DANVILLE , Ill. — Florida Gateway College shot the ball better from inside arc, beyond the arc and also at the free throw line.
The rebound margin was in its favor too. Yet, the Timberwolves are still heading home without a victory at the NJCAA tournament for the second straight season.
The biggest stat? Turnovers. No. 16 seed FGC had 19 of them and No. 9 Chesapeake College converted them into 19 points to come away with an 85-79 win in the NJCAA tournament consolation bracket on Wednesday at Danville Area Community College.
A lot of those turnovers were unforced as well. Only six came via steals for the Skipjacks (30-5), who reached 30 wins for the first time in program history.
The Timberwolves (15-12) lost despite shooting 53.3% from the field, including 9 of 17 from 3, and 71% from the foul line.
“It was a tough game,” FGC head coach Charles Ruise said. “My hat goes off to our opponent. They did a real good job of coming out defensively and controlling some things. But our boys played real good.”
Lamont Powell scored 25 points for Chesapeake to lead all scorers. He was just one of five Skipjacks to reach double figures, which included 13 from Izaiah Credle, 12 from DJ Earl, and 10 apiece from JayShaun Freeman and Azim Sana.
Chesapeake only shot 43.1% from the field and 11 of 32 from 3. Even worse, the Skipjacks went 18 of 36 at the free throw line, but they made up for it with only five turnovers and 16 offensive rebounds for 14 second-chance points.
“We did a great job of taking care of the ball,” Chesapeake head coach Andrew Sachs said. “Five turnovers and they had 19. That’s a huge difference. That’s 14 possessions that we get. We had 16 offensive rebounds. That’s the big stat for us, so I’m happy with that and I’m happy we get to play another day.”
Region 8 Player of the Year Antewan Webber led FGC with 23 points, which included three 3-pointers, while Jeremiah Barze added three more 3s as part of his 13 points to go with eight rebounds. Maurice Campbell also made a pair of 3s and finished in double figures with 12 points, while Amayoaah Phillips added nine points after scoring 27 in Tuesday’s 83-77 loss No. 1 Davidson-Davie.
After nearly pulling off an upset over the top team in the tourney opener on Tuesday, the Timberwolves didn’t suffer a letdown. They jumped out to an early advantage for the second straight day, hitting three 3s in the first 2:10 of the game to go up an 11-3 lead before going into halftime tied at 34.
But Chesapeake built a 9-point lead on two different occasions in the second half and FGC only briefly took a two-point lead over the final 20 minutes.
“They expended a lot of energy (Tuesday),” Ruise said, “but again, today my hat goes off to the team we played. They did a good job of controlling the environment out there on the floor.”
FGC trailed 47-39 early in the second half before going on a 12-2 run to briefly take a 51-49 lead, a run that included Webber hitting a layup and a free throw on the foul as well as a 3-pointer. Jeremy Young also had all five of his points during the run.
But Earl answered with a 3 to give the Skipjacks the lead for good. The Timberwolves pulled within a point a couple more times only to watch Chesapeake extend it to as many as nine over the final eight minutes.
A pair of foul shots from Webber cut the Skipjacks’ lead to 81-76 with 1:26 to go and the Timberwolves then had a chance to cut it to one possession, but Eric Canavan, who scored nine points, had his layup blocked by Sana with 41 seconds left.
Campbell then blocked Credle’s layup seconds later on the other end, but Lamont tracked down the loose ball and was fouled. He hit two ensuing free throws with 29 seconds left and Webber turned the ball over on FGC’s possession to ice the game.
The Skipjacks bounced back from a 72-59 loss to Macomb Community College in their first-round matchup to stay alive for seventh place. They’ll face the winner of Thursday's matchup between Johnson County-Iowa Lakes on Friday.
“These guys get to share an experience that they’ll never experience again and to have a chance to play again after not playing great (Tuesday) and (Macomb) having a lot to do with that is great,” Sachs said. “And you get a chance to play for another day on Friday and maybe Saturday, so it’s good for our guys.”
The Timberwolves did fare better in this year’s trip to Danville despite going 0-2 again. Last year saw them get blown out by South Suburban 87-52 in their first game before losing to Allen 76-67 in the consolation round.
If anything, it showed another step in the right direction for Ruise and his program.
“This year’s experience, we came in a little bit sharper than we were last year because the game was a little faster last year,” Ruise said. “We felt this year we had a better chance to just come in and just get settled and get out on the floor and do the best you can.”