Don’t look now, but Mount St. Mary’s could be on a timely roll heading to AC

Arlandus Keyes (2) is helping shoot Mount St. Mary’s back toward top of MAAC standings as Mountaineers gear up for conference title defense. (Photo by Mount St. Mary’s Athletics) 

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — Last season, Mount St. Mary’s languished in the middle of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference pack before a timely surge in February and March led to eight wins in its final 11 regular-season games.

The Mountaineers would then power through the MAAC tournament, taking out three of the top four seeds before a win in the First Four for the conference’s first major postseason tournament win since Saint Peter’s Cinderella run to a regional final in 2022.

Like many other mid-major programs, a majority of The Mount’s roster was ravaged by the transfer portal, forcing somewhat of a fresh start and a longer adjustment period. But now sitting 7-8 in league play, head coach Donny Lind believes it may just be starting to come together at an opportune time for the reigning MAAC champion.

“We’ve got a really good team,” he said after Saturday’s win at Iona, a rematch of last year’s conference title showdown. “We’ve got really good people. We dealt with a lot of injuries and a lot of different lineups early in the year, but I think guys are starting to figure out how their best strengths fit in with the other guys. When that happens, guys can play really free and not worry about their rotations and their minutes, and just give us what they’ve got. Hopefully we’re starting to come together even more.”

Lind, a former Shaka Smart assistant now in his second season at the helm in Emmitsburg, has injected some of the core VCU personality into his program. No further was that evident than in the second half against Iona, where Arlandus Keyes and Abdou Khadre Kebe hustled for loose balls and embodied the relentlessness that far too often gets taken for granted in northern Maryland.

“That’s who we have to be,” Lind said of the boundless energy. “We’ve got guys that are that way, but a lot of times, it’s not always cool to dive for a loose ball, it’s not always cool to scrape your knees and get cut up. When our guys are willing to do that, it just shows how much you care about your team. That fires me up when guys are willing to sacrifice their bodies, sacrifice their minutes, sacrifice their shots for their teammates.”

“Arlandus had one first, and then AK had one that reminded me of Briante Weber when we were at VCU. They tried to roll it, and he came in, just dove and took it. That sort of effort is what it takes to go on the road and win close games.”

A deceptively lethal senior shooter, Keyes has helped fill the void left by Carmelo Pacheco in The Mount’s backcourt. The St. Louis-area native had a coming-out party in last year’s MAAC tournament, when he scored 38 points and made nine three-pointers en route to a conference championship. This year has yielded more of the same for a Mountaineer team that prefers an inside-out approach with Trey Deveaux, Luke McEldon and Justin Amadi kicking out to the likes of Keyes and Xavier Lipscomb to anchor the backcourt.

“He’s a really good player, he’s a really good shooter,” Lind said of Keyes. “He’s really hard on himself, he holds himself to a really high standard for his game, and he’s starting to reap some of the benefits of all that hard work he’s put in.”

However, it is Kebe who should be generating more attention. Now fully recovered from a broken wrist suffered just before the season, the 6-foot-7 sophomore from Senegal is making a claim to be one of the best players in the conference.

“He’s earned what he’s gotten,” Lind remarked. “He’s just grown in his confidence and his understanding of what he’s asked to do, and he’s a rare guy in today’s day and age. He’s not concerned with how many points he scores, he truly isn’t. He understands that he provides so much value doing the other things that if he does those, I’ll never take him off the floor. And if he does those things, then he’ll score inevitably because he’s a good player and he’s talented, and he plays really hard. The ball rewards guys like that.”

“He really defends. He just changes the opponent’s game plan, and that is special. At 6-foot-7, he can guard one through four, sometimes one through five depending on what the five man is like, and he brings an energy and a defensive intensity, and an ability to rebound the ball that is really unique. If he’s making shots, he’s damn near an NBA player at his size and athleticism, but he’s got a lot of growing to do to continue to develop. But he’s playing with a ton of confidence right now, and he’s earned that.”

Iona head coach Dan Geriot, who watched Kebe pull down 16 rebounds as The Mount wrapped up a season sweep of the Gaels, concurred.

“He shows off his versatility, man,” Geriot said, tipping his cap. “That guy can make a gym electric and make a gym silent.”

Mount St. Mary’s has five games remaining, and a favorable schedule with Rider, Niagara and Canisius — the MAAC’s bottom three teams — next up before closing the regular season at Sacred Heart and Fairfield. A late run to a first-round bye in Atlantic City could once again be in the cards for The Mount, but regardless of how the hand is dealt, the coach at the table is confident in walking away with a payout.

“I’m super encouraged,” Lind said. “Regardless of who we play, I’m encouraged. I think we’re getting better. We didn’t play very well for 10 minutes at the beginning of the second half against Merrimack (February 5), we played some of our worst basketball of the season. It’s gonna happen from time to time. I was really proud of how we responded. We could have dropped that game at home and gone in the tank. A lot of teams do, and we didn’t. We responded and said, ‘hey, it’s one game.’ Our focus and our energy told me that we were gonna be just fine.”

Kevin Willard quote book: Marquette

On fighting back and finding ways to win:

“It’s February basketball. You’re gonna have to grind and find ways to win. Watching Marquette’s last five games, Shaka’s done a great job with that group, especially on the defensive end. But we found a way, so that’s all that matters.”

On free throw shooting:

“Oh, man! We’re gonna work, and we have worked on it. Everyone’s in there every day, it’s not like we’re not doing it. I think it’s a little mental right now. I think we missed one and it’s like, we’ve just got a little bit too much negative emotion right now on the free throw line. I gotta change that somehow. We’ll get there. Again, if we can improve our free throw shooting and make a couple layups in the first half, it’s a totally different game. We held them to 32 points, we should have had 44 points, and then it’s a different type of game. We’ll get there. (Acaden’s) shooting 200 extra (free throws) a day, every day. It’s not like we’re not working on it. I think (Tyler) never misses a free throw in practice. A little bit is freshman nerves, a lot of young guys shooting free throws for the first time in pressure situations. I think I have a lot of confidence in these guys as we go through February and get into March, that they’ll make them.”

