ALLENDALE, Mich. — Tears streamed from the eyes of Tyler Niekamp in the postgame press conference.
No words needed to be said after the University of Findlay had its season come to an end in a 75-58 loss to Grand Valley State Tuesday night in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional final at the GVSU Fieldhouse.
Losing the final game of his career hurt, especially with an Elite Eight trip on the line.
"It hurts but this experience (at Findlay) is probably one of the best of my life," Niekamp said. "It's something I will never forget."
UF head coach Ron Niekamp, the uncle of Tyler, said he is proud of what his nephew brought to the team.
"Tyler has been a leader for this team all year," Niekamp said. "His attitude is tremendous and the guys have learned a lot from him. They see how hard he plays every time he is on the floor."
But Tuesday, the Oilers simply didn't have enough fight to knock off the nation's co-No.1 team.
The Oilers fell behind 42-25 at halftime and never got closer than 10 in the second half as the Lakers earned their second consecutive trip to the Elite Eight.
GVSU shot 47.8 percent (22-of-46) overall and a sizzling 64.7 percent (11-of-17) from 3-point range. Jason Jamerson and Pete Trammel each buried four treys en route to scoring 17 points apiece.
"I thought our strong start was big for us," GVSU head coach Ric Wesley said. "We shot the ball extremely well and we did a lot of good things on defense to make it difficult for them to come back against us."
UF shot just 31.7 percent (19-of-60) from the field, a stunning statistic for a team that was ranked fifth in the nation in field goal percentage (51.5 percent).
Junior Josh Bostic scored 19 points to pace the Oilers. Sophomore Marcus Parker pumped in 15 points and junior forward Morgan Lewis scored 10.
Bostic said he was upset that he and his teammates didn't perform better in such a high-stake game.
"They were the better team tonight," Bostic said. "We didn't play our best game."
Last week in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title game, the Oilers trailed by 16 at halftime.
UF knew it needed to avoid falling behind like that this time around, but could do nothing to prevent it as the Lakers seemed to make every shot they took.
UF trailed 18-6 early as Trammell fueled a deadly 3-point attack. He knocked down two treys during the half as the Lakers made eight in all. They were a blistering 8-of-10 from beyond the arc and the Oilers had no answer for it.
Findlay tried to keep pace as freshman forward Tyler Sparks hit from long range to cut the deficit to 25-17 with 8:10 to play in the half. Junior guard Tyler Evans then came off of a nice ball screen and drained a 3-pointer from up top to make the score 28-20.
But the Oilers went cold the rest of the half, making only one shot from the field, a layup by Bostic with 1:50 remaining that made the score 38-23.
Bostic, a second-team selection to the all-Great Lakes Region team, led the Oilers with 10 first-half points. Lewis scored 9 in the first half but UF got little help from anyone else as they went into halftime staring at a 17-point deficit.
"Grand Valley played a superb first half," Ron Niekamp said. "We did a good job on Callistus Eziukwu (8 points total but just 2 in the first half) but their other guys like Jamerson and Trammell stepped up and hit some big 3-pointers. It made it difficult for us to make this game more competitive."
While UF struggled to score late in the half, the Lakers poured it on from long range.
Back-to-back treys by Jamerson and Trammell gave GVSU a 34-20 lead with 8 minutes to play.
"We didn't shoot the ball as well as we would have liked," Niekamp said. "But that is a credit to Grand Valley. They had a lot to do with our trouble shooting the ball."
The Oilers continued to fight in the second half and pulled within 62-52 with four minutes left after Parker split a pair of free throws.
The Lakers didn't have a hot shooting touch in the second half but took care of business by knocking down 15 of 18 attempts from the free-throw line.
Although their dream of going to the Elite Eight ended, the Oilers have high hopes for next season.
"We are going to have a good team next year," Bostic said. "But we have to work hard to reach our potential. We'll get better during the offseason and we'll come into next year with a chip on our shoulder."
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