November 25, 2007
Kohlrus Lifts Shoremen Past Goucher, 74-73, in OT
Junior Guard Scores Career-High 35 Points

BALTIMORE, MD – Junior guard Tim Kohlrus (Fairfax, VA/W.T. Woodson) scored a career-high 35 points, including the game-tying free throws to force overtime and the game-winning free throw with 13 seconds left in overtime, to lift Washington College to a 74-73 win over Goucher this afternoon in the seventh-place game at the Provident Bank Pride of Maryland Tournament, hosted by Johns Hopkins. The Shoremen, who improved to 2-2 with the win, survived a 22-0 run by the Gophers (1-3), who tied an NCAA Division III record with their third consecutive overtime game, all of them losses.

The Shoremen led by as many as 16 points in the first half following a lay-up by sophomore forward James Whall (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) with 1:52 remaining to make it 36-20. Goucher then scored the last five points of the period to trim the lead to 36-25 at halftime. The two teams combined for 35 turnovers in the first half, with Goucher committing 17 and Washington committing 18.

Goucher's run continued into the second half as they scored the first 17 points of the period to conclude a 22-0 run and take a 42-36 lead on a jumper by Darrin Boswell with 12:52 left in the game. After Washington went without a point for 9:24, Kohlrus ended the run with a three-pointer with 12:28 on the clock that cut the Gophers' lead to 42-39. A pair of free throws by junior guard Todd Green (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) then cut the lead to 42-41, but a lay-up by Goucher's Marcus Cotton put the lead back to three points at 44-41 with 10:53 remaining.

Washington later cut the lead down to one point following a 6-1 spurt that included a three-pointer and lay-up by Kohlrus that made the score 55-54 with 2:33 remaining. Goucher answered with a lay-up by Kyle Gladden, but another Kohlrus lay-up set the score at 57-56 with 1:44 remaining. Ian Brown made a pair of free throws for Goucher to make it 59-56 with 1:36 to go. Kohlrus made two free throws to cut the lead back to one, but a Brown lay-up at the other end gave the Gophers another three-point lead with 1:04 remaining. Kohlrus missed a potential game-tying three-pointer on Washington's next possession before Brown missed two free throws for Goucher to give Washington another chance to tie the score or cut the lead to one, but a three-point attempt by sophomore forward Andrew Chambers (Williamsport, MD/St. Maria Goretti) went off the rim and gave Goucher the ball back with 21 seconds remaining.

Goucher turned the ball over following a timeout, which led to a lay-up by Washington sophomore guard Alan Kines (Towson, MD/Towson) that trimmed the lead to 61-60 with 16 second left. Miguel Negron converted a pair of free throws to give Goucher a 63-60 cushion, but a put-back by Kohlrus following a missed three-pointer by Green cut the advantage back to one point again at 63-62 with 4.9 seconds remaining. The Shoremen put Negron back at the charity stripe with four seconds to go, where he made the second shot to give Goucher a 64-62 advantage. Kohlrus was then fouled with five-tenths of a second to play and made both free throws to tie the score at 64-64 and send the game into overtime.

The teams traded buckets to open overtime before a Kohlrus three-pointer with 2:24 left gave the Shoremen a 69-68 lead, their first advantage since early in the second half. Neither team led by more than two points in overtime as the two teams were deadlocked at 73-73 with 31 seconds to play when Washington called timeout. Kohlrus converted his game-winning free throw on the first of two attempts with 13 seconds left. A Boswell jumper came up short on Goucher's ensuing possession and Kohlrus grabbed the rebound as the Shoremen held on for the win.

Kohlrus was 11-for-19 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range, and 10-of-13 at the free-throw line en route to his 35 points. Twenty-five of his points came in the second half and overtime. Kohlrus was Washington's representative on the all-tournament team after he finished with 73 total points in the Shoremen's three games, one point shy of the Provident Pride record for points in a tournament.

Cotton led Goucher with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Brown finished with 10 points and nine boards.

Goucher shot 48% from the field in the game to Washington's 43%, but was just 24-for-44 at the free-throw line, while the Shoremen were 19-of-31. Washington also went 5-for-10 from three-point land, while the Gophers were just 1-of-4. Goucher turned the ball over 29 times in the game to Washington's 27.

The Shoremen return to action Wednesday with their Centennial Conference opener, a 7:30 p.m. home game against Ursinus.

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