Sports

Injury and frustration hinder men's basketball

Injury-and-frustration-hinder-mens-basketball

Austin Dike | The Phoenix

Sam Lacy scores against Muhlenberg at Tarble Pavilion.

In print | January 29, 2009

In the midst of an already difficult season, Swarthmore men’s basketball suffered another blow last Wednesday when starting guard/forward Danny Walker ’10 suffered a concussion in a 90-71 loss against Washington. The unfortunate injury spoiled the Garnet’s return to the Tarble Pavilion on Saturday afternoon against Ursinus when they began a four-game homestand. Eight of the last nine games had been played away from Swarthmore.

The team sorely missed Walker’s production (second on the team in points, rebounds and assists) and lost the first two games without him to fall to 1-15 overall and 0-10 in the Centennial Conference. As a consolation, Muhlenberg and Swarthmore combined to make 38 of 39 free throw attempts, a new NCAA Division III record.

Monday’s game versus Muhlenberg (9-7, 5-5 CC) followed the reverse trajectory of Saturday’s Ursinus game. The Garnet began strong and had continued success in the first half against the Mules. “We knew coming in that this team was vulnerable to us,” Sam Lacy ’11 said. He noted that his team closed out the Ursinus game with a high level of intensity, and “this game came out with that fire from the beginning.”

An eight-point swing with 6:53 left in the first half exemplified this fire. With the Mules up six points, forward Marc Rogalski ’12 blocked a shot attempt, Hoover Long ’12 corralled the miss and co-captain Matt Allen ’10 received the pass for an easy layup before the Muhlenberg defense was able to recover. After a defensive stop, the Garnet cut into the lead again after Lacy was fouled on a 3-point attempt as time expired. He made all three shots from the charity stripe to pull the Garnet within one to 20-21. Captain Raul Ordonez ‘09 gave Swarthmore the lead thirty seconds later with a 3-pointer.

The entire run occurred with Muhlenberg junior Ryan Foster on the bench. Foster tallied a game-high 25 points. After he returned to the game, the score went back and forth for the remainder of the half, and Swarthmore entered the break with a 32-29 lead.

The Garnet continued to play strong basketball for the first six minutes of the second half and led 41-37 before things began to fall apart. For the next four minutes, Muhlenberg held Swarthmore scoreless by forcing seven turnovers and capitalized on that drought by scoring ten points to gain a 47-41 lead with ten minutes left. The Garnet never led again. Head Coach of the basketball team Lee Wimberly identified the turnovers as the main area of concern. “I’d like to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” he said. “That’s really the only thing I wasn’t happy about besides the refereeing.”

If the referees gave Muhlenberg an advantage, then they certainly capitalized on it by making all 26 of their free throw attempts, the most without a miss in Centennial Conference history. The Garnet held its own as well, making 12 of 13 free throws, which combined with Muhlenberg bettered the Division III mark set by Muskingum and Ohio Wesleyan in 1981 (combined 37-for-39).

Lacy agreed with his coach that the team’s main problem is controlling the number of turnovers (the Garnet had 14 in the second half), but he also recognized another obstacle. “We’ve just got to play two halves, treat both halves as a separate 20 minutes,” he said. “There’s no coasting in this league. Everyone will come at you.” That is exactly what Muhlenberg did, and they ended up beating Swarthmore by eight points, 73-65.

The Garnet will have to manage without Walker for at least two more games with his tentative comeback slated for next Saturday, Feb. 4, for a game at Dickinson. His absence affects the offense the most. “People that don’t normally take shots have to take shots. They have to assume the responsibility,” he said. It won’t be easy, however, because Walker’s athleticism and ability to drive are hard to replicate. “We don’t really have anyone else like [Walker],” Lacy said.

On the positive side, the imminent return of Michael Giannangeli ’12 from a wrist injury should energize the team. His recovery is doubly significant as depth has been an issue for the Garnet in the last two games. Swarthmore only played seven players in each game, whereas Muhlenberg and Ursinus each had 12 players register playtime. Giannangeli averages the most minutes per game out of all the first-year players on the team. The Garnet ends its homestand on Saturday 31 at 3:00 p.m. against Franklin & Marshall (15-2, 8-2 CC).