February 22, 2010 7:46 AM
//
Men's Basketball
Memorable Senior Day As Men Make History with 79-62 Win Over Fontbonne
First Season Sweep of Fontbonne Ever Since Joining SLIAC
(February 20, 2010) Elsah, IL - You would have to go back several decades to witness what the Principia Men's Basketball team accomplished today on Senior Day 2010. Today's 79-62 convincing win over powerhouse program Fontbonne University marks the first time the Principia basketball program has swept Fontbonne in a single season since joining the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Prin joined the conference in 1990-91.
Fontbonne, last year's SLIAC champions, have struggled this year with a 5-10 conference record but they are still a solid basketball team, recording solid victories over conference leaders Westminster College (12-3) and Eureka (10-5) this year and had just come off a 111-84 win over Blackburn College.
The game remained close throughout the first 15 minutes with 8 lead changes. With about 4 minutes left in the first half and Prin down by 6, reserve
Ty Bennett kept a much bigger Fontbonne opponent on his back to grab an offensive rebound in the baseline corner. After grabbing the rebound he immediately whipped the ball to
Todd Zimmerman for a wide open layup underneath the hoop. The easy bucket closed the gap to 4. Prin scored the next 4 to tie the game 34-34 at the half.
Prin came out tough in all aspects, scoring a season high 45 second-half points on 64% shooting. The pre-game focus was on tight defense and aggressive rebounding. Fontbonne scored only 28 points in the second half. Prin forced 19 turnovers and only committed a remarkable 7 turnovers. Fontbonne edged out Prin in the rebounding battle 39-36 but Fontbonne has a front line of 6'7", 6'5", and 6'4" while Prin's tallest player is listed at only 6'3."
The Panthers were lead by Zimmerman who is on a tear lately. Tonight he scored 27 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and had 3 steals. Zimmerman has scored 29, 31 and 27 points in his last three games. It was also a great production night from the seniors. Captain
Sam Douglas scored 16 points,
Stuart Waller 14 points, and
Isaac Swiderski 2 points, who literally shut down his opponents on the defensive side.
Colin Angle and
Stanley Beal added 9 points apiece.
Prin improves to 3-12 in conference play and 6-19 overall. The team travels to Fulton, MO Tuesday night to face SLIAC regular-season champs Westminster College for its final game of the year. Tipoff is at 8pm.
