Fundamentals, fundamentals, and then the lack of fundamentals.
After the Beavers dropped their second straight game Thursday night to Mitchell College of the NECC 98-86, head coach Tom Green was convinced that they lost due to the lack of fundamentals.
“They beat us tonight with fundamental basketball,” Green said as the Mariners scored a season team high 98 points on CCNY, also marking the second highest total the Beavers allowed since losing 100-95 in overtime at John Jay about two weeks ago. “We’re just not playing fundamental basketball right now.”
CCNY, who’s lost three of their last four before Thursday night, proved that they still have a lot to learn after allowing Alex Del Rio to score 13 points on them as he constantly drove through the lane up the middle while his teammate Joshua Ford recorded a double-double, scoring a game high 33 points, along with four assists and 14 rebounds.
The Mariners, who’ve won back-to-back games going into Thursday, shot around 50% from the court in their previous three matchups.
CCNY’s Anthony Lewis, who entered the game third in the CUNYAC in points per game (21.0 ppg), scored a team high 25 on the night, along with seven rebounds and an assist.
“When it comes to losses, being on our home floor, losing is especially hard,” Lewis said after the game.
“As a team, we just got to stick together and play hard.”
Lewis’ teammate, Beavers point guard Che McCoy had a night to forget Thursday, shooting just a mere 1-for-12 from the court for all of two points. However, he played the role of distributor, dishing nine assists and collecting five rebounds.
“He missed 11 shots,” Green mentioned. “We can’t continue to take those kind of shots from guys we rely to score for us.”
Both teams traded the lead left and right like prize fighters trading blows, as neither CCNY nor Mitchell could grasp a hold of the lead.
However, with CCNY up 40-37 going into the final minutes of the first half, Mitchell went on a 12-2 run to take the lead to end the half, highlighted by Ford’s dunk in transition with about two minutes left.
“Last three or four minutes of the first half I thought we were terrible,” Green said.
The Mariners would never give the lead up in the second half, going up by as much as 16, despite CCNY’s rally, bringing them within nine.
Mitchell’s 98 points marks their highest point total on the season, and the third consecutive game where they scored 80 points or more.
The Beavers shooting woes in the second half crept up for the second consecutive game as CCNY just 35% from the court, making just four more shots than they did in the second half two nights before against Baruch.
“I hope we’re going to be better than this. But we took a step backwards tonight,” Green added. “We didn’t move forward.”
CCNY (2-4, 1-2) will travel to conference rival College of Staten Island on Saturday for their last game before their week-long break for finals.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to get it together,” Lewis mentioned.
For the sake of CCNY, Lewis needs to be right.
