Making their point
Cager leader Dan Earl, Buckeye guard Doug Etzler share more than initials

By RYAN JONES
Collegian Sports Writer

Think of the current elite of college point guards and a few names will likely come to mind: Stoudamire, Iverson, Best and maybe a handful of others.

The names Etzler and Earl probably won't be on the list.

In fact, odds are that neither Ohio State's Doug Etzler nor Penn State's Dan Earl would even register as the best floor leaders in their own league. But in the Nittany Lions' 75-68 win over the Buckeyes last night in Rec Hall, both played key roles in their team's fortunes.

The counterparts, similar in both size and initials, brought decidedly different but equally effective games to the floor. Etzler, a 6-foot senior, hit a vast array of off-balance, apparently hopeless runners that just kept falling. He ended the night with 29 points on 13-of-22 shooting.

"It was a situation where we were running a lot of ball screens up high for me," Etzler explained. "I was just being pretty aggressive. I was pretty offensive minded."

He was also pretty effective -- so much so that both coaches felt compelled to cite his efforts.

"Doug kept us in the game, to be honest with you," Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers said. "For a while there, he was the only guy scoring."

Added Penn State Coach Bruce Parkhill: "Etzler was fantastic. A lot of his shots were tough shots, shooting on the run or over somebody. I don't think he got a lot of easy looks."

But while the Buckeye point man had the biggest numbers of the night, it was the Lion floor leader who won the battle. Instead of slashing and penetrating like Etzler, Earl simply took his open shots and drained them.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore went 6-of-9 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from behind the three-point arc, and finished with 16 points. He added six rebounds, three assists and three steals to the effort and committed only one turnover.

And while Earl knew the significance of his contributions, he was the first to admit that his night hadn't been all that unusual.

"I just try to do the same thing every game," he said.

But Parkhill was a little more forgiving in heralding his largely unheralded point guard.

"Danny . . . he was terrific."