By Nicholas Proch
In the second game of the men’s and women’s doubleheader at Sacred Heart, the men could do no better than their female counterparts, losing 62-61.
The Blue Devils lost possession on an inbounds pass with 20.1 seconds left on the clock, which led to the Pioneers hitting the game-winning field goal with 6.7 seconds to play.
“I have to give credit for hanging in there, we had a four-point lead with 2 minutes to go,” said Head Coach Howie Dickenman. “I almost want to say that we panicked.”
In a back and forth matchup, it seemed as if the last person to get the ball with any substantial time left on the clock left would win. That’s exactly what happened and the Pioneers sent the Blue Devils home shocked.
The lead changed 13 times in the game as both teams had strong shooting performances in the first half. CCSU went into the break with a three-point lead, 31-28, based mostly on their 7-10 effort from the free throw line.
Sacred Heart was able to match CCSU shot for shot throughout the second half. The Pioneers were led by their best player, Shane Gibson, who had 26 points and six rebounds.
“They made a big play,” said Coach Dickenman. “Their star [Gibson] stood up.”
The Blue Devils were never able to put the Pioneers away and that cost them late. There were multiple occasions that they could have taken control of play, but couldn’t pull away.
“This could have gone either way, and we were not able to make a big play when it was called on,” said Dickenman. “They made that big play.”
This was partly due to the poor offensive display put on by the CCSU bench. The Blue Devils were a combined 0-2 from the field for a total of zero points in their collective 47 minutes on the court. In fact, all of the team’s scoring came from four players, Kyle Vinales, Malcolm McMillan, Robby Ptacek and Kenny Horton.
Senior forward Horton had the best statistical night for the Blue Devils, dropping 25 points and collecting 14 rebounds, but ultimately cost the team the game on the inbounds pass that got away from him.
“He had good numbers, but you don’t throw the ball under the basket like that,” said Dickenman. “We had three timeouts, and I said if you can’t get it off, call a timeout. I wanted Robby [Ptacek] to come and get the ball if possible. Robby was double-teamed and he [Horton] didn’t see the other guys who were open.”
The team will try and move forward after a crushing defeat as they face Monmouth and Farleigh Dickenson this week at home in front of a friendlier crowd than this game.
Sacred Heart fans “packed the Pitt” for both the men and women Pioneer squads. It was a promotional event that featured giveaways and prizes for participants and attendees. The snow didn’t seem to have an impact on the number in attendance supporting the home team, but may have taken away from the crowd that would have followed the Blue Devils to Fairfield.
