It really should not have been this difficult.
After jumping out to an impressive 20-2 lead in the game’s first seven and a half minutes, the Massachusetts men’s basketball team was forced to hold on for a 76-67 victory over the EA Sports All-Stars last night at the Mullins Center. Seniors Shannon Crooks and Kitwana Rhymer led the way for the Minutemen with 17 points apiece with Rhymer adding nine rebounds.
UMass dominated from the get go, scoring the games first 14 points and leading by as many as 21 points with 5:16 remaining in the first half. However, from that point on EA Sports stepped up its defensive intensity and began to find its shooting touch. Shawn Bankhead, a graduate of Iowa State, scored seven of his game high 18 points in the final five minutes of the first half to help his team get into the locker room trailing by just 13 at 46-33.
“I don’t really like doing that at home,” UMass head coach Steve Lappas said of his team’s quick start. “You know at some point the score is going to be 16-10 or 18-12 and the other team starts to feel they’re really doing something because they had nothing. I think it’s really not a good way to start a game, not that I’ll stop it from happening. But I’d rather be down like 10-8 and have us go on a good spurt at that point.”
As the second half got underway, EA Sports was able to keep pecking away at the once mighty UMass lead, getting it down to as little as one at 58-57 midway through the second half. However, that would be as close as EA Sports would get as the Maroon and White went on a crucial 10-0 run in the next three minutes to go ahead 68-57 and regain control of the contest
For the games final seven minutes Lappas played Crooks alongside newcomers Anthony Anderson and Kyle Wilson in a three guard set for the first time. Playing with two true point guards helped open up the Minuteman attack, creating a number of easy buckets on the inside for Rhymer.
“I was real comfortable playing the off guard, we did it a lot in practice,” Anderson said of his role in the three guard set. “The only thing is I’m looking more to pass instead of shoot, but I’ll get used to it.”
While Anderson and Wilson were impressive in running the offense and distributing the ball, the pair struggled to find their shot and combined for just five points on 2-11 shooting.
“I was very pleased, they didn’t shoot well but they had seven assists and no turnovers,” Lappas said. “They made some great passes inside, they can both shoot and they can play together, there’s no doubt.”
With UMass’ regular season home opener just three days away Lappas and his coaching staff will be forced to quickly analyze what it is that they did right and what they need to do better in order to beat the University of Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday night and get the 2001-02 campaign off on the right foot.
“I feel like we’re where I hoped and thought we’d be,” Lappas said. “I think we have a chance to be a good team, we are going to have to do some things but I think there is some potential.”
