LEAN, N.Y. - One coach's words fell on deaf ears. The other coach pumped up the volume. The decibels made the difference.
LEAN, N.Y. - One coach's words fell on deaf ears. The other coach pumped up the volume. The decibels made the difference.
With his team trailing by 10 following a slam by Massachusetts forward Chris Kirkland, St. Bonaventure coach Jim Baron called timeout with 12:39 to play and let his Bonnies have a large piece of his mind.
''Just a little constructive criticism,'' Baron said of his heated huddle. ''At that point I just knew we had to rise above. Our guys knew what we had to do.''
They responded with a 53-50 comeback win as Tim Winn and Peter Van Paassen led a late surge for the Bonnies' first Atlantic 10 win yesterday.
''Watch out for turnovers,'' UMass coach Bruiser Flint told his team. ''Take care of the ball.'' The Minutemen turned the ball over 21 times, 11 times on steals, four of those picked off by Winn.
Audio clip: Listen to some of Bruiser's post-game comments. 69k WAVCourtesey: WHMP |
Winn scored 13 points, and Van Paassen added 12 for the Bonnies (6-8, 1-2). Freshman guard J. R. Bremer scored 11, and Caswell Cyrus scored 10.
Van Paassen, a 6-foot-11-inch sophomore from Holland, converted loose balls and rebounds into points and shot 6 for 8 from the foul line. He also helped the Bonnies limit UMass center Lari Ketner to 3 points.
Chris Kirkland scored 14 points, and Monty Mack added 13 for the Minutemen. It was the first Atlantic 10 loss for UMass (5-8, 2-1), coming off a 67-65 win at Fordham.
The Minutemen, who had won only one game on the road, led, 26-21, at halftime.
A 3-pointer by David Messiah Capers and Winn's two baskets, one off his own steal, cut the deficit to 40-37.
A pair of Van Paassen free throws gave the Bonnies their first lead, 41-40, with 5:59 to play.
Ketner gave the Minutemen their last lead 20 seconds later. A rebound and basket by Bremer gave the Bonnies the lead for good.
Following a turnover by Jonathan DePina, Van Paassen completed a 3-point play to push St. Bonaventure ahead by 6 at 53-47 with 31 seconds left.
Both teams shot poorly from 3-point territory, the Minutemen going 2 for 11, the Bonnies 3 for 12.
''This was an opportunity for us to be 3-0 in the league, with a home game coming up on Wednesday,'' Flint said. ''You've got to win your home games and also steal a couple on the road. This is one that we let get away from us.''
LEAN, N.Y. -- In a University of Massachusetts men's basketball season that
apparently isn't meant to be, perhaps this game wasn't meant to be, either.
The big Lari Ketner-Caswell Cyrus showdown in the low post never materialized -- not with Cyrus being disciplined by his coach and Ketner being punished by the referees. But what really doomed UMass yesterday was 21 turnovers, the killer statistic in the 53-50 loss to St. Bonaventure at Reilly Center before 5,573.
With 12 minutes left, UMass led by 10 and was playing well. But if it's not one thing for the Minutemen this season, it's another.
"One key for us was to take care of the ball, but (St. Bonaventure guard Tim) Winn disrupted us, and we couldn't get into our offense," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said after the Minutemen had fallen to 5-8, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10 Confere nce. "That was it in a nutshell. And we not only had turnovers, but they scored off them, too."
The Bonnies (6-8, 1-2) put four players in double figures, led by Winn's 12 points. Center Peter Van Paassen, who started in place of Cyrus, added 12 points with five rebounds, probably more production than the Bonnies had a right to expect from their backup big man.
"Without question this was an opportunity lost," Flint said. "We could have been 3-0 in the league with a home game coming up (Wednesday against Duquesne). But I think we let this one slip away."
Two crucial stretches hurt UMass badly. One came in the final minute of the first half, when a couple of unlucky bounces and judgment mistakes helped St. Bonaventure cut a 26-17 deficit into a more manageable 26-21 gap at halftime.
But the turning point was an 11-0 Bonnies' run in the second half, when UMass went seven minutes without scoring and saw a 40-30 lead turn into a 41-40 deficit.
Ketner picked up two early fouls and missed the final 14 minutes in the half. He started the second half but was called for his third after 30 seconds and finished with three points and six rebounds in 16 minutes.
