By Dominick DiRienzo
February 7, 2010 — Donte Briscoe didn’t lead the Gators in any offensive category, but in the same way his quick hands seem to show up in every passing lane, his contributions appeared in almost every good offensive stat Saturday.
The sophomore guard had 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals as Allegheny won for the fifth time in six games with a 68-53 win over Kenyon at the Wise Center on Saturday.
The win keeps the Gators (11-9, 8-4 North Coast Athletic Conference) in the hunt for a home playoff game in the NCAC tournament. The Gators are tied for third with Ohio Wesleyan. Wittenberg also is 7-4 but was playing Hiram late Saturday night.
The Gators streaked out to a 30-15 first half lead yesterday. Gator guard Hank Heeter scored the Gators’ first nine points and finished with a team-high 19.
“Hank had a great game. He’s worked so hard to be a great shooter,” Allegheny coach Rob Clune said of the senior, who was 8 of 15 from the field Saturday. “We made enough plays and got the win and that’s what we needed.”
Making many of those plays was Briscoe.
He had a steal and dunk to cap a 9-2 Gator run with 1:28 left in the game that put the Gators in front 64-51. Briscoe also had an assist and a rebound in that short burst.
“Donte is just getting better and better,” Clune said. “Five assists, no turnovers. They were all really important plays. He’s a stat guy. He fills up the stat sheet.”
The Gators’ run came after the Lords’ Marcus Healey hit a 3-pointer with 3:37 left that pulled the Lords within 55-49.
Briscoe also tapped a long lead pass that was about to go out of bounds over his head to Heeter, who was trailing the play, for an easy layup, picked up another assist when he jumped for a rebound and tapped the ball to a teammate before his feet hit the ground and made another key play when he nailed a long shot as the shot clock wound down.
“(Briscoe) makes big plays at important parts of the game,” Heeter said.
Despite leading by 15 at half and 17 early in the second half, the Gators could never pull away from the pesky Lords.
“It was frustrating at the start of the second half because we let down defensively,” Clune said.
The Lords big man David Knapke (6-foot-6, 230 pounds) was a force early in the second half. He had 10 points and three rebounds as the Lords in the first six minutes of the second half.
“(Knapke) got going there and got some open looks. That hurt because we didn’t extend the lead and really it stayed at 9-10 (point spread) most of the second half,” Clune said. “That’s dangerous because you are just a short run away from being in a two-point game.”
Kenyon coach Matt Croci said the Lords didn’t have the offensive firepower to close the gap against the Gators. Kenyon was missing the NCAC’s leading scorer J.T. Knight, who is averaging 19.1 points. Knight did not travel with the team and Croci would not comment on Knight’s status.
“They are the best offensive team in the league,” Croci said. “Not to take anything away from Allegheny, they played really well, but we certainly contributed to it.”
Kenyon had 15 turnovers and Allegheny had eight and the Lords shot 19 of 54 from the floor (35 percent), including a 5-of-23 performance in the first half.
George Raftis had another solid game for the Gators. He scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds.
“George really got going in the second half,” Clune said.
Notes: Allegheny’s Peter Jones made his three 3-point attempts for nine points. ... The Gators improved to 6-2 on Saturdays.