On Tyler Perkins:

“I don’t think Perk played very well, and that’s giving him a huge compliment because, how many points did you have? He had 22 points and I don’t think he played well. And that’s how much of a high standard I have for him, so that’s a compliment.”

On finding ways to win with offensive rebounding:

“That’s the other thing I think we can really improve, is being a better offensive rebound team and being a much better defensive rebound team. I thought we did a better job on the defensive glass. We had a big breakdown with (Royce) Parham, I thought Parham played great late in the game, but I think it’s — again — this time of year, I’m harping on all our things that we can get better at and trying to keep everything going. And I think we can get much better at rebounding.”

On the value of tonight’s win:

“It’s a win in February, man. I’ll take any win in February, especially the second time you play a team. That’s what’s so great about this league, in my opinion, is you get everybody on a true round robin, where, coming from the Big Ten, I might see UCLA twice in three years. You’re seeing everybody twice, and for a new team, trying to get them to understand that is a little bit different. The mentality (of), ‘oh, we beat them on the road, we’re just gonna come home and win,’ it’s so much different in this league because there’s really good coaching, really good players. But you see everybody twice, so it’s that much harder to win the second time.”

On Bryce Lindsay:

“He’s gonna get going. It’s a little mental. I talked to the team earlier, before the game, about staying in the moment, talking to each other, not worrying about the past or not worrying about the future, just trying to stay in the present. And sometimes it’s hard when you’re not playing well to kind of stay in the moment. I have a lot of confidence in Bryce. He’s in the gym with me every day working and he’s gonna get it. And I thought he had some good opportunities tonight. It’s just when you’re struggling the way he’s struggling, sometimes you just need one, get a good bounce or bank one in. I told him to sleep on the other side of the bed tonight, so sometimes you just gotta try something different.”

On taking Lindsay out of the starting lineup:

“No. Bryce has been consistent, he’s still doing a lot of good things and people have to guard him. I love Dev coming off the bench. It’s like a really good security blanket for me, I think it’s a good role for him and I think, again, Acaden and Bryce have worked well together all year. I have the utmost confidence in them and I know one of these days, it’s gonna break loose.”

On Perkins’ game-winning block:

“Sometimes when I get him off the ball in some things, he can get a little lost, but he’s really good on the ball, locked in. I thought (Marquette) did a good job switching, they ghosted him. He did a good job of staying, Perk did a really good job of staying on (Adrien) Stevens. They ran a nice little ghost play, I thought they both defended at a very high level.”

On playing at a faster tempo:

“You know the difference between the 20th-fastest team and us? It’s 1.6 seconds. I have a young team, and when we get up, I’m gonna control the ball, take the air out of the ball. That’s one of the reasons why our tempo is so low. If you watch anytime we’ve gotten up more than 12 (points), I’ve taken the air out of the ball. We’ve run the clock down. One of the easiest ways to lose leads is (to) take quick shots, so I have purposely taken the air out of the ball at least 11 games, where in the last nine minutes of the game, we’ve had four shot clock violations, which I love. And everyone’s like, ‘you’re nuts.’ It takes 30 seconds (off the clock), it sets up our defense. The worst thing you do is come down, just jack up a shot with two seconds on the shot clock, long rebound, your defense isn’t set. So I’d rather have a shot clock violation, set my defense up, have them work for 25 seconds and then take 30 seconds, and the game’s over. It’s not like the NBA with 24 seconds. A 30-second shot clock is monstrous, so I think we play pretty fast. It’s not like (Acaden) walks the ball up, it’s not like we’re ever walking the ball up. It’s just 1.6 seconds. Everyone gets stuck on that tempo shit. It’s bullshit.”

On what has impressed him most in Big East play:

“I think we’ve matured a lot. Again, (Acaden’s) playing like one of the best point guards in the country, Perk has, I think, gone from a guy that was a reserve last year to a guy that we rely on heavily. Matt Hodge…I just think their growth has been really fun to watch. They’re a great group to be around, they work hard, they have a great attitude. And to put ourselves with ten wins and only three losses in Big East play right now, it’s not me. It’s these guys with their attitude and how hard they work. It really is. This is a group that really is, in today’s era of college basketball, and switching jobs and putting a roster together, this team’s been absolutely great to coach. If we just made our free throws, I’d love them to death, but right now, they’re just fun to coach.”

On taking the air out of the ball:

“I don’t think we slowed it down, that’s not what I mean now. Taking the air out of the ball, I’ve done that historically. You get up 14, 16, and you’re playing against really, really good teams, clock management is ideal. Ask Selton Miguel how he feels about it. Selton last year, he would curse me out after the game, I mean, full-out. And then it took him 27 games to finally figure out that maybe not coming down (and) jacking up a three is the right thing to do when we were the (No. 9) team in the country. And Selly’s one of my favorites of all time, but he would curse me out after the game because he would kind of limit stats a little bit, but at the same time.”

On similarities between Perkins and Josh Hart:

“I did not compare him to Josh Hart. I got a phone call. These guys listen to these press conferences! He definitely reminds me a little bit of Josh, he does. He affects the game. Again, once he figures out he can affect the game without shooting and having to shoot, that’s when he’s gonna take a monster step. And I think he’s starting to get there, he is. He had a big offensive rebound in the first half, obviously he had a couple threes, but had a big deflection in the second half. Again, getting players to understand how important…Josh is starting for the New York Knicks. I played against him for four years, and I tell a story all the time: One of the last times we played against him, I called timeout and I cursed out my team, and I was like, ‘can somebody please stop Josh Hart?’ And he hadn’t taken a shot yet, he hadn’t taken a shot. And they’re all looking at me like, ‘well, he’s not shooting.’ I’m like, ‘well, he’s got three steals, he’s got four offensive rebounds, he’s got five assists.’ And he didn’t take a shot, and that’s why he’s in the NBA. (Tyler) can do that. He just has to figure it out, like at times, I don’t need to shoot the ball to be out here and be effective, because he does so many other things.”

