2008 Woodie Awards
Men's hoops downs Columbia, clip Hawks
Conor White
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
This past Sunday, the Sacred Heart men's basketball team defeated Monmouth 80-53, in its first Northeast Conference game.
The Pioneers controlled the game from the opening tip, coming away with easily their most impressive performance of the early season.
This is the Pioneer team many expected to see when the season started, before Sacred Heart stumbled out of the gate to a 1-6 record. However, the Pioneers are now 1-0 in the NEC.
The Pioneers led 39-11 at the half, breaking the school record for fewest points allowed in a half. Monmouth shot 3-22 in the first half while the Pioneers went 15-24 from the field, a 63 percent performance.
Senior Guard Drew Shubik scored 13 points, had eight rebounds, dished out five assists and had a couple of steals to fuel the Pioneers. Junior forward Ryon Howard added 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and sophomore guard Chauncey Hardy contributed eight points and three assists.
"This is a good win for us. This is the performance that we have been looking for all year. We played good team basketball. Our defense was very good throughout the whole game. It's very important to start the conference at 1-0," said Hardy. "I think that we sent a very strong message out to the other NEC teams about our style of play. If we can continue to play like we did against Monmouth, I don't see any team in conference coming close to beating us."
Hardy was confident, and should be.
After struggling badly early in the season, the Pioneers seem to have found their groove with two wins in a row and appear ready to take on the title of the number one ranked team in the conference and eventually punch their ticket to March Madness.
"The only thing that really matters to low DI teams like us is conference games. We want to win every game, but we could win every non-conference game, or lose every non-conference game; but if we do poor in the conference our season won't last very long. Our coaches stressed to us before the game that our record was 0-0. We took that to heart and answered the call," said Shubik.
They certainly answered the call, making sure the rest of the conference knew that last year was not a fluke. However, Shubik cautioned that every game will not be as easy as Sunday looked.
"We expect to play every game like this yes, but we don't expect to blow every team out like this. We played our type of basketball and played it well. On the other hand, Monmouth just had one of those nights where things weren't going their way. They are going to be a spoiler down the stretch," said Shubik.
The Pioneers return to acttion tonight, when they travel to Central Conneticut to take on the defending NEC champion Blue Devils.
The Pioneers controlled the game from the opening tip, coming away with easily their most impressive performance of the early season.
This is the Pioneer team many expected to see when the season started, before Sacred Heart stumbled out of the gate to a 1-6 record. However, the Pioneers are now 1-0 in the NEC.
The Pioneers led 39-11 at the half, breaking the school record for fewest points allowed in a half. Monmouth shot 3-22 in the first half while the Pioneers went 15-24 from the field, a 63 percent performance.
Senior Guard Drew Shubik scored 13 points, had eight rebounds, dished out five assists and had a couple of steals to fuel the Pioneers. Junior forward Ryon Howard added 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and sophomore guard Chauncey Hardy contributed eight points and three assists.
"This is a good win for us. This is the performance that we have been looking for all year. We played good team basketball. Our defense was very good throughout the whole game. It's very important to start the conference at 1-0," said Hardy. "I think that we sent a very strong message out to the other NEC teams about our style of play. If we can continue to play like we did against Monmouth, I don't see any team in conference coming close to beating us."
Hardy was confident, and should be.
After struggling badly early in the season, the Pioneers seem to have found their groove with two wins in a row and appear ready to take on the title of the number one ranked team in the conference and eventually punch their ticket to March Madness.
"The only thing that really matters to low DI teams like us is conference games. We want to win every game, but we could win every non-conference game, or lose every non-conference game; but if we do poor in the conference our season won't last very long. Our coaches stressed to us before the game that our record was 0-0. We took that to heart and answered the call," said Shubik.
They certainly answered the call, making sure the rest of the conference knew that last year was not a fluke. However, Shubik cautioned that every game will not be as easy as Sunday looked.
"We expect to play every game like this yes, but we don't expect to blow every team out like this. We played our type of basketball and played it well. On the other hand, Monmouth just had one of those nights where things weren't going their way. They are going to be a spoiler down the stretch," said Shubik.
The Pioneers return to acttion tonight, when they travel to Central Conneticut to take on the defending NEC champion Blue Devils.
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