(Posted November 20, 2004)

Muskingum 85, Thiel 50

Huntingdon, Pa. - Muskingum College road a 48-point second half to a convincing 85-50 victory over Thiel College in the opening game of the 2004 Mutual Benefit "Doc" Greene Tip-off Tournament. Muskingum will now move on to play host Juniata College in the championship game on Sunday at 3 pm. Thiel will battle Penn State-Berks in the consolation game at 1 pm on Sunday.

The Muskies never trailed in the game blistered the nets by shooting 57-percent from the field in the game and had four players score in double figures. Zach Ross led all players with 16 points in the winning effort.

Leading 10-6 nearly half-way through the first half Muskingum went on an 11-5 run to extend the lead to double figures. Thiel would cut the lead back to five with four minutes to go in the first half, but Muskingum responded with a 15-4 spurt to close the half and head into the locker room leading 37-21.

Muskingum's hot shooting continued in the second frame as the Muskies missed just four shots from the floor in the final 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Thiel was just 10-for-27 from the field in the second half as Muskingum pulled away.

Thiel hung around for the first part of the second half, getting a basket from Stephen Laird to cut the lead to 13 with 15:06 remaining in the game. The Muskies then began really pulling away with 10 minutes to go as a three-point basket from Roy Skidmore capped a 13-2 run that expanded the lead to 28.

Graig Turson finished with 13 points for the Muskies with Skidmore and Jeff Smallwood each adding 10. Cliff Sprang had a team-best three assists along with three steals, while Matt Dansby paced the team with nine rebounds.

Thiel was led by Daryl Moore who scored 11 points and tied for the team-lead with two assists. Laird, Ryan Singleton and Max Slater all grabbed three rebounds for the Tomcats.

MUSKINGUM (85): Smallwood 3 3-4 10, Ross 3 8-8 16, Dansby 3 2-2 9, Sprang 2 0-0 4, Pittis 3 0-0 6, Price 1 3-3 5, Ady 1 3-4 5, Schrock 1 2-2 5, DeCrane 0 0-0 0, Glass 1 0-0 2, Shy 0 0-0 0, Turson 3 6-6 13, Skidmore 3 2-3 10. Totals - 24 29-32 85

THIEL (50): Moore 2 7-8 11, Laird 2 0-0 5, Singleton 4 1-5 9, Williams 0 0-0 0, Slater 3 0-0 6, Passerrello 1 0-1 2, Kande 0 0-0 0, Herrmann 1 0-0 0 3, Gates 0 0-0 0, Hunt 2 0-0 5, Mihalik 0 0-0 0, Sweeting 3 3-4 9. Totals - 18 11-18 50.

Halftime: Muskingum 37-21. 3-point goals: Muskingum 8 (Ross 2, Skidmore 2, Smallwood, Dansby, Schrock, Turson); Thiel 3 (Laird, Hermann, Hunt). Assists: Muskingum 14 (Sprang 3); Thiel 7 (Moore, Passerrello 2). Rebounds: Muskingum 35 (Dansby 9); Thiel (Laird, Singleton, Slater 3).


Records: Muskingum (1-0); Thiel (0-1)

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