On keeping players out of foul trouble:

“I think that’s something. We’ve been pretty good, I think we lead the league in least foulouts, so we’ve been pretty good at keeping them out there. I like to play, I’m not afraid to play guys with two fouls in the first half. I think it’s something that sometimes you pick up two and they sit on the bench, they get mad. I think that’s one of the keys to this team, is that we are deep. I have a lot of faith in my bench, so if guys do get in foul trouble, I think one of the ways we’ve kept them out is that the guys coming off the bench have done a really good job.”

On Devin Askew:

“Dev’s been phenomenal. He’s been a workhorse and I think more than anything, just his leadership has been off the charts. Dev’s a great leader.”

On the rumors of playing Notre Dame in Rome next season:

“I have no comment. Thank you. Is everybody good? I have no comment. I do know how to say that sometimes!”

Johnnies grind out OT win over Xavier, but Pitino more impressed with his son than his team’s effort

Richard Pitino (left) greets his father, Rick, before Xavier faced St. John’s Monday. Red Storm defeated Musketeers in overtime, but elder Pitino was more impressed with his son’s coaching than his own Johnnies. (Photo by the Cincinnati Enquirer)

NEW YORK — When you win over 900 games and a pair of national championships in a career that spans over a half-century, chances are you do not impress easily.

Rick Pitino fits that mold, and did so again Monday after his St. John’s team needed overtime to escape a game Xavier unit that nearly upended the Red Storm two weeks prior on the Musketeers’ home floor in Cincinnati.

However, this is Rick Pitino, the coach. Rick Pitino, the father, is an entirely different story.

The duality of man came into play again at Madison Square Garden Monday night, as opposing Rick on the sideline was his son, Richard, now more than halfway through his first season at the reins of a Xavier program still acclimating itself to life without Sean Miller. The junior Pitino is 12-12 in the Queen City after leaving New Mexico to take a job opposite his father in the Big East Conference. A well-traveled coach in his own right at just 43 years of age — Richard has already coached at Florida International and Minnesota as well — his initial go-round with the Musketeers started with a near-upset against Marist before gaining steam in non-conference play and now twice coming seconds away from earning bragging rights in the family for a second time (Richard’s New Mexico team defeated Rick’s Iona team in 2022).

After Monday’s 87-82 battle, one that saw Xavier push the 17th-ranked Johnnies to the limit before three of its players fouled out in overtime, Richard left more of an impression on his counterpart than the players that got Rick his 904th career victory.

“I’m real excited with the victory, but I’m more proud of my son,” the elder Pitino remarked. “Because in two games against (Xavier), he’s totally outcoached me and their staff outcoached us. We could not guard them and we could not stop them in their offense. They’ve outplayed us twice, but we just gutted it out in the final minutes to come away with a victory, which good teams do. So I’m disappointed in our defense, but very proud of my son.”

Xavier, which had St. John’s on the ropes with a 16-point second-half lead on January 24, overcame early foul trouble for forwards Tre Carroll and Jovan Milicevic, as well as point guard Malik Messina-Moore, three of six Musketeers with two or more fouls in a first half that somehow ended in a 42-all tie.

Richard deftly navigated the foul situation in the second stanza, shuffling Carroll and Milicevic out of the lineup consistently, relying on Filip Borovicanin and Anthony Robinson — the latter of whom had not made a field goal in Big East play before Monday — to stem the tide against the imposing trio of St. John’s bigs in Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell. Xavier tried valiantly to stay with the physical Johnnies, but was worn down by the pressure defense and inability to create in the paint more than the 41-17 disparity in free throw attempts.

“They were just ramping up the physicality,” Richard Pitino said of St. John’s. “We weren’t able to get to the rim, we weren’t able to get to the free throw line, 28-for-41 for them, 9-for-17 (for us). To even be in overtime is pretty remarkable.”

“They’re great kids (who) really believe in what we’re building. We’re obviously trying to get to the level of UConn, trying to get to the level of St. John’s, but you can’t have 28 (made) free throws to nine and think you’re gonna win the game. We had a chance.”

The younger Pitino’s coaching pedigree has been questioned somewhat as he has found his way skippering his own yacht and emerging from the large shadow cast by his hall of fame father. But through the Big East season so far, it is almost impossible to argue that he has come the closest to defeating St. John’s since the Red Storm’s sole conference loss on January 3 against Providence. Rick’s Johnnies have won ten straight games since then, but only one team has played them to single digits twice, that being the Xavier group that almost shocked the Garden on Monday. Richard was asked what made the difference, and hinted at floor spacing and ball handling especially.

“I think our spacing has been pretty good against them,” he said. “Until the end, execution-wise, it wasn’t great, but we took care of the basketball. I don’t know how many turnovers we had at our place, but you have to rebound the ball and you have to not turn the ball over to beat them.”

It has also been suspected and speculated in some circles that the son will eventually replace the father whenever Rick decides to call it a career or leave St. John’s for whatever reason. That decision is nowhere near the realm of possibility yet, but what can be drawn from Monday’s conclusion is that wherever Richard coaches in the future, be it at Xavier or anyplace else, he earned a resonant endorsement.

“I hope we don’t play them in the Big East tournament,” Rick said of Xavier. “Like I said, I think my son’s brilliant. I’m proud of him. I hate getting any milestone against him (Rick surpassed Roy Williams on the all-time wins list Monday), but I go away tonight saying my son’s a hell of a coach. And I’m much prouder than 900, 1,000, 1,100. To say my son’s a great coach is much more pleasing to me than any number of victories.”