That wasn't why UMass lost, though. With Winn leading the defensive havoc Bonaventure rattled UMass in the second half, while the Bonnies shot 54.5 percent after the break -- a stark contrast from a 34.8 percent first-half showing.
Van Paassen started in place of Cyrus, who was briefly benchedfor his behavior at practice. The discipline wasn't that severe, though, because the 6-foot-9 junior and A-10 shot-blocking leader played 32 minutes with 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
Van Paassen's play was a big bonus, though.
"UMass is such a big team," the 6-11 sophomore said. "Every guy they bring seems about 6-9 and 250 or 260 pounds. Ketner is big and mobile, so I tried to be aggressive to see how he reacted."
Winn's pesky play especially bothered UMass because Minuteman point guar lton Clarke, who played 28 minutes, was hobbled by a knee injury. Winn's back-to-back layups during the 11-0 second-half run helped put the Bonnies in front. Chris Kirkland tied career highs with 14 points and 11 rebounds for UMass. Monty Mack scored 13, but went 1 for 6 on 3-pointers.
"Chris and (small forward) Mike Babul played great, and we got good minutes from (reserve big men) Ajmal Basit, Kit Rhymer and Anthony Oates," Flint said. "But with us, it always seems like some guys are hitting on all cylinders, but some aren't."
UMass did its usual inefficient job at the foul line, hitting 10 of 19. Minutemen did have a 35-25 rebounding edge.
LEAN, N.Y. -- After Thursday night's University of Massachusetts men's basketball win over Fordham, point guard and captain Charlton Clarke spoke of how he knew he needed to lead his team, and yesterday he tried.
But after hobbling through 28 minutes with a bruised knee during the 53-50 loss to St. Bonaventure at Reilly Center, Clarke could go no further. The injury forced him to the bench for the final three minutes, and his absence made it clear that while the point has never been his natural position, UMass has no one to replace him and is in serious trouble when he can't play.
"We had problems making any passes at all," said coach Bruiser Flint, when Clarke is out of the lineup. Clarke told him he banged a knee in the Fordham game Thursday. Clarke shot 0 for 6 with six turnovers and two assists, but for now, at least, he's expected to be in the lineup Wednesday against Duquesne at Mullins Center.
Clarke was not available for postgame comment, but the loss made it clear how much his absence would be felt. Flint pulled him after the 6-foot-3 senior had been involved with consecutive turnovers that appeared directly linked to his injury. Trapped in the backcourt, he was unable to spin away and turned the ball over, then had a long pass intercepted when he may have been reluctant trying to dribble to break full-court pressure on the bad knee.
But as ineffective as he was, his value was most noticed when he was out. Jonathan DePina played 13 minutes yesterday with three turnovers, no assists and on only a 3-point shot with 17 seconds left to show for the positive side.
DePina's worst turnover came when he confronted defensive pressure committed an over-and-back violation at midcourt with 32 seconds l eft and UMass trailing 50-47.
"That one seemed to epitomize the game," Flint said with a sigh. Asked if he was worried about DePina's play at this level, Flint shrugged and said "Aren't you?
Flint spoke in tones that reflected concern, not anger, over DePina's lack of progress.
"Jonathan has been in these situations before," the coach said. "He should be able to handle it. But we weren't even able to run a play."
BRIGHT SIDE: While the guards struggled and the big guys battle trouble, Chris Kirkland and Mike Babul came up big.
Kirkland tied career highs in points (14) and rebounds (11) while Babul played nearly the entire game, offering stellar defense and an effective baseline move that resulted in 3-for-4 shooting.
"Chris and I know we'll get a lot of open shots," said Babul, aware that most opponents concentrate on stopping guard Monty Mack and center Lari Ketner. "Instead of just standing around, we know we have to get open, flash to the lane and flash to the elbows (of the foul-line area). But we're learning."
ET CETERA: Ketner was still bothered by an aching tooth that came about after he was hit in the mouth against Fordham. But what bothered him most yesterday were fouls, which limited him to 16 minutes, three points and six rebounds ... After losing 20 straight to UMass over a 9-year period, St. Bonaventure has won the last two meetings, both at Reilly Center.
LEAN, N.Y. -- This one wasn't Lari's fault, not by a long shot or even, since
we're talking about a 6-foot-10 low-post player, a short one.
