Shippensburg wins tournament with hot shooting
With some great outside shooting, Shippensburg won the Hound Invitational Tournament on Thursday night with a 74-61 win over Susquehanna Township. The Greyhounds made 10 three-pointers including four in the third quarter, when they scored 27 points to put the game out of reach.
"Sometimes in games kids shoot threes, and you're like no no no and then you say yeah okay that's alright," said Shippensburg coach Ray Staver. "There were quite a few of those tonight and we really got hot there in the third quarter and shot the ball exceptionally well."
Leading the way for the hot-shooting Greyhounds was Carter Van Scyoc, who had a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds, despite leaving the game briefly with a bloody chin.
"They were in a 1-3-1 and when I got my offensive rebounds nobody really boxed me out, so I was able to get in there and get a bunch of rebounds," Van Scyoc said. "As far as our shooting, Coach always tells us to shoot the ball with confidence and that's definitely something we did tonight."
Gustafson was named the MVP of the tournament, while Van Scyoc earned all-tourney honors. Gustafson scored 29 in the first game and added 11 points and seven assists in the championship game.
"Van Scyoc does a great job, he does the same job quarterbacking job in this offense as he does in football," Susquehanna Township coach Gary Martin. "Gustafson is fantastic too; these guys seem like they've been playing for ten years and they never graduate."
Shippensburg took advantage of the Indians' strategy to force outside shots. Clayton Stine made two quick 3s to start the game. He and Zach Cullen each finished with three.
"We tried to stay in a zone defense and force them to shoot from the perimeter," Martin said. "But I didn't expect them to be as hot as they were."
Susquehanna Township turned up the heat in the third quarter, but Ship responded with a scoring outburst that erased any hopes of a comeback.
"They cut it to two at 34-32 and I said it before teams can cut the lead down on us," Staver said. "But we were able to respond quickly again and get the momentum back."