Defense leads way for Stony Brook as Seawolves sweep Northeastern

By Zachary Wilson (@zwilsonpxp)

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Coming off a loss that snapped a five-game conference win streak, Stony Brook rebounded at home in front of a good crowd, including kids from the local children’s hospital as part of Children’s Hospital Day at Stony Brook Arena.

To start things off, Stony Brook won the tipoff, and 15 seconds later, a shooting foul was drawn by Richard Goods despite missing both free attempts afterwards. The shooting was stone cold in the first few minutes of the game, especially for Stony Brook, who missed its first five shot attempts, while both sides did not produce a single point in the first three minutes, until Northeastern struck first with back-to-back threes from Mike Loughnane and JB Frankel.

Then out of the first media timeout, the Seawolves would get on the board from Rob Brown III’s layup, then Tomas Valeninty’s triple made it a 6-5 Northeastern lead by the next media timeout. Before that, the Seawolves’ defense would hold the Huskies scoreless for over five minutes, forcing three turnovers.

After Loughnane got a fast-break layup off a Ryan Williams block, Stony Brook would go on an 8-0 run to pick up its first lead of the game, capped off by an Ethan Simmon three to make it 13-8 with 7:55 remaining in the first half.

Another scoring drought and turnover issue would befall the Huskies, as they would commit six turnovers in over nine minutes while being held without a single point in over three minutes. Along with that, they would lose a timeout on an unsuccessful challenge where the initial call was the ball going out of bounds off Northeastern, which led to Jonah Butler making both shots at the free throw line thereafter.

Despite allowing Stony Brook to hit the double bonus by the 6:56 mark of the first half and a 14-point lead at one point, the Huskies would hold their own for the remainder of the half by keeping Erik Pratt, one of the leading scorers in the CAA, scoreless for most of the frame. Frankel’s back-to-back shots from downtown made the score 29-19 in favor of Stony Brook at halftime, and gave him a game-high nine points after 20 minutes of action.

At the beginning of the second half, Goods would launch a three the first of many spectacular plays he would make for the Seawolves over the next 20 minutes. His triple would eventually be followed by a huge transition play by the Seawolves, starting with Quin Gorman’s block on Loughnane to Andrej Shoshkikj’s layup off Brown’s pass to put the Seawolves up, 36-21.

More theatrics by Stony Brook would be created in between a media timeout, including Pratt breaking the ankles of his defender for a downtown shot, then Shoshkikj lobbing the ball to Goods for a dunk that brought the arena to its knees.

Another challenge would fall on the Seawolves, as Pratt picked up his third foul with 13:34 remaining. After Loughnane got a layup off a steal, Shoshkikj answered with a drive to the basket for a layup and a foul on Luca Soroa Schaller to complete the three-point play, increasing the Seawolves' lead to 48-30.

The advantage would continue over the next few minutes, as the Seawolves put Petar Pinter into foul trouble with his fourth foul committed halfway through the second half. Then, Goods would slam the ball into the basket once again off of Simmon’s toss into the paint, giving Stony Brook its largest lead of the game, 57-38.

Despite a six-point run by the Huskies to come to within 13, the Seawolves would keep momentum on their side by drawing fouls on the next two possessions, maintaining a 61-44 lead with under four minutes to play.

Goods would get one more dunk in the second half from Shoshkikj to ice the game and give Stony Brook a 69-55 win over Northeastern, the lowest amount of points by the Huskies in a game this season. The win also gave the Seawolves a season sweep of Northeastern for the second time in three years, and moved them into a tie for third place in the CAA standings with Hofstra and Drexel.

Pratt would once again lead the team in points with 13, while Loughnane led all scorers with 17. The Seawolves’ defense would also hold the Huskies to only 33 percent shooting from the field and 25 from deep, while Stony Brook would shoot 48 percent from the field.

Coming up next, Stony Brook (15-10, 7-5 CAA) goes back on the road Thursday to face CAA preseason favorite Towson (13-12, 5-7 CAA), while Northeastern (6-17, 2-10 CAA) returns home the same day to host William & Mary (15-9, 6-6 CAA) to try and end its six-game losing streak.

Penn breaks losing streak to Princeton, squares series with win over Tigers

By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)

PHILADELPHIA — Just over a month ago, the Princeton Tigers shocked the basketball world by not just flipping the script on a historical matchup played for over a century, but staging an improbable comeback to take down the Penn Quakers and extend a 14-game win streak that has stood since 2018.

Rolling into The Palestra today with the all-time series out of their hands for the first time, the Quakers were set for revenge, and a battle that saw Princeton almost stage the same devastating resurgence finally fell into the hands of Penn, 61-60. 

A packed crowd and strong visiting fan section saw Princeton jump ahead early, with the scoring opening on a Malik Abdullahi slam and a Dalen Davis trey. Davis, the star guard for the Tigers, suffered a sprained ankle last week at Columbia and did not return to that game, but was all set and suited up to start at Penn. 

Penn’s response was almost instantaneous, as it seemed to be for much of the clash between rivals, as first-year head coach Fran McCaffery’s side was able to regain the lead by the first media timeout, and head on a 14-3 run with little challenge from the visitors. 

Jack Stanton, coming off six three-pointers and a career-high in last week’s win over Columbia, did not start for the Tigers and only played six minutes before being removed for the remainder of the game. 

“I have no idea,” said head coach Mitch Henderson as to why Stanton was unable to return. “We’re going to reevaluate, but it’s tough not having him out there.” 

The injury did not help Princeton, as the Penn onslaught continued for much of the first half, but was halted for a moment by junior Jackson Hicke, who contributed eight big points in the final minutes of the half to hold Princeton within ten heading into the locker room. Hicke, a native of Radnor, Pennsylvania, played high school basketball just a 30-minute drive from The Palestra, but has been a highlight of this Princeton team over the past two seasons.

