The Spectrum

Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: The Spectrum/Steve Conoscenti Ryan Litke helped his squad secure homecourt advantage in the NEC playoffs.

You could feel the importance as you walked into the William H. Pitt Center on Monday night as both teams were fighting for the No 2 seed in the NEC tournament.

With a win the Pioneers would earn their highest ever NEC tournament spot, their first winning season, and complete their first ever four game win streak in Division I history.

After losing to Quinnipiac no more than a week ago, Sacred Heart would need to find a way to instill some fear in the Bobcats before entering the NEC tournament and they succeeded by defeating them 87-84. In the first half neither team looked like it was fighting for second place. Sacred Heart didn't score its first field goal until the 14:10 mark and committed a turnover every minute for the first ten minutes of the game. Quinnipiac couldn't capitalize on these turnovers however and allowed SHU to hang around for the majority of the first half.

Quinnipiac found success in the first half by going inside and attacking the paint, a stat that Sacred Heart has been dominating in recent games. Liam Potter found himself in early foul trouble and the Pioneers weren't getting much production out of their recent go-to guy, Brice Brooks. The Pioneers would go with a smaller set for the rest of the first half and rely on their shooting to keep them in the game. Hardy made his presence felt, as he scored five points on his two first possessions and Granato and Litke both gave SHU three point leads in the middle of the first half.

Quinnipiac couldn't match SHU's shooting from the floor as the Bobcats only shot 33 percent from the field and went 2-10 from three. Fortunately for QU that was the only bright spot for Sacred Heart.

The Pioneers turnover problem continued throughout the entire half and Sacred Heart went into the break having committed 18 turnovers but trailing by only three

It was no sooner however that QU saw its lead extend to nine points causing coach Dave Bike to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Jarrid Frye decided to put the team on his back and start a 15-6 Pioneer run to tie the game at 50-50.

"Being a senior and a captain, I felt like I needed to step up, especially in front of my family because they don't get to see me play often," said Jarrid Frye, senior, N.Y.

Continued...

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