After coming off an extremely tight overtime win over the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, the Gannon University men’s basketball team fell short against Seton Hill on Feb. 10 in another thriller that came down to the final buzzer.
This time, the Knights lost, 59-57, when Seton Hill’s Kameron Taylor hit a 3-pointer with .6 seconds remaining to give the Griffins the win.
That defeat, followed by Saturday’s 68-54 nonconference loss to LeMoyne, left Gannon 6-17 overall and 5-14 in PSAC play going into Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. meeting with California University of Pennsylvania at the Hammermill Center.
In the loss to Seton Hill, the contest was close throughout the entire second half. Trailing by six points, junior Matthew Dogan scored five quick points to bring the Knights within one at 40-39 with 10:47 left in the game.
From that point on, no team was able to create a lead larger than three points for the remainder of the game. There were six lead changes and six ties.
With 1:55 remaining senior forward Jean Yves-Toupane hit a short jumper to give Gannon the lead.
Following an empty possession by each team, Seton Hill had the ball for the final possession.
The Knights’ solid defense kept Taylor, the Griffins’ junior guard, from getting a clean look.
They forced Taylor to take a contested 3-pointer at the top of the arc, but the shot hit nothing but the bottom of the net as the final buzzer sounded.
Taylor’s shot was the second time this season that the Knights lost on an opponent’s 3-point buzzer-beater.
Dogan led the Knights with 17 points while Toupane added 12 and Ian Gardener contributed 11.
Toupane extended his double-digit scoring streak to seven games when he paced Gannon with 24 points in Saturday’s road loss to Le Moyne.
After trailing by 11 points at intermission, Gannon put together a 9-3 run to pull within three at 46-43 with 9:54 remaining in the game.
However, LeMoyne scored on its next possession, igniting a 15-5 run for the Dolphins over the next 4½ minutes.
A pair of free throws put Le Moyne up 61-48 with five minutes left to play and Gannon never threatened from that point on.
The Knights gave up 25 points off turnovers and allowed their opponent to shoot over 50 percent for the eighth time this season.
Wednesday’s matchup with Cal at the Hammermill Center will be Gannon’s first home game in two weeks, and it’s a special game because it is the fourth annual Knight for the Stars game. The Knights hold a tight 14-13 advantage all-time against the Vulcans, and the two squads have split the last two season series.
Gannon has just two games remaining following Wednesday’s meeting – a Saturday road game against Slippery Rock and the season finale with rival Mercyhurst at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the Hammermill Center.
ALEC SCHEMMEL
[email protected]
