[2elijah]

Couple points here. Look at the quarter scores and the stats. Mercer led by 9 at the half. Wayne made a run late in the third and Mercer pulled away again in the 4th.

As for FT's attempted, compare the two teams 3 point FG attempts. I believe Wayne shot 30 threes. Mercer shot about a third that many. That doesn't equate to getting to the line often. My take would be it's surprising they got to the line 20 times. That's not a screw job by the refs. It's an indication of the differing styles the 2 teams played.

A good coach looking for facets of the performance that can be understood as
objective facts which can be used to determine future planning for better performance
might view it your way. In fact, Wayne's coach might actually think, Our good
free throw shooting team is not getting to the line enough against Mercer. Maybe
risking a few ego deflating shot blocks on drives to the basket is a better strategy
than hoping for a higher 3 point percentage. Who knows? Then, Mercer might
not be so hasty on closing out. Then we would have more open shots. And we
might get 'em in foul trouble making our drives to the hole much less stuff
worthy. Or rather than looking at those boring numbers and becoming one
of those nerds he might say: Bad Luck. We just weren't hittin' our threes
tonight. Those two refs have never liked us either. They stuck it to us
at home, 27 to 20 will get you beat ever time. But I'll tell you, When the
day comes that I have to get me a Ballard player and quit playin' our
Wayne County exciting basketball, that'll be the day I retire.