The Tigers finished the half making just one of eight field goal attempts and saw themselves at a firm 35-25 deficit, but not a game completely out of hand for a visiting team that has staged far more improbable comebacks in recent seasons. 

“In that locker room, they felt like they had it,” said Henderson. “They felt like they were going to win the game. I love that about them. I just want to encourage that.”

Out of the locker room, Princeton was a rejuvenated group, as it commonly is to start the second half, opening the frame with a 10-2 run to pull within four for the first time since the middle of the first. 

“It was spectacular up there for a half, and then it was as bad as it could be,” McCaffery said of Penn’s defensive performance. “But again, you always say, well, we didn’t do this, we didn’t do that. (Princeton) shot it well, and they moved it, and they executed their stuff, and they made a bunch of shots in a row.” 

Leading the charge in the start of the second half was Abdullahi, who has become an incredibly important part of a Princeton team that lacks a ton of strong size and pressure in the paint.  

“Abdullahi is really playing well, so they kind of went to him,” McCaffery explained. “He’s a different kind of cover than the other guys.”

Abdullahi finished the night with 12 points and four assists, while leading the game with 11 rebounds. Similarly, junior Jacob Huggins stepped up for the Tigers as well, taking much of the minutes that would have gone to Stanton, and capitalized in a big way for Princeton. Huggins racked up 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half, capped by a big three that once again brought Princeton within four points. 

“He was awesome, especially down the stretch and doing things that juniors do on the road,” Henderson said. “It was terrific. He was great on both ends of the floor. He got us back into the game and made a huge three.”

Huggins tied a career high with a team-leading 14 points and six rebounds, but it was not enough to power the Tigers all the way to victory. For the second time this season, the Penn and Princeton clash came down to the final few possessions, as after Penn looked like it was going to run away with it again and held a ten-point lead late in the second half, Princeton battled back to make it a five-point game with under four minutes to play. 

“I loved the way we played at the end,” said Henderson. “It didn’t go our way tonight, but that was a very, very physical game. We had a chance to win it at the end. It was good on the road.”

A TJ Power three-pointer from Penn put the Quakers up four with just over a minute to go in the game, but great defense from both sides gave Princeton one more possession with just under 20 seconds on the shot clock. The ball remained with Davis the entire drive, but a stumble left him in an awkward position for the final shot, forcing him to take a falling mid-range jumper that clanged off the front of the rim and ended with a one-point victory for the Quakers. 

The victory over Princeton, the first time in 14 games over a span of eight years, now re-ties the all-time record at 127 apiece, and puts Penn at 4-4 in Ivy play, tied with three other teams for third. 

“We have a few generations of guys that haven’t lost here or at home,” said Henderson, “This felt a lot like what it was like when I played.”

Princeton similarly falls to 4-4 and, like Penn, is tied for third heading into next weekend’s two-game slate. 

“I just said to the staff, ‘this stuff's gotta help us at some point,’” said Henderson. “We’re also pretty banged up, we’re getting better. Like I said, tough to win on the road. That was just a really physical game. To be able to be right there, I feel really good about it.”

Winthrop runs win streak to 10 with physical victory over Longwood

 

Winthrop guard Kody Clouet finished with 14, including the eventual game-winning shot against Longwood Saturday.  (Photo:  Winthrop Athletics)

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ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Winthrop-Longwood rivalry is one of the best – if not the best – in the Big South. The Eagles and Lancers have seemingly taken up permanent residence as Big South contenders, and most games between them are hard-fought affairs that defy words.

Perhaps we’ll use Winthrop assistant Sid Crist’s word for Saturday’s tilt:  “Donnybrook.”

However you classify it, the Lancers and Eagles partook in another 15-round heavyweight bout Saturday, with the Eagles landing the final blow. Winthrop sent an announced crowd of 2,041 happy with a 79-74 decision in a game marred – or enhanced, depending on your perspective – by fouls. The win marked the tenth in a row by the Eagles, who have still not lost a game in 2026.

“It’s hard – that game (Longwood defeated Winthrop at the Joan Perry Brock Center to start conference play) was so long ago. We’re both totally different teams,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said after the game. “I’m not very smart, so I can only operate in the moment.”

“Our kids don’t blink. They didn’t blink again (today).”

Winthrop (18-8, 10-1 Big South) surged out of the gate with back-to-back buckets from Tommy Kamarad, giving the Eagles an early lead they would hold for the first six minutes. Longwood (13-13, 5-6) clawed its way back, earning a 7-6 lead on a Fats Billups jumper at the 13:58 mark. Winthrop clutched back the advantage two minutes later but could not separate by any greater than two possessions.

The Lancers had whittled the deficit to one at the 4:15 mark, but a dust-up at the free throw line resulted in a potentially game-changing call. Billups, who had been whistled for a technical earlier in the game, was assessed a second technical following the interaction with Winthrop’s Kody Clouet. Billups was ejected from the game due to the pair of technicals.

“(On) the second one, Clouet bumped him and he bumped him back with a forearm, so it should have been a double technical. The first one is the one I probably have a bit more of an issue with,” Longwood coach Ronnie Thomas said after the game. Thomas was told that Billups had said an expletive out loud – not toward an official, but randomly – which led to the first technical.

“That was just a little frustrating that early in the game, and that’s just  – it’s hard to stomach. I think you can just talk to the young man. He could have just talked to him. We lose Fats, who was 2-for-4 in the first half and playing well. A guy like Fats, he thrives in a game like this. To have him – again, we lose him off the first call – that’s just a really, really bad call by (referee) Bobby (Lineberger). It was an awful call for him to make that call. With the type of game it became and the type of game this always is – that was a really early tech, and that affected the game.”

