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Purdue Fort Wayne
Olivet (Exhib.)
Second Half Surge Pushes Mastodons Past Comets
11/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2008
Fort Wayne, IN - IPFW pulled away from a gutsy Olivet College Comets team in the second half of their exhibition contest Monday night at the Memorial Coliseum, topping the guests by the final of 85-54.
Five Mastodons scored in double-figures, and IPFW held Olivet to just 22 second half points in cruising to the 31-point win.
The Comets hung tough in the opening half, taking a three point lead on a 3-pointer from 6'6" forward Joel Kerns at the 14:11 mark, but that would be the last lead Olivet would take on the night.
Mastodon guard Ben Botts hit a short jumper while being knocked to the floor. He dusted himself off and sank the free throw to give IPFW a 19-16 lead.
In fact, Botts poured in eight points over a two-minute stretch and freshman guard Jeremy Mixon chipped in a triple and jumper to give the 'Dons a 12 point lead late in the half.
Senior forward Brandon McClary got a couple buckets inside just before half to cut the Mastodons' half-time lead to 10 at 42-32.
In the second half, the 'Dons pounded the ball inside. Junior forward Deilvez Yearby, seeing his first action since transferring to IPFW from Kansas State, was fouled while taking it strong to the rim. He converted the foul shot for an old-fashioned three-point play.
Freshman forward Trey McCorkle's drop-step layin gave the 'Dons a 55-36 lead with just over 14 minutes left.
Then it was Yearby blowing by everyone for his second thunderous slam of the night, and the Mastodons had it on cruise control.
Add in a couple of baskets by sophomore forward Igor Mocevic and by all accounts, IPFW's debut was a success, but a work in progress according to head coach Dane Fife.
"We were able to get our new guys some good positive experience," he said. "However, we need to do a better job defending the post. Our main focus was to get better and get ready for Xavier and Michigan State coming up."
The Mastodons did a nice job of scoring the basketball. IPFW shot 51.6% from the floor and 42.9% from behind the arc.
Defensively, IPFW held Olivet to just 30.0% shooting from the floor in the second half and 35.7% for the game.
Mixon led the double-figure quintet with 13 points, hitting all three of his attempts from 3-point land.
Yearby and senior forward David Carson each had 12 points, while Botts and Mocevic added 10.
Freshman forward Terry Bembry grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Olivet was led by the McClary brothers. Brandon tossed in a game-high 16 points while Michael registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
IPFW opens the 2008-09 regular season on Friday night at Xavier University. The Musketeers, a perennial NCAA tournament team, are just outside of the nation's Top 25 in this year's pre-season polls.
Game time at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio is 7:30 p.m. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Ohio and heard on Fort Wayne's ESPN Radio 1380 am.
~Dons~
