Is it possible to shoot 58 percent from the field, win the rebounding battle and still lose a Division II college basketball by 27 points?
It certainly is when you’re playing the fifth-ranked Pfeiffer men’s team — a squad which should be known as Team Turnover. Pfeiffer blistered Livingstone 114-87 in New Trent Gym on Wednesday night, mostly because it forced a whopping 35 Bear turnovers.
“Our biggest weakness is at the point guard position right now,” said Livingstone coach Buck Joyner. “And Pfeiffer’s point guard is about as strong as there is.”
That Pfeiffer point guard is All-America candidate Terrence Baxter, who had nine steals in just 21 minutes. Baxter is so low to the floor that he makes for an inviting passing lane, but when you try to take advantage of his size, he springs to the sky, yanks the ball out of the air and starts things rolling at the speed of light in the other direction. He did it over and over and over in the first half.
The Falcons’ other superstar, Nem Sovic, merely scored 33 points in 22 minutes. As usual, he got them quietly.
“I thought he had maybe eight at the half,” said Pfeiffer coach Dave Davis. “I look at the sheet and he’s got 19.”
Still, Livingstone (0-3) put up a better battle than anyone expected. Pfeiffer led only 18-16 after Bear big man Peter Anders made a huge jam eight minutes into the game.
Unfortunately for the Bears, what was about to happen was obvious. Livingstone dresses nine and just eight were healthy. Joyner’s big men — Rodney Gidney and Anders — were tiring and Joyner had no one to sub for them. Meanwhile, Davis was already playing 11 and as he aptly put it, “getting help from all 11.”
And suddenly as the Bear legs grew heavy, Pfeiffer swingman Shakil Brew started playing like that Shaquille who lives in L.A.
“Shakil can be the best player in our league, (the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference),” said Davis, which is high praise since that league also includes Sovic and Baxter. “He can do everything.”
Brew was indeed brewing up a storm. He was rebounding, driving to the bucket, making free throws and even nailing a 3. And just four minutes after Pfeiffer had led by two, it led by 17 at 50-33. Thirty-two furious Falcon points went down in less than 250 seconds. The spectacular spurt, which was capped by 3-balls from Emory Smith and James Johnson and two Sovic free throws, ended any suspense as to who would win the game.
“We were getting great effort,” said Davis, “and good things started happening. “We weren’t shooting the ball well and we were out of control at times, but we were doing lots of things that were very, very good.”
The halftime score was 60-45 and things pretty much snowballed from there. The Bears got wearier and wearier and the Falcon pressure intensified.
“They came in here and watched us last night (against Bowie State),” said Joyner. “They saw what we could do and what we couldn’t and they jumped on us pretty good.”
The second half was a highlight reel. Baxter brought down the house and pushed Pfeiffer’s lead to 20 for the first time with 16 minutes remaining when he sent a no-look missile into the hands of Johnson for a layup.
Sovic called it a night with six minutes left, shortly after his spinning, left-handed scoop shot (plus a foul) sent fans rolling out of the bleachers in disbelief. Anders blocked two of his shots and made Sovic walk twice, but the Yugoslavian senior’s 14-for-20 night was still a thing of beauty.
Meanwhile, Gidney was spectacular for the Bears with 37 points, his second 30-plus night of the season.
“Best of all it was an unselfish 37,” praised Joyner. “Rodney’s our leader. He distributed the ball well and his voice was the one everyone listened to in the huddle.”
Gidney did it all — everything from a rim-rocking power dunk to a 3-point bomb. He limped off the floor once, but even with the game hopelessly out of hand, hobbled back into the game to help his outmanned teammates compete.
“Gidney was phenomenal.” said Davis. “We knew who he was and what he was, but we could do nothing at all to stop him. Gidney didn’t quit and none of Buck’s guys quit. They fought to the end.”
Still, Pfeiffer kept rolling. It hit the 100-point mark with 7:06 remaining and led by as many as 33 at 111-78 on a Smith 3-pointer.
“And we’ll get better,” warned Brew. “We didn’t box out tonight and we had some first game jitters. We’ll get Dwayne Bell (Pfeiffer’s injured post player) back in 10 days. Then we’ll do a lot better inside.”
Joyner, however, will have to wait a lot longer than 10 days to get some help.
“It’s a tough hand we’re playing,” he said. And the schedule we’ve played has made it even tougher. Tonight, we took a licking, but we’ll keep on ticking.”
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NOTES:Anders had 14 and J.C. Henry 11 for the Bears. ... Pfeiffer has lost guard Ed Sprude for the year with a torn ACL. .. Sovic had three buckets in the last 35 seconds of the first half.
PFEIFFER (114) — Baxter 13, Rich 5, Brew 18, Smith 13, Jackson 8, Sovic 33, Wallace 2, McKnight 2, Johnson 9, Cole 6, Moody 5,
LIVINGSTONE (87) — Wright 8, Anders 14, Gidney 37, Scarborough 4, Street, Nash 5, Moses 6, Henry 11, Fluker.
Pfeiffer 60 54 — 114
Livingstone 45 42 — 87
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