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Purdue Fort Wayne
Madonna
Mastodons Dominate in Home-Opening Win
11/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN – Led by a 20-point, six-rebound effort from Deilvez Yearby in his first action of the 2009-10 season, the IPFW Mastodons improved to 1-1 on the young season with a dominating 86-57 victory over the Crusaders of Madonna University (0-4) at the Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday evening.
Yearby made 6-of-9 shots from the field, and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe en route to his 20. Jeremy Mixon, who scored 17 points in the season opener at Wisconsin, added 14 more, making 6-of-10 shots and both of his three-point attempts. Ben Botts scored 10, with Nick Daniels and Frank Gaines each scoring nine.
“Our energy was great in the first half,” said Dane Fife, the IPFW Head Coach. “We jumped on them early, and had them on their heels the rest of the first half. The second half got pretty ugly for us, but a win is a win for us.”
Antwone Snead pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, as Botts dished out five assists to pace the squad. As a team the Mastodons had 14 steals, 11 of which came in the opening 20 minutes of action.
Jeremy Mixon scored 14 points in IPFW's win over Madonna, making 6-of-10 shots from the field.  |
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IPFW never trailed in the game against their foes from the NAIA. Madonna trailed by just five points at the 15:20 mark of the first half, until the Mastodons went on a 34-2 run over the next nine minutes of game time, pushing ahead to a 37-point lead.
The Blue and White kept their foot on the gas pedal for the rest of the half, leading by 40 at 53-13 at intermission in the contest.
The Mastodons increased their lead to as many as 42 early in the second half, before putting the game on cruise control over the final 17 minutes in the 86-57 non-conference win.
“We are still trying to come together as a team,” said Fife. “We are trying to find out who is reliable, and who is not. Who is going to do what we ask on every play and every possession – both offense and defense. We are capable of doing some really good things, and with each and every guy, you saw some good things. I told them in the locker room that we are going to build on the good things, but we are going to focus on the things that we need to correct.”
Trey McCorkle added eight points and six rebounds, with Zach Plackemeier dishing out three assists. Daniels picked up three steals, as Gaines, Mixon, and McCorkle each snared a pair.
Madonna was led by Kevin Henry who had 15 points, as Jordan Hoke had 10. The game was a homecoming of sorts for Madonna head coach Noel Emenhiser, who is a Woodlan High School grad, and his younger sister Haley is a member of IPFW’s women’s volleyball squad.
The Mastodons stay on the road for their next three games, including games in back-to-back games on the West Coast when they travel to play at Washington State on November 19, and at Gonzaga an evening later.
~Dons~
