Saturday, January 30, 2010

Quinnipiac - Mount running diary (from the QU perspective, kind of)

Written for your enjoyment by: Ray Curren

Well, I paid the $5 for the Mount feed to see the mighty Bobcats of Quinnipiac look to go 9-1 in the NEC. But they had a tough time at home against the Mount when they couldn't just use their athleticism like they do in most of their NEC games. So I have a sneaking suspicion tonight may be the Mount gets themselves back into the discussion for the tournament title. And a trip to Dayton (should we just call the NEC the rest of the year The Road to Dayton? Done and done.)

Disclaimer, as a resident of Hamden, Conn., I have to root for Quinnipiac because I can almost walk there from here. Except that it's 10 degrees out here right now.

6:47 - Already impressed that the announcer can say Quinnipiac (QUIN-a-pee-ack not quin-a-PEE-ack). Off to a good start.

6:50 - Announcing points out that Quinnipiac has a win streak, but it's over chumps. Hard to argue with that one.

6:55 - Coach Brown's interview over the National Anthem. Boooo.

6:58 - Apparently, the weather is bad down in Emmitsburg, too.

7:01 - We're under way, tip goes to the Mount, which I guess is new. Students supposedly "thunderous". I would go with "audible". QU man-to-man.

7:03 - After a held ball call, the color announcer says, "What is this, girls high school basketball?". As a girls high school basketball coach, I take offense. The QU announcers were called homers when they played here, but so far these guys are much worse.

7:05 - Announcer just figures out that it's "Coaches vs. Cancer" weekend, and both coaches are wearing sneakers. Could have watched any of the 100 games that were on TV earlier in the day.

7:09 - Will Holland came off the bench to hit a 3 for the Mount, but the defenses rule the day early with stifling man-to-man. Mount leads 5-4 and Rutty has 5 rebounds at the U-16 time out. Offense will come soon, methinks.

7:11 - Little water on the court delays play from all the people walking into the game, just like our high school gym. Except no AD yelling at people, I don't think.

7:16 - "What do you have to do to take a charge?" the color announcer asks. I would say set your feet. The Mount announcers, just like the QU announcers, earlier this month, are begging Shawn Atupem to shoot. He obliges, and shoots a pair of bricks.

7:19 - 10:20 to go in the first half, Mount leads 11-6. What were they saying about high school girls basketball? Our team scores a lot more than both these teams. With that being said, both defenses are playing very well. To say QU's offense is out of sync might be the understatement of the year. They look like crap. Tom Moore will try to figure it out. QU 3-for-17 from the field with 6 turnovers. Yikes.

7:23 - Quinnipiac is trying to run a "Flex" offense, but they are running it in slow motion. Kelly Beidler goes back door for a layup and an 8-point Mount lead.

7:25 - Under 8 (7:36) to go and the Mount has a 15-9 lead as the game stays ugly. It looks like Atupem can do everything else well except for shoot, he's grabbed a couple of big rebounds. Atupem and Justin Rutty are the respective leading scorers with 4 points each. Jeremy Goode is at the line when we come back.

7:29 - James Feldeine has arrived in the building and hit a shot, which is nice to see. Meanwhile, Rutty is figuring out that they can't stop him, which is allowing QU back in the game. But Danny Thompson gets a big bucket for the Mount on the follow. It ain't pretty, but the offenses are scoring. A little. The announcers continue to badger the officials. Amateur hour.

7:32 - Rutty goes to the basket again and gets fouled. Mount has 7 fouls, and QU has 3, mainly because they're actually going to the basket, but it's all the biased officials' fault, I guess.

7:35 - It's Rutty at one end and Goode at the other as the play has opened up. Big play by Thompson again who retrieves a miss, kicks it out to Holland, who drains a 3. Big basket to kill some QU momentum, and it's 26-20 Mount with 2:38 to go in the first half. Rutty has 10 points and 8 rebounds.

7:39 - Offensive foul on Goode on a 4-on-2. Don't agree with that one, and if I don't agree, then you know what's going on with the Mount announcers. "These guys don't deserve a paycheck for this game." Meanwhile, the Mount is winning 26-24.

7:43 - It goes to half with Mount in front 26-24 after the Mount misses two shots in the final seconds. It was ugly, and the Mount may rue the fact they don't have a bigger lead here.

7:46 - You want some ugly numbers: QU 8-30 from the field, 0-3 3-pointers. Mount 9-24 from the field, 2-4 from 3. Rutty has a double-double with 10 and 10 already, Feldeine has been invisible, 1-8 from the field, 2 pts. For Mount, Goode has 6 points, but only took 3 shots, and only has 2 assists. There's only been 6 assists in the entire game. I don't think Syracuse is worried.

Some Internet problems at the half, so we're going to skip the timestamps, but you can figure it out yourself.

* The much-maligned Shawn Atupem, whom both announcing crews dared to shoot, and went 2-of-8 in the first half, has taken over to start the second half. Meanwhile, Jonathan Cruz keeping QU in the game with back-to-back buckets.

