With a critical win over NESCAC foe Middlebury College, the men’s basketball team moved one step closer to positioning themselves for a run in the conference tournament. Despite losing to NESCAC rival Williams a day later, the Cardinals are battling Bates College for the fifth seed in the tournament and will likely face Trinity or Amherst in the first round of the tournament.
In the 83-81 victory over the Middlebury Panthers, the Cardinals struggled to build momentum early as their potent offense stalled, falling behind 20-6 early in the first half. The Cards turned to superstars Kanem Johnson ’04 and Keala Mills ’04 to pick up the slack and subsequently pulled ahead by one at the end of the first period.
Their momentum carried them forward into the second half where they pushed the lead into double digits.
Though the Panthers were able to muster a late rally to tie the score late, they had no answer for Johnson and Mills, as the two seniors along with sharp shooting Tim Holland ’05 hit critical shots down the stretch. The game was sealed when Holland nailed a clutch three-pointer that put the Cardinals up by four points late.
“In the Middlebury game, free throws won the game for us,” Johnson said. “They shot better from three-point land and from the lane, but it came down to last-second free throws determining the outcome of the game. One of the team goals is to be top in the conference in free throws for the season, one of our goals that led us to victory.”
Mills had a game high 29 points, while Johnson added 21 points and 10 boards. Holland and Jarred Ashe ’07 combined for 19 points, while Rob Kelly ’06 did a solid job down low with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks despite feeling under the weather.
As was the case in several of the team’s contests of late, coach Jerry McDowell has relied on his starting five for heavy minutes, which could wear the team down as they head into the playoffs. But Holland expressed confidence in not only the stamina of the starting line up, but of the reserves as well.
“We’re not too concerned about the minutes we’re playing,” Holland said. “We are in great shape, especially by the end of the game. Our starting five feel like we’re all capable of playing 40 minutes a game.”
However, Holland did not discount the importance of the players coming off the bench.
“Our reserves are capable of spelling [the starters] for 5-10 minutes a game. At Middlebury, we got good play from our reserves when we were down. The starters got rest, and enough energy to get going,” Holland said.
Saturday the Cardinals traveled to Williamstown to take on the Williams Ephs in a rematch of the game in which the squad almost pulled the biggest upset of the year, but fell just short in overtime. The men were able to stay close with the Ephs early on, as they trailed by just six points at the half, but could not match the intensity Williams displayed starting the second half, and the Cardinals fell 103-81.
Johnson led the Cards with a game high 20 points, increasing his season total to 457 points. Johnson, who recently became the top point scorer in University history, needs only 43 points in three games to become the second player to score over 500 points in a season.
The past two games saw the emergence of Ashe, as the starting point guard found his jump shot. Ashe combined for 20 points in the two games, while hoisting up 20 shots.
“I’ve been trying to build confidence.,” Ashe said. “My job isn’t to shoot the ball, it’s to get the other four guys the ball, especially when you’ve got Kanem, Keala, Tim and even Rob down low. When they double those guys though, I’ll shoot the ball, and hopefully it’ll keep going in.”
But perhaps the underlying figure to the team’s success this year has been Holland himself. While Johnson and Mills carry the bulk of the offense on their backs, Holland has quietly made himself into a solid number three option.
“It certainly helps that I’m playing with two of the best players in the conference. Teams have been guarding us much more tight now, but playing with Kanem and Keala has benefited me a lot,” Holland said. “While they are getting a lot of the attention, I get a lot of open looks, and I just need to knock down my shots when it counts.”
This weekend the Cardinals play two of the teams they could possibly face in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, beginning a week from Saturday. Tonight at 7:30 p.m., the Cardinals will face off against Trinity, and will take on Amherst tomorrow at 2 p.m.
“We need to have a playoff-type mentality, even though it is just a regular season game. We have to take care of Trinity first,” Johnson said. “We need to tighten up on interior defense. If we take care of the middle we should be okay.”
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