Geschke’s Hot Hand Scores 16 More, Royals Rebuke Leafs Nevertheless
Barrie gets second straight double-double as GC wins boards 47-41
LAKELAND, Fla. — Billy Geschke’s 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting paced the Goshen College men’s basketball team Friday night in a 94-73 loss to Warner University in the opening game of the Southeastern University Classic.
Patryck Ostrowski added 12 points and Conner Funkhouser 11 off the bench for the Maple Leafs (8-6) while Alhassan Barrie posted his second straight double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Barrie cleaned the offensive glass six times and helped Goshen to a 47-41 rebounding edge.
Melton Sanders led all scorers with 23 points for Warner (9-4) while going a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line and adding a team-high eight boards. Khalil Ozuna also made each of his seven free tosses while scoring 13 points: the game featured 61 trips to the foul line and 50 combined personal fouls.
The Royals, who received votes in Tuesday’s edition of the NAIA Division II coaches poll, opened the game by scoring eight consecutive points: Devin Heath-Granger ended the shutout with a three-point play at the 16:57 mark of the first half. Heath-Granger led Goshen with six assists to go along with eight points in 31 minutes.
Warner would lead 44-29 at the intermission and by as many as 28 points after halftime, pushing its distribution through Nick Macon who posted nine assists to lead all players. Macon (10) and Adam Giger (11) also scored in double figures for the victors.
“We came out flat today, it’s as simple as that,” said Goshen coach Jon Tropf. “That happens sometimes, even to the best of teams, and we’ll move on with this as a learning lesson.”
The Royals shot 50 percent or better from the floor in both halves, finishing the game at 29-for-57 (50.9 percent) overall and 8-for-19 (42.1 percent) from long range. Goshen was 24-for-75 (32 percent) from the floor and 9-for-43 (20.9 percent) beyond the arc.
Each team struggled to possess the basketball as both sides came out of a week-long hiatus for final exams: Goshen turned the ball over 19 times to Warner’s 15 with each defense recording eight steals.
Goshen closes out the classic Saturday afternoon against the host, the seventh-ranked team in NAIA Division II, which dropped a 90-85 decision in overtime to no. 2 Saint Francis on Friday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.