* Time out to clean up the water on the court again with 16:46 to go. Mount leads 35-28 after a runout and layup by Goode. QU has nothing as far as an outside game and if that doesn't change, they're going to lose this game.

* Under 16 timeout (15:58) and the Mount has its largest lead of the game at 37-28 after another Atupem hoop. Where did this guy come from? Feldeine has gone to the bench, and is 1-of-8 from the field for QU in this game. That's not going to get it done.

* Went a long time without a whistle there, 39-34 Mount with 11:22 left. Feldeine is killing QU tonight, he can't make anything. Meanwhile, Thompson made another hustle play that led to a Mount second chance. After Holland was called for a charge, the announcer said, "Fahey is terrible. The worst official I've seen all year." Rutty has 12 points and 14 rebounds.

* Atupem continues to dominate in the second half. Pierre Brown comes off the bench and drains a 3. Nice to see someone hit an outside shot. Time out, QU. 44-35 Mount with 9:55 left. QU has 7 fouls in this half, and Tom Moore is not happy. Of course, the announcers still think the refs are in his pocket.

* Feldeine misses another easy shot. He's 1-11 from the field. He's averaging 18.2 points per game. He finally gets to the line and makes a couple. Atupem takes Rutty to the goal and it's starting to get away from the Bobcats a little here. Mount trying to push to double figures. And they do, Goode to Barber for the dunk, and another QU timeout, 48-37 with 7:46 to go.

* 11 seconds to by, Rutty gets fouled, media timeout with 7:35 to go. Quinnipiac is 12-44 from the field. Ouch.

* QU goes to a half-court trap, which is effective, but they still can't score. Finally, they get a layup to cut it to 49-41. Cajou scores, but Twyman finally hits a 3, QU's first of the night to cut the Mount lead to 8. Actually it was called a 2. Steal on the inbound, it goes to Baker, he scores and he's fouled. Might be game on. Baker misses the free throw, but Rutty gets it and puts it back in. 51-47 Mount, 7 points in about 15 seconds for the Bobcats. QU gets it to 2, but Holland hits a huge 3 to make it 54-49 with 4:30 left. Timeout Mount. Could be a good finish.

* Feldeine misses back-to-back layups. And they were layups. Unbelievable. Called a charge against the Mount at the other end, but apparently the announcer had a better view again. QU ball down 54-49 with 3:21 to go. Feldeine is 1-13 from the field.

* Rutty gets an easy layup. After a couple of misses, Cajou with a huge shot to make it 56-51 with 2 to play. Feldeine misses another shot, he looks for a hole to crawl into, but none available. Time out, QU with 1:43 to go. If Mount makes free throws, they should win. QU has 6 assists in this game, by the way.

* Feldeine gets a steal, but throws it back to the Mount. Goode makes a free throw, Rutty misses a shot. Timeout Mount, 57-51 with 36.1 seconds left and they have the ball. All over but the shouting, I think.

* Twyman hits a 3 after a couple of free throws, 59-54 with 15 seconds left. Mount ball, just have to get the ball in.

* Cajou makes 1 of 2 free throws, but Goode fouls Twyman on a 3 with 5.8 seconds left. 60-54 Mount. Scoreboard goes out, someone pulled the plug. Whoops. Twyman makes 2 of 3, 60-56. All over.

* 61-56 final Mount wins. About what I expected. Except for the Feldeine part. I don't think anyone wants to see the Mount in the NEC Tournament just based on their athleticism. Rutty finished with 18 and 15, but it wasn't enough. Atupem was great, 16 points, 10 in the second half.

* I'm going to guess that the Mount has not played defense like this all season. Cajou was especially dominant on the defensive end, and although QU had the advantage inside, the guys inside for the Mount did enough to keep it from being too easy. Good win for the Mount, and Wagner coming up twice (although Wagner is playing a little better). As an outside observer, I expect to hear from the Mount in the NEC Tournament. Also known as The Road to Dayton.

12 comments:

  1. icepack9:50 PM

    Too bad you weren't at the game. Too bad you don't know Roy Siegler was formerly the Boston U. coach and one of the most knowledgable announcers in any league. BTW - It's QUIN-uh-pe-ack. But you can "pee" all you want. Go back to your girls team, you are an annoyance.

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  2. Anonymous9:52 PM

    Agreed, icepack. Where is Raff when we need him?

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  3. Kudos to Ray for filling in for me when I was unable to see the game. I was at the Adams County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner. Great class of inductees, Jim Ward, Brandon Streeter, Carrie Maitland McMaster, Courtney Davidson O'Brien, Erin Bushey, Bucky Kempton and Clayton Evans.

    Lighten up on Ray....he said at the outset it was going to be from the QU perspective. And I took some shots at the QU announcers the other week.