This is important to mention because whenever University of Massachusetts basketball fans finish heaping blame on Bruiser Flint, they tend to heap what ever is left on Lari Ketner, and yesterday's three-point, six-rebound Ketner line score would seem to open the door for more of that.
But don't succumb. In fact, if you have any room for empathy this morning once you've digested yesterday's 53-50 loss to St. Bonaventure it wouldn't hurt to offer a little quiet, moral support to a player whose week was a rollercoaster ride like you'll never find at Six Flags or Riverside.
Ketner had cried after the loss to Iona, cleansed his soul at Fordham, a nd showed up yesterday at Reilly Center, refreshed and expecting to play well again. But he never had the chance. Two offensive fouls in the first six minutes, then another foul after 30 seconds of the second half, wound up limiting him to 16 minutes.
After Thursday night's wondrous showing against Fordham -- 21 points, 14 ds, four blocks -- it seemed so unfair. For not only did Ketner expect a good game yesterday, he deserved one.
"Lari gets beaten up half to death out there," said Flint, who thinks Ketner takes far more pounding than he's allowed to dish out. "He was trying hard, but when you get in foul trouble, you get tentative because you're afraid they'll call something."
Ketner had played his heart out at Fordham, and then poured it out after. He explained how the pressure of being the team's star -- a designation he's never sought, encouraged or endorsed -- had made him feel he was letting his teammates down.
He made it clear he only wanted to be part of this team, not its focal point a refreshingly humble attitude. He said how good he felt for his roommate, soph omore center Kitwana Rhymer, even though Ketner must have known that plenty of people were saying the improving Rhymer should have been playing instead of him.
It was an almost magical transformation, made more magical because it was genuine. We had forgotten that we were not dealing with a basketball machine here but with an introspective human being who had been handed a full plate of other people's expectations, then told to live up to them or else.
Before Thursday's game, Ketner's teammates had told him to forget about that, and his disposition changed dramatically. It was as if he'd needed reminding that these fellows were, after all, his friends.
"Having 15 guys back me up really helped," said Ketner, who was then ask if his confidence was high enough to withstand the inevitable bad game.
"I don't plan to have any more bad games," he'd said, and yesterday wasn't much a bad game for him as no game, an incomplete mark. He had tried to be aggressive, which is what everyone says they want, and the reward had been two earl y offensive fouls.
When he did play, the spirit was there, and he did grab six rebounds. But fouls took Ketner out of a game in which almost everyone associated with UMass basketball was rooting not only for the team, but especially for him.
Yet even in limited action, it was obvious Ketner was trying to stay the course and play with confidence, a trait incredibly hard to manufacture -- in any pur suit -- when it doesn't come naturally.
Suddenly, this sensitive man who has seemed imprisoned by other people's tations seems like someone very much worth rooting for. The results have fluctuated, but he is trying to do his share. And maybe, in this season that is trying everyone's patience, it wouldn't hurt for all of us to try to have a little more patience with him.
here wasn't much for the UMass coaching staff to savor upon their return to Amherst
yesterday.
At issue were the 21 turnovers that dearly cost the Minutemen in their 53-50 loss to St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
The problem was no longer a matter of whether the big men could do the job once they got the ball. With Charlton Clarke and Jonathan DePina struggling to set up a proper play, the ball wasn't getting to the big men.
The incessant run of mistakes obscured an interesting development along the baseline.
Mike Babul and Chris Kirkland, the two starting forwards who have always earned their keep on defense, appear to be shaking off the labels of being offense deficient.
Kirkland startled St. Bonaventure with 14 points and 11 boards against one of the bigger front lines in the Atlantic 10. Babul, the small forward, buried a dagger in Fordham a game earlier with nine points and six rebounds.
Both players are willing to take an open shot, which most often means driving to the baseline for a dunk or a layup. These opportunities are frequent. Opponents have become so accustomed to the sight of Babul in particular, looking to pass up shots, that the role of his man is generally to double-team Lari Ketner.
That all seemed to change in the first half of the St. Bonaventure game, when both players slashed for points along the baseline.
``Me and Chris know that we're going to get a lot of open shots,'' said Babul. ``(Against St. Bonaventure) it was a little easier, because they brought their big guys out and it was a little easier to drive around them.''