Following Billups’ departure, Winthrop threw a figurative haymaker, going on a 7-0 burst that gave the Eagles their biggest first-half advantage. Longwood punched back, using a 7-0 run of its own to again knife it to one before Winthrop took a three-point halftime lead off two Logan Duncomb free throws.

The Lancers snagged a four-point lead on the strength of a 9-0 run to start the second half, only for Winthrop to answer right back and go back ahead on a pair of triples from Josh Meo and Kody Clouet. The slugfest continued through the second half, with neither side able to lead by greater than four over much of the remainder of the game.

The lead seemingly changed on every possession for much of the final five minutes, as Winthrop countered every Longwood advantage – and vice versa. Four minutes elapsed inside the final five in which neither side led by greater than two. Winthrop then turned to one of its season-long heroes to finally break the tension.

Following an offensive foul assessed to Elijah Tucker – his fifth – on the opposing end, Winthrop allowed as much time to elapse as it could in a tied game at 71. As the clock oozed under a minute, the Eagles sprayed to the corner, where a wide-open Clouet awaited. Clouet locked in his sights and canned the triple, giving the Eagles the lead they would not again surrender.

“I don’t want to get in trouble, but it was kind of like a football game out there,” Clouet said. “It was physical. That’s how they play. We just stuck with it, took punches, took hits, and found a way to win.”

“They got us in the first game of league (play). They set the tone for us. They showed us where we were weak and what we needed to work on. Since then, we’ve responded incredibly. We definitely wanted this one back and we got it, so that was big.”

Winthrop shot 19-for-50 (38 percent) from the deck on the day, managing just 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from three. The Eagles matched the percentage from distance they recorded in the first game in Farmville.

“I thought we did really well,” Thomas said when queried about his team’s perimeter defense. “We had a really big mistake. We should have given up a Duncomb dunk. We never wanted to give up that three with Clouet. We’ve got to grow from it.”

The Eagles hit 35-of-40 from the line on the day (87.5 percent), collecting their second-highest free throw attempts number in a game this season behind the 43 they were awarded at North Dakota. The 35 makes were a season-best.

Tommy Kamarad led the Eagles and all scorers with 15, capitalizing off a strong early start. Clouet and Duncomb added 14 apiece, hitting a combined 7-of-10 shots from the field and 11-for-13 from the line. Senior guard Josh Meo tallied 10 off the bench in 21 minutes of reserve duty.

“This is a selfless group,” Prosser said. “They are giving of themselves when it comes to stats. If they were in another program with a different roster, they may be getting more shots, assists, and different things on paper. They don’t really care. They just want to win.”

Longwood dropped 39 percent (23-for-59) from the field, with 6-for-25 (24 percent) of their three-point tries finding the net. The Lancers hit 22-of-35 from the line, with a number of misses late that affected the Lancers’ chances.

“I told them they can blame two people. They can blame themselves and me,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to figure out what we can do better and what we can do individually, and then they can blame me, but that’s it.”

Johan Nziemi led the Lancers with 13 points on 3-for-7 shooting, despite hitting just 6-of-12 from the stripe. Junior guard Jacoi Hutchinson booked 11 on 4-for-11 shooting and 3-for-4 from the line.

Winthrop hits the road Thursday night to take on regional rival Gardner-Webb. Tip time from Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, N.C., is set for 7:00 (Eastern), with coverage streaming on ESPN+. Longwood hosts UNC Asheville in the Joan Perry Brock Center in Farmville, Va., for the league’s ESPNU Wildcard Thursday game. The game is slated for a 7:00 start, with coverage over ESPNU.

WINTHROP 79, LONGWOOD 74

LONGWOOD (13-12, 5-6 BIG SOUTH)

Nziemi 3-7 6-12 13, Tucker 2-4 3-4 7, Hutchinson 4-11 3-4 11, Richards 1-7 5-6 7, Kelly 3-4 0-1 7, Jones 2-2 1-2 5, Billups 3-5 0-0 8, Benard 3-8 0-0 8, Thompson 2-11 4-6 8, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Kalala 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-59 22-35 74.

WINTHROP (18-8, 10-1)

Kamarad 5-10 4-4 15, Duncomb 4-6 6-7 14, Wilson 2-8 5-6 9, Rozier 0-7 8-8 8 Clouet 3-4 5-6 14, Hendawy 0-3 0-0 0, Meo 2-5 4-5 10, Nnamoko 2-2 0-0 4, Boyogueno 1-2 3-4 5, Berry 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 35-40 79.

Halftime:  Winthrop 38-35. 3-Point goals:  Longwood 6-25 (Nziemi 1-1, Hutchinson 0-2, Richards 0-2, Kelly 1-2, Billups 2-4, Benard 2-7, Thompson 0-7), Winthrop 6-28 (Kamarad 1-3, Wilson 0-4, Rozier 0-7, Clouet 3-4, Hendawy 0-2, Meo 2-5, Boyogueno 0-1, Berry 0-2). Fouled out:  Tucker (LU).  Rebounds: Longwood 42 (Richards/Jones 7), Winthrop 35 (Clouet 7). Total fouls:  Longwood 32, Winthrop 27. Technicals:  Billups 2 (LU), Clouet (WU).

 

CCSU uses late first-half run to build separation in win over Wagner

By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — With Central Connecticut ahead 23-22 over Wagner with 5:23 left in the first half, starting center Max Frazier picked up a silly second foul 94 feet from the basket going for an offensive rebound.

During the tie-up, he and Seahawks’ guard Bryan Akanmu picked up double technical fouls for going at each other, granting Frazier his third foul before halftime.

“With Max, he’s such a dynamic lob threat that can block shots, you see him dunking everything,” head coach Patrick Sellers said, aware of how crucial Frazier is to the Blue Devils scheme.

