1. Both teams competed. Canisius entered 0-3 in conference while St. Peter’s was 1-2. It hasn’t been easy for either team. Regardless, they went after it in conference “battle-tested” fashion. St. Peter’s had a 16-point lead with just over five minutes to play. On the road and 3-10 on the season, it would have been easy for Canisius to ride out those final minutes. Instead they staged a determined rally that saw them attempt a game-tying three in the final seconds. Not about to lament over the last few minutes, St. Peter’s regrouped defensively for that crucial last possession and forced Harold Washington to launch an off-balance attempt that missed everything. The Peacocks held on for a win, bringing them to .500 in conference.
2. John Dunne has some young talent. It has been a learning experience with so many newcomers. At this point the St. Peter’s coach is pleased with their development and daily improvement. Sophomore guard Chris Burke, listed at 6-4 but playing bigger,  had nine points and 11 rebounds. “(Burke) just gave us so much energy,” Dunne praised. Freshman guard Lamin Fulton is a player Dunne wants to produce in the scoring column. He’s done just that of late and led St. Peter’s with 14 points.
3. Work in progress. Early in the season Dunne wanted to teach his team to stay in games. Now he’s focusing on closing them out. St. Peter’s got the win in a close game but there is significant work to do. “Overall our performance was good,” Dunne said, “but in the last few minutes we didn’t keep people in front of us defensively. We allowed too much penetration by their guards. On offense we made a lot of errors in execution. It’s something we really have to address.”

Canisius was led by Alshwan  Hymes with a game-high 15 points. Chris Manhertz of Canisius and St. Peter’s Burke shared rebounding honors with 11 apiece. In a game frequently less than artistic, both teams had 17 turnovers. In the tempo-free TO rate that equals a 23 percent rate for Canisius and 24 percent on the part of St. Peter’s. Bot figures are too high over the 20 percent cutoff.

The key, as noted, was defense.  Marist is basically a perimeter team. “With their dribble drive, they try to get mismatches with ball screens, cuts and handoffs,” St. Peter’s coach John Dunne said. “They do not have a true post game, so we didn’t want them to spread us out.  We were willing to give up a few threes.”

Marist shot 5 of 14 beyond the arc. Overall the Red Foxes were 15 of 42. Marist trailed 27-21 at the break, but in the first ten minutes of the second had managed only two field goals as St. Peter’s enjoyed a comfortable double-digit lead.

Execution and balance were also keys for Dunne’s club, seeing how they ran their offense and their inside/outside approach. Ryan Bacon (12 points, eight rebounds) established himself inside, while Nick Leon (a game-high 16 points) was effective on the perimeter and did a good job running the team from the lead guard spot. “Ryan had a good game against Marist last year, so he came in with confidence,” Dunne said. “If he didn’t miss a few easy ones early he could have had a monster game.”
All things considered, it was a solid win over a team that has lost several heart-breakers and was coming off a victory over Manhattan on Saturday. “They (Marist) are going to beat some people,” Dunne said. “I was pleased with our defensive intensity the first 32 minutes. The last eight, we let up a bit.” In those final eight, Marist never got the deficit under double figures.

Notes

• The Red Foxes were paced by Sam Prescott, a freshman guard who came off the bench to score 14 points. Devin Price, another freshman guard, added 12 points.
• Marist has no seniors in the starting lineup and went with a starting five of three freshmen and two juniors.
• Among those in attendance was Nick Mariniello, coach at Hudson Catholic, a school two blocks from St.Peter’s. Wesley Jenkins of St. Peter’s and RJ Hall of Marist both played for a few of Mariniello’s state champions at Bloomfield (NJ) Tech High School.
• Marist entered the game shooting 61 percent from the line. So much for tendencies, as they hit a perfect 14 of 14 for the night.

A women’s game last Tuesday. Pitt just got into the rankings at 25th. Seton Hall was playing well and hosting the Panthers at Walsh Gym, a place Pitt has struggled in recent seasons. The game was never in doubt. The Panthers raced to a 42-17 halftime lead. They simply dominated from tap to buzzer. The defense was just as impressive as the offensive end. Pitt forced 21 turnovers while limiting the Pirates to 13 field goals and 24% shooting from the floor. Shavonte Zellous, one of the Big East’s best, led Pitt with a game high 29 points.

“We played great,” Pitt coach Agnus Berenato said. “We were on a mission we took this as a business trip. We were worried about this game because we watched Seton Hall on tape and saw they are a good team. They took Notre Dame to the wire here a few weeks ago. Our defense, though, was phenomenal.”

To a person Pitt is wonderful. Starting with Berenato, her staff, players and support personnel, the entire group is cooperative, friendly and personable. They just go out and make life miserable for their opposition from tip to buzzer.

“We really wanted to win this for Janey,” Berenato said. ‘Janey’  is Jania Sims the junior point guard for Pitt who is out for the year with a stress fracture. Sims is a Newark native who played at powerhouse Shabazz High School. “My team really wanted to win this for Janey,” Berenato said. They did and in convincing fashion.

Providence    98    Seton Hall 93 (OT)

On Thursday evening over the Prudential Center the Seton Hall men battled but came up short in search of their first Big East win of the season. Providence gradually wore down the Pirates, fouling out three players in the process, to earn a hard fought road win.

