By LOGAN RIPLEY
Sports Editor
A strong second half effort pushed Saint Rose Men’s Basketball to a commanding victory over Northeast-10 Conference opponent Assumption College 91-67, extending their win streak to six games.
The Golden Knights trademarked “collected effort” sparked the win by putting five players in double digits scoring, while the Greyhounds only managed two.
The game looked like it could get out of hand early. Saint Rose got out on a 9-0 run, using their size to disrupt the smaller and slower Assumption on the defensive end. The mark continued to increase, becoming a 16-2 difference with 14:28 left in the first half before peaking at 18-2.
“We were able to spread them out,” said Assistant Coach Mike Perno. “Our job today was to get the ball into the paint, weather it be a post feed or two feet in the lane and kick.”
Assumption was a steady 45 percent from the field in the first half, but Saint Rose was better ending the half 18-30, translating to 60 percent from the field and an advantage of 44-30 on the scoreboard.
If it wasn’t for freshman Bryan Boehlert’s great performance in the first for the Greyhounds the lead could have been insurmountable.
“He is a freshman coming oiff the bench and he had a good game,” said Saint Rose forward Julian Lipinski. “That can happen in the NE10 because there is so much talent running around.”
Boehlert led all scoring after the first period and for the game ending with 21 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. Guard Shane Herrity led Saint Rose with 10 points on 4-4 from the field and forward Matt Cerutti added 9 points, 4-5 from the field in the first half.
Down 14 at the start of the second the Greyhounds didn’t looked fazed and they were finally seeing a few more shots fall through the basket. The Golden Knights finally woke up when their once safe lead was cut to eight off a layup by Patrick Fleming with 17:21 left in the half.
Feeling the momentum change, Herrity stepped into a three and brought the lead back to 11 for Saint Rose.
“When you do get up like that and you’re up 20 all of a sudden sometimes guys get a little complacent,” said Lipinski. “We just needed to get back to what was working for us.”
The thing working was constant pressure on the ball and pushing the tempo on the other end according to forward Jack Jones and Lipinki. Saint Rose looked to attack them in transition throughout the game and did so, amounting 20 total assists and a few memorable jams.
The game was officially in hand for Saint Rose when Jones took his defender baseline and threw down a reverse dunk electrifying his bench and the crowd.
“I’m not really known for my bounce,” said Jones. “So It was good to get up on that one.”
Though Jones’ dunk was the highlight of the game for either side, it was hit pure stroke from the three-point line that worried the Greyhound defense in the second half.
Having only put up four points on 2-4 shooting for the field in the first half, Jones responded with 11 in the second, 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from behind the three-point line.
“I often get a bigger guy on me,” said Jones. “And I know, myself as a bigger guy, it is hard to play a guy that shoots a lot. So it’s just taking advantage of mismatches really.”
Other standouts for Saint Rose off the bench were sophomore guard Michael Wearne, freshman guard Adam Anderson, and freshman forward Jeff Allen.
Wearne and Anderson kept the tempo and intensity up when they each entered the game. Anderson used his length on the defensive end while Wearne enhanced the lead down the stretch finishing with 13 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.
Allen was the man under the basket for Saint Rose, grabbing eight rebounds, four offensive, and contributing seven points in a valuable 15 minutes off the bench.
“The reason I think we’re good this year is because we have three or four guys coming off the bench that on some other NE10 teams could be starters, or could be starters on this team as well,” said Jones.
As for the rest of the Saint Rose starters Mical-Ryan Boyd finished with eight points and five rebounds. Cerutti came away with 13 points, Lipinki added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Herrity converted for 13 points and five rebound, and Jamal Greenwood with six points, and two assists.
With so many key contributors throughout the game, Coach Perno found it tough to mix and match the lineups to stay not only productive but keep the game in hand late.
“It was one of the hardest games I had to coach because everybody that I put in the game the second half contributed in a positive way,” said Coach Perno. “So trying to find minutes and trying to find playing groups was really difficult thing to do.”
Next up Saint Rose travels to Manchester, N.H. to face Saint Anselm Tuesday Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Also senior Julian Lipinski hopes to eclipse 1,000 points scored in his career. He only needs four points to pass the mark.
