MISENHEIMER—It’s not uncommon for Pfeiffer University’s men’s
basketball team to force “garbage time” on its opponents. It is unusual,
however, for it to begin with nine minutes left in the game.That was the case Thursday night, as Pfeiffer hit the
century mark with a whopping 9:09 left in the game en route to blasting Mount Olive 123-97
at Merner Gym. The Falcons’ halftime lead of 68-49 could have been mistaken for a
final score.
“I was very, very pleased with our intensity
and effort, especially in the first half,” said Pfeiffer head coach Dave Davis.
“This was a big game for us because Mount Olive is a talented team. I could just see
the intensity in our guys’ eyes. I didn’t think we came out that way in our last
two games, but against a very good Mount Olive team, I thought we were focused.”
One area the Falcons (17-3 overall, 12-0
Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference) particularly focused on was their defense.
Pfeiffer utilized its stifling press to turn multiple Trojan turnovers into many Falcon
points. Those transition scores helped Pfeiffer shoot a jaw-dropping 60 percent from the
field for the game.
“I really think it worked as well as it has
all year,” Davis said. “The way we run it, it makes it hard for you to run any
kind of offense you’re used to running.”
The Trojans had no trouble in the early going,
though, as they jumped on the Falcons with a 15-6 lead. Mount Olive hit three 3s during
the run, two by Seneca Campbell.
At that point, Davis called for time to rally his
troops.
“I thought we were playing well then, but our
shots weren’t falling,” Davis said. “I knew Mount Olive was just on a hot
streak because they don’t usually hit a lot of 3s.”
Pfeiffer’s shots started falling after Davis
delivered his motivational speech. The Falcons’ shots fell so often, in fact, they
went on a devastating 27-8 run.
Anything and everything went in for the Falcons
during the spurt, especially for Division II All-America candidate Nem Sovic. The
Yugoslavian collected 11 of his 31 points during the run.
“I thought we did a good job of getting the
ball to Nem,” said Davis. “He had 21 points in 10 minutes in the first half.
He’s just phenomenal.”
Emory Smith also did some damage, netting seven
points in the stretch.
Pfeiffer pushed its advantage to as much as 17 at
53-36 before Mount Olive made a run. The Trojans rattled off seven straight points to pull
within 10 at 53-43 with 3:56 remaining in the half.
Pfeiffer then mounted a 15-6 charge of its own to
end the half with a 19-point lead at 68-49. Jay Moody made the Trojans blue by hitting two
3s during the closing minutes of the half.
The second half was more of the same, with
Pfeiffer extending its lead to as much as 29 points. Mount Olive never got closer than 13.
Such a large lead allowed the Falcons to show off a bit.
Falcon showmanship was at its best when Terrence
Baxter threw a lob off the backboard to Dwayne Bell, who unleashed a rim-wrecker of epic
proportions that brought the already raucous Pfeiffer faithful out of their seats.
The Falcons kept the fun going until the final
buzzer, racking up a season-high 123 points.
Despite the massive roll Pfeiffer is on at the
moment, Davis needed only to look at Thursday morning’s box scores to know that it
can all end very quickly.
“Before the game tonight, we talked about how
Duke lost last night, Indiana lost night, and Ohio State lost last night,” said
Davis. “It seems like, in February, when you get on a roll sometimes something will
fall apart. I think our intensity and leadership from Eric Jackson, Tony Bailey and
Terrence Baxter will help us through that.”
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