WASHINGTON – The Gallaudet University men's basketball team went down early in the fist half and was unable to recover as it lost 44-35 Saturday to SUNY Cobleskill in a slow paced, low scoring North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) game in the Field House.
The Bison (6-14, 5-8 NEAC) and Fighting Tigers (6-12, 5-7 NEAC) both came out slow, experiencing a scoreless stalemate for the first three and a half minutes of the game. The Fighting Tigers struck first by scoring the first four points and never looked back as the visitors held the advantage throughout the contest. At the conclusion of the first half, the Bison had scored a season worst 15 points as Cobleskill led by six, 21-15. Only three Bison players recorded points in the first 20 minutes of play. Half of the scoring production for the buff and blue came from sophomore guard Trey Gordon (Talladega, Ala.) as he made two 3-point shots.
Gallaudet had a chance to grab the lead away from SUNY Cobleskill, two minutes into the second half, when Gordon made his third 3-pointer. The Fighting Tigers clung to a one-point lead but went on a 12-2 run, in a six-minute span, to break open the game.
This is only the third time in 29 seasons that the Bison scored 35 or fewer points in a collegiate varsity game. GU lost to Penn St.-Berks, 77-31, on Jan. 8, 2007 and 77-35 against Virginia Wesleyan College on Dec. 17, 2003. Both of those losses came on the road. Prior to that the last time Gallaudet finished with a final score in the 30s came in the early 1980s.
The Bison struggled to keep possession of the ball as their 23 turnovers led to 20 points for Cobleskill. Gordon was the only Bison to reach double figures as he finished with 11 points to go with three rebounds and two assists. Gordon was held scoreless for the final 18 minutes of the game. Sophomore forward James Steingieser (New Market, Md.) matched his season-high with eight points, six points came via a layup, foul and made free throw. He had a team best three steals and five rebounds. Freshmen Stephen Dean (Sacramento, Calif.) and Joshua McGriff (Somerset, N.J.) chipped in seven and six points, respectively.
Cobleskill forward Brandon Smith scored a game-high 17 points, ripped down five rebounds and made three steals. Mike Chapman put up 14 points as well as a game-high eight rebounds in the win.
The Bison remain at home to face NEAC foe SUNYIT tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 9) at noon in the Field House.