FORT WAYNE – John Peckinpaugh lost his white uniform shorts late in the game, but his Mastodons held onto their lead Saturday at Memorial Coliseum.
Playing an intense first half as though it had something to prove, and then proving it in the second half, IPFW made amends for its Summit League-opening loss with a 92-87 victory over conference newcomer South Dakota on Saturday.
IPFW (3-3, 1-1) went into halftime on a 45-36 high, then held on by matching South Dakota (2-5, 0-2) nearly point for point in a game that Peckinpaugh described as “grinding it out.”
South Dakota, which is ineligible to play in the conference tournament until next season, got within 86-85 with 1:19 remaining, but center Trey McCorkle dropped two free throws with 40.8 seconds remaining and Peckinpaugh hit a pair with 21.1 left to give IPFW a little bit of breathing room, 90-85.
When South Dakota got a bucket with 12.1 seconds left to cut the gap to 90-87, a timeout was called, and that’s when Peckinpaugh realized he needed new shorts.
“I got blood on them,” he said. “I think it was mine … from my elbow.”
With no time to change in the locker room, the IPFW team huddled around the senior forward, who put on a fresh pair and headed back onto the floor.
“With John, it’s hard, at times, the stat sheet doesn’t do him justice,” IPFW coach Tony Jasick said.
While Peckinpaugh had a dozen points and seven rebound, the stat sheet was dominated by junior swingman Frank Gaines, who had 26 points.
Michael Kibiloski and Jason Smeathers added 10 points each.
But scoring points wasn’t the problem for the Mastodons. The trick was stopping Coyotes 6-foot-9, 238-pound sophomore center Trevor Gruis, who shredded the IPFW interior defense with 29 points and 10 rebounds.
“They really, really forced it in there at times,” Jasick said. “They did a great job of getting it inside. At this point we’re not prepared for the B plan when a post player gets going the way (Gruis) did.”
The Mastodons built a 20-9 lead in the first 6 1/2 minutes, lost it, and then some, by going behind 30-26, but hit the halftime wire running.
In a spurt that had it scoring on its last six possessions, IPFW went into the locker room on a 45-36 high when Kibiloski’s shot from the left corner soared over the basket. Mario Hines put it back, but that, too, went back to the other side. And that’s where Joe Edwards put the ball back in at the buzzer.
“We were up nine at the half, but every time South Dakota came down and got a basket or went to the free throw line and got points on the board, our team had great poise on the offensive end,” Jasick said.
