The Observer, December 1, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 12
Spartans hang on to defeat Hiram for first victory
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"It's good to win when you don't play well," said coach Sean McDonnell, summarizing the basketball team's 76-74 victory over Hiram on Nov. 22. The Spartans went into Hiram with a record of 0-2. The win was important for team morale.
"It's nice to get a win before you have three days off for Thanksgiving. It gives you something good to think about over break," said McDonnell. Center Mason Conrad added, "I think it was really important to get the first win out of the way to help our team confidence."
The Spartans implemented a new defensive strategy against Hiram.
"We're still playing man-to-man, but we're going to be more aggressive. We need to create more turnovers," said McDonnell. Last year, the Spartans were tenth nationally in rebounding margin.
"That's not going to happen this year," said McDonnell.
Last year, Case adopted a more passive style on defense. They could wait for their opponent to take a shot, because the Spartans were likely to come up with the rebound. This year, the Spartans won't have that luxury.
On the other side of the ball, the main problem has been the abundance of turnovers. The Case squad averages 20 per game.
"That's too high," said McDonnell. "That's an area that will have to improve." McDonnell plans to address this by teaching players how to screen (also called a "pick," a screen is a legal block set by an offensive player on the side of or behind a defender in order to free a teammate to take a shot or receive a pass), and post up (establishing a position in the low post, an area on one of the sides of the free throw lane, near the basket) legally.
Another area McDonnell has targeted for improvement is Case's perimeter threat. "Teams are going to slough off our perimeter guys because our inside is strong," he said. "Our center (Conrad) is getting double-teamed a lot. Our perimeter guys have to be in the mindset that they can be on the attack rather than just passing it off to the inside guys. It's a mindset issue, not a talent issue."
The Spartans' main perimeter threat, Steve Young, scored a career-high 24 points against Hiram. However, he missed Wednesday's game against Oberlin due to an injured ankle, and is considered day-to-day.
Thankfully, he was around long enough to help the Spartans eke out the win against Hiram, a team they usually defeat.
"They're a very scrappy, perimeter-oriented team," McDonnell said. Hiram led at the intermission, 39-38. The Spartans roared back in the second half. Conrad made the game 70-60 with a tip-in with 7:43 to go in the second half. But after this point, Case's lead slowly evaporated. With 1:11 left, Hiram cut Case's lead down to one point, bringing the score to 75-74. But the Spartans were able to hold on through this nerve-racking minute.
"Our guys stepped up individually, and we were able to hold them," said McDonnell.
The Spartans are now focused on building on the win over Hiram.
"We'll look to improve our new defense and cut down on unforced mistakes on offense," Conrad said. "If we do that, we'll be able to get leads and put teams away earlier, so that games like Hiram are not close in the end."
Case will face Washington and Jefferson at 8 p.m. this Saturday at Veale. Washington and Jefferson has multiple players who have already scored over 1000 points in their careers. They finished second last year in the President's Athletic Conference.
"It'll be a good test for us," said McDonnell. "I hope people will come out to support the team. It's the last home weekend game of the semester."
