Fighting Bee's still in postseason chase

Jan. 27, 2005
By Dan Tomlin
Sports Editor

The Fighting Bees sent a message to the Mt. Mercy Mustangs when the two top teams squared off on Sunday; “We’re not as young as we look.”

While on paper the Fighting Bees look as though they’re the youngest team in the conference, with starting two sophomores as well as a freshman, their depth and knowledge has become ever more apparent as the season has gone on.

St. Ambrose, who has been a perennial powerhouse since the Midwest Classic Conference was formed, was picked to finish in the bottom half of the standings this season, due to their loss of all but two from a team that finished in fourth in the land, but if the first half of the season has been any indication, the rest of the MCC is getting more then they bargained for.

Due to inclimate weather the match-up between the top two teams in the conference would have to wait until Sunday. Unfortunately for Mt. Mercy they traveled through a blizzard and landed in a tornado.

The natural disaster that struck the Mustangs down was sophomore sensation Chris Washington, whose 16.8 points per game are good for second on the team and fourth in conference. Washington also leads the league in steals per game.

Washington’s performance in the first have was second to none. Making good on his first seven attempts from the field, Washington bolted out to 20 points just 10 minutes into the contest. At that point he alone was outscoring Mt. Mercy.

“I came out and kept firing it up and they just kept going in,” Washington said of his effort. “We knew it was a must win game, you have to win all of your games at home.”

With the win the Fighting Bees advance to 5-1 in conference play, and are tied with William Penn on top of the MCC standings. The Fighting Bees sole loss came to the Statesmen on Jan. 12.

After the loss to the Statesmen, a game in which the immaturity showed at times, Washington credits the coaching staff for getting the team back on track and in a position to once again compete for a conference championship.

“After that game we had some hard practices, coach would really give it to us when we didn’t go hard,” Washington said. “It’s all a maturing process and we try to get better and better every game.”

William Penn suffered their only loss to Mt. Mercy, who defeated the Statesmen by 20.
Not to be outdone, senior Ryan Johnson has paced the Bees on offense, and quietly set the tone for the entire season.

Second in the league in scoring, Johnson has quietly put up big numbers that has contributed majority to where the Bees are today.

“Ryan’s one of those guys who you say ‘well he had a good game’ but it isn’t until you see the boxscore and realize wow he had 20 points and 10 rebounds,” Coach Ray Shovlain said. “He does it so quietly it almost goes unnoticed.”

Some notoriety has been given to Johnson though as the senior has captured Conference Player of the Week honors twice this season already, the latest coming after big wins over The Franciscan University and Viterbo.

As the Fighting Bees make “The Turn,” and play each conference foe a second time at an alternating venue, the Bees are hoping to stay on top and host the conference tournament at Lee Lohman Arena.

Only three home games remain, as SAU will take on Viterbo on Jan. 29, William Penn on Feb. 2, and nationally ranked Iowa Wesleyan on Feb. 16.

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