For the second game in a row, the Park University Gilbert men's basketball team (0-3) kept it close in the first half, but fell behind in the second half and lost to No. 9 Arizona Christian (3-0), 90-82 at the ACU Events Center. For the third consecutive game, the Buccaneers allowed 90-plus points in a loss.
"We couldn't keep up with them defensively," Buccaneers head coach Gordon Stubblefield said. "Like last week, we held them down pretty well in the first half, but we just weren't able to do it in the second half."
Although the Buccaneers only led the game twice in the first half, they kept the game close after the first 20 minutes of play. The Buccaneers and Firestorm both shot impressively from the field, going 56 and 68 percent respectively. However, the Buccaneers only managed to make one of their five first half free throws, including a miss from senior Jake Ellis- his first on the season. Per usual, junior Eric Patten led the way in scoring after half number one with nine points and a 57% field goal percentage. In his Buccaneers debut, freshman Nathan Ehounou added six first-half points off the bench in just 12 minutes. Despite keeping it close, the Firestorm took the largest deficit of the first half, 52-43, into the halftime break and never looked back.
The second half saw the Firestorm extend their lead to as many as 21 points, while the Buccaneers shot just 40 percent from the field and just 22 percent from behind the arc. The Buccaneers fought back admirably and cut the lead to six points with just over a minute left to go, but it was too little, too late, who fell in their third straight.
Despite playing most of the game in foul trouble, Patten led the way with his second consecutive 20-point performance. Patten also added five rebounds, a 50 percent field goal percentage (7-14) and perfection from the charity stripe (5-5). The Buccaneers 82-point performance is their third 80-point performance of the season- a feat they did not reach until their 12th game last season.
Additionally, sophomore Martin Simon grabbed five rebounds and added 14 points, nine of which came in the second half. Junior Germain Remy notched 10 points of his own, despite a quiet second half- rounding out the Buccaneers' double-digit scorers.
"That's a good basketball team and I was really happy with how we kept up with them in the first half," Stubblefield said. "If we can get our turnovers under control and play our first half defense for two halves, we can compete with them."
Tomorrow's game against Wayland Baptist has been canceled. The Buccaneers take the floor next at SAGU-AIC on Wednesday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. The Buccaneers won both contests against the Warriors last year, winning 104-88 on the road and 87-76 at home.
