MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Senior guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue (Norwalk, Conn.) scored 25 points—including the 1,500th of his career—to go along with seven assists, six rebounds, and three steals as the Wentworth men’s basketball team closed out 2007 with an 86-50 win over Goucher in the 2007 Cruzin’ Classic played at Barry University.
“We told our players that this was their last game for two and a half weeks and wanted them to put forth a solid effort,” said head coach Tom Devitt. “I am extremely proud of the effort we put forth tonight against a good team that has been involved in a lot of close games so far.”
The Leopards, who snapped a three-game losing streak, led from start to finish, taking an early 17-4 lead, thanks in part to six points from sophomore forward Shane West (Saco, Maine) and five points from Prezzie-Blue.
Trailing 19-6 with 15:04 to play in the opening stanza, the Gophers, who at one point shot 82 percent from the floor in the half, used a 16-5 run, fueled by eight points from senior forward Cameron Brown (Baltimore, Md.) and four points from sophomore guard Pat Bailey (Rockville, Md.), to cut the lead to 22-20 with 11:15 left.
However, that would be as close as Goucher would get, as Wentworth countered with a 12-0 run over the next 4:30, using five points each from Prezzie-Blue and sophomore forward Matt Abbott (Falmouth, Mass.) to up the lead to 14. Despite the Gophers cutting the lead back to 11 on a Bailey trifecta, the Leopards held the Gophers to just two more points in the first half and upped their lead to 47-25 after 20:00. Wentworth would shoot 16-for-31 from the floor in the first half and went 8-for-9 from the free throw line.
The second half saw Wentworth turn up the heat and would lead by as much as 41 on two separate occasions, thanks to 61.5 percent shooting from the floor, while holding its opponents to 38.5 percent. With 10:34 remaining, Prezzie-Blue made a layup to become the second Wentworth men’s basketball player to eclipse the 1,500-point mark.
For the game the Leopards would shoot 32-for-57 (56.1 percent) from the floor and 14-for-17 (82.4 percent) from the charity stripe. While both teams committed 15 turnovers, the Leopards took full advantage of Goucher’s mistakes, scoring 22 points off turnovers, which included 13 in the second half. Wentworth also held a 37-23 advantage on the boards.
In addition to Prezzie-Blue, junior backcourt mate Todd Doyle (Mystic, Conn.) shot 6-for-10 form the floor and scored 16 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Abbott, in 12 minutes of action, added 10 points and six rebounds.
“Sherrad [Prezzie-Blue] and Todd [Doyle] each had great games for us, as did Shane [West, eight points, five rebounds, two blocks],” said Devitt. “It was one of those nights where everything clicked for us. It’s definitely a great way to head into the holidays.”
For Goucher, freshman forward Marcus Cotton (Silver Spring, Md.) scored 12 points, while Brown was 5-for-8 from the floor for 10 points.
With the win Wentworth climbs back over .500 and improves to 5-4. The Leopards are idle until hosting Fisher College on Jan. 8, at 6:00 p.m. The Gophers dropped their third in a row to fall to 2-7 and host Marymount on Jan. 2.
Official Basketball Box Score Wentworth vs Goucher 12/20/07 6:00 pm at Miami Shores, Fla. (Health & Sports Ctr) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Wentworth 5-4 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 14 Todd Doyle.......... * 6-10 2-5 2-3 2 3 5 1 16 6 1 0 0 31 20 Brad Bryant......... * 1-4 1-3 2-2 0 2 2 4 5 6 2 0 1 29 42 Weonard Bynes....... * 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 2 4 2 1 0 0 22 44 Sherrad Prezzie-Blue * 10-17 4-6 1-1 3 3 6 2 25 7 3 0 3 29 52 Shane West.......... * 3-5 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 0 8 0 1 2 2 20 10 Gregor Van Pelt..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 5 12 Ed Bolton........... 1-4 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 4 1 0 0 16 23 Matt Abbott......... 3-5 1-1 3-5 1 5 6 3 10 2 2 1 0 12 24 Gil Ward............ 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 4 0 1 0 1 11 30 Keenan Burke-Pitts.. 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 9 32 Pat LaCasse......... 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 1 0 5 33 Colin O'Donnell..... 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 3 40 Dan Killilea........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 4 45 Mike McClure........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 TEAM................ 1 1 2 Totals.............. 32-57 8-19 14-17 10 27 37 17 86 30 15 5 7 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-31 51.6% 2nd Half: 16-26 61.5% Game: 56.1% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-13 53.8% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 42.1% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 8-9 88.9% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 82.4% 2,1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Goucher 2-7 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 00 Ian Brown........... * 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 12 Nick DeSouza........ * 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 0 4 6 2 0 1 15 20 Darrin Boswell...... * 2-4 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 2 4 0 3 1 0 25 23 Marcus Cotton....... * 4-8 0-0 4-9 0 3 3 1 12 1 0 0 1 23 25 Amir Hakim.......... * 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 8 05 Miguel Negron....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 3 2 0 2 16 22 Donte Brandon....... 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 8 24 Micah Perry......... 3-4 1-1 0-1 2 1 3 0 7 0 1 0 0 8 30 Pat Bailey.......... 2-6 2-2 1-2 0 3 3 1 7 3 2 0 1 16 32 Conor Martin........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 33 Jeff Whitaker....... 0-1 0-1 0-2 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 35 Cameron Brown....... 5-8 0-0 0-2 0 1 1 3 10 2 2 0 2 23 42 Kyle Gladden........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 44 Michael Schaerr..... 2-5 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 1 12 50 Ryan Comstock....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 8 52 Tim Merritt......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 11 TEAM................ 1 2 3 Totals.............. 21-50 3-7 5-16 7 16 23 16 50 17 15 3 9 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 42.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 42.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 4-12 33.3% Game: 31.3% 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Jim Wilkening, Aaron Chambliss, Jeff Eichholtz Technical fouls: Wentworth-None. Goucher-None. Attendance: 41 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Wentworth..................... 47 39 - 86 Goucher....................... 25 25 - 50 2007 Cruzin' Classic Points in the paint-WIT 36,GC 24. Points off turnovers-WIT 22,GC 12. 2nd chance points-WIT 14,GC 4. Fast break points-WIT 8,GC 8. Bench points-WIT 28,GC 28. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times. Last FG-WIT 2nd-00:13, GC 2nd-00:00. Largest lead-WIT by 41 2nd-05:12, GC None.