Bears Fall 76-72 In Overtime To St. Francis
Saturday, November 24, 2012
As Yogi Bera might say, "it was de ja vu all over again" for the Brown Bears Saturday afternoon.
Much like their loss to Bryant University Wednesday night, Brown started slow and fell behind early only to rally in the second half. However, they ended up falling in overtime to St. Francis 76-72 in overtime.
Like Bryant did to Brown, the Terriers smothered the Bears defensively out of the gates making it difficult for Brown to run its offense while forcing many a turnover. That resulted in a 14-point halftime lead for St. Francis 40-26.
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But, also like they did against the Buldogs Wednesday, Brown played a spirited second half of basketball on both ends of the floor and rallied to take the lead late in the game 55-51 on a Sean McGonagill (23 points) jumper.
Unfortunately, Brown couldn't hold onto that lead.
Trailing 60-58 with under a minute to play, freshman forward Cedric Kuakumensah (10 points, 12 rebounds) tipped in a miss by Matt Sullivan (20 points) tying the game.
The Terriers had a chance to win it in regulation when Brent Jones had his shot blocked by Rafael Maia (11 points, 9 rebounds) sending it to overtime.
McGonagill's three pointer to start the extra frame put Brown up 63-60 but St. Francis responded with a 10-1 run thanks in part to Ben Mockford's (14 points) two three's helping the Terriers to the win.
"Much like our last game, we didn't come out ready to play like St. Francis did and, as the head coach, I have to take the blame for that by not having them prepared," said Brown coach Mike Martin.
23 Brown turnovers also hurt the Bears chances. "We only have one ball handler [McGonagill] and other teams know that," said Martin.
Despite these issues and a very thin roster with which to work, Martin knows that his Bears must move forward. "We did do some good things in the second half and have to accentuate those positives," he said.
Brown now has a few days off before returning to action Thursday night at home against Sacred Heart. That game begins at 7pm.
