Saint Rose Narrowly Misses Win in Men’s Basketball Opener

 Golden Knights fall to Concordia in first round of Saint Rose Tip-Off Tournament

By CHAD GAMBOA

Contributing Writer

 PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 15, 2011

The College of Saint Rose Golden Knights squared off in the first men’s basketball match of the season against the Concordia Clippers at Nolan Gymnasium. The heated match spilled into overtime, during which Concordia snatched the lead and the game, winning 83-82.

It was clear moments after tip off these two teams would be fighting ferociously for an early win this season. The first half of the match was a steady back and forth between both times early on, with Concordia taking the lead towards the last four minutes of the first half, and leading 38-31 by the end of it. Concordia had the least amount of fouls by the end of the first half, with three, while Saint Rose carried six.

Saint Rose fought back spectacularly at the beginning of the second half scoring six points in 35 seconds, with defense countering fiercely, not allowing Concordia to score until four minutes later.

The aggressive playing on both teams caused neither to have a commanding lead over the other at any point in the match. In the final seconds of the second half, Saint Rose trailed three points behind Concordia, but a heart-stopping three point shot by sophomore guard Kareem Thomas in the final second of the game evened the score 73-73.

Now heading into overtime, Concordia was first to score and led 75-73, but that lead was short lived after a three point shot by senior guard Rob Gutierrez. Concordia countered with two baskets straight, followed by one good foul shot for each time. A two point shot by senior forward Brian Hanuschak brought the game painstakingly close to 80-79 with Saint Rose only one point behind Concordia with 1:02 remaining on the clock. Three foul shots brought Concordia up to 83, and another three point shot by Thomas brought the game to a final score of 83-82. Each team racked up a total of 10 fouls during the match.

“Obviously it didn’t end the way we’d like it to end. For the first game of the season we like to set the tone in a positive way,” said Hanuschack, who brought in Saint Rose’s penultimate score in overtime and tied the lead for team rebounds with sophomore center Dominykas Milka. “But we’re going to try and bounce back from this…we have a little ways to go.”