The men’s basketball team opened its season with a home match against Springfield in the Inn at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 16. Wesleyan led 5-4 just over two minutes into the half, but Springfield nailed a three-pointer with 15:46 remaining to take a 7-5 lead that it did not relinquish. With 4:57 left in the half, Nick Pelletier ’08 sank two free throws to tie the score at 18-18, but Springfield ended the half on a 12-2 run for a 30-20 halftime lead.
Springfield led by as much as 13 in the second half, but Wesleyan fought back and narrowed its deficit to 47-44 with 26 seconds remaining. Kevin Scura ’09 had a potential game-tying three-pointer blocked, but Eric Winters ’08 grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. Winters missed both free throws, however, and Springfield made four free throws down the stretch to pad its lead to 51-44. A Scura three-pointer cut the deficit to 51-47, but Springfield dunked as time expired to make the final score 53-47.
Pelletier believes that physical fatigue was not the problem, even at the end of the first half.
“I think it was not physical fatigue, but mental fatigue,” Pelletier said. “We played 15 hard minutes in the first half. In the last five minutes, [Springfield] stepped it up and we stayed at the same mental level [as] the first 15 minutes, and that’s where their run came from.”
The Cards took on Western New England College (WNEC) in the tournament’s consolation game the next day. Two early free throws by Pelletier gave Wesleyan a 2-0 lead, but WNEC quickly erased the deficit and took a 5-2 lead 1:25 in.
Two free throws by Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg ’09 gave the Cardinals a 30-29 lead with 34 seconds left, but WNEC scored with seven seconds left for a 31-30 halftime lead.
The second half began much as the first ended, with the teams trading baskets and neither team mounting a substantial lead. Wesleyan got no closer than nine points during the rest of the game. A layup by Ezaakk Diggs ’09 with nine seconds left provided the final scoring in the 68-58 loss.
Wesleyan took on Williams on Nov. 20 in its last action before Thanksgiving. Williams scored the game’s first seven points before a 7-0 Wesleyan run tied the game 6:30 into the first half. A three-pointer by Winters gave the Cardinals a 12-9 lead with 12:09 left, but Williams scored the next nine points, and it went downhill from there.
Williams took over in the second half for a 61-51 win, sending Wesleyan to its first 0-3 start since the 1995-96 season.
“We lost focus at the end of the first half,” Pelletier said. “We were able to pick it back up and make that run and get within five. I think that just shows the slight steps that we’re taking in our mental focus and mental endurance every game.”
After Thanksgiving, the Cardinals traveled to Western Connecticut State University for their second tournament in as many weeks. The Cardinals opened with a match against Medgar Evers on Saturday. Led by a game-high 19 points from Pelletier and a double-double from Winters, the Cardinals earned their first win of the season, 73-54.
The Cardinals led by as many as nine after a three-pointer by Scura with 2:02 left and carried a 31-26 lead to the locker room. Wesleyan’s lead did not dip below 16 the rest of the way, and the Cardinals led by as many as 23. Winters scored 14 of his 17 points during the second half to go along with his 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Winters noted that the win was extremely important not just for the players, but for the coaching staff as well.
“Coach Jay Johnson and [his assistants] have been working very, very hard…so that win’s really [not just] for us as a team, but also for the coaching staff, to [say], ’Look, we’re going to be a good team this year,’” Winters said. “We were definitely the better team going into that game, and we showed it.”
Additionally, Wesleyan amassed 25 assists on its 30 baskets.
“Having that many assists really shows the different mentality of the team this year as compared to last year,” Winters said. “And, while we did lose some great talent last year, we’re going to be a better team in the long run this year because we are an actual team.”
Wesleyan took on host Western Connecticut, which entered the game undefeated, in the championship game on Sunday. The Colonials never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and going up by as many as 17 in the first half. After Western scored to take a 23-12 lead with 4:15 left in the half, the lead never fell below double digits for the rest of the game. Western twice led by 20 in the second half and rolled to a 63-44 win.
“Their calling card is pressure, face-to-face defense,” Pelletier explained. “We really just crumbled under it….They came out and pretty much punched us in the mouth, and we backed down right away, or at least in the first half. The second half was fought hard, but…we already had such a deficit that it was hard to fight back at that point.”
Wesleyan returned home on Wednesday to take on another in-state rival, Eastern Connecticut State University. The Cardinals again reached double figures in assists, but made just 13 of 28 free throws in a double-overtime loss.
The teams played a close first half, with neither team building a lead of more than four points until the Warriors hit a three with 7:33 left to go up 24-17. Wesleyan eventually tied the game with 2:33 left, but Eastern Connecticut scored six of the last seven points for a 35-29 halftime lead.
The Warriors later led 55-44 with 11:48 left in the game, but Wesleyan whittled down the lead to tie it at 61-61 with 2:11 remaining. Eastern led by three with eight seconds left, but Scura hit a three with 0.8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
With 1:37 left in the extra period, Wesleyan led by five before a series of Eastern free throws cut the lead to two. With 47 seconds left, the Cardinals had the ball when Jeremy Kaminer ’10 was called for a charge bringing the ball up court; Eastern tied the game nine seconds later. Kaminer’s shot with five seconds left was blocked as the shot clock hit zero, but Eastern missed a three-pointer as time expired, sending the game into a second overtime.
The Warriors scored the first six points of the period and never trailed again, winning by the final score of 81-78.
Wesleyan will attempt to get back into the win column on Saturday, when the Cardinals host Roger Williams. The teams first met last year, with Roger Williams winning 73-62. Saturday’s game will tip at 2 p.m.
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