Men's basketball frustrated in home finale
Jim Urso
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Sports
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Beleaguered from the opening tip, the Marist men's basketball team lost 62-39 to the St. Peter's Peacocks in their final home game of the 2009-2010 campaign.
"We couldn't make a shot early on," Marist coach Chuck Martin said. "When you make shots, then the energy level goes through the roof and then you're feeling good. There's a rhythm, you feel good about yourself, the ball movement starts to get better. But when you're missing shots, man, it deflates you."
Attendance was listed at 1,725, but hundreds of season-ticket holders did not attend the game.
Marist went 4-for-23 (.175) from the floor in the first half, including 0-for-7 from behind the arc.
Devin Price, the only Red Fox to score in double digits, led Marist with 12 points. Price had six turnovers and just two assists.
Marist fell to 1-27 and 1-16 in the MAAC. With the win, Saint Peter's improved to 16-12 on the season, including 11-6 in the MAAC.
Just under four minutes into the game, a jump shot by Ryan Bacon extended St. Peter's lead to 11-1. At 10:43, Jeron Belin hit a 3-pointer, extending the Peacocks' lead to 15. Seconds later, Price had the ball stolen near mid-court by Brandon Hall, who dished to Belin for a fast break dunk making the score 20-3.
The Peacocks could smell blood, and began trapping every Marist ball handler. The approach led to turnovers and hindered Marist's chances of getting into an offensive rhythm. Martin took the blame for his team's inability to handle the trap defense.
"I have to do a better job of preparing these guys for that [trap]." Martin said. "I didn't spend enough time in practice to make sure that these guys understood every [defensive] rotation. 'This is how they're going to trap. They're going to trap on the sideline. Here are your reads. You're looking at the corner. You're looking for the diagonal skip, and now this is what you should be looking for.'"
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