Sadichchha Adhikari/Staff Photographer
Since returning to action on Dec. 30, the men’s basketball team has hit a few bumps in the road, dropping seven of its past nine games. However, the Cardinals were able to halt a losing streak with their comeback 77-68 win against Conn College on Saturday, Jan. 25.
After falling behind 19-7 in the first half against the Camels, Wesleyan battled back to tie the game with less than six minutes left to play in the second half. Cardinal guard BJ Davis ’16 led all scorers with 21 points, including a perfect 14-for-14 performance from the free throw line. Joe Edmonds ’16 and Harry Rafferty ’17 also played key roles in the win, scoring 19 and 15 points respectively. With Wesleyan up two and less than five minutes to play, Edmonds hit a key three-pointer to give the Cardinals a cushion before putting the game out of reach with another trey just two minutes later. Edmonds finished an impressive 8-13 from the field, including 3-5 from beyond the arc.
“It was huge for our morale,” Rafferty said about his team’s win. “I think we’ve been getting better every game over Christmas break, even though that wasn’t showing in the win column. I think just finally getting a win will really help us going forward in NESCAC play because we hadn’t had one yet.”
Before Saturday’s game, the Cardinals had lost five in a row, most crushingly a two-point double-overtime defeat against Middlebury in the friendly confines of Silloway Gymnasium.
“I think in each half of all the games we’ve played, there have been some self-inflicted wounds,” Rafferty said. “Maybe we would have a turnover that was unforced, or an unnecessary foul; something that we could control that didn’t go our way. If we could clean those up in each half, just those two or three errors, it can be the difference.”
Edmonds has become perhaps the most potent scorer for the Cardinals over the past few weeks, putting up double-digit point totals in each game since the holiday break. The 6’5” swingman scored a Wesleyan season-high 22 points in the team’s loss to Middlebury, and his 11.5 points per game ranks second on the team only to Rafferty’s 13.2.
“[Edmonds] is playing with a lot of confidence,” said Head Coach Joe Reilly. “He just does a lot for us. He’s an extremely versatile player, and every game has a different personality. We’re lucky to have a lot of guys who can step up and score. Guys need to be comfortable in their roles and trust their teammates. There’s a fine balance in that you can’t do it yourself and be too aggressive, but you can’t have everyone stand around and defer as well.”
Rashid Epps ’16 and Glen Thomas ’14 have headed the frontcourt for Wesleyan so far; the two have led the Cardinals in rebounding this season. Epps is currently second in the NESCAC with an impressive 10.3 rebounds per game, only 0.4 shy of the leader. Thomas is currently out with a sprained foot, but Coach Reilly cited the sidelined forward’s NESCAC experience as an extremely important piece to his team’s success.
Wesleyan currently sits 7-10 overall with a 1-3 record in NESCAC play, which is tied for sixth in the conference with four other schools. The Cardinals are preparing to face off against Bates and Tufts at home this weekend in an important pair of in-conference games. Both the Bobcats and Jumbos are tied with Wesleyan in the NESCAC standings, and this weekend represents a chance for the Cards to bolster their playoff status.
“They’re both good teams,” Coach Reilly said. “They both have very good perimeter players, so we’re going to have to defend strongly against their guards.”
Rafferty also expressed a need for solid defensive efforts in order to pick up a couple of wins.
“First and foremost, it has to be on the defensive end,” Rafferty said. “We’ve had a couple good defensive games in a row. Besides that, we’ve just got to keep executing, believing in each other, and doing all the little things that are going to win basketball games. If we can do all that, we have enough talent to beat anyone in this league.”