Houghton Men Fall to San
Francisco State, 69-58
(Rio
Grande, Ohio)—The Houghton College men’s basketball
team lost 69-58 to San Francisco State in the finals
of the Bevo Francis tournament at Rio Grande
University Saturday evening.
“We knew going in that this was going to
be a real test for us,” said Houghton Head Coach
Brad Zarges. “We talked about competing on each
possession.” Houghton did just that, hanging with
the Gators throughout the first half and trailing
just 30-27 at halftime despite shooting just 32
percent from the field.
In the second half, Houghton continued to
hang close, thanks in part to a strong defensive
effort from junior forward Bruce Mourhess (Campbell,
N.Y./Campbell-Savona). Mourhess had the assignment
of defending San Francisco State’s senior guard
David Van Someren, who had led the Gators with 16
points on Friday night. Van Someren had just five
points Saturday, and none of them came until the
final few minutes.
It was the last four minutes of the game
that proved to be the difference, according to
Zarges. It was at that point, Zarges said, that the
Highlanders “got too tired and made some poor
decisions.” That was all the Gators needed to pull
away and get the win.
“None of us are happy with losing,” said
Zarges, “but we learned a lot about ourselves
tonight. We learned that we’re better than we
thought we might be. We’ve been working on giving a
consistent effort and tonight we got a taste of what
that can produce.”
Yannick Anzuluni (Ottawa,
Ontario/Garneau), sophomore forward, had 21 points
(including going eight of nine from the free throw
line) and seven rebounds and was named to the
All-Tournament team (pictured above). Sophomore
center Mada Abdelhamid (Auckland, New
Zealand/Avondale High School) added 13 points and 13
rebounds—his second double-double in as many days.
Houghton’s record is now 2-1, while the Gators are 2-0.
Houghton’s next game is Tuesday, November 27 at
Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. Tip-off is
at 8 p.m.
