The men’s basketball team found themselves on the right and wrong side of two nail-biting contests this past week as the defeated the Fairfield University Stags Thursday, Jan. 23, but then fell to intrastate rival Rider University on Sunday, Jan. 26.
The Hawks first overcame an eight point second half deficit to beat the Stags 63-60 on Thursday night in the MAC. Junior forward Andrew Nicholas led the team with 19 points while freshman guard Josh James chipped in with 15 points of his own on 5-7 shooting from the field. James also led the team with six assists.
“I take my hat off to Fairfield,” said head coach King Rice after the win. “They had a great plan coming in here. Sometimes in these games you have to be fortunate to get a win and I think we were fortunate tonight, but we made it happen because our kids kept believing.”
Fairfield got off to a quick start as they took advantage of two MU turnovers and gained an 8-2 lead behind three point baskets from Sean Grennan and Marcus Gilbert. The blue and white would battle right back, however, and two James free throws knotted the game at ten with 13:14 remaining in the half.
As the half went on the Stags continued to stay hot from deep and eventually took a 23-14 lead behind three point makes from Gilbert, Maurice Barrow, and Steve Smith.
Despite the barrage of threes, MU stayed aggressive. With just over two minutes left in the half James took over for MU as he scored seven consecutive Hawk points to give them the lead 29-28. However, another three from Gilbert with just seconds remaining gave Fairfield a 31-29 advantage as both teams headed into the half.
Neither team was able to gain a substantial lead through the first portion of the second half as the Stags still held a slim two point lead with 13:37 remaining in the game. Fairfield then began to control play over the next three and a half minutes as they went on a 9-3 run highlighted by yet another three point make, this time from K.J. Rose. This run gave the Stags a 54-46 lead halfway through the second period.
Despite the accumulating three point shots made against them, the Hawks continued to battle. After scores from James, Nicholas, and junior Deon Jones freshman center Zac Tillman hit a layup to tie the game at 54 with just over six minutes to play. The Hawks were finally able to take back the lead when James drove the lane and scored to make the score 60-59 with 2:37 left.
Junior guard Max DiLeo made perhaps the play of the game when he blocked a Rose lay-up attempt to preserve the one point lead, and then made one of two free throws to put MU up by two with 1:43 left in the game. After a potential go-ahead jumper from Barrow fell short, free throws from Jones and DiLeo then helped the Hawks seal the three point win.
“I thought we showed a lot of character today,” elaborated Rice. “Our guys keep believing in each other and that is giving us a chance to win games.”
Just three days later MU found themselves in another tight-knit contest, but the Hawks were unable squeak out another win as they fell to the Rider University Broncs in overtime despite coming all the way back from an 18 point deficit.
DiLeo and sophomore Collin Stewart paced the Hawks offense with 12 points each while Jones and Nicholas each scored ten apiece. DiLeo also recorded three steals on the game while James again led the team in assists with six.
The first half was all Rider as the Broncs jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead behind the play of Daniel Stewart. RU didn’t let up and continued to build on their lead as the half went on. A Stewart lay-up with less than two minutes gave RU their largest lead of the night at 35-17. The Broncs would eventually go into the locker room leading 37-20 after a lay-in from Anthony Myles closed the half.
Momentum began to change when the second half began as the Hawks went on a 17-4 run to bring the score to 41-37 with 12:39 left in the game. The run was highlighted by four three point shots with Stewart hitting two, DiLeo one, and freshman Justin Robinson also hitting one.
RU was able to extend its lead to 65-43 after a MU turnover led to a Thomas Khalil bucket with 6:27 remaining in the game. The Hawks continued to battle, however, and showed their true resiliency when, with just 20 seconds remaining, Nicholas hit a three to put the score at 64-61. Robinson then beat the buzzer with a three of his own to tie up the score and bring the game into overtime.
Both teams traded baskets to open up the extra period and with under two minutes left the score was knotted at 68. A three point play from Myles gave the Broncs a 71-68 lead and RU would not look back as they hit free throws down the stretch to bring the game to an end with the final score reading 77-71.
“Give Rider a lot of credit. They came out after a tough loss to Manhattan and put it to us for 20 minutes,” said Rice after the game. “Our kids continued to fight, but we weren’t able to get all the way back.”
MU shot 43.1 percent for the game compared to 46.9 percent for the Broncs. RU also dominated at the free throw line as they hit 20 of their attempts compared to just five for the Hawks.
After the weekend the Hawks are now 10-11 on the season, and have a 4-6 record in MAAC conference play.
MU looks to bounce back Thursday, Jan. 30 when they travel to Poughkeepsie to take on Marist at 7 pm.
PHOTO COURTESY of Jim Reme
