1997 Miracle Yearbook

The Men's basketball team won their first-round game ofthe NAIA Division I Great Lakes Regional Tournament by a narrow margin against Rio Grande, but the Yellow Jacket'sseasoncameto a halt whentheyfacedtheUniversityofFindlay (ranked 8th in NAIA Division I)in the second round. Overall the team closed out the season with a win/loss record of 12-21. TheJackets weredownfromthe previ- ous year, and they did not enjoy the successwhichgenerallycharacterizesthe Cedarvilleprogram."Thiswasobviously notasuccessfulseason asfaras winsand lossesareconcerned,"saidAssociatePro- fessor ofPhysical Education and Coach Jeff Reep. Reep said,"There were two things that weknew were going to make things difficult for us going into this season." The first was a roster that in- cluded nine freshmen and only one se- nior. The second was the fact that every team experiences injuries during the course of a season. What Reep and the team could not know wasthatthe Yellow Jackets would Finishing Strong Men's Basketball be the most injury-plagued team in the entire MOC. The team's sole senior and co-captain,John Woolley,wentdown in the middle of the season for nearly six weeks. When a team experiences inju- ries to the extent that Cedarville did,the effects are far reaching. Not only does theteamlackthespecificeffortand skills that an individual player provides on the court,butalsothecontinuitythathebrings totheteamin practice. Instead ofagroup ofplayers becoming accustomed to their roles and understanding each other,they must always adjust to having someone differentoutonthefloor. Reepsaid,"We had guysoutthere playing animpactrole whoin the future will only need to act as role players." This should, however, work to the team's ultimate advantage; the players in this position gained valu- able experience for games to come. Sophomore John Krueger was often thesourceoftheteam'ssparkthisseason. Krueger offered solid play throughout theseason,and averaged nearly21 points per game, ranking him second in the Conferencein scoring."Hereally hasan ability to create his own shot,and he can put it on the floor," said Reep. Reep credits Krueger for working hard and, "doing whathecouldtogetthejobdone." Freshmen Clint Hayes was ranked fourth in the MOCand was named to the All-MOC Freshmen Team;he averaged 18.4 points per game. Hayes brought great offensive output to the game, but unfortunately missed several games in middleoftheseasonduetoakneeinjury. Although Krueger and Hayes com- bined for an average ofalmost40points, the added scoring of junior co-captain Brent Miller and freshmen Kyle Mraz and Brooks Fry propelled the team to a third-best 3-point field goal percentage in the MOC. Woolley added an average of 11.7 points and ranked third in the Conference for blocked shots. Scott Huck row 1 (1-r): Kyle Mraz,Brent Miller,Carson Duncan,John Krueger,Dwayne Bryan,Brooks Fry,Clint Hayes. row 2: Assistant Coach Eric Taylor, AssistantCoach Tim Walker,Linton Ellis,Jon Woolley,Ted Forrest,Perry Mattis,Andrew Boyd,Head Coach JeffReep,AssistantCoach Pete Reese. 220 adigilas It&fr