Men’s Basketball suffers Senior Day setback to end season

The Muskingum men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 90-86 decision to Heidelberg on Senior Day in the Anne C. Steele Center on Saturday afternoon. The loss ended the Muskies' season.

The Basics

• Records: Muskingum (9-16 overall, 7-11 Ohio Athletic Conference), Heidelberg (11-14 overall, 7-11 Ohio Athletic Conference)
• Location: New Concord, Ohio – Anne C. Steele Center

OAC Tournament

• With the loss today, Muskingum ended the regular season tied for seventh in the league with Wilmington and Heidelberg. In the OAC multiple team tiebreaker format, Wilmington and Heidelberg advanced to the OAC Tournament, while the Muskies narrowly missed out on a tournament berth.

Pregame

• Prior to the start of the game, Muskingum recognized senior Jacob Geller.

Inside the Numbers  

• Marcus Dempsey led the Muskies with 28 points on 11-of-24 shooting. Dempsey ended the season with 758 points. Earlier this season, he broke the most points scored in a season record (the previous record was 559 points) and scored his 1,000 career point in the Muskies 112-103 win against then NCAA Division III #23 John Carroll.
• Jacob Geller contributed 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting and snagged a team-high nine rebounds. He ended his career at Muskingum with 452 points and 266 rebounds.
• Devon Peart tallied 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He also grabbed five rebounds and two steals.
• Tyler Bardall chipped in nine points and added five rebounds.
• Jalen Paige dished out a team-high six assists.
• Muskingum shot .464 (32-of-69) from the field, made 11 three-pointers, and went 11-for-15 at the free throw line (.733).
• Four Heidelberg players collected double-digit scoring.
• Chris Moxley came off the bench to lead the Student Princes with 22 points.
• Mike Mason also came off the bench to register 16 points, while Myron Prewitt added 14 points, and Kieré Bennie chipped in 10 points.
• Heidelberg concluded the contest shooting .507 (35-of-69) from the field, went 11-of-23 from the arc (.478) and made .750 (9-for-12) at the free throw line.

Game Highlights

The Muskies knocked down four trey's, with Geller notching two of them, to make it an 18-10 contest with 13:29 remaining in the first half. The Student Princes then fueled a 22-13 run to put them ahead by one, 32-31, with 6:35 on the clock. Muskingum regained the advantage shortly after and led by eight with 34 seconds in the stanza. Heidelberg answered with back-to-back three-pointers in the final seconds of the half to cut the Muskies lead down to two, 45-43, at intermission. Dempsey netted 11 of the final 14 points scored for the Muskies and ended the half with 22 points.

In the first four minutes of the second half, Tyler Bardall drilled two trey's to push the Muskies lead to six, 54-48. From there, the Muskies and Student Princes battled as there were multiple ties and lead changes that occurred. With 1:53 to go in the game, the Muskies scored a layup to take the one-point advantage, 84-83. Seconds later, the Student Princes responded with a layup and then hit a three-pointer at the one-minute marker to lead, 88-84. Dempsey then cut the deficit down to two after netting a layup with 49 seconds left. Muskingum had back-to-back three-point shots in the waning seconds to take the lead but both shots were off the mark as Heidelberg hung on for the win.