With 12 minutes left in Fairfield’s game at Rider on Tuesday night, Head Coach Ed Cooley and each one of his assistants jolted to their feet, clapping enthusiastically as one of the crown jewels of their first recruiting class dominated the game.
Six-eight freshman forward Anthony Johnson had just scored on a tip-in off of a Rich Flemming miss, scoring his eighth point in a two-minute span, and giving the Stags what would soon blossom into a seven point lead.
But there were Cooley and Johnson, after the young Stags had blown the lead and lost 58-55, at the podium in the press conference room at Alumni Gymnasium, shaking their heads and talking about the frustrations that come along with trying overcome inexperience and win games in the MAAC.
“It’s the same old story,” Cooley said. “Missed layups and turnovers. If you turn the ball over on the road, you’re not going to win. It’s that simple. Its very very frustrating as a coach when your kids play that hard to come up empty.”
Such has been the story all year for the Stags (3-12, 1-2 MAAC) who travel down I-95 Saturday afternoon for a rematch with Manhattan, which beat the Stags 57-54 in the conference opener on Dec 8.
One minute, Johnson threw down a dunk on an alley-oop from Jonathan Han ’09. After that, he knocked the ball loose at the defensive end of the floor.
But at other points in the game, he played like what he and three other players in the Stags’ regular rotation are: freshmen.
After he missed only one field goal in last week’s loss to Fordham (4-for-5), he missed a couple of chip-ins en route to a 7-for-13 night Thursday.
“I got open looks but I just missed layups,” Johnson said.
What Johnson was on Thursday night – dazzling at times, out-of-sync at times – is what fellow freshman forward Greg Nero has been this season.
Through six games, he had led the team in scoring every time the Stags took the floor, and had earned the respect and admiration of everyone who saw him play, including UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun, who said after watching Nero take 7-3 center Hasheem Thabeet to the hoop on three consecutive trips down the court for layups that Nero was good enough to play power forward in the Big East.
Tuesday night, Nero managed just four points in 15 minutes – something he’ll have to improve on Saturday, especially with 6-8 big man Arturo Dubois (team-best 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds per game) to contend with.
Last time out against the Jaspers, the Stags lost despite holding Dubois scoreless in eight minutes.
It was the same story Tuesday, when they held an opponent under 60 points for the fifth time, but lost.
Their play in both of those games – though Thursday’s effort, in nearly every way, was more impressive than that put forth in the first Manhattan game – was emblematic of a team that plays with great intensity on defense but often makes rookie mistakes on offense.
“I knew coming in after watching them several times on tape that it was going to be a pretty game,” Rider Head Coach Tommy Dempsey said after Tuesday’s game. “Everybody who’s played them has struggled offensively. We found a way to get it done. Sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other team defensively.”
How can a team play like that on defense and still lose?
For Cooley, it’s about growing as a team and gaining momentum – something he and the Stags hope begins Saturday with what would be a big league win on the road.
“. . .Any time you have that level of inexperience on the floor there are some mistakes you just have to live with and eat,” he said. “…In the game of sport, momentum means everything. Right now our kids are searching to find Uncle Mo. Right now we just don’t have it.”
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