 1-2 9, Bossio 2-2 0-0 5, Sanchez 2-4 2-2 6, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 3-12 4-8 10, Overfield 1-1 0-0 3, Baker 0-0 4-4 4, Ballard 0-2 2-2 2, Moore 2-4 0-0 4, King 2-6 0-1 4, Totals 29-71 15-25 78. Ottawa University (103) Brightman 4-9 4-4 14, McClintock 10-14 2-2 28, Green 3-7 2-2 8, Washington 2-4 0-0 4, Birch 8-13 6-9 23, Sloan 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 0-2 0-2 0, Haussman 2-6 2-2 6, Janzen 0-2 0-0 0, Bauman 0-1 0-0 0, Carter 2-4 0-0 4, Derley 1-2 0-1 3, VanderVelde 1-2 0-0 3, Stegeman 3-5 2-2 11, Totals 36-72 18-24 103. Southwestern 33 45_78 Ottawa 51 52_103 3 Point Goals - Southwestern 5-21 (Diggles 0-2, Tyler 1-2, Jordan 2-8, Bossio 1-1, Jackson 0-1, Brown 0-4, Overfield 1-1, Ballard 0-1, Moore 0-1), Ottawa 13-27 (Brightman 2-3, McClintock 6-8, Green 0-1, Birch 1-5, Sloan 0-1, Haussmann 0-3, Derley 1-2, Stegeman 3-4). Fouled Out - None. Rebounds - Southwestern 37 (Merrifield 10), Ottawa 52 (Brightman, McClintock 9). Assists - Southwestern 15 (Diggles 5), Ottawa 24 (Green 7). Total Fouls - Southwestern 16, Ottawa 18. Technical - None. A - 400.

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