MADISON, N.J. (Jan. 24, 2015) – The Drew University men's basketball team wasted little time in establishing its presence as a swift and powerful surge early in the contest helped the Rangers defeat Goucher College, 76-59, on Saturday evening to improve to 5-4 in the Landmark Conference.
 
The victory came in a conference contest that saw junior guard Mike Klinger lead the team in scoring with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior guard Kevin Herring II contributed his largest point total in his last five games with 17, along with eight rebounds and three assists. Rounding out the three-man double-digit club for the contest was junior center Kevin-Michael Miller who dropped 13, bringing in four rebounds in the effort. The Drew big man showed again why he leads the country in field goal shooting percentage by dropping in 6-of-8 from the field.
 
Early on in the contest the Rangers (10-8, 5-4) established a formidable defensive presence as junior forward Jason Huelbig stifled Goucher's (3-15, 2-7) attackers with wing-to-wing defense. Huelbig managed to interrupt attempted plays by the Gophers as he mirrored guards and forwards alike. The Rangers' shooting held up their end of the bargain and by the 12:30 mark of the first half they had opened a 21-7 lead.
 
A Herring II three-pointer brought Drew's point total to 24 with exactly 10 minutes remaining. The outside basket was one of five he would drain on the day, half as many as those of his teammates combined. The Rangers proved worthy of its top 20 national ranking in three-point shooting with a team-wide 10-of-21 performance from beyond the arc on Saturday.
 
Drew's effort throughout was sweeping and it was with a sizzling energy that they forced bad shots, drew charges, and zipped crisp passes around the floor. Herring's tenacious rebounding kept drives alive and Klinger's court awareness helped arrange careful yet ambitious execution.
 
Drew continued at this pace and by half's end they were shooting nearly 30 percentage points more effectively than their opponent and led 40-18 going into the intermission.
 
The second half was more of the same, yet somehow the Rangers shot more effectively from field, notching a 55-percent mark. By the final quarter of the contest Drew's safety net had been so tautly strung that even a 10-0 Goucher run around the five-minute mark failed to make a dent in their lead.
 
The Rangers' conference victory pushes them past the .500 winning-percentage mark in conference play with seven Landmark games left on the 2014-15 schedule. The Rangers will look to build upon that record when they host The University of Scranton on Wednesday, Jan. 28 in Baldwin Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.