The game could easily have flipped on its head after that, with CCSU needing to go five minutes without its anchor on the defensive end, but it was quite the opposite. The Blue Devils ended the half on a 15-6 run from that point and cruised to an 84-67 win on Saturday afternoon at Detrick Gymnasium.

“We ended the half the right way,” Sellers said. “We talked well, I don’t know what the run ended as, but we ended up with a good lead at halftime.”

Darin Smith, Jr. got the scoring stretch started with a top of the key triple, three of his 14 first-half points. He finished with 25 points on 7-of-16 from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe.

“Yesterday’s practice was a little different than what we usually do,” Smith said. “We just got a lot of shots up and had a lot of energy in the building, so that helped us get ready for today.

This marks back-to-back games where Smith was able to get back to his usual self in the scoring column. After averaging just 12.3 points per game during CCSU’s 1-4 skid to close January, Smith followed up his 24 points on Thursday over Chicago State with 25 on Saturday, his 13th game this year with at least 20 points.

Frazier also had an afternoon outside of the early foul trouble, scoring 21 points on an efficient 7-of-8 from the field. The junior big man has developed his game as the season has progressed, turning into a more well-rounded post presence as opposed to just a lob threat. The 21 points marks the third time he's reached 20 this year, doing so in the same game as Smith each occasion.

“In practice, I’m always backing down and backing down,” Frazier said. “I’m always posting up, so in games, it’s easy for me.”

The lob threat is still there, of course, and Frazier had a pair of emphatic flushes, one from Melo Sanchez in transition and the other from Jay Rodgers on a ball that was so high that he had to reach up with one arm and slam it straight down.

“It’s up there,” Frazier said on where that one-handed lob ranks amongst his best flushes this year. “But I’ve definitely had some better.”

Rodgers agreed, saying, “yeah, I’d say we’ve had some better ones, but that one was nice.”

Rodgers scored 14 points and had just five assists, a below-average day in that regard for one of the top playmakers in the nation. Still, CCSU was able to continue to build its lead after halftime and control the game to finish off the win.

“I think it’s just big for our confidence,” Rodgers said. “You can lose a couple in a row and start questioning yourself, but Coach reassured us.”

The unsung heroes that propelled CCSU to the win were the Joneses (no relation). James Jones grabbed 11 rebounds playing the usual Swiss army knife role he has filled so well, while Roddy Jones hit three triples off the bench for the second time in the past three days.

“He’s a really good player that we’re fortunate to have and now that he’s healthy, him going down the stretch is going to be a big help for us,” Sellers said of James Jones.

“He’s a super, super confident shooter,” Sellers said of Roddy. “He brings the same energy every day and plays really hard.”

The Blue Devils are now 7-5 in NEC play with six games to go, including a short road trip down to New Haven on Thursday. Pending other results around the league, CCSU could be as high as tied for second in the standings despite the rough stretch at the end of January. For the players, their hopes and beliefs are still quite high.

“We feel like we can beat any team in this league, and you’ve got to be clicking at the right time in March,” Rodgers said.

UConn win streak comes to halt as Huskies upended by St. John’s in MSG classic

Silas Demary, Jr. tries to fight off St. John’s pressure defense as Red Storm forced UConn guard into nine turnovers as Huskies fell to Johnnies Friday. (Photo by John Munson/Associated Press)

NEW YORK — UConn came into Friday’s much-hyped showdown with St. John’s off its two most efficient offensive performances of Big East play, a pair of victories over Creighton and Xavier that prompted Dan Hurley to say his Huskies had started to play the bulletproof style of basketball that yielded back-to-back national championships before last season.

As it turned out, the metal-resistant armor was no match for an old-school Big East fistfight.

UConn, the third-ranked team in the nation, went at St. John’s throughout the night before a sellout Madison Square Garden audience, surviving foul trouble to go into halftime tied with the No. 22 Red Storm. But a litany of turnovers and missed free throws, coupled with relentless ball pressure, allowed the Johnnies to get the upper hand in the second half and escape their home floor with an 81-72 victory in the first of at least two battles between the class of the conference.

“It was the exact type of game we thought it was going to be,” Hurley said as the Huskies (22-2, 12-1 Big East) suffered their first loss since a November 19 setback to now-No. 1 Arizona. “Just as hard a game as we’ve had to play this year.”

UConn stayed afloat despite an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, nine of which were committed by point guard Silas Demary, Jr., who was lured into ten giveaways by St. John’s last season when he played them as a Georgia Bulldog. The visitors were also befallen by a woeful 5-for-12 showing at the free throw line, missing all but one of their six attempts from the stripe over the final 20 minutes.

“When you go minus-17 point-wise at the foul line (St. John’s was 22-for-31 on free throws), turn the ball over 15 times and get outrebounded (32-26), you’re not gonna win on the road. So credit St. John’s. They’ve got a physicality that plays real well in these conference games.”

The Huskies started strong, using the shot making of Braylon Mullins to withstand Dillon Mitchell’s early explosiveness to build a 16-10 lead. But after a Rick Pitino timeout, St. John’s scored the next seven points to retake the lead. The two teams would trade baskets for the majority of the opening stanza thereafter, with UConn fighting back to take a 39-all deadlock into halftime despite six players racking up two fouls before the intermission.

The second half started in a similar vein before St. John’s ripped off 10 straight points to open up a 55-45 lead with 13 minutes remaining in regulation, getting in transition behind five UConn misses and three forced turnovers, all against Demary.

“I don’t think that we turned it over because of their pressure,” Hurley opined. “I think we turned it over because we lost our fucking mind a little bit. And they have great defense. That’s a Top 20 defense, easy. They’re hard to beat.”

Still, the Huskies fought back, even after St. John’s took its largest lead of the night on a Zuby Ejiofor hook shot with 10:24 to play, giving the Johnnies a 60-49 lead. Demary, Tarris Reed, Jr. and Alex Karaban went on a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to whittle the deficit to one, at 64-63. After two Dylan Darling free throws were answered by a Demary layup, UConn again drew within one point, at 66-65, but would get no closer after St. John’s scored eight of the next ten points to put the game away.

