After first-round success, Men's Basketball's season ends in Semis

Two weeks ago, the Mules (13-14, 10-8) were sputtering, reeling, and stumbling after an overtime loss at Ursinus (15-7, 11-7). The loss capped off a 5-game losing streak and was a bleak end to the regular season. But, the Mules would get another shot at the Bears in the opening round of the Centennial Conference playoffs. It was certainly going to be an uphill battle for the Mules; no team has won three-straight road games to seize the Centennial Conference championship.However, things hadn't been easy for the Bears either; they had lost four of their last six games, three of which were against playoff teams. Ursinus still had their explosive offense, however, which led the league with 73.4 points per game. The Mules hoped to counter with their defense and conference-leading rebounding.

Wednesday, the Mules walked into the Bears' gym with confidence. Characteristic of a playoff game, it started with each team trading shots. The Mules were able to pull away to a 17-10 lead, but the Bears scratched their way back to within 1 with a 6-0 run. Muhlenberg answered with Drain-O, three consecutive three-pointers from sophomore guard Justin Greenstone, junior guard Evan Tozer and senior guard/forward Ryan Foster (Australian for 3s), respectively.

On the ensuing possession, Greenstone swiped the ball and pushed it up court to senior forward Obi Nwizugbo who hit a jumper, putting the Mules up 28-18. Ursinus tried to climb back in with a three of their own, but Tozer quieted the crowd with a three-point dagger. Both teams then went shot-for-shot, ending the half with a score of 38-29.

At the beginning of the second half, Tozer hit another three - in the game, he went 5-7 from behind the arc. The Mules dominated the rest of the half, hitting 56% of their shots and out-rebounding the Bears 27-15. Tozer led the Mules with 17 points, Foster contributed with 16 points and 4 assists, senior guard Brian Frankoski had 14 points and Greenstone had 13 points, 4 assists and 2 steals. Freshman guard Rob Berish provided life off the bench with 6 points, going 2-2 from the field and the charity stripe, grabbing 2 boards, blocking 1, and stealing 1.

But, it was sophomore guard Spencer Liddic's day, posting another double-double. He was also a unanimous selection to the All-Centennial Conference first team. Liddic is the first Muhlenberg sophomore to make the first team since current Assistant Coach Mark Lesko did in 2001. "Liddic's honors were well deserved," said head coach Scott McClary. "He had a great year and will be a huge rock for us to build upon over the next two years." Foster (which is Australian for underrated) received honorable mention for the second straight year.

Going into Saturday's game, Franklin and Marshall were the heavy favorite. They had had great success in the past, going to the final four last year and already had four Centennial Conference championships under their belt.

This season, they had a point differential of +13 in conference, compared to the Mules' +1, and had an impenetrable defense, with the best scoring defense (54.4 points per game), most blocked shots per game (5.94) and second-most steals per game (9.67). The only thing the Diplomats couldn't do was hit from behind the three-point arc.

"We had a great mindset going into the game with Franklin and Marshall," said Coach McClary. "We played them very tough at their place just two weeks before, we were coming off our best win of the season at Ursinus in the first round and we had been practicing well. Franklin and Marshall was the worst 3 point shooting team in the league and one of the worst in the country. We wanted to take away their inside game and make them beat us from the 3. They shot 78%! Not much we could do."

The first game this season against the Dips was an 80-58 blowout, but the second game was hard fought, 63-69 loss, so they may have been underdogs, but they had a shot. The semifinals started with both team trading shots, and leads, for the first five-and-a-half minutes, and the Mules led 15-13, but this was their last lead of the day. The Diplomats led by as many as 20 in the first quarter, thanks to 55.6% shooting from the field and 77.8% from behind the arc, and led 49-33 at the half.

In the second half, Franklin and Marshall answered any Muhlenberg attempt to get a run started, and outscored the Mules 48-39, making the final score 97-72. The Mules were averaging 66.6 points against this year, but there is no way to guard knockdown shooting.

Liddic did display offensive prowess, scoring 28 points (tied for the 10th most ever in a Centennial Conference playoff game). The seniors also showed up: Foster had 13 points, Nwizugbo had 10, and Frankoski had 6 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

Unfortunately, this means the end to a great season, and four great Muhlenberg basketball careers. "The seniors will be dearly missed as they are a very talented class who have come a long way in their careers," said Coach McClary. "They were a huge part of our success this year starting with our great trip to Ireland!"

They will be missed, but Coach McClary has to look to next season. "I think that in the next year we need to improve on every facet of the program," he said.

"We laid a good foundation for year one of the program and my hope is that much of it will carry over to year two.