Coaches can preach about hustle and desire all they want, and they surely will for the next three months of the college basketball season. But it’s very hard to win if you can’t shoot the basketball or score in and around the paint.

Such is the dilemma St. Francis Brooklyn and Glenn Braica have had this season, as a pretty good defensive effort went to waste in a 61-54 loss at the Pope Center to city rival Manhattan Tuesday night.

The Terriers (2-10) huffed and puffed and generally made things difficult for the Jaspers (4-8) much of the night, even grabbing a halftime lead. But once Manhattan (or more specifically, Zavier Turner) started making shots, they just couldn’t answer. A decent amount of the credit does go to the Manhattan defense, which had another solid performance and seemed to contest every shot St. Francis Brooklyn took. However, would an extra pass or shot fake at an opportune time have made the difference?

Continue reading “Manhattan 61, St. Francis Brooklyn 54: Three Thoughts” →