Muskingum vs Gettysburg (11/10)
In the season-opener game for the Fighting Muskies junior Zaveon Croff led the team with a double-double scoring 18 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and adding three steals.
The Bullets started off the game with a three-point shot from Nate Williams, followed by a pair of two-pointers by Ryan McKeon and Jordan Stafford to take an early 7 – 0 lead over the Muskies. A trio of jump shots including a three-pointer by Zaveon Croff quickly evened the field at 7 all. McKeon put up another 2 for Gettysburg answered back by Duane Davis even a 9 points.
Luken Hill put in a layup followed by a 2-point jump shot to take the lead for Muskingum at 11 – 9. Davis padded the lead by 2 when he nailed a layup 15 – 9. The Bullets Jordan Stafford landed a shot from the three-point line to narrow the lead to 15 – 12 Muskies. Malachi Briscoe nearly tied up the game with a 2-point layup making the score 15 – 14. Croff did his magic throwing down another trey to push the Muskies to 18. A couple of landed free throw shots by Kaelan Pulliam quickly landed the Muskies at 20 – 14. A foul on Gettysburg’s Carl Schaller pumped them up to 15 after he missed his first free throw but landed the second 20 – 15 Muskies.
Ethan Taylor hit the net from the three-point line 23 – 15. Williams answered back for the Bullets with a three-point shot to make the score 23 – 18 followed by another two points from Filip Puzic to narrow the lead even further to 23 – 20.
Taylor landed both free throw shots after being fouled and took the Muskies’ lead up to 25 – 20 with Pulliam landing a jump shot right afterward and Muskingum was up 27 – 20. After a layup from Stafford for Gettysburg and a jump shot from Pulliam for Muskingum, the score was up to 29 – 22.
The Bullets mounted a quick two-shot comeback from Puzic and Williams to try to reach the Muskies but they still led by three at 29 – 26 despite their efforts.
Pulliam made one final shot before the end of the half to raise the Muskies score to 31 and Stafford answered back but still ended the half down by three at 28 for the Bullets.
The second half began with a layup by Croff answered back by Williams and Stafford and adding two free throw shots from Stafford to put the lead back in Gettysburg’s hands 34 – 33.
Carl Schaller stepped up for a three followed by a jump shot by Akim Joseph to keep padding the Bullets’ lead at Muskingum 33 – Gettysburg 39.
Luken Hill and Duane Davis made a pair of jump shots making it possible for Zaveon Croff to tie the game again at 39 on a pair of free throws.
The two teams battled back and forth matching each other’s score until there were only just over 6 minutes left in the game and the Fighting Muskies kicked their game into second gear pulling well ahead of the Bullets to reach as much as a ten-point lead before ending the match up 64 – 55.
Sophomore Duane Davis, sophomore Kaelan Pulliam, and junior Korey Robinson each had 10 points to add to Croff’s 18. Junior Ethan Taylor scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior Luken Hill scored eight points.
Muskingum vs Washington and Lee (11/11)
For the second game of the weekend, the Fighting Muskies had a much closer battle dropping just shy of a win after a neck-and-neck first half where they made a comeback from a 10-point deficit to have a tied game with just seconds left on the clock.
WL jumpstarted the scoreboard with a layup by Colin Ryan to get the show on the road. Muskingum’s Luken Hill bounded back with a dunk to tie up at 2. Drew Harrell hit a 2 for Washington. The Muskies’ Logan Stotzer dropped in a pair of 3-point jump shots to make the score 8 – 4 Muskingum.
AJ Thomas hit a 3-point jump shot for Washington followed by a pair of shots by Colin Ryan and a pair by Robert Disibio putting Washington back on top at 15 – 11.
Washington and Lee kept rolling in the shots bolstering their lead all the way up to 10 points with a score of 27 – 17 with just 7 minutes left in the first period. As the half wound down to just 2 minutes left bounced back to tie up the game before taking the lead at 32 – 31 going into the locker room.
WL couldn’t break the Muskie’s lead for the first five minutes of the second period then a shot made by Jack D’Entremont gave them the edge they needed and they started pushing ahead leaving Muskingum a few points behind until the final seconds of the game when the two tied up at 68 points with 43 seconds on the clock. With just 3 seconds left Drew Harrell made a 3-point jump shot that put Washington and Lee in the lead by a score of 71 – 68 which the Muskies could not recover and they walked away with a heartbreaking loss.
In this championship game, Sophomore Kaelan Pulliam set the single-game record with seven blocks. The previous record was set by Josh Keyes (2016-17). Sophomore Logan Stotzer led the Muskies with a 36-point effort on 14-of-23 shooting.
Stotzer and Zaveon Croff were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Muskies will have their home opener on Tuesday, November 21st at the Steele Center against the La Roche Red Hawks.
