UPLAND, Ind. – Devin Heath-Granger, a senior, added to his long list of accomplishments this past Saturday for the Goshen College men’s basketball team while Carley O’Neal, a senior, tallied a game-high 16 points for the GC women.
Each accomplishment came from the hands of defeat to Taylor University as the men dropped a 96-94 heartbreaker while the women fell 78-47 in TU’s Odle Arena.Just a week after reaching the 1,000-point club and setting the GC career assist record, Heath-Granger dished out his 182nd assist of the 2017-2018 campaign, giving the Indianapolis native the most in a single season. The veteran point guard’s team-high seventh assist came with 2:14 remaining in the game to surpass the record set by Kenny Edwards in 1981.
Heath-Granger also touted 21 points and three steals on the day, making him the third such player in school history with 200 takeaways while placing himself at a tie for fourth-most in a single season with two games remaining. Heath-Granger needs four swipes to secure a spot for second-most in a season.
His 21 points fell just shy of Christian Grider, a senior, and his game-high 24, three of which came with 4.9 seconds remaining to tie the contest at 94. Seemingly heading for overtime, Taylor’s Mason Degenkolb had other thoughts as he raced down the court to nail a three-pointer in the face of three Goshen (11-18, 4-13 Crossroads League) defenders with just one second remaining to secure a TU (16-12, 7-9 CL) victory.
The GC women, too, left Upland in defeat despite O’Neal’s second consecutive double-digit performance. The senior from Russiaville, Indiana finished a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to pliment her 6-for-13 (46 percent) showing from the field. O’Neal was the only Leaf in double-digits as the next-closest scoring highs came from Ohio natives Mariah Roe, a first-year, and Alyson Prigge, a sophomore, with eight and seven respectively. The three accounted for nearly 66 percent of the Leafs’ scoring output on the evening.
The Goshen (1-27, 0-16 CL) women were outpaced in every statistical category by TU (19-9, 12-4 CL) other than blocks and steals, garnering contributions in those categories from multiple players. Keyaira Murff, a first-year, led the Leafs on the glass with seven caroms, while Roe paced GC with three of the team’s six total assists.
The men fell 95-72 in their trip to Spring Arbor on Tuesday, giving them one game remaining on Saturday.
The women will venture to face SAU on Wednesday before they join the men at home on Saturday against Marian University. Tip-off for the double-header is slated to begin with the women at 1 p.m., directly followed by the men at 3 p.m.