For the Daily Journal
Franklin College men’s basketball coach Kerry Prather was well aware of Wabash guard Jack Davidson’s court skills.
“He’s not just a producer of his own points,” Prather said. “A lot of what they got elsewhere started with a huge effort to accommodate him. He’s just a heck of player. He’s an incredibly tough matchup one on one, but even with some help they have enough shooting in the right places that you are literally picking your poison.”
Davidson tied his career high of 35 points on 12-of-19 shooting to lead No. 22 Wabash to a 98-69 rout of host Franklin College Monday night. Davidson hit all nine of his free throws as well.
Wabash coach Kyle Brumett said just as impressive was the fact that Davidson, a former Hamilton Southeastern player, had six assists and just one turnover.
Davidson scored 26 points in the first half as the Little Giants (8-0) led 52-39 at intermission.
“It seemed like a quiet 26; I didn’t realize he had that until we got to the locker room (at halftime),” Brumett said. “He’s a special player. He’s a hard player to prepare for because he gets to the line so much.”
Prather said the Grizzlies did a better job in the second half on Davidson, but that meant others scored.
“We did such a good job early in the second half of cutting (Wabash’s lead) to 10 or 11, something manageable,” Prather said. “ But then we come up empty and give a 3. Those kind of stretches haunt us. Some of that is a maturity issue.”
Prather said sometimes it is a defensive letdown and other times it’s a quick offensive shot.
“They’re not a team that is going to hurt itself,” Prather said. “We still hurt ourselves some. Their team is very well put together and they just don’t do much damage to themselves.”
Junior guard Jordan Anderson and sophomore guard Sam Gutierrez topped the Grizzlies with 15 apiece.
Anderson made 3 of 5 3-pointers. Gutierrez was 7 of 16 from the field. Freshman forward Matt Krause added nine points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Little Giants made 19 of 35 first-half shots (54.3 percent) while the Grizzlies were 14 of 33 from the field (42.4 percent). Wabash hit 10 of 11 free throws in the opening half and 16 of 17 for the game.
For the game, Wabash made 52.2 percent of its shots while Wabash shot 39.4.
“We struggling finding that all hands-on-deck mentality,” Prather said. “I think our guys are still young enough that they have some high school in them and think they can play every other possession. That’s the big shock when you come to college that this is a possession by possession proposition. It’s a different level of intensity and different level of urgency. We talk about that a lot. We’re still learning.”
The Grizzlies will host Boyce College at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Wabash blew by Boyce 119-33 last month.
