By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
After holding an 11 point halftime lead, the Springfield College men’s basketball team saw its lead whittled down to four points, 39-35, against the Babson Beavers, the NEWMAC’s highest scoring offense coming into the contest. At the 13 minute mark of the second half, the Pride had not made a 3-pointer through the first 26 minutes and change of the contest, but that changed very quickly.
Reserve point guard Rashad Samuels, playing in just his second game of the season, found Cedric Rodriguez beyond the arc, who buried the Pride’s first three of the game. After drawing an offensive foul on Babson star Nate Amado on the next possession, Samuels threaded the needle through Babson’s 3-2 zone, finding Josh Hartley for a wide open layup.
Rashad’s brother, Reece, subbed in after a Babson timeout, and on his first possession, Rashad found Reece for three, a twin connection for the Pride from downtown. Rashad connected with Hartley for two again, and Josiah Evely finished a transition layup. After two missed threes from Babson, Reece pulled up from five feet beyond the line and his shot hit nothing but net.
The result was a 15-0 Springfield run, with the Samuels twins, who had played just a combined 28 minutes all season, scoring or assisting on 13 of the points.
“They’ve been patient,” said Springfield head coach Michael McClendon. “They haven’t played a lot this year, but we’ve had great conversations with both of them one-on-one, telling them ‘Hey stay the course, your time will come,’ and last game [against Salve Regina] we put them in there when we were down 14, and watched them fight and get it within four points, and that showed me ‘Okay these kids are ready, I need to start giving them an opportunity,’ and today was that day.”
That run springboarded the Pride to take control of a game they had to win, and they did, 70-52, moving them to a 9-12 record, and up to a 6-6 mark in NEWMAC play.
Springfield fell on the road to Babson on Jan. 14, with an almost identical scoreline of 70-53. Amado scored 31 points in that game against the Pride, and they focused heavily on matching the physicality Amado and Bason brought on both sides of the ball.
“We talked about yesterday in practice just showing them jersey and being physical,” McClendon said. “Last time we played them they out-physicaled us, and we wanted to do it back to them. We had that approach today of being the bullies, and the guys bought into that.”
Senior forward Curtiss Blische left his mark on the game as well, finishing with nine points and five rebounds, but he kept numerous possessions alive with hustle and hard work. He echoed McClendon’s sentiment of playing with physicality.
“You just have to be comfortable with them bumping you off your spot,” Blische said. “Like we talked about before, when we played at Babson we kind of let them dictate a lot, and we knew we couldn’t do that this game.”
The Pride showed that physicality in the first half, attacking Babson offensively and playing strong defense in the half-court, holding Amado and Felix Kloman, who averaged almost a combined 40 points per game, to just four and five points each in the first frame.
Led by Jarron Flynn’s 11 first half points, the Pride held an 11 point lead going into the break, and the second half run propelled Springfield to a comfortable win over Babson.
It was a balanced offensive effort for the Pride, with Flynn, Rodriguez and Hartley all in double figures with 14, 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Springfield’s six wins in conference play moves it up to fourth in the conference standings, and for a team pegged last in the NEWMAC preseason conference poll, they look to be in good shape to finish top six in the conference and qualify for the NEWMAC conference tournament, something McClendon and no player on the roster have done in their careers.
“It’s awesome,” Blische said. “Seeing how good we can be as a group, and I saw it last year and the year before, but it’s finally now coming together. It’s my last year, so I’m trying to get into the playoffs, see what it’s like, and hopefully do our thing.”
The Pride have a chance to avenge another early season loss and get above .500 in conference play on Wednesday, Feb. 12, when they take on Coast Guard at 7:30 in Blake Arena.
Photo courtesy of Springfield Athletics