Green poised for shot against Benedict
Watching the Claflin men's basketball team missing the rim continuously during warm-ups only added to head coach Ron Woodard's pregame jitters Wednesday at the Jonas T. Kennedy Center.
Not only were the Panthers facing a longtime rival in Benedict College still smarting from two straight losses, but they also were contending with one of Division II's leading scorers in 6-10 sophomore center Marcus Goode.
As the game progressed, both of Woodard's fears came to fruition. A "Goode" performance in the form of 22 points and 11 rebounds coupled with cold shooting by Claflin resulted in a 76-59 loss.
"They came out to prove a point," Woodard said. "What's a better way to come out and prove a point against us? They just outplayed, outhustled us at times (and got) second, third shots."
Claflin shot 29.7 percent (19-64) from the field compared to 55.6 percent for Benedict. The Panthers were also outrebounded 47-30 and gave up 44 points in the paint.
A missed layup off the opening tip by
Terrance Bowman foretold the Panthers' offensive struggles. Claflin missed five of its first six shots and Bowman,
Mounda Williams,
Marvin Fleming and
Marcus Jeffries combined to go 0-12 from the field in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Tigers (4-2, 3-1) appeared right at home inside Edward Tullis Arena. They jumped out to a 16-5 advantage in shooting 53.3 percent from the field and using a 26-14 advantage under the boards to score 20 points inside the paint.
An 8-0 run enabled Claflin to close the gap to 16-13 which was the closest margin the rest of the game. Goode scored six straight points during an 11-3 run capped by a Lamar Adkins dunk which pushed Benedict's lead back to double-digits.
Adkins finished the first half with 11 of his 17 points, while Goode finished was a perfect 5-5 from the field to give the Tigers a 37-25 halftime advantage. Claflin's lone offensive threat was former Orangeburg-Wilkinson guard
Edward Green who scored 11 of his team-high 14 points in the first half.
The Panthers' shooting woes continued in the second half as they missed their first four shots. Meanwhile, a fired-up Goode displayed his entire repertoire from a pull-up jumper from just inside the foul line to post-up moves against Claflin's frontcourt.
As the Tigers stretched their lead as many as 23 points, they turned the game into a personal slam dunk contest. Tydran Beaty had two crowd-pleasing, one-handed slams along with Adkins and Goode provided the finishing touch with a long jumper to make it 76-53.
"We didn't shoot the ball well," Woodard said. "I noticed that today during shoot-a rounds we didn't shoot the ball well. Marcus is leading the country in scoring (he averaged 26 points per game on Dec. 18 to top all Division II). It wasn't a point about him. It was cutting down other people from getting shots. (Rickie) Jackson (who finished with 14 points) hurt us a little bit and we knew 25 (Beaty who finished with 25 points) was a showboater and flashy. He gets to the rack a lot. But we're not getting a lot from our bigs right now."
Bowman scored four of his 11 points during a game-ending 6-0 run by Claflin (4-7, 4-6), which heads to Tuscaloosa, Ala. Saturday to face Stillman College.
MENS
BENEDICT (76) - Rickie Jackson 14, Trevor Eichelberger 2, Marcus Goode 22, Branden Herring 4, Cassius Bell 4, Tydran Beaty 13, Lamar Adkins 17.
CLAFLIN (59) -
Michael Henry 6,
David Glover 5,
Edward Green 14,
Marcus Jeffries 2,
Terrance Bowman 11,
Mounda Williams 4,
Michael Chinn 4,
Darren Ball 6, Barry Mullen 3, Alexicon Void 4.
