Wrapping up the Sacred Heart win

The Mount starts its NEC campaign with a win for the first time in recent memory. A good solid 66-52 win on the road against conference competition. Some thoughts I've had between the end of the game last night and this morning.

• The shooting display from Lamar Trice was key. I've said since the start of this season that somebody has to step up and be the second long-range shooting option. The two most likely candidates are on the bench with injuries. The fact that Trice, who I would never have described as a shooter, has become a real option only is going to help the Mount offensively.
• But even more than that was the 0 in the stats column for Trice. The guard played the game without a turnover. He also picked up two steals and two assists.
• I was really disappointed after the Navy loss. Wasn't sure what to expect last night. But this team responded, even after getting behind early, and came through with a solid effort. That was very encouraging.
• Sacred Heart is a pretty bad offensive team. And they've never been known for their offense. They are going to struggle all year long. Minus Shane Gibson (21 pts) and Jerrell Thompson (14 pts) there isn't much there offensively.
• One negative for the Mount was they continue to give up offensive rebounds. Sacred Heart had 18, the Mount had 20 defensive rebounds. You do the math, the Mount got 52% of the defensive rebound chances. Sacred Heart has not been a good rebounding team and they still got all over the glass.
• The Mount experimented with a 3 forward lineup each of the last two games. I like that idea, it definitely hurts them on the perimeter but the fact that they are getting beat so bad on the offensive glass means they have to find something to fix it.
• Shawn Atupem scored 10 points in 14 minutes, further making me believe that he will dominate play in the NEC.
• The Mount started the game a frustrating 1-of-5 from the foul line but finished 20 of 22. That is good shooting. Even the total of 21 of 27. (78%) is solid enough.
• Josh Castellanos continues to grow as a college player. He got to the basket a few times last night, now he has to finish, but he ran the offense well. Surprised to see he didn't have an assist, but he finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
• When the Mount started to convert Sacred Heart turnovers into points they got seperation. That and the fact that they held the Pioneers to 33% shooting - with a better defensive effort than we saw against Navy, were ultimately the difference in the game.
• Raven Barber was 3-for-3 from the field and 0-for-2 from the line. I continue to think that he can be a force inside. But the Mount has to give him more opportunities than 4 a game.
• The announced crowd was 454 - and the Sacred Heart announcers called it "not a bad crowd for a Thursday night". Just another reason why the Northeast Conference will always be a low tier conference. It's going to get progressively harder for Heart, with the commitment that Quinnipiac has made and the fact that Central is always going to be solid and PC, BC and UCONN are always going to get the best players in New England, its going to be a tough road for the Pioneers.

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