Let Conference Play Begin

Tonight capped off the start of the 2011-12 MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) season. Although the start of conference play is always exciting, it is also a little saddening to know that this is the beginning of my final year of managing the Marist basketball team. To begin the conference season, we traveled down to Baltimore, MD on Wednesday and played the Loyola Greyhounds the next day (Thursday).

At Thursday's shoot-around you could sense that we had a lot of positive energy and that tonight was going to be an action-packed game. We squared off against Loyola, who was predicted to finish 3rd in the MAAC this year and whose Head Coach, Jimmy Patsos, celebrated his 100th career victory before the game.

Marist started off strong in the first half, but Loyola cut an 8 point deficit to one point; we ended up taking a 33-32 lead into halftime. At the start of the second half the Red Foxes again came out strong, building a 4 point lead. Unfortunately, with about nine minutes remaining, the Greyhounds took control of the game thanks to Robert Olson connecting from beyond the 3 point line and igniting the crowd in a frenzy that eventually led them to a 76-63 victory. Olson finished with 11 points with only 1 of the points coming in the first half. Dylon Cormier also had a great game for Loyola scoring 15.

For Marist, freshman guard Chavaughn Lewis once again led in scoring, scoring 16 point, while junior guard Devin Price scored 11 and grabbed 3 rebounds. In addition, Adam Kemp finished with a team high seven rebounds and four blocks.

It was a long ride home after a disappointing finish, and we didn't arrive home until 4:45 AM. Although this has been an extremely long and tiring trip, we will be back on the court practicing later on today as our next game is against another MAAC opponent, Rider, on Sunday at 2 in the McCann Arena. As it stands, Marist will look to improve on their 2-5 overall record (0-1 in the MAAC).

Rider has struggled for much of the season so far, starting out 1-6 with some tough out of conference opponents ( Pittsburgh, Drexel, UPenn, La Salle, James Madison, and Robert Morris). They may prove to be another tough test for us, however, as they were originally picked to finish 4th in the conference preseason poll. The Broncs are led by senior forward Novar Gadson and Jeff Jones, who transferred in from the University of Virginia. Rider always puts up a lot of points, but their defense has always been a weak point and has plagued them thus far this season.

Despite the loss, it was a very interesting and entertaining trip for us. Our hotel was in the Inner Harbor section of Baltimore, one of the most popular and historic sections of the city, and just a block and a half from the home stadium of the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. It was a interesting place to stay and had a lot of sights to offer within walking distance. Unfortunately it is impossible to fit everything in when we only stayed there for a night and didn't have much downtown. All in all, though, it was a nice and comfortable place to spend the night.