UF Hoops climbing into the top 10

By: Owen Rode

Email: Rodeo@findlay.edu

The Findlay Oilers Men’s hoops is now ranked 9thnationally according to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) rankings, released on Feb. 5.  Theteam came away with the 2-0 sweep this past weekend. Croy was rocking Thursday Jan. 31 against the in-conference opponent the Cedarville Yellow Jackets. The Oilers were looking for payback after the Yellow Jackets handed them the first loss of the season on Dec. 1.

In the rematch the Oilers struggled putting the ball in the hole for the majority of the first half and found themselves down 29-14 with under six minutes to play before half time. The Oilers closed the half on a 13-2 run to cut the deficit to four at 31-27. The Oilers then went on a 14-2 in the first five minutes of the second half to open up a 41-33 lead. They never looked back from there as they outscored the Yellow Jackets 67-39 in the final 26 minutes of action.

The Oilers scored just 27 points in the first half but finished the game with a whopping 81 points. Findlay shot 42.4 percent (28-of-66) from the floor and came away with 11 steals in the game.

They were led by senior forward Alex White, who scored a game-high 19 points on 50 percent shooting. White also grabbed nine boards and came away with a pair of steals.  Sophomore guard Tommy Schmock was outstanding as he produced 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

“We stuck with the game plan the whole game,” said Schmock. “We got down early but stuck with what we know and ended up scoring 81 because of it.”

The Oilers followed up the Cedarville performance with a home game against the local rival Tiffin on Feb. 2.  Findlay came out of the gates hot and never looked back.

The Oilers won 110-85, putting up 61 points in the first half and ended the game by shooting a season-high 64.7 percent (44-of-68) from the floor. They also made half of their three point shots, finishing 8-of-16, and outrebounded the Dragons by a 40-29 margin.

The Oilers looked dominate the entire game and didn’t take their foot off the gas. Sophomore forward Chazz George posted a career-high 17 points off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting while junior forward Aaron Overhiser and freshman guard Ethan Linder contributed 15 points apiece.

“We are rolling right now and everyone on the team can really feel it,” said Linder. “We played really well as a team today and I think we can be a really tough team to beat when we play like this.”

Senior forward Alex White was also named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season. White led the Oilers to a pair of victories last week in Croy, averaging 18.5 points and 10 rebounds per game. He also shot 61.5 percent from the field and chipped in 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

“I’m honored to be picked as player of the week again, but it’s more about the two wins we got and that’s a credit to our team in general. We’ve played really well as a whole recently and we just have to keep up the consistency,” said White.

The Oilers now prepare for a huge first place game at Hillsdale College. Another rematch after the Jan. 19 match up ended with Hillsdale’s first win in Croy since 2002. The game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m.on Feb. 9.

The women’s basketball team also won both games beating Cedarville on Jan. 31, 73-64 and Tiffin in a fast paced shoot out 75-66 on Feb. 2.

In the Cedarville game Findlay shot 54.2 percent from the floor.

The Lady Oilers shot 44.7 percent from the floor and 79.5 percent from the free throw line against the DRagons. And also recorded 14 steals.

They take on the Hillsdale Chargers Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.

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