The Point Park University Men’s Basketball Team had a very eventful week last week, and it started with some accolades for the team’s leading scorer Kris Douse.Douse, a senior forward was named American Mideast Conference (AMC) Player of the Week for played from Jan. 17 to 23. Douse averaged 32.7 points per game during that stretch, highlighted by a 45 point effort in a 110-100 loss against Mount Vernon Nazarene University. The 45 points he scored in that game tied Assistant Coach Gabe Bubon for most points scored in a single game in Point Park Men’s Basketball history. “It was a great accolade, and probably the biggest one of my college career,” Douse said. “It also is a good reflection of what myself and the team are trying to do.”Douse currently leads the team in scoring with 18.7 points per game and rebounds with 13.3 per game.During Douse’s stretch, both sophomore guard T.J. Heatherington and senior guard Jimmy Sherwood were missing in action due to injury. Sherwood has since come back and averages 26 points since his return. He still deals with his injury, but for him it is all about persistence.”It’s nice to know that my teammates still have that confidence in me, even though I missed three games,” Sherwood said. “The fact that I was hurt, and still am…I think it’s just more of an adrenaline thing…Sometimes there is just nothing that you can do about it.”Point Park started off last week by defeating then No. 18 Malone at home by a score of 90 to 80. Both Douse and Sherwood scored 21 points in that game, with Josh Trocchio and Joel Cashatt contributing 19 points and 15 points respectively.”I don’t know for sure, but if you look at the stats, when they [Cashatt and Trocchio], Devon [Alexander] and Dante [Anglin] all have good games, that’s usually when we win,” Sherwood said.”When everyone else is on their A game, we’re unstoppable,” Douse said. “I really feel like we are one of the best teams in the country.”The game itself proved to be very monumental as Head Coach Bob Rager won his 306th game at Point Park and passed his predecessor Jerry Conboy for most wins ever in Point Park Men’s Basketball history.”He’s just a humble guy, and I think he looks at it from more than just a winning standpoint,” Sherwood said. “He’s had so many guys that have come through the program and I just think he wants to see us all succeed whether it’s in basketball or getting a job.””I am happy to be a part of his greatness. They’ll remember 306, and when they say ‘you know Kris Douse played for you’, he won’t forget me because it was a milestone for himself. I am just glad to be a part of his dynasty and be a part of the greatness that he has had here at Point Park.””Coach Rager has been remarkably consistent throughout his 22 years here at his alma mater,” Kevin Taylor, Director of Athletic Communications said. “He’s won a lot of games, and he’s had a lot of young men come through the program who are better because of it, and it was nice to get the record breaker against a ranked team at our gym.”The team then played on Saturday, Jan. 29 against Notre Dame and was defeated 88 to 78. Both Douse and Sherwood tried to put their explain why they lost the game.”I would say inconsistencies [are the reason we lost], considering that we had just defeated the number 18 team in the country,” Douse said.”I believe that was the first team that we played all year that played zone defense throughout the whole game,” Sherwood said. “I think that really slowed us down because obviously we are a run-and-gun, fast paced team, and I think that instead of them playing at our pace, we played at their pace.”Taylor set up the team’s next match on Tuesday Feb. 1, when they visited top-ranked Walsh (results not known at publication time).”Walsh is the clear number one in Division II Men’s Basketball (22-0 overall and 11-0 in conference),” Taylor said. “They are extremely efficient on both ends of the floor and are the highest scoring team in the country, so they pose a tall task for any team.”Both Douse and Sherwood believe that they can win the game despite losing their last meeting against the team on Nov. 30 by a score of 98 to 83.”If we all play well, then I don’t think there are too many teams that can beat us,” Sherwood Said. “The first time we played Walsh, we were doing horrible, and at the half we still were leading by seven, so I think that if anybody should be nervous, I think it should be them. I don’t think that we have anything to be nervous about.””We are trying to make it to the playoffs, and Walsh is the team that is in our way,” Douse said. “I look at it as a challenge, but I know that we’re capable of beating anybody on any given day, so if we just take on the challenge and we just go out there and compete, and we do what we need to do, I expect no less than a win. We are more than capable of winning against anybody we play.”
Douse keeps position as leading scorer
Written By Zachary Weiss
June 29, 2016
0