Purdue Fort Wayne
Centenary
Hot Shooting Gents Hold Off Mastodons, 80-78
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2010
Fort Wayne, IN - Centenary guard Maxx Nakwaasah tossed in 18 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Centenary to an 80-78 win over IPFW on Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum.
Centenary (8-16, 3-10 SL) shot 60.4% from the floor in downing the Mastodons for the second time this season.
The Gents led by eight at the half, and never let the 'Dons back in front the rest of the way.
IPFW was able to tie the game at 58 on a 3-pointer by junior guard Ben Botts with 7:35 left and had a chance to tied with just seconds left to force overtime.
With five seconds remaining and trailing by three, junior guard Zach Plackemeier hit the front end of a pair of free-throws. Plackemeier missed the second on purpose. The rebound came down to senior guard Nick Daniels, but his 10 footer from the baseline grazed the side of the backboard giving the Gents the win.
"We are really good against dribble-motion offenses but we're not good against teams that run true continuity, old-school offenses (like Centenary), IPFW head coach Dane Fife said." "We just couldn't stops, and give Centenary a lot of credit, they made big shots down the stretch and we just could not get the lead."
Joining Nakwaasah in double figures were Daman Starring with 14 and David Perez and Jeron Trotman with 13 each.
IPFW was led in scoring by Plackemeier and freshman guard Brandon Gaines each with 15. For Gaines it was a career-high. Botts finished the afternoon with 13.
The Mastodons, who shot 48.1% from the floor, were outrebounded by Centenary, 29-27. Each team knocked down nine triples in the contest.
With the loss, IPFW second straight after a three-game winning streak, the Mastodons sit at 11-12 and 6-7 in conference play. The 'Dons head back to the road to face UMKC on Thursday night and Southern Utah next Saturday.
IPFW has won three of its last four road conference games.
~Dons~
