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 Erik Parker's two free throws sealed the win at MC. |
Feb. 26, 2005
ERIE, Pa. - Junior center Erik Parker (Oak Park, Mich.) calmly stroked two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to give Wayne State (17-10, 11-6 GLIAC) a 58-56 win over Mercyhurst College (8-19, 2-15 GLIAC) on Senior Day at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center Saturday. The victory secures second place in the GLIAC South Division, the Warriors' highest divisional finish since they won the South during the 1998-99 season, and WSU is now set to host Gannon Tuesday night (7 pm) in a GLIAC Quarterfinal contest.
Warrior redshirt junior Herb Goliday (Royal Oak Twp., Mich.) scored the game's first points on a 12-foot jumper, but the Lakers used their height advantage to pull down big rebounds and rattled off eight straight points, including two three-pointers, to lead 8-2 in the first three minutes of the game.
WSU tied the game at 11 with 10:37 on the clock as senior Tariq Mills (Cincinnati, Ohio) connected on with a three-point play, followed by Morris Hall (Detroit, Mich.) and Dwayne Jones (Inkster, Mich.) jumpers.
The Lakers broke the tie with another 8-0 run until senior guard Darrell Evans (Detroit, Mich.) passed off to an open Hall for a three and Goliday had a steal and fast-break dunk. Another Evans assist found Goliday under the basket on back-to-back trips down the court to give WSU a 19-18 lead with 4:51 to go in the half.
Hall flew in for a rebound off a Goliday miss and leaned in for a bucket in the paint. Then, after Evans forced a turnover on a five-second call for the second time of the half, junior Ethan Banks (Warren, Ohio) drained a trey, topping of the Warriors' 13-0 run.
Mercyhurst, however, knotted the game at 24 with a three-point play with 1:44 on the clock, but Wayne State outscored MC 7-2, including a steal, layup and free throw sequence by Hall, to lead 31-26 at the break.
Banks saved a long pass from going out of bounds by throwing it to Hall who knocked down a jumper to start the second half. The Lakers made two straight triples before Goliday hit a pair of jumpers, improving the Warrior lead to 37-32.
With 11:31 left, Mercyhurst made it a three-point game, but Evans passed to his left for a Banks three from the corner and Hall made two free throws, putting WSU back up by eight.
A four-point Laker run was ended by Hall's drive and layup. Neither team could gain any moment during the next seven minutes as the WSU lead went back-and-forth from six to four points.
The Lakers drew within one with 1:13 left in the game as Jawad Ali hit a three and Steve Horner scored on his own miss. MC's Terry Smith hit a three with 21.5 seconds left that tied the game, but Evans drove the lane to set up Parker for the game-winning free throws.
Hall finished with a game-high 18 points and Goliday added 16 to the cause. Evans had just three assists and is four shy of tying the single season school record of 200 set by Terrance Walker in the 1993-94 season.