“The main message in the huddle was to defend and rebound,” Karaban said. “We felt like we didn’t do that in this game. We had great looks pretty much the entire game, but it came down to defense and rebounding, and we just didn’t do that.”

UConn shot just under 55 percent from the floor and 9-for-19 from three-point range, but St. John’s turned the Huskies’ 15 turnovers into 20 points and enjoyed a 16-9 advantage on second-chance points.

“We prepared the right way,” Karaban said. “We knew the pressure was happening and (St. John’s) had tall, athletic guys. We knew what was expected. We’ve just gotta execute better. It’s a hard feeling.”

Still atop the Big East standings despite the loss, UConn hits the road Wednesday for its next matchup against Butler, the first of a three-game stretch in seven days that will also see Georgetown and Creighton come to Gampel Pavilion. While Karaban lamented the missed opportunity, his coach reiterated the need to stay in the moment before the much-anticipated rematch with the Red Storm on February 25 in Hartford.

“You really don’t look ahead,” Hurley said. “We’ve had an unbelievable run, we haven’t lost in months. As much as we turned the ball over, we put them on the free throw line, the second-half collapse, we still had our chances to steal it. We’ll move on to whoever we play next.”

No fear, no problem as Johnnies reaffirm themselves over UConn

Zuby Ejiofor dominated UConn Friday as St. John’s shook off challenge and prevailed over No. 3 Huskies. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

NEW YORK — St. John’s finally shook its arch-nemesis several minutes into the second half, with a 10-0 run that broke a 45-all tie.

Or so it thought.

The ten-point lead soon became five. Then two, then one. Still, the Red Storm refused to break. A capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden only served to amplify the steel will of its resident team.

When the dust settled on an 81-72 victory over third-ranked UConn, a catharsis not seen since St. John’s Big East championship triumph in this building eleven months prior ensued. The exact machinations behind the outpouring were obscure in the heat of the moment, but the emotion was tangible.

“I can’t really remember what was done or what was said,” Zuby Ejiofor remarked after another legacy-defining game in a Broadway career full of them. “I just let it all out. The moment the buzzer sounded and it was over, all the emotions really just flew out.”

Ejiofor tallied 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists Friday, seemingly sealing the game with five straight points to extend the Johnnies’ lead to 11 points late in the second half before a 14-4 Husky run. The senior made up for it down the stretch, when after a Dylan Darling three restored the lead to a two-possession margin, he muscled his way through the paint for a hook shot to balloon the Red Storm advantage to seven points, at 74-67, thereby icing the outcome.

“You know, you’re gonna make me retire,” Pitino quipped to his senior captain, “because I’m not living life without you.”

Many had circled Friday’s clash of Big East titans the moment the conference schedule was released, with St. John’s and UConn both harboring championship aspirations and the personnel to make them a reality. For the Johnnies, a lackluster non-conference showing and deflating loss to Providence a month ago forged a diamond. On the UConn side, the Huskies carried an 18-game win streak into an atmosphere that has become almost like a third home venue to the program.

On most nights, but not this one.

“I looked around during the (national) anthem and I saw a lot of red,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley shared. “It felt like a real road game.”

St. John’s fed off the lathered-up surroundings, and a poignant, yet intelligent message from its veteran leader.

“My message before the game was, ‘you just gotta have no fear of failure,’” Pitino recounted. “We’re definitely gonna win this. If (UConn) cut it to two, no fear of failure. And these guys just responded in a great way.”

“A lot of emotions go through the night, just playing hard and hearing the fans, and trying to give it everything we’ve got,” senior forward Dillon Mitchell said. “But we kept saying (in) every huddle, ‘stay solid.’ Don’t let the emotions take over.”

As UConn pulled closer behind the valiant exploits of Silas Demary, Jr. and Alex Karaban, it was Ejiofor guiding his team through the terrain, undaunted, unfazed.

“Zuby, in every single timeout, said, ‘we got three minutes, we got four minutes,’” a proud Pitino said. “Whether we go up 12, they cut it to two, we have no fear. We’re gonna win this game.”

“I showed them both Providence games (against UConn) of losing a lead and how good they can be with that three-point shot. So we were honed in, every single play was honed in.”

St. John’s (18-5, 11-1 Big East) harkened back to last season en route to its ninth straight victory, bullying UConn into 15 turnovers and using its impressive physicality to boast a commanding 31-12 disparity in free throw attempts that left a defeated Hurley no other recourse to tip his hat to the three-pronged front line of Ejiofor, Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins.

“They’re grown-ass men,” he said of the forwards. “They’re built for Big East games. You’ve gotta be in great shape to do what they do. It disrupts your ability to get into what you want to do offensively.”

“I could see our focus going into this game,” Mitchell said. “Just our focus the past couple days in the film room, on the court, the focus we’ve had the past couple days, I could tell that all the guys were locked in.”

The laser-like focus revealed itself again when Ejiofor and Mitchell were asked about Friday’s conditions giving way to heightened stakes in the return match with UConn later this month in Hartford. Their coach would have none of it.

“We’re worried about Xavier,” Pitino interjected.

St. John’s has a chance to move into a share of the conference lead if it can get past Xavier Monday night, and will assuredly have the same groundswell of crowd support that spurred it on Friday. The Red Storm has embraced its relentlessness, but is once again falling in love with the adoration of a fan base that has its back regardless of the result.

“They’re into it every second of the game,” Mitchell said of the St. John’s fans. “You hear them. They’re loud, they’re supporting. We pick off a lot on that. We play hard, not only for the fans, but for us. It’s exciting to hear it, it’s definitely different. It’s something that I’m blessed to be a part of.”