Eagles Upset 3rd Ranked Southeastern

by Jason Mehl
Sports Information Director

The Toccoa Falls College Men’s basketball defeated Southeastern University (ranked 3rd in the nation) last weekend, recording one of the college’s biggest basketball wins in recent years.

Before the important win, the TFC men struggled against Wesley College (Mississippi) Friday night (1/29). The Eagles were impressive in the first half, riding the hot shooting of Jon Rychner (19 pts. for the game), who scored his 2000th point (only the 4th player ever to do so) in the half, and playing solid defense behind shot-blocker Jachin Wettstone (8 for the game). TFC took a 34-26 lead into halftime, and held the lead until just under 12:00 remaining. When the Eagles lost the lead, they lost focus and energy. Several of their 35 turnovers came after that 12-minute mark, they gave up too many offensive rebounds and they missed all of their 10 three-point attempts in the second half. Wesley, on the other hand, nearly doubled their offensive production in the second half and the Eagles lost 60-77.

Saturday afternoon the TFC men were back on the court against Southeastern. The visitors led early and by as many as nine points in the first half, but Rychner’s shooting (17 pts. in the half) kept the Eagles close. A breakaway dunk and a great defensive play by Danny Sydner with seconds left in the half cut the lead to five points and gave the Eagles valuable momentum.

In the second half, TFC maintained focus, played strong defense and protected the ball. With 13:00 remaining in the game, the Eagles took their first lead. Wettstone kept blocking shots (8 for the game), Nick Droll drew a few offensive fouls and hustled down loose balls and grabbed rebounds (8 for the game) and Rychner kept making shots. TFC led 60-53 with 5:30 remaining after Chris Grover beat the shot clock with a three-pointer. Southeastern kept fighting and attacking offensively and actually took back the lead with 1:00 remaining, but Rychner came down and hit another three (6-8, 31 pts for the game) to put the Eagles up 69-68 with 42 seconds left.

TFC then stopped Southeastern again and point guard Ryan McGarvey was fouled and hit both free throws to give the Eagles a 3-point cushion. Southeastern then came down and scored a 2-point basket, but TFC was able to inbound the ball down court to Wettstone for an emphatic dunk to put the Eagles up 73-70 with 2 seconds remaining. After a time-out, Southeastern’s inbound pass was deflected and TFC fans rushed the court to celebrate.

Head Coach Lance Martin, is hopeful that the momentum of the Southeastern win helps the men as they face “a very tough week,” which will end with TFC playing Southeastern on their home court in Lakeland, FL. The Eagles are back home again Febrary 13th to host Southeastern Bible College (4:00 pm).

Tough Loss for Lady Eagles
The Lady Eagles were unable to put together a win in their last three games. January 26th they played Truett-McConnell in Cleveland. Truett only led by two at halftime (35-33), but TFC couldn’t keep it close in the second half and went on to lose 70-63. Seniors Bonnie Mcgee and Kelly Skelley led the team with 15 points and freshman Amanda Ferell had 12. Michaela Estill grabbed 12 rebounds.

Against Wesley College, things got worse. The Lady Eagles started the first half with confidence and energy, but Wesley’s athletic ladies played heavy-pressure defense and shot the ball with deadly accuracy. The Lady Eagles shot a respectable 40 percent for the game, but they turned the ball over 28 times. This led to several missed opportunities for TFC, and Wesley capitalized on many of them and won the game 85-53. Ferell led scorers this time with 12 points, Estill had 11 to go with 7 rebounds and McGee and Skelley followed with 10 pts. each.

The next afternoon, against Southeastern University, the turnover problem was addressed and improved, but this time scoring was a problem for the Lady Eagles. In the first half they made only 28 percent of their shots and were down 38-21 at half-time. The second half wasn’t much better as they improved to only 32 percent. The TFC defense held Southeastern to only 38% shooting, but they were unable to close the lead and lost 66-48. Anna Bailey led the team in scoring with 15 points, followed by Skelley with 14 and 7 rebounds.

The Lady Eagles next home games are against Kentucky Christian College (2/12, 5:00) and Warren Wilson College (2/13, 2:00).

Photos by Clarence Wulf

Tags: Christian College, TFC, Toccoa Falls College, Toccoa Falls College Basketball

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Current News, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.