Here’s the stark reality of that worldwide video sensation known as YouTube: Search it long enough, chances are just about anything is a click away. Ask IPFW women’s tennis coach Eric Burns. He found Caterina Kiefer.
FORT WAYNE – This time Yogi was wrong: It was over before it was over.
In fact, it was over before the first half was over.
The lethal combination of IPFW’s smothering defense and a Judson team that could neither shoot nor pass straight led the Mastodons to a 29-point halftime lead and a 92-22 mauling Tuesday at Memorial Coliseum.
The 22 points allowed were the fewest given up by an IPFW men’s team, and the 70-point margin was also the largest in school history.
Had it not been for Judson guard Luke Pearson’s 17-foot jump shot with 1.3 seconds left in the first half, the Eagles would have been under double figures for the first 20 minutes.
As it was, IPFW (3-3) had taken Judson (2-7) out of the game early.
From a 4-2 IPFW lead, when both teams spent the first four minutes going 1 of 7 from the floor, the Mastodons went on a surge.
As the Eagles were stuck on 2, IPFW scored 17 in a row. Judson then doubled its score with a couple of free throws. And except for the last minute of the half, when Judson scored five of its 11, the Mastodons closed out on a 17-2 run.
When halftime came, Judson had made 4 of 20 shots, turned the ball over 18 times and trailed 40-11. As it was, the Eagles finished 9 of 51, 2 of 26 from three-point range and had 28 turnovers.
“I was pretty pleased that we were able to play the game the right way on the defensive end,” IPFW coach Tony Jasick said. “We didn’t get loose and start flying around and doing crazy things.”
What was crazier that outscoring Judson 40-11 in the first half was outscoring it 52-11 in the second.
“In the locker room at halftime, we definitely stressed that the game could get boring,” sophomore guard Isaiah McCray said. “Before we went onto the floor, I huddled with my teammates and told them, ‘Hey, let’s keep the intensity up; let’s keep the game going.’ Just to give us a little life, just to give us a little energy to let my teammates know that we’ve got to come in play no matter who it is.”
Freshman Herbert Graham led IPFW with 17 points, while Frank Gaines, who left the game with 8:58 remaining, added 15.
