The Gallaudet men’s basketball team hosted Goucher College on Saturday afternoon and a see-saw contest came down to the final possession as Steve Biskupiak missed an 18-footer at the buzzer allowing Goucher to steal a 65-63 win in Capital Athletic Conference action.
The Gophers made 25 of 35 from the free throw line while Gallaudet was 15 of 25 from the charity stripe, and those extra shots proved to be the difference in the contest. Gallaudet was called for 27 fouls while Goucher was whistled for 22. Those chances at the line offset Gallaudet’s advantage in shooting from the field. The Bison shot .524 form the field and sank 4 of 11 from 3-point range while Goucher shot .475 form the field but made just 2 of 6 from 3-point range.
Early in the game, the momentum was all Gallaudet’s way as the Bison jumped out to a 14-5 lead. But that’s when Goucher settled in defensively and they outscored the Bison 26-14 to close out the half. The Bison suffered through more than six minutes without any points but Goucher couldn’t capitalize during that time, only scoring four points of its own. Once again the Bison faltered in the final four minutes of the first half as Goucher scored 10 of its 31 first-half points in the closing four minutes.
The second half saw the Gophers build a 12-point lead before a Gallaudet timeout changed things. Gallaudet head coach James DeStefano rallied his troops during the break and the Bison responded with a 17-5 run to the tie game with 7:39 to play. The game was tied 54-54 with 4:35 to play when Goucher finally took the advantage. The Gophers went on a 7-0 run and Gallaudet once again could not catch up. The Bison pulled to within one on a layup by Robert Haney Jr. with 12 seconds to play but Trevor Quinn made 1 of 2 free throws and Biskupiak was unable to sink the game-tying shot.
Haney led all players in scoring and rebounding with 22 and nine, respectively. Quinn paced Goucher with 18 points while Pierre Jones had 13 points and five rebounds. Gallaudet (7-8, 1-3) next plays Wednesday when it hosts Mary Washington while Goucher (8-6, 2-2) next plays on Wednesday at Salisbury.