Young Bees jump to winning record

Dec. 9, 2004
By Dan Tomlin
Sports Editor

While the youth of the Fighting Bees was supposed to be their demise, in the early season it has shown its value.

After losing back-to-back games at home in the St. Ambrose Classic, the resiliency of the team was tested as the Fighting Bees went up against high powered Grinell College, and Bethel College.

The Fighting Bees put on a performance that weekend that will not soon be duplicated.  On Friday the Fighting Bees matched Grinell shot for shot, and while the Pioneers fired up close to 70 three-point shots, the Fighting Bees took advantage of a Grinell full-court press to get a number of easy looks.

On this day the Fighting Bees would set a school record for most points in a game by defeating the Grinell Pioneers 145-128.

While the statistics are somewhat gaudy, the Fighting Bees shot 77% from the field and six were in double digits.  Leading all scores was Nick Ferreira who rattled home 35 points to go along with a couple blocks.  Ryan Johnson was one assist away from a triple-double, as he collected 12 rebounds to go along with his 14 points and nine assists.  Coming off the bench for the Bees Matt Wilke added 24 points as the Bees cruised to a victory of the NCAA D-III foe.

The next day the Fighting Bees found themselves in some trouble as they trailed by six at halftime, and would fall into a 20 point deficit with under 10 minutes to play.   The Bees rallied around their big three of Johnson, Ferreira, and Chris Washington and brought the game to a 2-point game with 24 seconds left.

Johnson made a soft hook in the lane with under 20 seconds left to tie the game up and send it into overtime.  In the extra period Washington drove the ball straight to the basket with the Bees trailing by one with under a minute to go.  He made the basket while being fouled, and finished off the three-point play by making his free throw.  Bethel was not able to respond and the Fighting Bees had gotten their second win in a row, and their second win in a row over 100 points, winning 111-109.

In two days the Fighting Bees combined for 256 points.  Johnson poured in 30 points and 11 rebounds to go along with his 5 assists against Bethel who suffered just their second loss of the season at the hands of SAU.  Ferreira came off his career high game against Grinell with a 22-point performance, while sophomore Washington added 26 points and 6 assists.

The Bees added a third consecutive victory over St. Francis (Ill.) before falling to the Augustana Vikings.  The Bees fell to Augustana who shot 69% from the field in the second half.  In a game where the Fighting Bees saw sizable leads washed away in both the first and the second half, the margin of victory (89-76) doesn’t give a fair assessment of how the game was played.

Ryan Johnson again had a double-double, this time parlaying points and assists as he led all scores with 22 points.

The Fighting Bees will go into Christmas break with a record slightly above .500, while focusing on the conference season which kicks off on Jan. 5 at home against The Franciscan University.

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