February 6, 2016
By: Ryan Schadewald, sports information assistant
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Bluffton University men's basketball team fell in a key HCAC road game to the Transylvania University Pioneers, 73-64, on Saturday, Feb. 6. The loss knocks the Beavers to 10-11 overall and 5-9 in HCAC play while the Pioneers improved to 9-12 and 8-6 in the conference.
The Pioneers jumped out to a hot start, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points. Bluffton would fire back with seven straight counters, as a deep three from Billy Taflinger (Lima/Central Catholic) made it 13-9 at the 12:31 mark. The teams exchanged buckets before another triple, this one from Jared Wentling (Carey), cut it to 15-14. Transylvania rallied to score nine straight markers, giving the Pioneers their largest lead, a 10-point advantage, at the 6:48 mark.
Transy held a 31-22 spread at the 4:31 mark before two buckets from Austin Rohde (Shelby) were sandwiched around a jumper by Josh Carey(Bellefontaine) to make the score 31-28 with 2:37 left in the half. Transylvania hit two free throws and Wentling would return with a jumper to get it back to three points. Parker Stansberry added a tip-in for a five-point spread before Rohde hit a jumper at the horn, pulling Bluffton within three, 35-32, at the break.
Thayne Recker (Arlington) picked up his first points of the contest on two free throws to open the second stanza, trimming the Pioneer lead to one. The home team answered back with consecutive deuces to push the lead to five. The game would continue on as a back-and-forth affair with the Pioneers keeping their lead between two and six points for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
A Taflinger triple got the Beavers within two points once again at 53-51 with 9:26 on the clock. From here, however, Transy bolted out with a 9-1 spurt over the next five minutes of action to stretch their edge to 61-52 with 4:54 to play. The Beavers would try to battle back, cutting the lead to as few as five on a tip from Wentling with 1:24 to play, but the home team knocked down some timely foul shots to cap its nine-point win.
Bluffton struggled from the floor on Saturday afternoon as the visitors hit just 37.1 percent (23-of-62), including 25 percent (6-of-24) from deep. The Pioneers finished a much better 50 percent (32-of-64) from the floor. Transylvania also outrebounded the Beavers, 36-33, while committing three less miscues (10-7).
The Beavers finished with four scorers in double figures, led by Austin Rohde with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and four boards. Jared Wentling earned his second career double-double, notching 12 points to go along with his career-high 14 rebounds. Wentling also led the team with four assists. Thayne Recker chipped in with 11 points while taking just seven shots (3-of-7), and Billy Taflinger tallied 10 markers.
Transylvania placed four in double digits as well, led by Alex Jones with 21 points and six rebounds. Parker Stansberry chipped in 18 counters and 12 boards while Cooper Theobald added 14 and Robert Dence contributed 10.
The Beavers return home for a big rivalry contest on Wednesday, Feb. 10 as they take on the Defiance College Yellow Jackets. The women's game is set to begin at 6 p.m. with the men's clash to follow at approximately 8 p.m. 'Hop' on board Wednesday night at the Sommer Center to support Adam Hopkins, a junior on the men's team, in his fight with cancer. Come support your Beavers!
-BEAVERS-