SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With Mount St. Mary’s, you saw it all on Thursday night. You saw the reasons why the team is a few games below .500. You saw the stamp the new staff is putting on the program. You saw a team that has a new level of energy. You saw some hope for the future.
Unfortunately, you also saw a great effort come up short in a tough 79-78 overtime loss to Northeast Conference leader Bryant. You saw a loss that could have been a big win that might turn the season in a different direction.
New head coach Jamion Christian has started to get some life in the program again. The Mount was one of the top teams in the NEC during much of Milan Brown’s tenure following legendary coach Jim Phelan. Christian is an alum of the school, he’s personable and knows the school and is doing all he can to get it going again. It won’t happen right away, but his team almost got a big boost on Thursday night.
“Tonight was a big step,” said Christian. “I keep talking about our team and our character, and I think we have a tremendous amount of it in that locker room.”
A big reason for The Mount’s up-and-down play is what has happened at the defensive end. Opponents are shooting 55 percent from the field on the year, and NEC play hasn’t changed that much as opponents are shooting over 50 percent from the field in the first five games. Only three times all season have they held an opponent below 50 percent. In addition, opponents are shooting just under 44 percent from long range against them, although Bryant was 4-16 from deep on Thursday.
As if that’s not enough, the Mountaineers are getting hammered on the backboards by a margin of eight per game. NEC play has been better as the deficit is over three, but that was one area that hurt on Thursday night as Bryant out-rebounded them by six.
“We’ve just got to continue to make sure we’re working every day on defense and taking pride in it,” said Christian.
Certainly, the Mountaineers played a tough non-conference schedule. They played just three home games, winning all of them, and their road trips included Pittsburgh, Georgetown, MAAC favorite Loyola (Md.) and Indiana. Pittsburgh, Georgetown and Indiana all shot at least 63 percent against them. Play against that kind of competition and there might well be an ugly number or two along the way, especially when it’s a team in transition.
Through all the challenges, there is reason for hope. Some of that showed up with the play of Shivaughn Wiggins, the freshman point guard who started in place of injured starter Josh Castellanos. Castellanos has been battling a bum ankle that caused him to miss the game against Monmouth nearly two weeks earlier. He played the two games prior to Thursday night and was effective, but Christian said this is a nagging injury and thus his availability going forward may be inconsistent. In his stead, Wiggins had 20 points on 8-10 shooting, making all three of his attempts from long range. Included in that was a three-pointer with 13 seconds left off a steal of an inbounds pass to tie it.
“I think tonight, Shivaughn just gave us a big boost because he’s a freshman, he doesn’t know any better and he wants to go out there and prove he belongs at this level, and he did exactly that,” Christian said. “I don’t think anyone in our locker room is surprised at how well he played.”
Mount St. Mary’s is about to finish up a tough stretch of four straight on the road, something that rarely happens in conference play anywhere. Next month, they have four in a row at home, which will make up for this, although four in a row on the road early can put a team in the hole.
The Mountaineers are in a building season, with their only senior being a walk-on. The staff feels the players have bought in to what they’re trying to do, and they have some pieces with Wiggins, George Mason transfer Rashad Whack and juniors Castellanos, Julian Norfleet, Sam Prescott and Kristijan Krajina. They are forcing turnovers, a key since Christian wants to play like VCU, for whom he was an assistant prior to returning to his alma mater, and that included forcing Bryant into 20 turnovers on Thursday night.
A lot of Mount St. Mary’s present and future could be seen on Thursday night. They gave the conference leaders all they could handle on the road, making a late run when it didn’t look like they might have it in them. They didn’t pull the game out, and the defensive statistics were not good again, but the intangibles were there and a look beyond the box score shows the new staff is moving the program forward.
