Continentals hope to earn playoff berth
by Kendall Weir ’12
SPORTS WRITER
The young Hamilton men’s basketball team bounced back from a close loss to Liberty League rival Hobart with two road wins last weekend.
After leading at the half, Hamilton fell 70-67 in a tight game against league-leader Hobart College last week to fall to a record of 12-7. Captain Pat Sullivan ’12 nearly posted a double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds. Now with eight 20-point performances so far in the 2010-11 season, Sullivan is leading the Liberty League in scoring. Fellow captain Ephraim McDowell ’12 scored 10 points and Max Shillalies ’11 scored eight. Three of the six first-years on the roster stood out for the Continentals, as Ryan Wright dropped three 3-pointers, and Matt Dean and Greg Newton each posted four helpers.
Despite impressive efforts from both the starters and the bench, Matt Pebole ’12 scored 30 points and logged seven boards for Hobart to lead his team to the win. Stefan Thompson ’13 hit a 3-pointer with under a minute left to give the Statesmen a two-score lead and help seal the win, marking Hobart’s 17th of the season and their second against the Continentals.
Hamilton learned from that loss. After being led at the half by St. Lawrence that Friday, McDowell led a second-half Continentals surge to help the men capture a 60-53 league win. Sullivan scored more than 20 points for the second game in a row, marking his eighth time this season. McDowell scored 17 points, all in the second half, including four field goals from beyond the arc. Wright and Dean performed yet again, and Ken Click ’13 scored eight, two of which came on a layup with five minutes remaining to round out a 10-0 run by Hamilton.
“It is great having the freshmen playing so well, and they are really peaking at the right time” said Sullivan. With momentum from a clutch win against St. Lawrence, Hamilton cruised past Clarkson University in another league game by a margin of 29. “Last weekend was great for us as a team. We went up to SLU and Clarkson and got two quality wins,” Sullivan remarked. Greg Newton ’14 shot 100 percent from the field to rack up 16 points off the bench. Sullivan added 14, Shillalies scored eight and Tom McInerny ’14 and Hans Schulte ’13 each posted eight points.
On the flip side, Clarkson scored the first points of the game and couldn’t seem to do anything right after that. Clarkson made four of its first 24 attempts from the field, was losing by 23 at the half, and never staged enough of a second-half run to get back into the contest.
The road wins over St. Lawrence and Clarkson pushed Hamilton into a tie for third place in the Liberty League standings. Only four teams qualify for the Liberty League tournament, so the Continentals need to finish the regular season on a high note.
After being postponed twice already, the men’s basketball team traveled to Middlebury on Monday to face the Panthers, the No.4 team in the country. Despite only losing by one at the half and another strong effort off the bench by Newton, who dropped 17, the Continentals fell to Middlebury 69-56. Middlebury has been extremely strong all year, as they have won five straight and hold a record of 21-1 for the season.
Due to strong performances in three league games, Sullivan and Newton both earned weekly Liberty League awards. Sullivan made Liberty League team of the week, averaging almost 19 points over the three contests. He leads all Liberty League players in scoring and ranks third in shooting percentage.
Newton earned co-rookie of the week recognition for the first time in his career. He averaged three assists per game during the week, and ranks third in the Liberty League in assists per game.
The Continentals have two of its most important games to finish up the regular season, with upcoming home contests against Vassar College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Feb. 18 and 19. Hamilton hopes to win both games to break a tie for third in the Liberty League with Skidmore College and make the league tournament.