The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Sports February 22, 2008

Basketball Newbies Stand Tall

Despite two losses this week, the Yeomen’s newest men’s basketball players showed strong performances.

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, Oberlin played Kenyon College. Although Oberlin lost 56-78, first-year Gian Chiu had one of the biggest games of his career. Chiu had a strong shooting night, making five of his eight attempts from the floor and five of his six attempts from the charity stripe. He ended the game with 15 points.

“It felt good getting a career high, but I would rather take a win over a career high any day,” Chiu said.

The 6’9” center’s career high demonstrates his improvement this season and he is expected to continue to be a strong presence on the floor. “I think that the one thing I had to improve on since the beginning of the year was being confident in the post, so that I could be a threat down there and to allow my teammates another option in the offense,” said Chiu.

The Kenyon game was also a milestone for senior Chase Palmer, who made his debut in Philips Gymnasium. Palmer, a defensive-end on Oberlin’s football squad, is a recent addition to the basketball team roster. “I had mentioned to several people that I would have liked to play for Coach Cavaco. I just didn’t know that I would have that chance. It has been a lot of fun and you can expect some great things from the guys on the team. They are going places,” said Palmer, who scored six points during the competition. “It felt great to score my first basket as a Yeoman. It has been a while since I had scored points in a school game. Unfortunately for us, in basketball a score only counts as two points instead of six like in football. I only hope that I can do more,” Palmer said.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, the Yeomen competed against fellow North Coast Athletic Conference opponent Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN. Oberlin struggled to stop Wabash’s dominant center, Andrew Zimmer, who scored 36 points.

However, first-years Ryan Magiera and Pat Bernhard countered with 13 points each. This was a career and season high for Bernhard, the 6’1” guard from Sleepy Hollow, IL. Magiera is one of two first-years who starts regularly, and he is averaging the most points of the first-year players with 8.1 per game.

The fourth and final first-year basketball student athlete is James Tompsett, the 6’6” forward from Chicago. Tompsett has been out with a hand injury, but scored double-figures in two games this season.

The squad is currently preparing for the post-season conference tournament. Palmer is confident that the tournament’s outcome will be positive for the Yeomen. He said, “I believe we are going to peak at the right time. We have a great bunch of guys with a lot of talent. We are going to surprise everyone, so get ready!”


 
 
   

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