Our Pioneers have entered the postseason taking place in the quarterfinals of the HCAC tournament where they take on the Rose-Hulam Engineers in Terre Haute IN. This would be the third meeting of these two teams where the series is split 1-1 as both teams defeated each other at home. This game will be all about defending the 3 point shot while being able to convert on our end as Rose shoots the majority of their jump shots from deep.
In the first half Junior, Simon Smith made his first two shots from deep spark plugging our offense. Smith has had injury trouble as of late only playing 2 minutes in the previous game while not competing in the past couple. However the impact Simon Smith has on the game is clear as he provides outstanding athleticism and the ability to stretch the floor offensively and defensively. This half was full of defense which works in the Pioneer favor as they have played grind it out games all season as confidence in Pioneer defense has been high and our guards have taken that to heart. These stops spark our transition offense which has yielded great results all season out pacing the Engineers in this category this half and all game. The half ended with some questionable fouls against the Bats but ended on a high note for the Pioneers from an outstanding individual effort from Freshman Dakota Capps to get a steal and corner 3 as time expired. 30-32 at halftime.
The second half started with some traded buckets first coming from Jaylan Green who has had a quiet game up to this point as he is typically the teams leading scorer. After letting some shots go in for Rose, Transy decided to insert the full court press which has been effective for the Pios this season. With numerous defensive stops Green decided to take the game into his own hands knocking down shots off the dribble. Playing behind this whole half made the Pioneers play more aggressive as both teams came into foul trouble, free throw shooting became paramount as Transy was able to tie the game up with just over a minute left. Transy playing offense defense substitution provided the stops needed for Green to hit a jump shot to get the Pios up 2 with 30 seconds left. Sadly Rose was able to knock down the following shot which after free throws lead Transy to one final play where Green was able to get the shot off but missed. The game ended with a final score of 68-71.
Head Coach Brian Lane had this to say after the game:
"It was a terrific college basketball game. The stats on the scoresheet are eerily similar. We went from not knowing if Jaylan was going to be able to play due to his sprained ankle to him being our leading scorer along with Simon. Simon was terrific but his foul trouble really limited his minutes. Rose-Hulman made some big shots down the stretch and handled our pressure better than the last game. I'm proud of how our guys fought adversity this year and were really close to moving on to the semi-finals."
With this loss the season has wrapped up for our Pioneers Men's basketball as it ended earlier than hoped but provided so many great memories and moments for our student athletes. The Pioneers end 14-12 overall and 11-6 in conference. We want to again thank the seniors Luke Schroeder and Will Cockrell as they have played their final game as Pioneers but with Transy only losing those two players the future looks bright for the young core Brian has surrounded himself with.
For more information on Transylvania men's basketball, follow @TransyHoops on Twitter.
