MAAC Semifinal Notes
by Ray Floriani
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Defense wins championships. More than a coaching cliché, it was the order of the evening as it played an instrumental part in Siena and Niagara advancing to the MAAC finals. Siena upset top seed Marist 86-78 in the opener, then Niagara led from virtually tap to buzzer in defeating Loyola in the nightcap.
In the opener, Siena came out with some tough defense. That didn’t surprise Marist coach Matt Brady, but what did surprise Brady was Siena’s shooting. “We were ready for their (Siena’s) defense,” Brady said.” But they shot the ball very well. Our defense let us down.”
Siena trailed by six at the half, then shot 64 percent the final twenty minutes to seal the verdict. Siena guard Kenny Hasbrouck led all scorers with 26 points. Will Whittington led Marist with 19, while the ever dangerous Jared Jordan scored 18 but suffered through a 6-of-17 shooting night.
“We had a game plan and our players bought into it,” Siena coach Fran McCaffery said. It simply involved defending the three-pointer, sprinting back on defense and defending Jordan. Marist (39 percent from the field) shot 11-of-35 from three with the normally deadly Jordan a cool 2-of-8.
“Each game we kept getting better,” Hasbrouck said.” Tonight we showed how good our defense is.”
There were several keys to Niagara’s 89-79 victory in the second game.
- Defense: Loyola did score 79 points, but was held to 43 percent shooting the second half. Niagara also owned the battle of the boards, a key part of defense, with a 41-23 edge. MAAC leading scorer Gerald Brown went for a game-high 26 points. He was 7-of-18 from the floor and no one else on Loyola did significant damage.
- Attacking the basket: The Purple Eagles took 26 threes, hitting seven. They did make a priority of getting in the lane and going to the basket. In the final eight minutes of the first half, Niagara scored 10 field goals, 8 of them in the paint. A number of those threes became available when Loyola sagged and the penetrator kicked it out to the perimeter.
- Tyrone Lewis: The 6′ freshman guard led Niagara with 23 points in relief. Coming off the bench, Lewis brought instant energy as one of the primary intruders in the lane on the Niagara attack.
Niagara led by ten at the half. After intermission the Purple Eagles consistently enjoyed double-digit leads. Loyola coach Jimmy Pastos countered Niagara’s inside presence utilizing two big men. Hassan Fofana (11 points) and Michael Tuck (9 points) basically did their damage when the issue had virtually settled.
The Purple Eagles, winners of 11 straight, had three other players in double figures: guard Lorenzo Miles (22 points) and forwards Cliff Brown (18) and Charron Fisher (16)
Notes
- Lewis gives Niagara a great deal of energy and fire power off the bench. His role came quite by accident. “He was starting early but got hurt against Duquesne,” Niagara assistant Phil Martelli Jr. said. “We put (Rydell) Brooks in the starting lineup, and when Lewis came back he came in he actually gave us a lift coming off the bench. Now that’s his (Lewis) role.”
Lewis was selected to the All-Rookie team. The Co-Rookies of the year were Canisius’ Frank Turner and Edwin Ubiles of Siena. Lewis said he “wasn’t upset about it (not getting a share of the top award). I just want to go out and play hard every night.” - Siena assistant Mitch Buonoguro was naturally pleased to be in the final but not totally shocked his team beat Marist. “We played them and both games (Siena losses) went into overtime,” Buonoguro said. “Our kids came out with a lot of confidence and believed they could win.” Buonoguro praised the MAAC balance in saying, “I thought six teams had a legitimate chance to win this tournament.”
- Marist’s seniors, whom Brady felt particularly bad for, felt the pain. Star guard Jared Jordan was very short on words in just saying, “I thought we were the best team here. We are just very disappointed.”
- “I am disheartened for our seniors, especially the guards,” Brady said. “They have been the face of our program since I’ve been here.”
- It was a bit of a charmed existence for Niagara. Twice in the second half, the shot clock was winding down and the Purple Eagles had to settle for a desperation shot. One time, Lorenzo Miles drained a thirty-five footer. On another occasion, a rushed trey missed but Niagara’s Stanley Hodge, a high school teammate of Miles, grabbed the rebound and converted on the offensive board.
- Earlier in the day the Marist women defended their MAAC title by defeating Iona in overtime. The Marist team was at the men’s contest and junior guard Nikki Flores spent the game proudly clutching the championship trophy and the net.
- By a quirk in schedule Niagara hasn’t met Siena since January 5th. “We played Rider and Loyola (two earlier opponents) recently,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. “Siena is a lot different from when we faced them last, so tonight we’ll be up late watching tape.”
On the Baseline
- The Niagara cheerleaders also had an eight-hour bus ride that began 4:30 A.M. on Thursday, similar to Canisius. They had another obstacle as well: a virus. “It’s been going around like crazy but fortunately no one missed a game,” said cheer coach Keiyonna Hill, who sounded like a basketball mentor.
- On hearing my Bonaventure alumni background, Niagara cheerleader Ericka Daubert, a freshman from Mexico, NY, urged me to root for Niagara. Impartiality rules but she was happy to hear the objective truth: Joe Mihalich is a class guy doing a great job running a solid mid-major program.
