john dunne.jpg
It's been a season of disappointment to date for St. Peter's coach John Dunne.
(Star-Ledger file photo)
The Broncs of Rider University rolled over St. Peter's 58-49 on Thursday night in a game featured on ESPN3 as the MAAC game of the week.
The victory by Rider (14-8, 8-3) in Jersey City completes a season sweep of the under-performing Peacocks, as St. Peter's fell to 10-12 overall and 4-7 in the MAAC.
In what can only be described as a season of disappointment to date for St. Peter's, this year's team is one of the few under Coach John Dunne that has failed to play up to its potential.
Only sophomore point guard Trevis Wyche and sophomore center Quadir Welton played well, as Welton led the Peacocks with 15 points and 9 rebounds. The three senior starters -- Marvin Dominique, Desi Washington and Tyler Gaskins -- shot a combined 8 for 31 from the field (25.8%).
Playing with three capable senior starters supported by two promising sophomores, this year's SPU edition was expected to contend as a top seed in the MAAC. But for a variety of reasons, this team is competitive but just not good enough to win close games consistently.
In my first blog about this team in early October, I wrote about this SPU squad being undersized. As I review the teams that they have beaten and the ones that have beaten them, I keep coming back to that original observation. The league losses against Rider, Manhattan and Quinnipiac were all the result of losing the front court battle.
Against Rider big men Matt Lopez and Junior Fortunat, the primary three-man Peacock front court rotation of Quadir Welton, Marvin Dominique and Elias Desport all registered either four or five fouls as Rider won the battle on the boards 43-36. It was Lopez and Fortunat who made the big plays inside the paint with the game on the line.
In the loss against Quinnipiac, SPU was hammered on the glass 43-30. Ousmane Drame of Quinnipiac went off with 15 points and 11 rebounds. In the overtime loss to Manhattan in Jersey City, Ashton Pankey and Emmy Andujar once again exposed the SPU front court as Welton fouled out and both Dominique and Gaskins wound up in trouble with four fouls each.
St. Peter's has a collective record of 1-5 against these three MAAC opponents and in the one game they did win against Quinnipiac, Welton took Drame to school.
In other notable Peacock losses this season, teams like Brown and Seton Hall in addition to those three MAAC opponents -- all with big and talented front courts -- have just proven to be too much for this SPU squad.
SPU was very competitive with the Broncs in this game as they trailed by only two points at the half, 25-23, and by one point at 49-48 with 2:35 left in the game.
The Rider coaching staff deserves kudos based on their halftime adjustment. Within the first five minutes of the second half, Rider showed a new plan of attack as the Broncs continuously took the ball to the rack. It resulted in five quick SPU fouls.
With 12 minutes left in the second half, Rider already had the Peacocks over the foul Iimit as the Broncs paraded to the charity stripe while the SPU front court sauntered to the bench in foul trouble.
There was no single turning point in this game. It was winnable for St. Peter's, but the shooting and end-of-game execution needed to be better in order to overcome the Peacocks' front court size disadvantage. Two crucial turnovers in the final minutes where SPU needed to make a shot also cost the team dearly.
There is no easy solution. Dominique or his sub, promising freshman Rodney Hawkins, cannot play the wing position as neither has a good enough handle or the capability to put the ball on the floor. That leaves SPU vulnerable with three guards and an undersized front court when playing against other big and talented front courts like Rider.
If the outside shots do not drop when you are losing the battle inside, the chances of winning are greatly diminished.
St. Peter's is at Iona Saturday afternoon before returning home Feb. 7 to host Fairfield.