Good win for the Stags over Point Loma. I watched the streaming video of the game. I was excited to see this matchup of CMS with one of the perennially top GSAC teams, (who have athletic scholarships to offer their players and are preparing to move to NCAA DII). From my days of playing under PLNU Head Coach Bill Carr when he was at University of San Diego, I know that he is a great coach who emphasizes disciplined play.
That being said PLNU really had trouble finishing around the basket even when getting 2nd & 3rd chances on a possession. The stag D frustrated PLNU as they alternated between man and zone.
CMS did good job of defending the post & rebounding even without having a true center in their rotation. They defend the paint with Maciera and Anderson, who bring a lot of athleticism to the table while Blees and Sullivan are strong enough to body up true centers from other teams. The stags gave great effort on the defensive end to start the game and jumped out to a 30-11 advantage. This was led by drives from Blees and outside shooting from Gaffney, Pinson, Maciera and even Anderson. Anderson looked comfortable shooting the ball from outside, which represents a large step forward in the game of the two time 2nd team All-SCIAC forward.
After the hot start CMS seemed to get a little complacent and the energy on the defensive end dropped, allowing PLNU to climb their way back into the game. CMS went into halftime with a 37-23 lead.
PLNU tried to use both zone & man traps against the stags to away blees's driving lanes but CMS countered with great ball movement and unselfish play to handle the pressure and create open looks for their capable shooters.
I was very impressed with CMS backcourt (Pinson & Gaffaney) who both started on last years team as freshmen. They have both taken huge strides to improve their games this season, with Pinson becoming much more of a true PG and leader on the court. Gaffaney is probably the most improved player on the team and looked very comfortable on the offensive end both in driving to the hoop and knocking down jump shots.
In true Bill Carr fashion, I am sure he gave a fiery halftime speech-- because PLNU came out motivated to start the 2nd half. They picked up the intensity on defense, attacked the stags in the post wherever they felt they had mismatches—even posting up their PG and immediately trimmed the lead to 10. Scali had to use an early timeout to refocus the team and get the effort level back up. (Which led to Kevin Sullivan getting called for the foul when ripping through with the ball-- which is something I know Scali instructs his players to do on a daily basis ☺ )
PLNU kept it close for the next ten minutes—staying about 9 points behind CMS until Chris Blees went on a tear, driving by his man repeatedly in the open court for both layups and assists while stretching the lead to 19. Bill Carr called a timeout to sub out his whole lineup, but the stags never looked back and cruised to a 65-49 victory.
I was also impressed with CMS' depth, no letdown occurred when Donnely, Mivshek, & Sullivan rotate in to the lineup and they bring a lot of scoring off the bench. Would have liked to see some Cam Cain action earlier in the game, who I know is an incredibly hard worker and solid player.
Overall a good win for the stags against a strong opponent in PLNU. This brings the Stags to 9-0, and I would think we will see them move into the top 25.
That being said PLNU really had trouble finishing around the basket even when getting 2nd & 3rd chances on a possession. The stag D frustrated PLNU as they alternated between man and zone.
CMS did good job of defending the post & rebounding even without having a true center in their rotation. They defend the paint with Maciera and Anderson, who bring a lot of athleticism to the table while Blees and Sullivan are strong enough to body up true centers from other teams. The stags gave great effort on the defensive end to start the game and jumped out to a 30-11 advantage. This was led by drives from Blees and outside shooting from Gaffney, Pinson, Maciera and even Anderson. Anderson looked comfortable shooting the ball from outside, which represents a large step forward in the game of the two time 2nd team All-SCIAC forward.
After the hot start CMS seemed to get a little complacent and the energy on the defensive end dropped, allowing PLNU to climb their way back into the game. CMS went into halftime with a 37-23 lead.
PLNU tried to use both zone & man traps against the stags to away blees's driving lanes but CMS countered with great ball movement and unselfish play to handle the pressure and create open looks for their capable shooters.
I was very impressed with CMS backcourt (Pinson & Gaffaney) who both started on last years team as freshmen. They have both taken huge strides to improve their games this season, with Pinson becoming much more of a true PG and leader on the court. Gaffaney is probably the most improved player on the team and looked very comfortable on the offensive end both in driving to the hoop and knocking down jump shots.
In true Bill Carr fashion, I am sure he gave a fiery halftime speech-- because PLNU came out motivated to start the 2nd half. They picked up the intensity on defense, attacked the stags in the post wherever they felt they had mismatches—even posting up their PG and immediately trimmed the lead to 10. Scali had to use an early timeout to refocus the team and get the effort level back up. (Which led to Kevin Sullivan getting called for the foul when ripping through with the ball-- which is something I know Scali instructs his players to do on a daily basis ☺ )
PLNU kept it close for the next ten minutes—staying about 9 points behind CMS until Chris Blees went on a tear, driving by his man repeatedly in the open court for both layups and assists while stretching the lead to 19. Bill Carr called a timeout to sub out his whole lineup, but the stags never looked back and cruised to a 65-49 victory.
I was also impressed with CMS' depth, no letdown occurred when Donnely, Mivshek, & Sullivan rotate in to the lineup and they bring a lot of scoring off the bench. Would have liked to see some Cam Cain action earlier in the game, who I know is an incredibly hard worker and solid player.
Overall a good win for the stags against a strong opponent in PLNU. This brings the Stags to 9-0, and I would think we will see them move into the top 25.