Johnson & Wales downs Mines in OT

By Padraic Duffy,

Journal staff Saturday, November 24, 2007

RAPID CITY — Johnson & Wales senior Eric Daniels scored 28 of his game-high 31 points in the second half as he led the Wildcats to a 93-89 overtime win over South Dakota Mines in the U.S. Bank Thanksgiving Classic at Goodell Gymnasium on Friday night.

Daniels, who led the country in steals in each of the past two seasons, only played six minutes in the opening half as Mines took a 39-31 lead into the locker room, but he warmed up in a hurry, hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers in the second half and overtime.

Daniels didn’t really maneuver to get open as much as he employed a tactic of simply backing up until the Hardrocker defenders lost track of him. 

“Eric did a great job of elevating us when we were down,” Johnson & Wales head coach Jeff Culver said. “Our zone offense was pretty pitiful. And if it wasn’t for Eric stepping up with those 3s, we would have been in some trouble.” 

The Hardrockers inability to locate Daniels and keep Austin Theis off the offensive glass at the beginning of the second half and overtime allowed that trouble to find them.

The 39-31 lead at the half looked to be solid, but the visitors from Colorado got a couple of big offensive boards and putbacks from the 6-foot-11 Theis to cut the lead almost immediately to 39-36 and build some momentum. The two quick rebounds foreshadowed two even bigger putbacks to open the overtime period.

Things got interesting at the end of regulation as Daniels and Mines’ Donny DeGooyer each hit 3-pointers to end regulation at 76-76, but Theis had a tip-dunk off of an offensive rebound and another easy putback to make it 80-76 and give Johnson & Wales the early momentum in the extra period. While the Wildcats were getting solid senior leadership from Daniels and Ronald Jenkins, the Hardrockers are still searching for that perfect mix. Mines’ most experienced player is sophomore Robbie Fedor. 

“It’s the same story,” Mines head coach Jason Henry said. “Our inexperience jumps up and bites us. We can’t keep using our youth as an excuse and we won’t, but right now the fact that we’re playing a lot of freshmen is hurting us at times. Turnovers, not finding the one guy on the floor that can kill us from outside, boxing out, we just didn’t do the things we need to do to be successful.”

Fedor and DeGooyer paced the Hardrockers with 17 points apiece. Brandon Smith (14), A.J. Trennepohl (13) and Michael Ross (10) each chipped in with double figures. Smith led Mines with nine rebounds.