MU hoops Press story for Friday
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
WEST LONG BRANCH - For the Monmouth University men's basketball team Thursday night's
Northeast Conference game vs. St. Francis, Pa. was akin to pulling teeth.
""Every game is huge now, being in the hole we're in,'' said Mike Shipman after the
Hawks were able to extract a 71-66 Northeast Conference victory that ended their
four-game losing streak.
The win was coach Dave Calloway's 100th in the NEC as he became the seventh coach in
league history to reach the plateau.
The triumph, before 1,250 at Boylan Gym, enabled Monmouth (8-12, 3-5) to climb into a
three-way tie for seventh place with Wagner and Long Island U. The top eight teams
qualify for the NEC Tournament.
""We need every win,'' said Shipman. ""We need to approach that in practice, off the
court, in our rooms. It just has to be in our minds every single day.''
Thursday night hardly came easy against a Red Flash team (4-17, 1-9) with young but
error prone (11 assists, 19 turnovers) talent.
St. Francis tied a school record with a 12th consecutive defeat after beginning the
night with a Collegerpi.com rating of 327 of 336 Division I teams.
In his second game back after missing seven for academic reasons, Shipman finished
with nine points, led Monmouth's anemic rebounding total of 13 with four, and dished off
five assists with no turnovers.
The sophomore also hit the biggest basket of the game as his left corner 3 with 43
seconds left provided Monmouth a 65-58 lead.
It came after Calloway called his second offensive time out of the final two minutes
with St. Francis, led by rookie Devin Sweetney (22 points, 11 rebounds), whittling away
at a nine-point deficit.
""The play was just to get some penetration, trying to get Deki (Delic) on an
isolation on the left wing, and Jhamar (Youngblood) coming off the pick and roll with
Marques (Alston),'' said Shipman.
""He's (Youngblood) really good at creating some offense for himself and his
teammates which he did. He drove and I spotted up in the corner and he found me.''
The left-hander watched as the shot swirled around the rim for what seemed an eternity
before falling in. "A quick prayer (was answered),'' said Shipman.
Trailing 35-34 at the half Monmouth shoveled the ball inside to Alston (10 points,
two rebounds) to begin the second half and the 6-3 senior hit a short jump shot and a
layup .
Whitney Coleman (16 points) and Youngblood (11 points) sank layups as Monmouth used
an 8-2 spurt to gain the lead for good.
""It was nice to win,''said Calloway, appearing a whole lot more relieved than
ecstatic.
""Offensively it was nice to get out of it (a scoring slump),'' said Calloway.
""Maybe being at home helped.''
After averaging just over 53 points per game in its skid Monmouth placed four
players in double figures Thursday.
Calloway did not like the numbers, however, that showed the Red Flash shooting 55.6
percent from the floor while outrebounding Monmouth, 27-13. The Hawks snagged just one
offensive rebound (Corey Hallett).
""We're going to lose most of the time (with statistics like that),''said Calloway.
Monmouth hosts Robert Morris (13-5, 5-4) Saturday.
Contact Tony Graham at tonygsports@aol.com. e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
STAFF WRITER
WEST LONG BRANCH - For the Monmouth University men's basketball team Thursday night's
Northeast Conference game vs. St. Francis, Pa. was akin to pulling teeth.
""Every game is huge now, being in the hole we're in,'' said Mike Shipman after the
Hawks were able to extract a 71-66 Northeast Conference victory that ended their
four-game losing streak.
The win was coach Dave Calloway's 100th in the NEC as he became the seventh coach in
league history to reach the plateau.
The triumph, before 1,250 at Boylan Gym, enabled Monmouth (8-12, 3-5) to climb into a
three-way tie for seventh place with Wagner and Long Island U. The top eight teams
qualify for the NEC Tournament.
""We need every win,'' said Shipman. ""We need to approach that in practice, off the
court, in our rooms. It just has to be in our minds every single day.''
Thursday night hardly came easy against a Red Flash team (4-17, 1-9) with young but
error prone (11 assists, 19 turnovers) talent.
St. Francis tied a school record with a 12th consecutive defeat after beginning the
night with a Collegerpi.com rating of 327 of 336 Division I teams.
In his second game back after missing seven for academic reasons, Shipman finished
with nine points, led Monmouth's anemic rebounding total of 13 with four, and dished off
five assists with no turnovers.
The sophomore also hit the biggest basket of the game as his left corner 3 with 43
seconds left provided Monmouth a 65-58 lead.
It came after Calloway called his second offensive time out of the final two minutes
with St. Francis, led by rookie Devin Sweetney (22 points, 11 rebounds), whittling away
at a nine-point deficit.
""The play was just to get some penetration, trying to get Deki (Delic) on an
isolation on the left wing, and Jhamar (Youngblood) coming off the pick and roll with
Marques (Alston),'' said Shipman.
""He's (Youngblood) really good at creating some offense for himself and his
teammates which he did. He drove and I spotted up in the corner and he found me.''
The left-hander watched as the shot swirled around the rim for what seemed an eternity
before falling in. "A quick prayer (was answered),'' said Shipman.
Trailing 35-34 at the half Monmouth shoveled the ball inside to Alston (10 points,
two rebounds) to begin the second half and the 6-3 senior hit a short jump shot and a
layup .
Whitney Coleman (16 points) and Youngblood (11 points) sank layups as Monmouth used
an 8-2 spurt to gain the lead for good.
""It was nice to win,''said Calloway, appearing a whole lot more relieved than
ecstatic.
""Offensively it was nice to get out of it (a scoring slump),'' said Calloway.
""Maybe being at home helped.''
After averaging just over 53 points per game in its skid Monmouth placed four
players in double figures Thursday.
Calloway did not like the numbers, however, that showed the Red Flash shooting 55.6
percent from the floor while outrebounding Monmouth, 27-13. The Hawks snagged just one
offensive rebound (Corey Hallett).
""We're going to lose most of the time (with statistics like that),''said Calloway.
Monmouth hosts Robert Morris (13-5, 5-4) Saturday.
Contact Tony Graham at tonygsports@aol.com. e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 10:40 PM
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