Tourney ticket on the line for Mount

BY NICK BERTOLLO - GettysburgTimes Sports Writer

It’s true that Mount St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart University have already squared off once this season.

But don’t think the Pioneers’ 67-59 comeback win in mid January will bear much resemblance to today’s NEC finale and the battle for an automatic NCAA Division I Tournament bid.

For one thing, the Mount completely rearranged itself offensively following the defeat – and has only been held under 70 points in two games since.

The reason?

After going 1-4 midseason against Farleigh Dickinson, Oklahoma, Quinnipiac, Saint Francis (Pa.) and finally, Sacred Heart – averaging 58.6 points per game over that stretch – head coach Milan Brown & Co. got the itch to, you know, score.

And they’d go out and do it through sophomore guard Jeremy Goode – while preserving their trademark, conference-leading defense.

“That game is the game that pushed us over the top,” Brown said. “We had to really get out and transition, make Jeremy be our temperature gauge as far as how fast we could play.”

The Mount (17-14) has put up 76.8 ppg since that fateful night in Emmitsburg, going 9-4 and knocking off both Quinnipiac and NEC top-seed Robert Morris to reach the summit of NEC glory.

Speed has been key.

“I think the guys have made a concerted effort to really not only push the basketball, which is on Jeremy and Jean (Cajou), but everybody else is running,” Brown said. “Once we make a couple plays, the guys like playing that way. They don’t like practicing it, but they like playing that way.”

Goode has been everything the Mountaineers could ask for since the quarterfinals, totaling 38 points in two games, while Cajou continues to come up big off the bench with 33 points so far this postseason.

“Jeremy definitely showed up,” Brown said, laughing, in reference to last Sunday’s 23-point performance against Robert Morris. “He did a good job for us early and set the tempo, he was really aggressive.”

Cajou, meanwhile, has been something of a surprise – no easy task, given his talent.

“Jean’s been huge for us off the bench the last three weeks,” Brown said. “He’s just really started to come around and be the player we thought we had. Maybe moreso, to tell you the truth.”

A second reason to throw out January’s game is the way Sacred Heart simply took off in the second half of the season: After stumbling to a 5-8 record by the new year, the Pioneers zoomed into a 15-4 finish. They’ve scored 80 points or more over five of their last ten games, and are simply a different team.

Furthermore, both Brown and Sacred Heart head coach Dave Bike also dismissed the 16-5 run the Pioneers went on to close out January’s win, arguing that it was an isolated five-minute affair.

Besides, the reason for it was simple: one team executed. The other didn’t.

That can change in a heartbeat under any circumstances – let alone during the playoffs.

“Looking back at the tape we thought that they were just a more aggressive team to close the game out,” Brown said. “At that point in time we weren’t playing as good basketball as maybe we are now. Their veteran guys made some plays.”

Bike said that both teams’ NEC quarterfinal and semifinal games are more telling than a game played a month and a half ago.

“That’s a lot closer than January 19,” the Pioneer trail boss said.

Then he stole a page from Brown.

“You gotta make plays,” Bike said, chuckling. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?”

Share and share alike

The Pioneers have fielded a balanced offense all year. Three Sacred Heart players – forward Brice Brooks and guards Drew Shubik and Chauncey Hardy – average 10 ppg or better. Sophomore guard Ryan Litke clocks in at 9.2.

Unsurpringly, that trend continued into the playoffs. Brooks, Hardy, Shubik and Corey Hassan all topped double digits against Central Connecticut State in the NEC semis, while Hardy, Shubik, and Litke did it again against No. 2 Wagner last weekend.

“The tough thing with them is they’re a veteran group,” Brown said. “They have an opportunity to put five guys on the court, they can all handle the ball, they can all shoot it, they can all pass it. It makes a tough guard. Truly, nobody can help anyone else. You have to worry about guarding your own guy.”

Not having a high-profile, go-to scorer suits the Pioneers just fine.

“We don’t try to hide it,” Bike said. “Guys have the green light. It’s a situation that we do try to attack from all different angles and let the guys play a little bit.”

Naturally, that lends itself to teamwork – but the Pioneers would take a title any way they can get it.

“You need at least three good performances,” Bike said. “If you can spread it out, fine – but it’s all about production now.”

There and back again

In last year’s NEC finals, Sacred Heart fell to Central Connecticut in a 74-70 heartbreaker – and according to Brown, that means it’ll do everything possible to avert consecutive defeats.

“I know they’ve been waiting for this opportunity for almost a year to the day and I know they’re going to fight, just as hard as we’re going to fight, to make sure they come out on the positive end of the stick,” Brown said. “As will we.”

According to Bike, getting back to the NEC Finals was no easy thing for the Pioneers.

“Our guys have thought about it, naturally,” Bike said. “I know one thing, just getting here again has been in no way an automatic or easy road.”

For one thing, they had to overcome an 0-6 start.

For another, they had to get comfortable under the glass.

“Rebounding’s been our Achilles’ heel throughout the year,” Bike said. “In the playoffs we had good rebounding both against Central and Wagner, which is so important. You don’t have to do everything perfect, but there are certain things if you’re not going to make it up in one area you’ve got going to make it up in another area.”

Though the Pioneers have been to the conference championships more recently than the Mount, theirs is far from an exclusive hold. The Mountaineers have now made the finals three times – beating Rider in 1995 and Central Connectict in 1999 – under legendary head coach Jim Phelan.

Brown was there with him in 1999 as an assistant.

“The first time I was making suggestions,” Brown said. “Now I’m making decisions. It’s really exciting. I’m proud of my players and staff, they’ve done a great job to get us to this point.”

That pedigree has recently been both a source of inspiration and pride for the Mount.

At present, it’s a source of confidence.

“We said it the last five years – we’re trying to recreate history, not create,” Brown said. “We already know what can be done here.”