Mu vs. LIU story for Friday Press
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
WEST LONG BRANCH - When the Monmouth University men's basketball team reports to
practice Friday, coach Dave Calloway said he will have one thought in mind.
""I'm going to try and find five guys who can guard the ball,'' said Calloway in the
press room Thursday night, his eyes wide and his voice hoarse.
""I doubt I will,'' he said. ""But I'll find as many as I can, and then the next best
one that can do it, and we'll go with those five.''
Despite trying big lineups, small lineups, mixing a little man-to-man defense with
its trademark match up zone, Monmouth failed in that quest Thursday as Long Island
University shot its way to a 74-71 victory in the Northeast Conference opener for both
teams.
""I figured maybe guards could guard the ball but they couldn't,''said Calloway
Senior guard James Williams scored 17 points to lead LIU (4-4, 1-0) which, seemingly
hitting every big shot when it had to, with dribble drives to the basket or 3's, snapped
an eight-game losing streak at Boylan Gym going back to 1999.
The Blackbirds shot 7-for-13 from 3-point range in the first half when they built
a lead that reached as high as 17 points.
Then they outdid themslves in the second nailing six-of-seven from downtown in
holding off a furious comeback bid by the Hawks (3-7, 0-1) who lost an NEC opening game
for the first time since 1999-2000.
Monmouth fell despite an electric second half by rookie Jhamar Youngblood when he
scored all his his career high 20 points, mostly on drives to the hoop, and a career
best nine assists from point guard Mike Shipman.
LIU coach Jim Ferry said his team displayed its mettle in the face of the Monmouth
rally. ""We had some poise,'' he said. ""They didn't freak out like they might have in
years past.
""That was a good win for us to come in here. I don't think many people can come in
and beat Monmouth here.''
The Hawks, who had drawn within 61-59 on a Youngblood three with 7:58 left, were down
by the final margin when Shipman collected a miss by Tyrone Mattison with 15 seconds
showing.
Calloway said the idea was for Monmouth to get a quick two as it did last week in
its comeback win over Rider.
It never happened. Monmouth seemed to take forever to get down the floor and finally
Whitney Coleman (11 points) launched a deep left wing trey attempt that sailed over the
rim as time expired.
""We had plenty of time, we didn't get up (court) quick enough, for some reason we
didn't go to the basket,''said Calloway.
Precious seconds ticked off as the 1,855 fans shrieked in dismay. "At that point
there was three seconds left, Whitney had a look, so I decided to go with it,'' Calloway
said.''
""If we would have guarded the ball we would have beaten them,''said Youngblood.
""I'm sure that we would have. It was just that.''
Monmouth senior Marques Alston (13 points, five rebounds) said, ""You get that first
win and you feel good about yourselves. And you can go from there and try to play off of
that.
""Losing the home (NEC) opener, guys kind of get down. We've got to try and get back
to what we're supposed to do.''
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
STAFF WRITER
WEST LONG BRANCH - When the Monmouth University men's basketball team reports to
practice Friday, coach Dave Calloway said he will have one thought in mind.
""I'm going to try and find five guys who can guard the ball,'' said Calloway in the
press room Thursday night, his eyes wide and his voice hoarse.
""I doubt I will,'' he said. ""But I'll find as many as I can, and then the next best
one that can do it, and we'll go with those five.''
Despite trying big lineups, small lineups, mixing a little man-to-man defense with
its trademark match up zone, Monmouth failed in that quest Thursday as Long Island
University shot its way to a 74-71 victory in the Northeast Conference opener for both
teams.
""I figured maybe guards could guard the ball but they couldn't,''said Calloway
Senior guard James Williams scored 17 points to lead LIU (4-4, 1-0) which, seemingly
hitting every big shot when it had to, with dribble drives to the basket or 3's, snapped
an eight-game losing streak at Boylan Gym going back to 1999.
The Blackbirds shot 7-for-13 from 3-point range in the first half when they built
a lead that reached as high as 17 points.
Then they outdid themslves in the second nailing six-of-seven from downtown in
holding off a furious comeback bid by the Hawks (3-7, 0-1) who lost an NEC opening game
for the first time since 1999-2000.
Monmouth fell despite an electric second half by rookie Jhamar Youngblood when he
scored all his his career high 20 points, mostly on drives to the hoop, and a career
best nine assists from point guard Mike Shipman.
LIU coach Jim Ferry said his team displayed its mettle in the face of the Monmouth
rally. ""We had some poise,'' he said. ""They didn't freak out like they might have in
years past.
""That was a good win for us to come in here. I don't think many people can come in
and beat Monmouth here.''
The Hawks, who had drawn within 61-59 on a Youngblood three with 7:58 left, were down
by the final margin when Shipman collected a miss by Tyrone Mattison with 15 seconds
showing.
Calloway said the idea was for Monmouth to get a quick two as it did last week in
its comeback win over Rider.
It never happened. Monmouth seemed to take forever to get down the floor and finally
Whitney Coleman (11 points) launched a deep left wing trey attempt that sailed over the
rim as time expired.
""We had plenty of time, we didn't get up (court) quick enough, for some reason we
didn't go to the basket,''said Calloway.
Precious seconds ticked off as the 1,855 fans shrieked in dismay. "At that point
there was three seconds left, Whitney had a look, so I decided to go with it,'' Calloway
said.''
""If we would have guarded the ball we would have beaten them,''said Youngblood.
""I'm sure that we would have. It was just that.''
Monmouth senior Marques Alston (13 points, five rebounds) said, ""You get that first
win and you feel good about yourselves. And you can go from there and try to play off of
that.
""Losing the home (NEC) opener, guys kind of get down. We've got to try and get back
to what we're supposed to do.''
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 10:35 PM
7 Comments:
Well, Well, Well. Another one slipped away from us. However I must say it turned out to be a very good game. Youngblood's a beast! If only Calloway would have given the green light in the first half, it quite possibly would have been ours. My hat is off to Calloway for opening up in the second half. Way to go guys. What a come back! Better luck next Saturday.
Grahmman Grahmman, wherefore art thou Grahmman?
What do you mean the green light? And way to go? They lost to a average NEC team at home in the conference opener.
What was going through Mike Shipman's head when he launched that three towards the end? He is like 2-31 from three this year. I mean he played a GREAT floor game, but that shot was a killer. Marques missed an wasy deuce at the end of the first half two from point blank range.
I think MU fans saw the last of Corey Hallet in the lineup tonight. My thoughts are that the staff will go three guards and Marques and Delic up front from here on out. Bunch will come in off the bench for 20 mins, and Corey will be playing 5-7 minutes here and there.
What I meant by the green light and opening up, if you watched the game and understood it, it was obvious that he(Calloway) detoured from his normal 2 play offense. Not the green light to shot because obviously we do not have a consistant or as consistant perimeter shooter as our recent competitors have had. The second half comeback was full of finding and creating the pick and scoring from it. If the whole game was played that way then the "W" would quite possibly have been ours. Way to go, yes because although they were down at the half - much to the same degree as SHU, they came back out to play. If you stop blowing up TG's blog putting them down you (bloggers)maybe it can be reconized that they need their fans behind them win or loose. Can't we say something good about the fact that they didn't give up. Average NEC team or not - they beat us the same way SHU did, with the consistant 3-banging. And with that MU came back after 17 deficit and made it a game. Thank you very much. Again - GO MU!!!!!
Some of us haven't given up.
Well said my friend! There is no way LIU will shoot like that again this season. Think about the night down in Dayton when Chris Kenny couldn't miss from 3 point land. Some nights you catch fire and other you don't.
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