Do not be fooled by men’s basketball record; Team starts out 3-4 with three losses within three points

The men’s basketball team is playing well to start out their year. They are currently 3-4 with close losses to good teams.  They have currently been playing in three straight tournaments.

The first tournament was home at Puget Sound. The Loggers were really strong in the first two games, first beating Evergreen State handily, 71-58.

This win was sparked by strong defense. The Loggers forced Evergreen State into bad shots, keeping their field goal percentage to 39.6.

They also forced Evergreen State to turn the ball over 14 times. This led the Loggers to 16 points off of turnovers.  This strong defense translated into a strong offense.

The Loggers used a very non-selfish style offense with 19 assists compared to just 11 for Evergreen State. The offense also dominated in the paint with a combination of 22 points. This helped the Loggers coast to an easy win.

The next game was a little bit more of a nail-biter against Schreiner. Once again, the Loggers did a great job forcing Schreiner into poor shots. Schreiner averaged a poor 38 percent from the field. This enabled the Puget Sound offense to stay in the game and keep it close

The Loggers never let the score vary more than 10 points in the whole game. This helped the Loggers take the lead at the end of the second half.

The stats for this game were about as even as it could get, other than one stat that might have been the reason that the Loggers ended up winning the game. This stat was rebounds. The Loggers destroyed Schreiner on the boards with 39 rebounds for the Loggers and only 27 for Schreiner.

The luck started to run out after this win. After the first two wins, the Loggers went on a four game losing streak. This was a huge amount for some games that could have gone either way.

Three games were separated by a margin smaller than three points with one game being finished in overtime. This string of bad luck is a huge contributor to their current below five hundred record.

After a loss to Trinity, the Loggers probably played the game of the year against Colorado College. They ended up losing by 92-90. Once again, the leads for either team never reached more than 10 points.

The game was tight in all quarters. The Loggers remarkably kept up with Colorado College’s strong shooting percentage (50.8) with a 47.9 from the field. This helped their offense keep up, creating a very high scoring game.

The streak of close losses continues as they lost to Old Westbury by a solid one point. The Loggers shot great with a 54 percent shooting percentage.

Every stat seems to be the same, as the game was always close.  Throughout the game there were 11 ties and 20 lead changes.

This shootout ended up with a very high scoring game. The Loggers only turned the ball over six times where Old Westbury had 10 turnovers.

After losing yet another close game 71-69 to Denison, the Loggers unleashed their frustration against St. Mary’s (Minn) winning 80-57.

This was a great game for the Loggers. They dominated with their big men. They won the rebounding total with 43 as oppose to 34 by St. Mary’s. The big men continue to win the battle in this game scoring a solid 34 points in the paint. This game was a perfect release for a team that has lost three rough close games.

The Loggers look strong with their star senior Rex Nelson (Enumclaw, Wash). Nelson is leading the team, averaging a strong 17.6 points per game. His two strongest games were against Evergreen State, scoring 24 points, and Colorado College, scoring 25 points.

With a leading senior, the Loggers should have a good season this year. They have started out strong, showing their capability this preseason.

Things seem to be looking up as they enter conference play.