In one of their toughest stretches of schedule this season, the men’s basketball team suffered back-to-back hard fought losses to the University of Maryland Terrapins and Southern Methodist University Mustangs respectively.
Although the results weren’t there, the Hawks showed just how talented they are by nearly upsetting UM and hanging tough with SMU. Both teams are members of top tier conferences, as the Terrapins are now apart of The Big 10, after competing in the perennial power Atlantic Coast Conference for years, while the Mustangs are part of the relatively new American Athletic Conference that features last year’s National Champion UConn Huskies.
“I think this team is growing and we have to continue to get better every day,” said head coach King Rice after the Maryland loss. “I think great things are in the near future.”
The Hawks first fell to the Terrapins 61-56 on Friday, Nov. 28 at the XFINITY Center. Junior guard Deon Jones and fellow guard and senior Max DiLeo led the way for MU with 11 points apiece. Each also added a pair of assists. Sophomore point guard Justin Robinson chipped in with nine points, while also dishing out a team high five assists and grabbing a team high five rebounds.
UM’s star freshman and five-star recruit, Melo Trimble, had a game high 24 points, and also led his team with three assists. The freshman shot an impressive 13-14 from the free throw line for the game, while also going 3-5 from three point range.
Both young point guards made their presence felt early, as Trimble opened the scoring with his first three of the night just 30 seconds into the game, only to have Robinson answer right back seconds later with a triple of his own.
After a pair of free throws from MU sophomore center Zac Tillman tied the contest at five, the Terrapins took control of the game with a 23-9 run over the course of the next 12 plus minutes of play.
Trailing by 16, the Hawks continued to battle in an effort to claw their way back. With two minutes remaining in the half, MU had perhaps its most important possession of the game when two offensive rebounds kept the blue and whites possession alive, and resulted in two free throws from DiLeo to make the score 30-16.
Despite the large deficit, the possession proved key for the Hawks as it helped the team gain some momentum. Just seconds later, senior captain Andrew Nicholas drilled a three to cut the Terrapin lead to 11 with one minute left to play in the first half. Two UM free throws increased the lead to 13, but DiLeo hit another triple for MU with only three seconds remaining to put the score at 32-22 heading into halftime. The three capped off an 8-2 MU run over the final 1:25 of the first half.
Neither team was able to gain control through the early portion of the second half, and with 15 minutes left in regulation the Terrapins led the Hawks 39-31.
At the 12:45 mark MU went on a quick 5-0 spurt led by senior forward and Providence transfer Brice Kofane’s four straight points. The run cut UM’s lead to three with half the time gone in the second period.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, they could not get any closer than that over the next five minutes of play, and another Terp three extended their lead to 50-40 with 4:53 remaining.
MU would not go down easy, and, after getting back within five, another Nicholas three made it a one possession game at 53-51 in the final minute of play.
Following a pair of Trimble free throws, DiLeo took the feed from Robinson and hit another huge three for the Hawks to bring them within one with just over 30 seconds remaining.
Despite six Trimble foul shots over the final half minute, Jones appeared to have tied the contest at 59 with ten seconds remaining, but his three point attempt rimmed out and Trimble sealed the Terrapin victory at the stripe.
“I was very proud of my kids tonight in their effort and how hard they continued to fight,” said Rice. “I thought that we played really well, and the part that I like the most was that we battled them on the boards.”
The Hawks grabbed 28 rebounds on the night, including nine on the offensive end, while the Terps came away with 31 total boards. Both teams were extremely even shooting for the game in every category; as MU went 17-46 (37 percent) from the field, 6-21 (28.6 percent) from three point range, and 16-20 (80 percent) from the free throw line, while UM shot 17-45 (37.8 percent) overall, 6-19(31.6%) behind the arc, and 21-26(80.8%) from the stripe.
MU then fell to 2-4 on the season two nights later at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas, TX with a 63-51 loss to SMU. The Mustangs are led by head coach Larry Brown, who was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. Brown is the only head coach in history to win a championship at both the college and professional levels, winning an NCAA National Title in 1988 and an NBA Championship in 2004, with the University of Kansas and Detroit Pistons respectively.
“I just want to thank Coach Brown for the opportunity to bring our team out to SMU and compete against his team,” said Rice after the game. “I thought our kids really competed hard tonight, but their length really bothered us. That was the first team we could not run all of our plays against, and that threw our timing off and made it tough on us.”
Jones was the only Hawk to score double-digits on the night with 13 points on 5-10 shooting, and he also led the team in rebounds with eight.
Sophomore guard Josh James chipped in with eight points for MU, while Kofane went a perfect 4-4 from the field to go along with six rebounds. Robinson again led the team in assists with four in addition to his six points.
SMU’s Nic Moore was the game’s high scorer with 23 points on 9-15 shooting, and he also led both teams with five assists for the game. Cannen Cunningham came off the bench to add ten points and five rebounds for the Mustangs.
Jones started off hot for the Hawks, hitting two threes in the first six minutes of play to get his team going. Not to be outdone, Moore scored the first 11 Mustang points to give SMU an 11-10 lead at the 13 minute mark.
Moore scored seven more points over the next five minutes of play to continue his torrid start, but a trifecta of MU threes, two from Nicholas and one from James, kept the score close. With just under eight minutes in the first half, the Mustangs held a slight advantage at 22-19.
MU was unable to keep the pace up, however, and only managed to score two points the rest of the half. SMU took advantage of the Hawks’ struggles, and finished the half on a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 32-21 as both teams headed into the locker room.
As the second half opened the Hawks were unable to cut their deficit significantly. A three point play from Jones brought the Hawks within ten, but SMU then took complete control and continued to build on its lead. The Mustangs used a 13-4 run over the next eight minutes of play to make the score 47-28 with 11 and a half minutes left in the game.
Although it appeared SMU had a firm grip on the contest, the Hawks refused to be put away. Highlighted by a four point play from Robinson, MU slowly began to chip away at the 19 point deficit.
A James triple with 5:43 remaining appeared to give the blue and white new life by bringing them within 11, but MU would not gain any more ground. The Mustangs bunkered down on defense, and took care of business from the free throw line to preserve the 12 point win.
“I am proud of the kids, and we have gotten a lot better on this trip,” said Rice. “Now we are excited to get started with MAAC play.”
The Hawks will open up conference play this Thursday, Dec. 4 when they travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to take on Marist. It will be the first of two straight MAAC contests before MU returns to non-conference play for a stretch of four games, highlighted by a showdown with in-state rival Rutgers on Dec. 28 in the MAC.
PHOTO COURTESY of Gary Kowal
