Good Luck Buttons Pin Win for
Fighting Bees
By:
Ryan Holtmann, Sports Information
November
12, 2002 12:16 a.m.
Deerfield, Ill., has not been a favorite trip for the St. Ambrose
University Fighting Bees as they have faced off against the Trinity
International University Trojans at Meyer Sports Complex three times and
have come up dry. That was
until Tuesday night when the Fighting Bees (2-0) jumped out to an early
lead and never looked back as they defeated the Trojans (0-5) by the score
of 66-45.
“We (the coaching staff) are very pleased to start of the season with
two road victories, especially when you defeat a tough team like Kendall
(whom SAU defeated 71-63 Saturday night) and with the past success that we
have had here (0-3 at TIU), we’re very pleased,” head coach Ray
Shovlain said.
The Fighting Bees jumped out from the get go, scoring the game’s
first 11 points. That lead
would not be challenged the rest of the game as the Fighting Bees just
kept pulling away.
Leading the way for the Fighting Bees were Karl Petersen and Matt
Fitzpatrick. Petersen dropped
in 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Fitzpatrick came away with 13 points while adding seven rebounds,
two assists, a steal and a block.
“It took me a little while to get going in the first half, I wasn’t
knocking down my shots, but in the second half I really got it going,”
Petersen said.
“I really don’t need to score points with all the quality scorers
that I have around me,” Fitzpatrick said, “it’s nice to have those
options.”
One big key to the Fighting Bees victory was that they out rebounded
the Trojans 55-35. All ten
Fighting Bees grabbed at least one rebound.
Brett Jacobs led the way with nine boards. Jacobs also added nine points.
“Defense and rebounding are what’s going to win championships over
the long course of things,” Shovlain said.
The good luck for the Fighting Bees came from a familiar stop for the
Fighting Bees. O n
the trip up to Deerfield, the stop for lunch was the usual Old Country
Buffet in Naperville, Ill. As
the team sat down and began to enjoy their meals (and shortly after the
announcement over the intercom that the team was in the building), one of
the Old Country Buffet employees brought a
bag of buttons over to their tables. The
buttons, which read, “I love Old Country Buffet,” were handed out to
each member of the team and coaching staff as “good luck” for the
Fighting Bees.
It would turn out the Fighting Bees would go onto victory and the
luck proved to be good.
“Those buttons were the key to the game,” Petersen said, “it
decided the whole outcome of the game.”
“Down the stretch the guys did a nice job,” Shovlain said, “again
we got solid performances from ten players.”
The Fighting Bees only shot 39.4% (28 of 71) from the field, but it was
the Trojans who really suffered as they shot 30.9% (17 of 55).
Leading the Trojans was Lazar Ralevic who scored ten points and was
the only player in double figures for the Trojans.
Jeff Harrison, the 6’11” center, grabbed a game high 16 rebounds
and scored five points.
“It shows that we are a good team when we can shoot poorly from the
field and still beat a team by 21,” Fitzpatrick said.
The
Fighting Bees will have their home opener this Friday night as they play
host to the St. Ambrose Classic. The
St. Ambrose Classic will tip-off with Bellevue University, Neb., facing
off against Barat College, Ill., at 5:30 p.m.
The nightcap will have the host Fighting Bees matching up against
Emmaus Bible College at 7:30 p.m. On
Saturday, the consolation game will be held at 1:00 p.m. and the
championship game will be held at 3:00 p.m.
All games will be held at Lee Lohman Arena.
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