Rob Stockwell, and three other double-digit scorers of Bates College, ruthlessly grinded UMB’s bid to be the champions of the 20th annual Harbor Invitational Tournament, hosted at the Clark Athletic Center on Saturday, November 27. The Sharks’ 93-70 cruising victory gave them the first title of the four-team tournament and vengeance against the Beacons for the 83-78 loss in the championship match of 2000 at the very same place. For Bates College, Rob Stockell scored 23 points with seven rebounds and five assists to be voted the MVP of the tournament. Stockwell showed great performance (16 points, 13 rebounds) against John Jay College in the first round on the day before. Elliott Linsley shot 10-for-10 to add 22 points, with eight rebounds. Brian Gerrity had 19 points and four assists. Zack Ray scored eight points and assisted eight more to join the All-Tournament Team along with Gerrity.
From the Beacons’ perspective, sophomore Tony Barros led the home team with 19 points, including five three-pointers, three rebounds, and a couple of assists. Freshman Alberto Paniagua made a brilliant home debut by scoring 12 points and team-high seven rebounds. Senior Eric Bateman added 10 points and three rebounds. Senior Roger Perry was chosen as one of the best five of the tournament with eight points, five rebounds, and five assists. Perry fascinated the faithful crowds with a 22-point sensation in the first-round victory against Mount Ida College on Friday night.
“That was a good test for us. [Bates College] has a very good team. They are bigger in size. And they know how to use it. They surged on us.” The Beacons first-year coach Rodney Hughes said, “Overall in the game, we could’ve played better. I think we could have played a smart game. We played all right, but we didn’t play a smart game. And we got a little bit of frustrated. [The Sharks] took advantage of it.” The Beacons, 5-21 on the last season, surprised the more heralded Sharks (18-8) with Bateman’s game-opening three-pointer couplet to lead by 6-4, with two and a half minutes into the game.
This eventually turned out to be the only span in which the Bates College trailed during the 40-minute match. A driving layup by Stockwell sparked three successful three-pointers in a row and a 9-28 run to be up 15-30. With any sign of a landslide defeat giving out, Hughes took a gamble. The Beacons began to play press defense which is widely considered as a tactic against a less talented team. “I think it worked as much as it should have in terms of hustle. Before that, hustle wasn’t there. With the 2-2-1 diamond press defense, we shut the team down,” Hughes commented.
The intention of Hughes quickly penetrated into his players. A pair of three-pointers by Barros helped the Beacons build a 14-7 run to come close, 46-35 with 3:18 left in the first half. But UMB could not take solace in keeping pace on the boards. On the other hand, the Sharks did their own part to accurately score in no-mark situations to enter the half time widely ahead 54-37.
UMB played almost evenly for the latter 20 minutes, 33-39. Roger Perry cut the margin to 16 with his second three-pointer of the day at about the 15th minute. However, the Beacons never became closer than 15 in the second half as the Sharks gradually adjusted to the Beacons’ press defense and piled up a bunch of fast breaks.
The game-ending 12-9 resistance by the Beacons did nothing to change the result as the clock stopped to tick with the final score of 93-70.
Obviously from the statistics, Bates College dominated the match in the most of categories.
The Sharks outscored the Beacons in field goals 37-15 and in 3-point shoots by 12-9 (54.5 to 36.0 percent), grabbed 44 rebounds to 23 by UMB, and made more offensive rebounds than the Beacons did below their own loop.
The Sharks’ defense team held Perry (3 for 10), the best score of UMB, and the whole Beacons to 26-for-65 shooting (40 percent).
Perry said, “[The reason for the big-margin loss] was just us. They did what they should do and we didn’t do what we usually do.” Added the point guard, “We have to play team defense. We are all in unit. That’s not one person but about everybody. Everybody needs to work on team defense.”
Hughes is not too pessimistic about the prospect of the 2004-5 season, “We didn’t play a good game tonight. There wasn’t a hustle out there. But I don’t think this will happen too many more times during the season.” Said the skipper, “we have to improve on rebounding. We have to shoot a little bit better. But as an overall product, I think we now have a good team.”
Two weeks into the two-and-a-half-month season, UMB is now 2-3 overall with its first Little East Conference match being scheduled away this Saturday against Western Connecticut State University. The next home game will be against Suffolk University at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 2.