The Observer, March 2, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 19
Spartans earn first UAA victory, defeat Emory in overtime
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The men's basketball team earned its first UAA victory last Saturday, defeating Emory 84-83 in an overtime thriller.
"I am very pleased that we got the win at Emory. Any road win in the UAA is an accomplishment. I was especially pleased that we won in Matt Cannan, AJ Curry, and Quinton Mathis' final game as Spartans," said head coach Sean McDonnell.
Rob Skuski scored a career-high 23 points and had a double-double, ending the game with 10 rebounds. "I didn't want to go 0-14 in the UAA, so, being the last game, I had some extra motivation," he said. "Then I just got hot early in the first half and my team got me the ball. I couldn't have done it without them."
"Rob's performance at Emory was not surprising to me because he has played well all season," McDonnell said. "He finished fifth in the UAA in field goal percentage and sixth in the UAA in rebounding."
Junior Mason Conrad also had 16 points and sophomore guard Steve Young finished the game with 17 points.
The Spartans played well in the first half, leading 36-30 and shooting 52 percent at the intermission. Case extended its lead to 11 points in the second half, but Emory battled back, led by junior guard Spiros Ferderigos, who finished the game with 35 points. "Emory is perimeter oriented and their best player, Ferderigos, played very well against us," said McDonnell. Emory's approach contrasted with the Spartans' more inside style of play.
At the 16:22 mark, a Ferderigos lay-up cut the Spartans lead down to one, 40-39. The Spartans and the Eagles traded baskets, but with 3:10 to go, Steve Young put the Spartans up 69-64 by completing a four-point play. But Emory again battled back again, tying the game at 71 with 11 seconds left on the clock, forcing overtime.
Early in the overtime, Emory took a four-point lead, putting Case's victory hopes in doubt. However, the Spartans battled back, and with eight seconds left, freshman Antwain Coward stepped to the line and sunk a free throw, giving the Spartans the decisive 84-83 advantage.
"It's by far the most exciting game I have ever played in at Case," said Young. "Everybody contributed to this game, and that's why we won." Added Skuski, "I think we just wanted it more."
Although the team didn't garner as many wins as McDonnell had hoped, he wasn't disappointed by the team's play this year.
"I was not disappointed with this year's team because I feel we played hard every night. Of course we wanted to win more games than we did, but I measure our team in ways other than wins and losses," said McDonnell. "The UAA placed four teams (out of eight) in the NCAA tournament this year, and NYU was the last team 'on the bubble' that did not make it. No conference in America had more than two teams make the tournament except the UAA."
Skuski believes that the team's win total will increase next season.
"Since we are only losing three seniors, we should have some great improvement over this year," he said. "We lost a lot of close games this year, and next year, we should win those."
