Sweet Home wasn’t as prepared for the Elmira game as much as coach Mark Risen would have liked to have been. He knew they would be rusty. After all, only two of the eight players who saw action in the game had been out since the first practice.
The other six had three days to try to get their legs in shape for basketball by shooting a lot. They walked through the offenses and defenses to remind the veterans of what they were doing, but they never got into a live situation at all. Risen had no set goal for a victory, just to work hard at full speed. Maybe it would be more like a practice game.
But don’t tell any of the players that, especially after they defeated the Falcons, 36-35, on an Anthony Mink shot that just left his hand before the buzzer sounded.
“If you were in Elmira’s gym Thursday night and you watched the bench erupt, then you knew it was a game,” said Risen.
It was not only a game but a dogfight according to Mink.
“I knew we were all going to be on the same page roughly,” said Mink about his veteran teammates, “but it was going to be like a real rough draft.”
For his part, Mink tried to keep his racehorse emotions for his first game in his senior year in check because, in his words, he gets too “jazzed up” at times.
“I found myself out there saying calm down, Mink, calm down,” expressed the senior wing and leading scorer for the game with 13. “It helped me stay composed and hit a couple of shots.”
Mink scored nine of his points in the first quarter, some on breakaway lay-ins after steals. That pushed the Huskies to an 11-1 lead at the end of the first quarter as the Falcons wilted under the hard-nosed, pressure defense of the Huskies. Elmira was denied any inside penetration and settled mostly for three point attempts that were off-balanced.
But in the second period, Elmira began to find the range, led by two three pointers by Stan Sherrill and another by Chuck Baker. Sweet Home got caught in defensive mismatches with the flares off of screens that allowed the Falcon shooters some open looks. It was the only defensive lapse for the Huskies on the night.
“Defensively we played well because it’s such a mindset for our kids,” said Risen. “I thought we took away everything with the exception of their flare.”
But Risen’s big concern going into the game was offensive execution and the timing involved.
“Our motion offense is really keyed on timing,” explained Risen. “We had a bazillion turnovers because of those issues. Part of it was their defense, but more of it was our lack of timing and execution.”
Whether it was the lack of timing or just good Elmira defense, the Falcons gradually closed the gap, tying up the game at the end of the third quarter at 27 apiece. A Sweet Home turnover and a driving lay-in gave Elmira its first lead at the very beginning of the fourth quarter. The Falcons maintained that close edge for most of the fourth quarter, though a 3 point shot by Garrett Kauffman momentarily tied the score at 30 with 5 minutes to go.
Trailing 35-34 with two minutes to go, each team took turns giving the ball away. Finally, with just under a minute left, Tyler Emmert fouled Baker. Risen called a timeout to ice him, which was successful and Matt Morneault grabbed the rebound. But Elmira stole the ball from point guard Tim Matuszak off his dribble and Matuszak was forced to foul.
Risen asked for timeout again with the same effect. A set play was designed for an alley oop lob pass to Emmert or a shot for Mink, depending on the defensive reaction. Matuszak’s pass sailed high, but Emmert was able to save the ball from going out of bounds with a flip action backwards to Mink. In a play that went largely unrecognized until they watched it on tape, Morneault instinctively set a great screen, which Mink was able to use to curl toward the basket and knock down the 10 foot shot at the right side of the key.
“I was just trying to keep the ball inbounds and it worked out for the best,” said Emmert.
Mink started calling for the ball when he saw it was high, but he didn’t know for sure about the time on the clock and he definitely reacted instinctively, not aware of Morneault’s screen.
“I just knew I had to get off a good shot that had a chance to go in,” said Mink.
And with that shot, the Huskies could exit Elmira successfully despite the rust.
“I was surprised how fast we got tired,” said Emmert. “I told somebody that was the first time I had seen Matuszak ever get tired.”
Matuszak admitted to the fact that his legs seemed to be missing.
“I couldn’t get my legs going,” said Matuszak about his lack of explosiveness. “It was like slow motion. It’s going to come eventually. “Risen knows it is a matter of time and timing as he works through what his most successful rotation of players will be. The Huskies only had another day to try to get their legs back before going to Cottage Grove on Tuesday and then one more day before opening at home against Marist this Thursday.