The opening half saw a shootout. Providence led 46-42 and both teams were attacking the basket, with bombs from beyond the arc. At the half the teams were shooting a combined over 60% from three. Providence was 9 for 12 while the Hall was 6 of 12. The final half saw Providence coach Keno Davis make a more concerted effort to attack the basket, the traditional way, in the paint. “We made it a point to attack the basket and wear them down,’ Keno said. “ I was pleased because earlier in the season if a team starting taking away our threes defensively we would have moved farther out and kept shooting them. Today we showed our maturity as a team.”

Jeremy Hazell led all scorers with 30 points (7 of 12 beyond the arc). In crunch time of regulation and overtime Providence made it a point not to allow Hazell any good uncontested looks. Jeff Xavier, ironically a Bobby Gonzalez recruit and player at Manhattan led four Friar double digit scorers with 20 points.

Gonzalez was not thrilled with Providence’s 42-22 edge in free throw attempts but did not criticize the officials. In all fairness, the Hall had a 6-5 advantage at halftime when it was a perimeter game, In the final half Providence went inside as noted and enjoyed a 41-30 final edge on the boards. Those factors get you to the line.

“We have to keep fighting, “ Gonzalez emphasized. “We have been playing some pretty good ball but nothing in this league is automatic.”

St.Peter’s    64        Niagara    46

On Friday at Yanitelli Center this MAAC women’s matchup saw two teams looking for better days. St.Peter’s is coming off a strong season that saw them advance to the conference semifinal. The Peahens entered the game 5-11 (2-5 in the MAAC). Simply, it’s a case of replacing several key losses from last year. Niagara, on the other hand, entered in the midst of a dreadful 1-17 campaign.

From the outset this would be St.Peter’s’ night. The hosts raced to a 39-16 halftime lead. Niagara shot 26% the first half with only six first half field goals. For the game the Purple Eagles had more turnovers (20) than field goals (17).

St.Peter’s was led by senior guard Tania Kennedy, a consistent performer this season, with 21 points. There were a number of contributors that pleased coach Stephanie DeWolfe. “We had a great first half,” DeWolfe said. “Execution could have been a little better second half but overall I’m pleased.” A few areas are positives to the St.Peter’s mentor.

The play of Charlene Riddick, a sophomore post player, is improving and giving the team an inside presence. “We are young,” DeWolfe said. “The freshman are working hard and coming along and we have been playing with a freshman point guard (Sakara House) out there.”  Among the first year players, Jamie Smith, a 5-6 guard is coming on and contributing. Smith had 17 points (10 of 11 from the line) in a recent win over Loyola.“We’re coming along as a team,” DeWoilfe added.

St.Peter’s is halfway through their MAAC schedule. As a staff and team, they eagerly look forward to the second half.

The game was close for a good portion of the opening half. Seton Hall started opening a lead the latter minutes and went into the half with a 27-19 lead. St. Peter’s, now 2-4 on the year, is a young team. Coach Stephanie DeWolfe’s group displayed their youth by missing several good scoring opportunities early on.

Midway through the second half, Ebonie Williams, the fine sophomore guard, hit three consecutive jumpers to open a comfortable double-digit lead for the Pirates. Williams paced all scorers with 17 points. Jamie Smith came off the bench to lead St. Peter’s with 13 points.

St. Peter’s also had a difficult time matching up with Noteisha Womack. The 6-3 senior is playing extremely well of late and had another double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Beside the damage done by the inside-outside combination of Womack and Williams, Phyllis Mangina’s club received contributions from the bench. Jadis Rhoden and Kandice Green came off the bench to contribute 11 and seven respective points. Tania Kennedy, St.Peter’s senior guard, added 11 points, including the 1,000th of her career.

Fordham Battles Valiantly in Loss

On Thursday evening Fordham dropped a heartbreaker to Fairfield in a men’s contest at the Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx. The Rams dropped to 1-6 while Fairfield improved to 6-3.

When it rains it pours. It was simply a succession of hard luck for Fordham on this rainy evening. Fordham was minus the services of Brenton Butler, the fine junior guard who injured his ankle in the win over Lafayette three days earlier. About a minute following tip-off, Chris Bethel broke his nose. He had a strong 19-point outing against Lafayette and entered the contest as Fordham’s primary inside threat.

To their credit, the Rams competed. They trailed 32-31 at the half. When the Stags opened up a seven-point lead with just over eleven minutes left, the feeling was Fairfield would pull away. Led by freshman leads guard Jio Fontan, Fordham refused to go away. They tied the game with twenty seconds left on an inside shot by Luke Devine. Fordham answered with a three pointer by Lyndon Jordan with two seconds to play. It was Jordan’s only field goal attempt in the only minute he logged for the evening.

Fontan led the Rams with 22 points, while swingman Mike Moore added 20. Fairfield had three players in double figures, paced by Jonathan Han’s 14 points. Anthony Johnson, a solid 6-8 inside player had a strong outing for Ed Cooley’s club with nine points, 13 boards and two blocks.

Fairfield/Fordham Notes

• Fontan realized with Butler, and then Bethel out, he had to run the offense and also look for his shots. As noted he scored 22 points, on 7 of 12 shooting and looked for his teammates in the framework of the offense. “Jio grew up tonight,” said Fordham coach Dereck Whittenburg. “He picked it up and really had a good game. He understands what is required to run an offense.”
• When asked what his biggest adjustment to college ball, Fontan, who starred at national prep power St. Anthony’s (NJ) simply says, “Just coming in and as point guard adjusting and getting to know my teammates and their tendencies.”
• Whittenburg, confident and upbeat, maintains this is a new season. “The first five games were something else,” he said. “We are in a new season in my estimation and we’re one and one… We are definitely becoming a better team as our young guys are learning.”