By Tom Davis, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Feb. 01--The IPFW men's basketball team has spent the past three weeks "in a funk," according to Mastodons coach Dane Fife. But in Saturday's 80-77 Summit League victory over Oral Roberts in front of 1,653 fans at Gates Sports Center, there was little to dislike about what this team accomplished.
"The best way to describe this game was that it was about effort," Fife said. "It was about our guys making an absolute committed effort. I thought our guys did that for 40 minutes."
With the victory, IPFW (14-7, 8-3) remains in second place in the conference, trailing Oakland (16-8, 11-0) and just ahead of IUPUI (13-10, 7-3).
A win at IUPUI on Thursday will match the program's record for conference victories, and this team still has six league games remaining after the trip to Indianapolis.
"I'm very proud of our guys," Fife said. "But from here forward, we have to have effort every night because every night counts."
The Dons haven't played well for an entire game since perhaps their 68-55 victory over Western Illinois on Jan. 6. Particularly, this group has been plagued by slow starts and a lack of overall toughness.
Neither issue was a problem Saturday.
IPFW scored six of the game's initial seven points and led by as many as six points in the first half. That start was due to a number of players performing well, but none better than center Trey McCorkle.
The 6-foot-10 junior was dominant and aggressive offensively throughout the first half and totaled 13 points and seven rebounds by halftime.
To put that in perspective, McCorkle (15 points, nine rebounds) had scored and rebounded those amounts in complete games only four times this season.
"I always try to come out and be aggressive," McCorkle said. "My teammates did a good job in getting me the ball."
The Dons held a 34-32 margin at intermission, and their solid play continued through the early stages of the second half.
Sophomore forward Brandon Gaines (19 points, four blocks) went on a tear and scored 11 consecutive points for the Dons, who led by as many as 12 (46-34) in the half.
"I just felt I had to come out and play hard, whether it was rebounding or scoring," Gaines said.
Although IPFW played well offensively, defensively mistakes began to take their toll on the Dons post players.
With reserve forward Oleg Kovalov (broken nose) and reserve center Terrence Williams (academic issues) unavailable, Fife had to rely solely on McCorkle and forward Michael Kibiloski. But both players got into foul trouble quickly in the final half.
Within eight seconds of each other, both players picked up their fourth fouls just six minutes into the second half. That left Fife with a desperate strategy to implement, as he put 6-foot-3 John Peckinpaugh in at center to try and survive minutes without his post players.
"Trey gets in foul trouble and (Kibiloski) gets in foul trouble," Fife lamented. "We had John guarding an all-league center."
Oral Roberts (9-14, 6-5) began to whittle away at the lead against the tiny IPFW lineup. With just under eight minutes remaining, the Golden Eagles had trimmed their deficit to four (59-55), and Fife had no choice but to put McCorkle back in.
It didn't really help because with 6:43 remaining, Gaines fouled Oral Roberts guard Warren Niles, but the official whistled McCorkle for his fifth foul.
Fife then went to Plan B and inserted Kibiloski back into the game, but that too backfired. The freshman committed his fifth foul (he played just 11 minutes) with 5:28 remaining. At that point, Fife had no alternative but to put Peckinpaugh in, play a zone defense and perhaps pray.
"We had to prove to ourselves that we believe in ourselves," McCorkle said.
That belief evolved into disbelief by many in attendance, as the incredibly undersized squad managed to hang on for the final five minutes and grab its second victory of the season over the Golden Eagles.
IPFW guard Zach Plackemeier (14 points, five assists) scored eight of his team's final 11 points to aid in the win.
"We always feel like we have something to prove," Plackemeier said. "We hear people talking that 'this IPFW team isn't the same right now.' We wanted to come out and prove we are the same team. We just had to find something."
Ben Botts (six rebounds) dished out a career-high seven assists, while Jeremy Mixon (five rebounds, three assists) put in 18 points in the win.
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