Ravens Advance Past Beavers, Laffoon Breaks 1,000 Points

The fifth-seeded Anderson University men's basketball team advanced past fourth-seeded Bluffton University with a 77-68 victory during the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament on Friday in Lexington, Ky.

Malik Laffoon needed 15 points to break 1,000 career points and he scored 18. Owen Handy also picked up his 100th career win.

The game started out with both teams knotted at 6-all after five minutes. Bluffton (15-11) went on a 7-0 lead during the next 2 minutes, 31 seconds to give the Beavers a 13-6 lead with 13:02 to go.

Anderson (14-12) chipped away and tied the game at 19-all with 6:52 left in the first half. The Beavers pulled ahead to a 34-26 advantage, but Anderson cut the deficit to 36-32 at halftime. Ronny Williams had provided 15 points for the Ravens at halftime.

"We got off to a slow start, primarily because of a lot of early turnovers," Handy said. "But we showed really good composure getting over that, and Ronny really kept us in it."

Anderson continued its momentum with a 10-2 run in the opening 4:10 of the second half, giving the Ravens a 42-38 lead.

"We came out of the locker room and played a terrific second half. We defended well, and did a great job of pushing the tempo of the game."

After spending several minutes in a one-possession game, the Ravens put together an 8-0 run to break the game open. Laffoon made a layup and then made four free throws, breaking the 1,000-point barrier in the process. Larry Johnson contributed a basket to cap off the 8-0 run and give Anderson a 63-57 lead with 5:08 to go. Anderson outscored Bluffton 14-11 for the remainder of the contest.

The Ravens knocked down 26-of-44 (59.1 percent) shots from the field and 7-of-14 (50 percent) attempts from 3-point range. Bluffton hit 28-of-65 (43.1 percent) attempts from the floor and 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) shots from the perimeter.

The Ravens committed 17 turnovers while the Beavers turned the ball over 16 times. Despite finishing minus-one on turnovers, Anderson powered to a 25-13 advantage in points off turnovers and an 11-0 advantage in fast-break points.

Bluffton outrebounded Anderson 33-24.

The Ravens drained 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) shots from the free-throw line while the Beavers made 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

Ronny Williams recorded a near triple-double with 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Laffoon tallied 18 points. Maurice Knight contributed 11 points. Austin Lyons and Dalton DuBois scored eight points each. Larry Johnson rounded out the Anderson scoring effort with six points.

Jameel Cosby paced the Beavers with 18 points and two blocks. Dezman Brown put together 16 points and five assists. Andrew Renner and Zeddie Pollock turned in 10 points apiece. Isaiah Taylor collected five rebounds.

Anderson clashes with top-seeded Transylvania University (17-8) in the HCAC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Lexington.

A LOOK AT TRANSYLVANIA

Gabe Schmitt leads the Pioneers and ranks third in the HCAC with 17.1 points per game. He has drained 85-of-94 (90.4 percent) shots from the free-throw line. Schmitt leads the conference and ranks 10th in the nation in free-throw percentage.

Michael Jefferson has recorded averages of 15.5 points, 5.9 assists, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals. He ranks second in the HCAC and 18th in the nation in assists per game. Jefferson has knocked down 147-of-265 (55.5 percent) shots from the field. He currently ranks second in the conference in field-goal percentage (.555).

Lucas Gentry has notched 11.8 points per game and 0.7 blocks per game. Zach Larrimore has scored 9.7 points per game and Brandon Cromwell has produced 6.8 points per game.

Transylvania leads the conference with 80.4 points per game. The Pioneers currently ranks second in the nation and second in the HCAC in 3-point field-goal percentage (.402).

HCAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

HCAC Tournament Opening Round – Friday, Feb. 28 – Lexington, Ky.

Game #1: 6 p.m. – No. 5 Anderson 77, No. 4 Bluffton 68

Game #2: 8 p.m. – No. 6 Rose-Hulman 69, No. 3 Hanover 63

HCAC Tournament Semifinals – Saturday, Feb. 29 – Lexington, Ky.

Game #3: 5 p.m. – No. 1 Transylvania vs. No. 5 Anderson (Live Video) (Live Stats)

Game #4: 7 p.m. – No. 2 Franklin vs. No. 6 Rose-Hulman (Live Video) (Live Stats)

HCAC Tournament Championship – Sunday, March 1 – Lexington, Ky.

Game #5: 2:30 p.m. – Winner of Game #3 vs. Winner of Game #4 (Live Video)