Constantine got the ball into the right hands Friday night with the clock winding down, but a hot-handed Joey Steiner couldn’t drop the game-tying shot in the face of some physical Olivet defensive play. Steiner’s 3-pointer bounced off the rim with nine-tenths of a second remaining in the 66-63 home loss.
After registering 20 points through three quarters, Steiner went scoreless in the final frame for the Falcons (0-2), which led 32-23 at halftime of the Kalamazoo Valley Association contest. Olivet (1-1) started charging with a 20-7 run in the third quarter and kept pouring in buckets the rest of the way.
Falcons coach Chuck Frisbie pointed to his team’s 18 turnovers as the deciding factor.
“We didn’t react well to situational situations like the end of a quarter and change in defense — just don’t recognize things as quickly as needed sometimes, but I’m really proud of the effort the kids are making to get better,” he said.
“It was definitely a tough way to end the second half after coming out and working as hard as we did to have the lead over them,” Steiner said. “They are a very good team and tough KVA competitor. At the end, coach was just having the guys set screens for me and I was working hard to come off hard and get open. It was tough once Cody [Ley] got his fifth foul because it decreased our chances to get the boards.”
Ley exited the game with eight points and nine defensive rebounds. Luhk Mullendore had 11 points, three rebounds and three assists, Perry White chipped in nine points, four rebounds, three steals and six assists and Anthony Bontrager, Austin Kinser and Jon Doering combined for 15 points.
Steiner came off a screen but got bodied up by a defender that fought his way through traffic, forcing a tougher shot than Steiner expected. The contact was allowed and the Falcons couldn’t get another shot off in time.
“We are getting better though,” he said. “We hope to come out a better team next time we play them.”