Hawks Hang on Against Seawolves
by Sam Perkins
HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford Hawks need Warren McLendon.
If that wasn’t obvious before the Hawks’ game Thursday night, it certainly was afterwards. In what was truly a tale of two halves (or, perhaps more accurately, the tale of one and a third half and a two third’s of a half), Hartford put Stony Brook in their rear view mirror, and then hung on for dear life to earn an 83-81 victory.
More than anything, however, it was a case of when the Hawks play with Warren McLendon, versus when they play without him, as the Seawolves were able to come back big once Hartford’s man in the middle was out of the game.
When McLendon was on the court, he did what ever he wanted in the paint, and was the catalyst for the offense, scoring down low and dishing out six assists to the Hawks’ sharpshooters. However, a poor decision on his part and questionable officiating took McLendon out the game for almost an entire half, and Stony Brook did what they have not been able to do all season: capitalize.
Led by Ricky Lucas, who erupted for 33 points, 24 of which came after the half, the Seawolves rallied but could never quite climb out of the hole they dug themselves into in the first half.
In the early going, Stony Brook made Hartford play Seawolves basketball, as the Hawks had trouble setting up an offense because of Stony Brook’s pressure defense. When Hartford did break through, their shots weren’t falling, and the Seawolves managed to keep pace, and even take an early lead in a sloppy game. Hartford’s sluggish start and lackluster defense allowed Stony Brook to score in transition, and off of broken plays.
However, when McLendon checked into the game, the Hawks’ offense took on a new dimension, and he’s a player that defenses have to key on every second that he’s on the court. Stony Brook was no different, as they focused their defense on collapsing on him every time he touched the ball. “He’s a good player and a real presence in the paint, he’s a factor, and you have to know where he is on the court at all times,” said Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell.
McLendon has spent the majority of the season adjusting to Hartford’s offense and re-adjusting to the college game, as it had been almost two whole years since he last played in a game that mattered after leaving The Citadel and transferring to Hartford. Early in the season he struggled greatly with double teams, forcing bad shots. Lately, he seems to finally be putting it all together, and has been hitting Hartford’s shooters with passes out of the post in response to double teams, and versus Stony Brook, his passing was on full display. Hartford began to run their offense through McLendon, working the ball into the post, and the Seawolves were forced to respond by collapsing down on him to prevent easy buckets. McLendon responded brilliantly, with pin-point dishes around the perimeter, and the Hawks began to light it up from downtown.
Morgan Sabia and Brian Glowiak spearheaded the three-point barrage, but it was Andres Torres who truly changed the game, nailing a 26-foot three off of the dribble right after checking in, and nailing another deep three off a McLendon feed minutes later. Torres’ tremendous speed and passing ability, combined with McLendon’s post presence, completely opened the floor up for the Hawks, whose offense hit a new stride with both on the floor. The freshman point guard had no trouble breaking through Stony Brook’s press, and did a terrific job of drawing defensive attention by penetrating and then kicking out to the open man.
Torres’ performance, during his most meaningful minutes of the season, had his coach very excited about the future. “I think he’s starting to finally understand some things that I’ve been trying to preach to him all year,” said head coach Dan Leibovitz. “He’s one of the keys to our season, anytime he comes in there he changes the dynamic of the game. He pushes the ball, he finds people.”
With the Hawks’ perimeter players hitting on all cylinders, Stony Brook was forced to change their defensive approach, and once they put their defensive focus on the perimeter and away from the post, McLendon went to work, converting on a pair of beautiful up and under lay-ups in which he switched from his right to his left (off hand) in mid-air before finishing.
The second half began with Hartford holding a 44-35 lead, and for the first ten minutes it was much of the same, with McLendon dominating the paint and showing off an assortment of spin moves and high-flying acrobatics, while continuing to distribute to around the perimeter. With nine minutes left McLendon found Glowiak twice, resulting in back-to-back three’s which pushed Hartford’s lead to 65-53, but from that point out it would be the Hawks hanging on for dear life.
