CLEVELAND – Earl Timberlake's toughness is no secret to his Bryant teammates.
Facing Michigan State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament late Friday night, Timberlake offered a glimpse of it to the rest of the college basketball world.
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The senior guard and American East Player of the Year took an elbow to the forehead from Spartans center Carson Cooper that left Timberlake's face awash in blood. He exited briefly before returning with a white bandage in place and finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds in his final college game.
“If him walking off the floor covered in blood isn’t a ‘One Shining Moment’ clip, I don’t know what is," Bulldogs coach Phil Martelli Jr. said.
Timberlake acknowledged his head was ringing as he answered questions following an 87-62 loss. The 6-foot-6 Timberlake got tangled with the 6-11 Cooper while scrambling for a rebound. He fell briefly to the floor as officials whistled Cooper for a loose-ball foul.
When Timberlake sat up, he could tell something was wrong.
“Next thing I know, I’m leaking from my face,” Timberlake said. “After that, I’m just thinking, 'How do I hurry up and get this thing taken care of so I can get back out there for my team?’”
Timberlake, who averaged 15.5 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds for the American East champions, missed about four minutes of game time while getting stitched up.
Martelli, who led the Rhode Island school to its second-ever NCAA appearance in his second year as head coach, wasn't really sure what happened at first. When he saw Timberlake being tended to by trainers, he didn't waste a lot of time worrying if Timberlake was going to return.
“My thought was, “'He’ll clean it up and be right back,'” Martelli said. ”And he cleaned it up and he was right back. That’s Earl Timberlake."
Timberlake came back with just over 4 minutes to go in the first half and stayed on the floor until ultimately checking out for good with less than 3 minutes left and the game decided. He put a towel over his head and had an extended embrace with Bryant assistant coach Chris Cole to cap three years with the Bulldogs that helped him rediscover his passion for basketball.
“A lot of people don’t know I was in a very dark place a couple years ago coming from different schools,” said Timberlake, who played at Miami and Memphis before coming to Bryant. “I didn’t even want to play basketball no more. I just thank them for helping me get the love back for the game.”
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