Beavers Fall to College of Staten Island
Now 0-4 in the CUNYAC, CCNY has little time to spare in strengthening conference bid.
by Frank Miller
For nearly the first ten minutes of play, the Beavers (4-6) defense held CUNYAC’s fourth leading scorer, Jon Chadwick-Myers (19.2), scoreless.
But with 11:36 remaining in the half, Chadwick-Myers got in the lane, spun back and faded; sinking a 12 footer for Staten Island (5-1, 3-0 in CUNYAC). The bucket marked an 8-0 run for the Dolphins, forcing CCNY Coach Tom Green to signal the referees for his first timeout with CCNY down 20-10.
However, the Beavers and their own prized scorer, Anthony Lewis (14.4), couldn’t match the unrelenting penetration and offensive attack of Staten Island. Down 43-24 at the half, CCNY allowed Chadwick-Myers to score six more points, while the Dolphins post-players, Matthew Van Manen and Dylan Bulger, added 10 points a piece. CCNY entered the second half with a sense of urgency. However, the Beavers and their own prized scorer, Anthony Lewis (14.4), couldn’t match the offensive attack of Chadwick-Myers and Staten Island.
Following the game, Coach Green spoke to the team for an extended time in the locker room.
“We talked about having pride, having some heart, digging down and bringing it out internally. I can’t give out ‘win one for the Gipper’ speeches every night and expect them to respond to it.”
“We had some really good practices prior to this game and we come out and just don’t display it on the court,” Green added. “I’m trying to find some answers now. I’m one big question mark.”
However, Green may not need to search long. The Beaver’s captain, Brandon Reeves, believes heart certainly is the issue for the team.
“Really the base, the foundation of it is working harder,” said Reeves, who finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, and a team-high three steals, of the team’s struggles against Staten Island. “We did a lot of good things and we did a lot of bad things. I wouldn’t say there’s any specific one thing but there was a different level of competitive intensity.”
Though the Beavers forced the Dolphins to turn the ball over 23 times, a clear cut difference in intensity existed in the battle on the boards. Staten Island out-rebounded the Beavers 51-29. Though the Dolphins shot poorly from the free throw line, 7-16, the Beavers committed several untimely fouls–some resulting in frustration with missed shots and defensive breakdowns.
Anthony Lewis finished with 14 points, shooting 7-15 from the field. However, Chadwick-Myers led all scorers with 22 points and dealt CCNY a strong blow with his outside shooting in the second half, 3-7 from three.
“My goal right now is just to get these guys playing better for the rest of our conference season,” said Coach Green. “We’re 0-4 in the conference right now and we’ve dug ourselves a little bit of a hole but we’ve also played some of the better teams in the conference.”
The top ranked team of the preseason, Medgar Evers (4-5,2-2 in CUNYAC), defeated CCNY 56-41 little under two weeks ago, while John Jay (5-1, 3-0 in CUNYAC) won 81-61 only a few days before. Staten Island ranked second behind Medgar Evers in the preseason seeding and currently stands in first with John Jay for the conference lead.
The Beavers will continue to practice this week; yet, with semester’s end nearing, the team will have a mandatory week off. On December 22, they will face New Jersey Institute of Technology (5-4)–a Division I team and perhaps their most challenging opponent yet. Coach Green joked that he’s “got nobody to blame but [him]self” for scheduling the game but views the matchup as a positive experience for the Beavers. He says plans to prepare for NJIT as he would for any game.
Reeves; however, remains confident in the team.
“We really have the potential to do great things,” he said. “We just have to make sure we make it come together all at the same time on the court.”