All season long the story for Hartford has been keeping McLendon on the court, as he has racked up fouls like no one else in the league. No other player in the league has McLendon’s physical strength, and the book on him has been to flop whenever he gets the ball. The most frustrating thing for McLendon and the Hawks hasn’t been simply the amount of fouls called on McLendon, but the fact that America East officials don’t seem to call it both ways. McLendon will get called for all sorts of touch fouls on one end of the court, and on the other end opponents are able to freely abuse him with all kinds of elbows and forearm shots without drawing any calls of their own.
This was never more evident than against Stony Brook, as McLendon drew three very questionable fouls in the first 30 minutes of the game, and took a physical pounding on the other end. Despite absorbing the kind of hits that would draw personal-foul flags in a football game, McLendon was rewarded only once with a trip to the free-throw line.
With ten minutes remaining in the game, and the Hawks holding a comfortable nine-point lead, McLendon lost his composure. After a beautiful spin move in the paint, McLendon put up a jump hook and appeared to draw a lot of contact, enough so to alter his shot, causing it to fall far short of the rim. Yet once again the refs swallowed their whistles. Immediately after missing his shot, McLendon said something to the nearest official, drawing technical foul. It was the fourth personal on McLendon, forcing him to the bench for the immediate future, and giving Stony Brook life with ten minutes left.
In fairness to McLendon, replays on the video monitor clearly showed him getting hit with a vicious elbow directly in the temple, but his coach made no excuses, saying, “(McLendon) had no business doing that, no right to do that. The only person allowed to blow his top out there is me.”
With McLendon on the bench, Hartford now found themselves in the perfect storm of “everything that can go wrong will go wrong,” as the Hawks, undersized under normal circumstances, were now pint-sized, as they were also without center Kevin Estes, who left the game in the first half after taking a shot in the head. Andres Torres also picked up two quick fouls, and Lucas found himself in a zone that he has never been in before.
Two troubling trends for Hartford once again surfaced, the first of which was being burned from behind the arc, as Hartford has struggled all season long to defend the three ball. Lucas was the main culprit, as he scored 24 of his career-high 33 points after the intermission. The fifth-year senior couldn’t miss, going 9-12 from the floor and 5-7 from behind the arc. When Lucas didn’t score, he got to the foul line, going a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe.
Lucas’ explosion was especially troubling to Leibovitz, as the Hawks’ defensive scheme revolved around shutting him down, as he later explained. “Ricky Lucas had a great night, but I’m disappointed in the fact that we have him down as a marked guy,” said Leibovitz.
The second trend for Hartford was once again being beaten in the battle of the boards, as the Hawks were out-rebounded 40-21. Whenever Stony Brook missed, they seemed to come up with the rebound, getting multiple second and even third chances. In fairness to Hartford, without both McLendon and Estes, they didn’t have much of a chance.
Luckily for Hartford, they built up just enough of a lead before things fell apart to hang on. “Luckily we did get out to a twelve point cushion, if we didn’t build up that big a lead, things could have been a lot closer,” said forward Michael Turner.
Indeed, if the game was 41 minutes long instead of 40, Hartford may not have been able to hang on. Sabia was huge in keeping the Hawks ahead, as every time Stony Brook made a run, it was Sabia to answer back, as he scored sixteen points, eight in the second half. Turner was also nails, scoring a team-high 17 points, eight of which came from the charity stripe.
Despite Sabia and Turner’s heroics, the Seawolves still had the ball in their hands, trailing by two, with thirteen seconds left. But freshman Anthony Minor knocked the ball away from Lucas as time expired, giving the Hawks the win.
The final play was the last questionable call, in a long night of questionable calls from the officials, as Minor appeared to run Lucas over before knocking the ball away. But for Hartford there was some feeling of turnabout being fair play, as the Hawks found themselves at the wrong end of non-calls all night. McLendon was often a victim, Estes appeared to have been run over chasing after a lose ball when he was injured, and Von Rosenberg was essentially tackled when he went air born to intercept a pass, once again resulting in a non-call.
Although the Hawks continue to get burned from behind the arc and are still getting killed on the boards, what is encouraging is that the Hawks were able to win without McLendon for much of the game. They also won with Joe Zeglinski, their leading scorer and the heart of the team, struggling through the worst shooting night of his career (3-14 from the floor, 1-8 from behind the arc). The Hawks were able to win by controlling the ball, as they had a season-best five turnovers and twenty assists, and the continued emergence of Sabia, and progress of Torres are encouraging signs.