    They don't call Sigler "The Mouth of the Mount" for nothing. And he is hard on the officials. He almost got tossed from Lloyd Noble Center one night. Plus on a Saturday night when there are like 3000 basketball games going on, remember what is left for the NEC. You can expect poor officiating in a Saturday NEC game. It's a given.

    And the best thing Ray did tonight was coined the phrase "Race for Dayton" - I like it.

    This was a big win for the Mount and I'm sorry I missed it. Maybe they can continue to build on the momentum they have built up in this stretch.

    Ray is right nobody is going to want to see the Mount come tourney time.

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  4. Richard1:55 AM

    Raff, my man!!!! and Ray, In reference to the comments made about Roy and his analysis about Mr. Tom Fahey the ref- I for one feel that he is the worst ref that I have seen in quite a long time as well. Do y'all remember the Vermont game ??????? Well I believe that loss can be attributed largely to tubby Fahey also. At the end of that game, Fahey and his cohorts sprinted rapidly out of the building terrified because Fahey knew damn well what he did. There were a few wars and tests the Mount won and passed that won the game. First it was Cajou's awesome defense on the great Feldeine and leadership. Second, the Mount found a way to win those small battles near the final minutes of the game. And Third, they warded off the horrendous calls by Fahey. Finally Brown tore into Fahey a little, long overdue. Yes Fahey is the very worst that I have seen and raff don't give me that hundreds of games excuse either. Fahey has been reffing Mount game for a few years now and I've never seen him work any different. I've seen Fahey call other games with other teams and appeared much more fair. Something has got to be done about Fahey, Brown should contact the NEC commissioner or something. If not for Fahey, the Mount would have probably won by anywhere from 12 to 15 points. Heck another terrible ref Joe Battiato was there and he looked like a prince compared to Fat-hey. Needless to say, I have half a voice from hollering at Fahey. Oh well even though Dayton is no vacationland for me, it sure would be nice to be able to go out and see the Wright Brothers memorial in March after a Mount victory in FlyerLand. Well, I went and seen Martina McBride in concert in Reading, PA Friday night and truly and actually got to meet her after the show, which was beyond my wildest dreams. So that being said, anything is possible- like me actually getting to see the Mount destroy Jackson St. or whoever is going to win the SWAC along the banks of the Great Miami River!!

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  5. Richard1:58 AM

    Raff, Is Darian Golden in the Adams Hall of fame? He was a great baller at Gburg high back in the late 80s early 90s.

    ps-- It was so nice to see the SuperFan and his dramatic entrance at the game again tonight!

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  6. Anonymous10:03 AM

    I listened to the audio while I was at the game. Sigler did his usual insightful job with the color analysis and was constantly giving Rutty credit. As to the officials, neutral officiating would have given the Mount +10 points for the evening. Many of the calls were bizarre.

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  7. Golden is not yet in the Hall - a deserving candidate. A teammate of mine. I was probably the reason he got so much playing time early in his career.

    A teammate of ours Charles Warren, who went on to be an All-American defensive back at Dickinson has been on the ballot the last few years. He should get in soon.

    But last night's class was truly something.

    Jim Ward - a 9 year NFL veteran QB from Gettysburg College
    Brandon Streeter - the only Gettysburg High player to play D-1A football during Sam Leedy's 26-year tenure as the starting QB at Clemson.
    Courtney Davidson O'Brien - The all-time scoring leader at Navy
    Erin Bushey Mistry - a four-year starter and captain at NC State on the soccer team
    Carrie Maitland McMaster - Gettysburg's all-time leading scorer - who had a fine career at IUP.

    It was a fun night. Didn't like the date when it was selected. But a good night all around.

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  8. Anonymous3:36 PM

    I have a friend who was in attendance last night and it sounds like there was a recruit in attendance.

    He didn't know anything about him but he apparently stood a few inches taller than Sam A. Anyone have any insight?

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  9. Richard8:08 PM

    Anonymous, it most likely is not a recruit for next year. I believe we have all the slots filled with James, Burrell, and Morales.

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  10. icepack8:14 PM

    Hey, Richard - Morales is 6'5", James 6'4" and Burrell 5'8". As Sam is 6'7", the description does not fit. More research needed.

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  11. Richard1:00 AM

    Icepack, yes I was aware of their heights. I thought they meant that there was a new recruit and I believe we have all of the slots filled for next year. I do see that both Morales and Burrell are really tearing it up for their schools. Both averaging around 20. As for James, I do not think he is doing so well averaging around 9 a game. I seen James and his family sitting in section 5 at the LIU game. He really looks small for being 6-4, really thin too. Hey Raff or anyone- are they going to redshirt Golladay? I bet he will miss his buddy Kevin Jones when he graduates. Dave and Kevin pick on each other like brothers, lol.

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  12. Officially, I have heard nothing about a Golladay redshirt. But at this point in the season, I don't think there is much debate. He hasn't played. He isn't going to this year. That keeps the redshirt on.

    I know there was always the belief that this could very well be a redshirt season based on the perimeter people on the team.

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