Hanover, Ind., November 28, 2010 – Drake Hendricks buried two free-throws with four seconds left to break a tie as Hanover College held on for a 56-52 win over the No. 20 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team on Sunday afternoon in Hanover, Ind.
Down nine with 3:35 to play, the Bears outscored Hanover 9-0 in the next 2:48 to knot the score at 52-52 following a basket by junior Dylan Richter. Washington U. connected on 5-of-6 free-throws during the 9-0 run.
Hanover called timeout following the bucket by Richter, but a steal by junior Alex Toth with 27 seconds left gave Washington U. the final possession. The Bears did not get off a shot, as Hendricks stole the ball from Richter and then senior Caleb Knepper was whistled for an intentional foul with four seconds left. Hendricks knocked down both free-throws, and then Grant Pangallo followed with two more at the charity stripe to make it 56-52.
Senior Spencer Gay led the Bears with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Richter added a season-high 11 points and sophomore point guard Ben Hoener had a career-best 10 points. Washington U. shot 34 percent (17-50) from the field in the loss, and held Hanover to a 32.8 percent (20-61) clip.
The Bears came out strong making their first three shots from the field, and led 6-3 following a lay-up by Gay. Two free-throws by Richter extended the lead to 8-3, but an 11-2 run by Hanover gave the Panthers a 14-10 advantage.
Washington U. would cut the lead to two (20-18) after a three-pointer by Richter, but Hanover ended the half by scoring six of the final eight points to take a 26-20 lead to the locker room. Richter had seven points to lead the Bears in the first half, but Washington U. committed 11 turnovers. Hanover shot just 25.7 percent (9-35) in the first half.
The Bears went back to Gay to start the second half, as he scored the first two buckets to get the lead down to two (26-24). Washington U. trimmed the advantage to 30-29 after Hoener's first three-pointer of the season. Hanover answered with a 7-1 run to take a 37-30 lead following a jumper by Brian Gunter.
Mike Case (15 points) and Hendricks (13 points) scored in double figures for Hanover, which evened its record at 2-2. The Panthers connected on just 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) from three-point range, but held a 24-16 advantage in points off turnovers.
Washington University (2-3) hosts the 27th Annual Lopata Classic on Friday-Saturday, Dec. 3-4, at the WU Field House. The Bears take on Tsinghua University from Beijing, China, on Friday at 8 p.m., followed by a contest against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Bear Notebook: The victory for Hanover was its second in as many meetings between the two teams … Washington University has not lost three-consecutive games since the 2005-06 season.