As UMass coach Bruiser Flint often notes, both players have the athletic ability to score.
Babul has used his quickness and strength to become one of the best defensive players in the A-10. Kirkland is a leaper who occasionally coasts in with the sort of dunk or finger roll that makes highlight reels.
Confidence appears to be a major part of the issue.
``The coach is telling us to be more aggressive and not to worry about missing a shot,'' said Kirkland, who is now less likely to rush a shot - an important factor for a player who can create his own shots.
``In my freshman and sophomore years I think I was just happy to get into a game,'' he said. ``But now I'm looking for more.''
Flint has to hope so. The development of these two players may be the only hope Ketner has left of escaping the weight of those double and triple teams.
``The last couple of games they have been taking the ball to the basket. It's good to see,'' said Flint. ``You see these guys starting to get better and then you think, OK, here we go. And then we get all of those turnovers.''
LEAN, N.Y. - Monty Mack's desperation three-pointer at the
buzzer fell woefully short as the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team blew a
10-point second-half lead and fell to St. Bonaventure, 53-50, Saturday at the Reilly Center.
Charlton Clarke struggled with a knee injury that he suffered against Fordham which caused him to limp around the court. He turned the ball over on two consecutive plays with just over three minutes left, causing UMass coach Bruiser Flint to pull him in favor of Jonathan DePina.
DePina was overmatched defensively by Tim Winn. With 34.3 seconds left and UMass trailing 50-43, Mike Babul inbounded the ball from the halfcourt line to DePina in the backcourt. As soon as he stepped over the line, Winn guarded him tightly. In an effort to get around Winn, the side of DePina's foot crossed into the backcourt to turn the ball over.
Rattled, UMass left Peter Van Paassen open under the basket and David Messiah Capers inbounded the ball to him from halfcourt. Chris Kirkland raced back to try to recover for UMass, but Van Paassen dunked the ball and was fouled in the process. He made the free throw to put St. Bonaventure ahead 53-47.
DePina answered with a three at the other end and Mike Babul quickly fouled Van Paassen on the inbounds pass. The sophomore center missed both free throws with 16.2 seconds left.
UMass struggled to push the ball up the court and when it finally did, DePina missed a would-be game-tying free throw, but Lari Ketner grabbed the rebound and called time out with 1.4 seconds left.
With Babul inbounding the ball, Mack curled around and caught the inbounds pass and turned around and fired. It appeared as if he never got a good grip on the ball as it flew short.
The Bonnies exposed a collection of weaknesses that have plagued the Minutemen (5-8, 2-1 Atlantic 10). UMass shot 4-for-11 from the free throw line in the second half and committed 21 turnovers including several down the stretch. The Minutemen only scored 10 points in the last 10 minutes.
Foul trouble plagued UMass as well as Ketner and Ajmal Basit each had to play with four fouls for long stretches in the second half. Ketner was limited to just 16 minutes due to his early fouls and finished with just three points and six rebounds.
"I didn't think he played badly," Flint said. "He just got in foul trouble."
Kirkland was a bright spot for UMass with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Tim Winn led the Bonnies with 13 points, five assists and four steals.
LEAN, N.Y. - With 52.6 seconds left in the game, University of
Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint pumped his fist in frustrated admiration.
St. Bonaventure point guard Tim Winn had just raced by his Minuteman counterpart Jonathan DePina and the rest of the UMass defense and drove the baseline to put the Bonnies ahead, 50-46.
The hosts held on for the win. As he walked off the court Flint's frustration may have been mixed with a twist of envy, as Winn appears to be almost exactly what the Minutemen are missing.
UMass has never been known as a point guard factory, but Minuteman floor generals that have manned the offense this decade, Anton Brown, Derek Kellogg and Edgar Padilla, have gotten the job done. But when compared to Winn and several other opposing point guards, the Minutemen running the show this year have struggled.
It is difficult to criticize Charlton Clarke, who has started at the position every game this season. Clarke's mental understanding of the game and his teammates will make him a great coach someday if he so chooses, and his heart, work ethic and willingness to do whatever he is capable of to help UMass win has made up for some physical deficiencies.
Clarke's outside-shooting is inconsistent enough that opponents can play off him a little which puts them in better position to cut off passes and stop him from driving to the basket.
