CHC men split last games of 2004
by TOM UTESCHER
The men's basketball team at Chestnut Hill College, a program still only in its second year, went into its holiday hiatus last week with an overall record of 7-3 and a 5-0 mark in the North East Athletic Conference.
The Griffins have booked victories against established Division III schools such as Kings College in Wilkes Barre, and on December 15 they prevailed in a 94-85 battle against Baltimore's Villa Julie, a team coming off a 73-60 win over Maryland Division III power McDaniel and an 80-67 victory over Johns Hopkins.
Chestnut Hill saw its six-game win streak end one week before Christmas with a 71-48 setback against a visitor from central Pennsylvania, Messiah College. The Falcons, members of the MAC conference, ran their record to 9-1 on the season.
Villa Julie's Anthony Fitzgerald, a forward with great body control and good hands in the paint, led all scorers in the December 15 contest, and he and 6'7" forward Wade Henniger kept the Mustangs right on the hosts' heels over the first 13 minutes. CHC held a 27-25 edge at that point thanks to three regular field goals by Ryan Albany and three-point missiles from Mike Devine (two), L.B. Rebstock, and Isaac Greer.
Overcoming their height disadvantage with precise passes and tenacious defense, the Griffins added ten points to their lead late in the half for a 41-29 tally at the intermission. With Shawn Bolling joining in on the scoring, Chestnut Hill opened it up to 54-36 four minutes into the second half, but Fitzgerald led a 10-0 run for the Mustangs, trimming the lead to eight points.
Back-to-back lay-ups by Albany rekindled the CHC offense, and later in the period the locals were back up by 18, 83-65. Villa Julie kept trying to rally but now had to start fouling the Griffins, and 10-for-16 shooting at the stripe was enough to give the Hill a nine-point win.
Against Messiah, the Griffins found themselves trailing at the intermission, 29-21, a score which was explained by some other numbers for Chestnut Hill, such as 29-percent shooting from the field, and a 15-24 shortfall in rebounding.
More than halfway through the second period the Falcons had increased their lead slightly, up by ten points at 48-38. Back-to-back lay-ups for Messiah and four-for-four foulshooting by Quinn McCullough thrust the visitors ahead, 56-38, and CHC never got the margin back into single digits again.
McCullough scored seven of his ten total points in the second half and fellow Falcons guard Steve King also came on to net 14 of his 17 after the intermission. At the other end, the visitors cut Greer's point production from a dozen points to six in the second stanza.
The Griffins guard still shared game-high scoring honors with Messiah forward Jared Yoder, but while the visitors had four double-digit scorers (including guard Dave Carter, with 16 points), Bolling was second in points for CHC, with seven. Three-point shooting, normally a strong point for Chestnut Hill, was not on this night, as the hosts made good on just two of their 16 attempts.
