Sacred Heart knocks off Dartmouth behind career day from Gittens

By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — When the announcements rolled in last spring that the trio of Mekhi Conner, Nyle Ralph-Beyer and Anquan Hill would all be returning to Sacred Heart for the upcoming season, it came to the surprise of a lot of people. In the transfer portal era when players at the low-major level put up productive seasons, usually that means they move on and make the next jump to a higher level.

Not with the Pioneers.

Conner and Ralph-Beyer were two of the top freshmen in the MAAC last season, the former having his playmaking and quarterback abilities to thank, and the latter his three-point shooting. Hill was on his third school after stops at FDU and St. Bonaventure, and was the team’s second-leading scorer a year ago at nearly 13 points per game. All three would have drawn significant interest in the portal, yet they stayed.

“From an engagement and leading perspective, those guys are important,” head coach Anthony Latina said. “We go, they go. If they play good, we’ll play good. “If they don’t, we probably won’t reach expectations.”

Add in a pair of critical transfer starters and a good mix of returning role players and freshmen, and you have the formula for a team that’s going to be right in the thick of things come MAAC play and the tournament in Atlantic City. 

“Part of our formula, or at least in theory, is to run good offense, don’t turn it over, and take good shots,” Latina said. “And the days that we don’t make them, we’re gonna offensive rebound at an elite level.”

The Pioneers followed that formula on Friday morning, as they defeated Dartmouth, 85-63, in front of a crowd full of energetic kids to move to 5-7 on the season. The game was tied with around 13 minutes to play before Sacred Heart exploded down the stretch to secure the victory.

“They are a really good offensive team,” Latina said of Dartmouth. “To hold them to 63 and low percentages is something that we’re very proud of.”

One of those previously mentioned transfers was the star Friday, and has been a majority of Pioneer games this year. Dashon Gittens had a career-high 26 points and took over in the first half to carry the load offensively.

“I woke up today feeling a lot of juice and a lot of energy,” Gittens said. “We had a nice little fanbase here today, so you know I wanted to put a show on for them.”

Gittens has found himself leading the team offensively in key stretches all season long. The FIU transfer and Hartford native has upped his scoring from his time with the Panthers. In three years in Miami, he only hit the 20-point mark one time, as a sophomore. So far in six weeks with the Pioneers, he’s done it three times, including Friday.

“We felt like he really fit with how we play offensively,” Latina said. “He’s a complete player and he’s at his best when he plays with great energy. He is a wonderful player and we’re thrilled to have him.”

Yann Farell, the other top transfer from East Carolina after starting his career with Hill at St. Bonaventure, has also provided Latina with great versatility that meshes well with the rest of the roster. He had 10 points and five rebounds on Friday.

The beauty of having such a deep roster filled with talent is that you can still win games without everyone being on his A-game. Ralph-Beyer shot 2-for-9 from three and didn’t look like himself, but Conner stepped up and drilled four threes in his place en route to a 21-point, 7-rebound and 10-assist performance in perhaps his best game of the year.

“When I’m knocking down shots, I’m able to help our team even more,” Conner said. “I’m in the gym working on it and I’m gonna keep shooting it.”

Conner hasn’t exactly had the year he envisioned early on after a year in which he was top ten in the country in assists per game. His scoring is down and he was coming off an eight turnovers in a close loss to UMass Lowell. The sophomore was looking for a breakthrough performance, and in a way needed one. On Friday: His 10 assists came against just one turnover.

“It has been a little up and down for me, but I’ve been working with (Latina) and trusting him,” Conner said. “He believes in me and my teammates believe in me.”

Even in a game where Hill didn’t play due to injury (he’s expected back sometime in early January), the Pioneers were able to pull away and pick up the hard-fought win. Once he’s back and the team is at full strength, it will be intriguing to see what this team’s potential is.

“It means that we’re gonna be a real dangerous team,” Conner said when asked about how the team will look with Hill back. “We’re just gonna keep taking it one day at a time and let Anquan do what he needs to do to get healthy.”

Glue guys like Fallou Gueye, Abdou Yadd and Jaden Slaughter all are going to be crucial to how much success Sacred Heart has in the coming months as key reserves that will play important minutes spelling the starters. 

“Fallou comes off the bench, he has three offensive rebounds in 21 minutes,” Latina said. “He also kept a couple other ones alive.”

Gueye was at the forefront of the late game defensive efforts for the Pioneers. Dartmouth came out blazing, with 19 points in less than five minutes to start the second half, and only had 18 the remaining 15 minutes or so. The grittiness on defense went up a notch, limiting good looks for the Big Green and forcing them into difficult situations.

“We started to get more stops and protected the paint,” Gittens said. “That was on our scouting report to protect the paint and get out in transition to score.”

Gittens and Latina are hopeful that the defense will continue to show its strides and growth again on Monday for his team’s non-conference finale on the road against Towson. Tip is set for 2 p.m. in Maryland.