Visiting Bernards takes advantage
By: Shawn Tyrrell
Last Friday night’s opening game for the Manville High boys’ basketball team ended on a down note with the Mustangs falling 67-55 to visiting Bernards.
It was a game that matched two pretty even teams against one another in respect to size and athleticism, but in the end the Mountaineers because of their rebounding edge and a big game from Shane Painter (28 points), left Manville with the 12-point victory.
Manville head coach Larry Blasi, who was obviously not pleased with the outcome, summed up the loss in one sentence.
"We shot poorly and didn’t rebound, plain and simple," Blasi said.
It wasn’t a lack of effort that hurt the Mustangs. They simply didn’t execute well enough to win the game.
""Everyone played hard, but it was a combination of poor shooting, lack of rebounding and turnovers that cost us this game," Blasi added.
Manville barely shot 25 percent from the floor, missed numerous open baskets (several didn’t even make contact with the rim), while the squad also turned the ball over 20 times. It is difficult for any team to win with this many things going wrong.
At one point early in the third period, Blasi pulled his five starters off the floor and put in the second team hoping to get something going. MHS went the first three minutes of the second half without scoring. The second unit didn’t fare well either and a halftime deficit of three points turned into double digits in a hurry.
"Being down only three at halftime, I felt we had a chance," Blasi said. "But in the beginning of second half, we just couldn’t do anything. So I pulled the first team, and in just a few minutes we were down by 12. We did manage to cut it back down to seven but by then it was too late."
Manville obviously did not play a great game, but did get some solid performances as junior Mike Knitowski led the way with 17 points, while sophomore Anthony Palovick and junior Rob Wood chipped in with 12 and nine points, respectively.
Knitowski knows that Mustangs let one slip away.
"We didn’t do a good job rebounding," Knitowski said. "We really struggled on the boards and basically they beat us because of the second and third opportunities they were able to get because of the rebounding edge."
The Mustangs had a shot to make a run in the second half but came out flat.
"We didn’t respond well coming out to play the third quarter and it cost us," Knitowski said.
Lack of rebounding and poor shooting might very well be issues that plague this team the remainder of the season. In the practice following the loss, Blasi had the Mustangs working on conditioning, shooting and rebounding drills to try to improve the areas that the team was at a disadvantage. It will take some time, but the coach hopes the players will be able to respond.
"It was game we could have won," Blasi said. "They were not a more physical, team, but it was a combination of things that hurt us overall. We had our chances on open shots, we just didn’t convert."