Sacred Heart healthy and clicking at perfect time entering MAAC quarterfinal against Merrimack

His team once again healthy, Anthony Latina is hopeful that Sacred Heart’s good luck can continue in MAAC tournament. (Photo by Sacred Heart University Athletics)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Sacred Heart entered the season with perhaps the most proven commodities in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. With its talent came an expectation of contention, something the Pioneers were no stranger to despite only embarking upon their second season as a MAAC outfit.

Reality crafted a different tale during the year, however. Beset by injuries at several points during the season, the top-tier finish never materialized for Sacred Heart, who finished ninth in the 13-team league and needed a play-in game to defeat Iona and reach the quarterfinals of the MAAC tournament.

The Pioneers have stemmed the tide at the most timely juncture of the season, however, gaining the full health of their veteran core and a refocused point guard in Mekhi Conner since his return from a broken jaw. The confluence of positive circumstances has placed Sacred Heart on the doorstep of an upset that may have seemed improbable at the beginning of the year.”

“We put ourselves in a situation,” head coach Anthony Latina recalled. “People don’t even remember we lost Griffin Barrouk, who’s one of the best shooters in the league. He doesn’t a play a game for us, was actually kind of like our heart and soul, so it took us a little while to recover from that. Then you lose Anquan Hill for six games, we go 1-5. And out of those five losses, four of them were one-possession games.”

Latina was able to rely on the likes of Conner, Nyle Ralph-Beyer, Yann Farell and Dashon Gittens in the absence of Hill, but still had to reintegrate his senior forward into a Pioneer rotation that seemed unsure of itself upon his return.

“I think what happened is you lose a little confidence,” Latina proposed. “You’re asking guys to do different things because you don’t have Anquan. Then when he does come back, it takes us another two or three games to figure it out.”

“You take CJ Anthony off Iona, you take Kevair Kennedy off Merrimack or you take Amarri Monroe off Quinnipiac, or Gavin Doty off Siena, I don’t know how much better (they would be).”

Sacred Heart is hopeful to keep the timely roll alive Friday, when it faces regular season MAAC champion Merrimack. The Pioneers’ perimeter attack will be at a premium against the Warriors and head coach Joe Gallo’s 2-3 zone defense, but in a city known for its good fortune and games of chance, Lady Luck could once again be smiling upon the Pioneers.

“We’ve been a little snakebitten, and nobody’s feeling sorry for us,” Latina admitted. “But we’ve felt like when we’re healthy, we think we’re a top four team in the league. And if we had been healthy all year like the top teams were, we would have been playing on Saturday, but that’s not what happened.”

“The beauty of college basketball is we get a mulligan, we get another second chance. So that’s our story, and hopefully we can write a great story saying, ‘hey, we caught some bad breaks, but now we’re at full strength.’ Maybe we can be the story in the Northeast, in the MAAC this year.”