2012-2013 Media Guide - Grove City College

GROVE CITY COLLEGE
PROGRAM HISTORY
PROGRAM HISTORY
The 1982-83 NCAA Tournament Team
finished 17-11 overall and advanced to the ECAC Southern
Championship Tournament.
Bob Crow (1,450) and Mark Smith (1,171) each closed
their careers by finishing among Grove City’s top 10 alltime
in scoring.
The 1983-84 season marked Grove City’s final as a Division
III independent. Grove City went 15-11 in that final
season before embarking on a new challenge: the Presidents’
Athletic Conference.
Gone from the schedule in 1984-85 were state schools
Edinboro, Clarion and Slippery Rock. Instead, the Wolverines
would play teams such as Washington & Jefferson,
Carnegie Mellon and Hiram twice yearly.
Following a 7-15 overall mark in their first season in
the PAC, the Wolverines followed with three consecutive
11-11 seasons. In that span, Deron Ryan (1984-88) became
the 13 th 1,000-point scorer in College history with 1,205
points.
Grove City became the dominant team of the Presidents’
Athletic Conference in the late 1980s as the Wolverines
captured three consecutive PAC titles.
The 1988-89 team won Grove City’s first PAC crown
and finished with a 20-6 mark, the second-most wins in
school history.
Led by senior Joe Buckley, who finished his career with
1,413 points, Grove City again advanced to the NCAA Championship
Tournament.
The Wolverines fell to Washington (Md.) in the regional
semifinals but recovered for a 74-60 win over Susquehanna
in the third place game.
Grove City again won conference titles in 1989-90 (14-
12) and 1990-91 (17-7). Tim Mokma became the sixth 1,000-
point scorer in the Barr era, finishing with 1,197 points at
the conclusion of the 1990-91 year.
Although the Wolverines were unable to maintain their
hold on the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title, the
postseason berths continued in the mid-1990s. Grove City
captured bids to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference
(ECAC) Tournament in 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Grove City also produced a pair of 1,000-point scorers
in 1994. Guard Mark Timko set a new College single-game
and Grove City College Arena record with 47 points in the
home finale against Waynesburg, finishing his three-year
career at Grove City with 1,255 points that season.
Timko led the nation in three-point percentage and his
670 points that year is the second-highest single-season
total in program history.
Meanwhile, forward Benjamin Davis finished with 1,094
points in his four seasons.
Both the 1994-95 and 1995-96 teams won 16 games
and reached the ECAC Tournament. Forward Dan Von
Handorf (1,029) and guard Jim Wherley (1,162) both finished
their careers as 1,000-point scorers.
Von Handorf joined Claypool as the only Grove City
player to score 400 points in a season twice.
During that 1995-96 season, Barr earned his 300 th victory
with a 71-59 home win over Waynesburg Feb. 17, 1996.
Grove City also won its 1,000 th game that year.
Barr’s final squad featured no seniors but still managed
to work its way into contention for the PAC crown.
On “John Barr Day” in the Grove City College Arena,
Grove City nearly rallied from a 25-point deficit before falling
to conference champion Thiel to close the 1997-98 season.
Following Barr’s retirement, a new era of Wolverine
basketball began as assistant coach Steve Lamie took over
as head coach prior to the 1998-99 season.
A 1985 graduate of the College, Lamie played on the
1983 NCAA Tournament team and had assisted Barr for
All-Time Coaching Wins Leader John Barr
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