Published: January 26, 2008 12:46 am         

Injuries hamper Goshen in loss to Crimson Chargers

Two minutes into the game Friday night and the Goshen High School boys basketball team was already down two more injured players.

The Redskins battled gamely, but never could get over the hump and dropped a 59-48 Northern Lakes Conference decision to Memorial at North Side Gym in Elkhart.

Goshen knew it was without sharp-shooting 5-10 senior backup guard Josh Randall who is out at least 10 days with a fractured and discolated index finger on his left hand.

Just 33 seconds into the action Friday, 6-2 junior Marshall Crawford went to the floor clutching a left knee he has already had two ACL surgeries on. He did not return to action.

Two minutes into the game, 6-6 senior Nathan Stegelmann was on the bench with a sprained ankle. He did return to action and performed admirably in trying to rally the Redskins.

GHS coach Brian Bechtel said, “We didn’t shoot the ball very well. Whenever you are down two shooters, other guys have to shoot the ball well and score.

“There was no trainer here, but Dr. Kibiloski of Elkhart looked at Marshall Crawford and we just don’t know the extent of this injury.

“Memorial made a bunch (eight) of ‘3s’ again. It looked to me like every shot was challenged, but they just hit them. And, on top of that, they have very good one-on-one players.

“With the injuries, we had very good bench play from (5-10 senior) Jordan Short and (5-9 junior) Alex Aguilar from the guard positions. They took good care of the ball and didn’t make a lot of mistakes.

“The first couple minutes were obviously a shock to all of us. All of a sudden, we’re playing without three of our top eight players.

“I was disappointed we couldn’t get to the free-throw line. We weren’t able to attack their 1-3-1 trapping off the dribble. We had plenty of open ‘3s’ but just didn’t hit enough of them.”

Memorial got 18 points apiece from 6-1 junior Lavarius Macon and 6-1 junior Karvel Anderson. Anderson connected four times from 3-point range and macon twice.

Sean Cooper, 5-11 junior, and 5-11 senior Darquell Pulliam also came off the bench to hit timely ‘3s’ for the Crimson Chargers.

Memorial was 9-for-18 from long distance and had a 9-5 scoring edge from the free-throw line over the Redskins who got only nine attempts.

Stegelmann led Goshen with 16 points and 6-0 senior Ryan Bartley scored 14. Cam Snyder, 6-1 senior, had nine points and 10 rebounds and 6-2 junior Ethan Hussey six points.

The Redskins won the rebound battle, 27-26, but were only 5-of-19 on 3-point tries and 19-of-49 from the field overall.

After Memorial opened the scoring, Stegelmann and Bartley hit 17-footers for the Redskins, Hussey scored on a pass from 6-1 senior reserve Brad Sink and Snyder popped in a baseline 12-footer for an 8-2 GHS lead with 3:52 elapsed.

Bartley hit a ‘3’ from the left corner later in the period, but Memorial crept back within 11-10.

Anderson hit a 17-footer and Macon scored on a fast break early in the second quarter to put Memorial ahead.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Bartley gave Goshen its last lead at 19-17 with 2:54 until halftime. The Crimson Chargers surged ahead 25-21 by intermission and scored the first five points of the third stanza for a 30-21 command.

Goshen’s biggest deficit was 12 at 42-30 early in the fourth quarter.

Stegelmann converted a three-point play off a foul, then hit one of two free throws and Snyder bagged a ‘3’ from the left corner to get the Redskins within 42-37 at 6:31.

Bartley hit a ‘3’ from the left corner, Stegelmann scored off a rebound and Hussey on a steal to keep Goshen close at 44-40 with 4:00 remaining.

But, Memorial enjoyed an 11-4 scoring edge in the remaining time as the Redskins repeatedly came up empty on shot attempts.

Junior Varsity

Goshen’s JV moved to 13-0 with a 45-43 win at Memorial.

The Redskins outscored the Chargers, 17-9, in the fourth quarter and junior Brock Bender raced the length of the floor for the game-winning layup.

Taylor Kolbus scored 19 points for the Redskins, Andrew Bowers 9, Bender 4, Alex Aguilar 4, Scott Landis 6 and Tim Wright 3.