In an ideal world, Clarke is the two-guard on a team with a point guard that can shoot, or a wing guard in a three-guard offense, both of which would allow him to just worry about driving to the basket and utilizing his trademarked running-one-hander.
Clarke is solid enough and experienced enough, that had he been healthy Saturday, his ability in the clutch may have been enough to push the Minutemen past St. Bonaventure.
But his knee that he banged against Fordham was obviously limiting his effectiveness. Two straight wince-faced turnover passes in succession ended his afternoon however, forcing Flint to put his teams fortunes in DePina's hands.
"I knew he was hurt, but he said he was okay to play," Flint said.
Thursday against Fordham, DePina was called for traveling and missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final minute of the game that allowed the Rams a chance to win the game on a last second shot.
DePina's confidence was dealt another blow against the Bonnies. Under pressure from Winn, his critical step behind the halfcourt line with 31.4 seconds left and the Minutemen trailing by just three, dug deeper a hole that they would never climb out of.
"Jonathan's been in that situation before," Flint said. "He should be able to handle it ... Jonathan has played much better than this before. He was better than this as a freshman."
DePina is fast, but not so fast that he can just race by most opponents. When he's being guarded tightly, DePina appears to be so worried about just not getting the ball stolen, that his time to actually make the right pass is limited.
"We had trouble making a pass," Flint said. "You say Lari (Ketner) doesn't get the ball, but a lot of that has to do with the way our guards play. Winn did a great job disrupting things not just in the full court, but in the halfcourt too ..."
The best hope for the future appears to be Shannon Crooks, the St. John's transfer, who is sitting out this season due to NCAA transfer regulations.
"Shannon can make it a little bit different," Flint said. "Athletically if Tim Winn tries to steal it from Shannon, Shannon might end up dunking on their big men."
The fact that the position in question is point guard has to be even more aggravating for Flint, who shined at the position for St. Joseph's in the late 1980s.
It won't be easily remedied either. The Minutemen will see Winn again, George Washington's Shawnta Rogers and Pepe Sanchez of Temple twice which could make for a long month-and-a-half.
| Massachusetts Minutemen | 50 |
| St. Bonaventure Bonnies | 53 |
| at St. Bonaventure | |
MASSACHUSETTS (50)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Kirkland 30 6-12 2-4 4-11 0 3 14
Babul 40 3-4 0-0 1-3 2 1 6
Ketner 16 1-3 1-4 1-6 0 4 3
Clarke 28 0-6 0-1 0-1 2 1 0
M Mack 39 5-11 2-2 0-2 4 2 13
Oates 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Depina 13 1-4 0-0 1-1 0 2 3
Cruz 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Rhymer 19 3-4 0-1 2-3 0 3 6
Basit 11 0-0 5-7 1-2 0 4 5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-45 10-19 10-29 8 20 50
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.422, FT-.526. 3-Point Goals:
2-11, .182 (Clarke 0-2, M Mack 1-6, Depina 1-3).
Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 1 (Ketner).
Turnovers: 21 (Clarke 6, Babul 4, Depina 3, M
Mack 3, Ketner 2, Kirkland 2, Rhymer). Steals: 4
(Basit 2, Kirkland 2).
ST BONAVENTURE (53)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
King 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 0
Durham 20 0-2 0-2 1-3 0 2 0
Van Paassen 23 3-6 6-8 2-5 0 3 12
Capers 34 3-5 0-1 2-6 2 2 7
Winn 40 5-9 2-2 0-0 5 3 13
Massiah 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Bremer 36 4-9 2-2 2-4 4 1 11
Cyrus 32 5-13 0-1 1-5 0 2 10
Hayden 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-45 10-16 8-23 11 17 53
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.444, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
3-12, .250 (King 0-1, Capers 1-2, Winn 1-4,
Bremer 1-5). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 5
(Cyrus 3, Massiah 2). Turnovers: 15 (Winn 5,
Capers 3, Bremer 2, Massiah 2, Cyrus, Durham, Van
Paassen). Steals: 11 (Winn 4, Bremer 3, Cyrus 2,
Massiah, Van Paassen).
__________________________________
Massachusetts 26 24 - 50
St Bonaventure 21 32 - 53
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 5,573. Officials:
Leroy Hendricks, Glenn Mayborg, Bryan Kersey.
