After the Massachusetts men’s basketball team’s 77-68 overtime victory over Manhattan, Minutemen coach Derek Kellogg that he believed sophomore forward Seth Berger was the reason UMass walked away with a victory.
But at the end of regulation, it was Berger who, at least initially, had a hand in the Minutemen nearly giving the game away.
Leading 61-59 with two seconds remaining and possession of the ball, Berger attempted to inbound the ball following a missed Manhattan free throw. But Berger’s bounce pass to UMass guard Trey Davis deflected errantly off Davis’ fingertips and squirted out of bounds.
Manhattan gained possession, and a miraculous chance to tie it, with just .8 seconds left.
Berger said his first decision was to lob a deep pass down the court to Minutemen center Cady Lalanne. But due to the uncertainty of such a play, he opted to take the quick pass to Davis.
“I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Berger said. “I saw Trey real quick and so my initial reaction was just to give it to him quick.”
The turnover allowed Manhattan coach Steve Masiello a chance to script an ensuing inbounds play, one that surprised all 4,736 inside the Mullins Center.
Masiello scripted an alley-oop inbounds play to Rich Williams from underneath the basket in the huddle. Manhattan leading scorer Emmy Andujar lobbed the pass in to Williams, who ran into the paint untouched after the Jaspers screened his defender, UMass guard Derrick Gordon, at the top of the key. The result was a vicious two-handed dunk to tie the game and force overtime.
The player guarding Andujar’s inbound pass was Berger. After the dunk, he stood in the paint along with his teammates, shoulders slumped, stunned by what unfolded.
“I was trying to be crazy on the ball and I saw him look up a little bit, so I kind of knew what he was going to do,” Berger said.
“It’s an inbound play, it’s on me,” Berger said later. “We kind of expected to get a stop there. I didn’t know what happened behind me.”
By the time he could turn around, Williams was leaping above him. The game wasn’t over quite yet.
“That was a little demoralizing,” Berger said. “But I thought we came out with confidence and heart in that overtime win.”
Left with little other choice, Berger set out to atone for the end-game mishap. Minutemen starting forward Maxie Esho fouled out near the end of regulation and Kellogg tabbed Berger as his replacement for the duration of the game.
Kellogg asked Berger to defend Andujar, who finished with 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Andujar scored just two points in the final five overtime minutes while UMass went on a 16-7 run to close out the game.
Along the way, Berger added a crucial offensive rebound and put-back layup. He grabbed a Lalanne miss and banked the layup in off the glass to give UMass a 67-63 lead with 2:26 remaining.
It was his first basket of the season, despite starting in the first three games.
“I thought he won us the game with his toughness on defense, that tip-back and some plays there,” Kellogg said.
He played a single game career-high 25 minutes against Manhattan, scoring two points, grabbing six rebounds and adding a steal.
The 6-foot-7 forward played only 40 total minutes last year as a freshman. But Kellogg named Berger the starting small forward, joining a quartet of UMass players in Lalanne, Davis, Esho and Gordon who played significant minutes a season ago.
Berger said the year of experience allowed him to bounce back after a stunning twist of events. According to Kellogg, Berger’s the perfect example of a young player seizing his own opportunity within the team.
“I definitely think that’s something I’ve had to learn,” Berger said. “It’s just recovering from mistakes, that’s something my coaches have been harping on. I’ve been known to get down on myself but I think I’ve matured a little bit, especially on that last play. We were just moving on and still playing basketball.”
Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli
