By Braedan Shea
@braedan_shea
Clinging to a one-point lead with just under three minutes remaining in the second half, Springfield College men’s basketball guard John Paulino caught the ball on the left wing, and paused.
With Eastern Connecticut State University clawing its way back into the game, Paulino was giving the Pride a few seconds to reset themselves.
He held the ball on his right hip, using his left hand to direct a teammate to the opposite corner, knowing that a pick-and-roll with forward Curtiss Blische had the ability to give Springfield a much needed cushion.
When the play was finally run, however, it didn’t quite work out the way Paulino envisioned.
Though the screen and roll played out perfectly, he never accounted for a help side defender doubling Blische as he attempted the shot. With the extra man, Blische was forced to fade back, and his short hook jumper came up short.
An ECSU guard went up for the board nonchalantly, bunny hopping toward the ball and looking to push a fast break while the paint was clogged on the opposing end. But that ball never came down in his hands.
Paulino soared high over the defender, taking off from the opposite block to get to the ball. He snagged the rebound out of the air with aggression, and in one motion, kicked a pass to the corner to a wide open Zeke Blauner. When Blauner’s shot also came up short, Paulino once again proved that he wanted it more, nabbing another offensive rebound.
He again went to Blische, who powered his way to the hoop resulting in being fouled. After making his first attempt, his second just came up short. And once again, almost as if he had a magnet in his hands, the shot came down in Paulinos hands.
He fired a one handed chest pass to Josiah Evely, who then pumped a pass to Gary Bess Jr. on the right wing, leaving himself a wide open layup – extending Springfield’s lead to 62-59 with just two minutes left.
The Pride never lost that lead again, defeating ECSU 66-60 in their home opener.
“That’s what you do when you want to win the game,” Paulino said about the intense effort at the end of the game. “You do whatever the team needs you to do. I mean, I scored a couple points. But I knew those offensive rebounds were gonna be big for us. So I crashed, got those boards and gave us a couple more possessions to take the lead and win the game.”
Although Paulino played a key role in the win, the tandem alongside fellow sophomore Evely is what pushed Springfield ahead.
The pair dominated from start to finish, as Evely led the Pride in scoring with 21 points on an efficient 7-10 shooting from the field; and Paulino added 13 points of his own along with five steals.
The best showing from the duo came late in the first half, which played out in a similar fashion to the second.
Up one with 3:14 remaining in the half, the Warriors poked the ball away from Springfield, and outletted immediately to a streaking teammate. When he caught the ball, the ECSU guard slowed himself, taking time on what he believed to be an easy two points. But in a play reminiscent of Tayshaun Prince’s block on Reggie Miller in game two of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, Evely flew in, swatting the ball off the backboard.
Paulino grabbed the rebound, charged down the court, and flipped a pass to Bess Jr. in the corner. When his teammates grabbed him off the ground, a short-staffed Blake Arena erupted as the three point shot went in, along with a foul on top.
Just when it didn’t seem Blake was capable of getting any louder, Paulino had one more trick up his sleeve.
Two possessions later, Paulino perfectly read a Warrior pass, tipping the ball forward and exploding to his basket. As he got to the free throw line, Paulino looked back, seeing ECSU’s center in hot pursuit. Instead of backing down, he soared. With a crowd of no more than 65, as most of campus had left for Thanksgiving Break, it felt full after Paulino viciously dunked on the Warrior big.
“They ran the same play three times in a row, so I knew that pass was coming,” Paulino said. “So I jumped it, I got it, and I saw them chasing. I was like, ‘I gotta go up and dunk this,’ and I got it.”
After starting most of last year as first-year players, Springfield head coach Michael McClendon II has high praise for Paulino and Evely.
“I told them that in the future this program is going to be a little bit on their backs, because we see how talented they are,” McClendon II said. “But can you carry you know the rest of the team? Can you put forth that work in the offseason to get yourself better? And it’s starting to come to fruition? They had their best games of the season so far today, because of the work they put in every day at practice. Those guys are just consistent, man. So I love them.”
McClendon II was also most proud of his team by their ability to bounce back from an adrenaline rush. Going into the half, following quite possibly the best stretch of Springfield basketball in quite a few years, the Pride were at an emotional high. In the second half, they got slightly away from that. Though being a young team, McCledon believes that the team just needs to stay poised to be consistent.
“A lot of times when good plays happen, the guys get motivated but then that leaves right there,” McClendon II said. “Adrenaline leaves the body. Now you have to go back to your preparation to stay poised and sound. Coming out of the end of the first half into the second half where we kind of felt things were just going to go our way, we kind of stopped grinding a little bit on both ends and you know, that happens with a young team.”
Springfield heads into the break with a 2-2 overall record, and will resume next week on Nov. 27 on the road against Bryant.
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics