By Darren Sands
On the day given devoted to them, it was almost like the seniors told their little brothers to go to the neighborhood basketball court and play to make them proud. The little brothers responded and led the Pride to a 75-52 trampling over the Patriots of George Mason University (GMU) on Saturday.
Now everyone is starting to pay attention.
“We certainly noticed the win against ODU (Old Dominion University), and they had their backs against the wall against a good George Mason team and handled them pretty well,” Jack Powers, executive director of the National Invitation Tournament, said.
Powers continued: “[Pecora’s] done a fantastic job in a very competitive conference and with what they’ve got going at Hofstra. They will probably be in the running for that automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for a long time. He’s an outstanding coach and an outstanding recruiter.”
All of the talk about Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and conference tournament seeding was secondary in Friday’s practice.
Like he had all season, Pecora told them to make history.
And where do you start? This Pride (12-6 CAA, 20-7) team is the just the 15th in program history to put up 20-wins in a season, and is the first such season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).
The 9-0 start was the best since the 1960-1961 campaign. Then there’s that one little historic win against first place ODU last Wednesday that was its 1,000th all-time.
If ever there was a right and wrong way to enter the off week going into a conference tournament it was epitomized by the Pride and GMU, respectively.
In the loss, GMU (10-8 CAA, 16-12) may have lost its star point-guard Tony Skinn for the season. Skinn went down early in the second half with a leg injury and did not return. Meanwhile, the Pride had won nine of 10 down the homestretch, including impressive wins at home against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNC-W).
Seniors Wendell Gibson and Mike Radziejewski set the tone early for the Pride, as Gibson scored the first four points of the game, while Radziejewski capped a 9-2 run with a three-pointer. It was a fitting basket, as it pushed Radziejewski into sole possession of eighth place on the Pride all-time list for three-point field goals made.
But the Pride didn’t rely on outside shooting. Junior Adrian Uter’s aggressive performance included one sequence in which he blocked three consecutive shots. It was one of his strongest efforts of the season, in which he helped the Pride out-rebound GMU 47-31. He is perfectly fine with coming off the bench, because he knows that his time will come.
“It’s no problem with me,” Uter said. “I just come in with a lot of energy, because Wendell does a great job at starting it up. He’s out there taking charges and doing the little things. Once I come in I just try to keep it going with a lot of energy.”
The Patriots closed the Pride’s early lead down to as much as one late in the second half, but guard Gibran Washington connected from deep as the buzzer sounded to give the Pride a 36-27 lead at halftime. Washington, who has been coming on as of late, held his form high in the air for good measure.
After GMU’s Tony Skinn went out, all things seemed to go wrong for the Patriots. Sophomore Loren Stokes wowed the crowd with his vertical ability on an alley-oop from Washington. Stokes made eye contact with Washington from the left side and leaped to the basket to a spectacular finish. The slam brought most of the 4,503 in attendance to its feet.
The Pride held GMU to 28 percent shooting from the field. Lamar Butler scored a team-high 14 points for the Patriots.
Uter scored eight straight points for the Pride off put-backs in a 76 second stretch that extended the Pride’s lead to 15 with 10:40 remaining. The only thing left was to have Nos. 12, 24 and 42 on the court at the same time so that they could be replaced, and recognized with a standing ovation. Both Gibson and Radziejewski had their high school coaches in attendance.
“I was looking at those three guys, and I’ve know every one of them since ninth grade when I started thinking about it,” Pecora said. “It’s a special day and you win for seniors on senior day.”
The little brothers provided the flash, but the seniors are Pecora’s heart.
“I told them I loved them,” he said. “I told them that I appreciate everything they’ve done and this victory [belongs to] them.”
Stokes led all scorers with 19 points, and Antoine Agudio connected on 3 of 7 attempts from downtown to finish with 13.
The Pride drew the fifth seed and a first-round bye in the CAA Tournament. The Pride will face Drexel University in the No. 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal match-up In Richmond, Va., Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Junior Adrian Uter overpowers Syracuse center Craig Forth in action earlier this season. Uter has enjoyed a stellar first year with the Pride. (Photo Courtesy Athletic Dept.)
