Tribune-Star staff report
Decatur, Ill. — Millikin relied on a 16-4 second-half run to break open a 50-49 contest and earn a 68-58 men’s college basketball victory over Rose-Hulman in the season opener for both schools on Sunday.
Jason Haslag paced Rose-Hulman with 17 points for the second-highest total of his Engineer career. Freshman Nate Gissentanner added 15 points in his college debut.
Other key contributors to the balanced attack included freshman Austin Weatherford with eight points off the bench; Terre Haute South graduate Spencer Harlan with six points and a team-high six rebounds; and Jeff McCartney with four points and two assists.
Charles Warren led the Millikin offense with 14 points and Devin Demby added 11 for the Big Blue, who shot 46 percent from the field. Three players added nine points each.
The first half was a tightly contested matchup that featured Millikin leading by one to four points for most of the half until a 3-pointer by Haslag knotted the score at 28-28.
Haslag added another score and Gissentanner followed with a field goal to give Rose-Hulman a 32-28 lead at the 2:26 mark. Millikin rallied with four straight points to force a 32-32 tie at the break.
Rose-Hulman earned its largest advantage of the day at 43-38 on three consecutive 3-point shots by Weatherford, Haslag and Blake Knotts. Millikin responded with six straight points to regain the lead.
A Gissentanner 3-pointer helped tie the score at 47-47, before Millikin’s second-half run broke open the contest. Rose-Hulman rallied to within eight points in the final minute.
Rose returns to action at the University of Chicago Tournament on Saturday with a matchup against former Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Southwestern University. Rose-Hulman will square off with Chicago or Earlham on Sunday.
ROSE-HULMAN (58) — Haslag 6-11 2-2 17, Gissentanner 5-10 4-8 15, Weatherford 2-6 3-5 8, Harlan 2-2 2-2 6, McCartney 1-4 1-2 4, Knotts 1-5 0-1 3, Tuskan 1-7 1-3 3, Gerken 0-1 2-2 2, Balsbaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Sanders 0-0 0-0 0, Ricks 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-47 FG, 15-25 FT, 58 TP.
MILLIKIN (68) — Warren 5-8 2-5 14, D.Demby 5-8 1-2 11, Mitchell 3-9 3-5 9, Burton 2-3 5-6 9, J.Demby 4-8 1-3 9, Clark 1-5 2-2 4, Ferguson 2-8 0-0 4, Schmitz 2-3 0-0 4, Taylor 2-3 0-0 4, Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Collins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 FG, 14-23 FT, 68 TP.
Halftime score — 32-32. 3-point shooting — RH 7-15 (Haslag 3-3, Weatherford 1-2, Gissentanner 1-3, McCartney 1-3, Knotts 1-4), Millikin 2-9 (Warren 2-4, Mitchell 0-1, Clark 0-2, Ferguson 0-2). Total fouls — RH 19, Millikin 20. Fouled out — none. Rebounds — RH 27 (Harlan 6), Millikin 42 (J.Demby 10). Assists — RH 8 (Knotts 3), Millikin 11 (Mitchell 3). Att — 150.
