The LSC men’s basketball team’s is off to a bumpy start.
The Hornets, currently at 1-6, have had a difficult schedule to start the season. While not happy with the record, competing against good teams is what men’s coach Joe Krupinski wants.
“We’ve played some really tough teams,” said Krupinski. “One of the reasons we did that was so that over time we would improve to when we start playing the games that matter. So hopefully that’s going to get us ready for the second semester when we play our conference games.”
The season is going to get harder before it gets easier with games against Division I Brown University, on Jan 8, and Middlebury, on Jan 9, who was ranked ninth in the Division III preseason poll.
The men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker on Dec 7 to College of St. Joseph 64-62. The Hornets led most of the game, but found themselves down in the final minute. Freshman Phil Warrick made a layup with 7.6 seconds remaining in the game to put LSC on top 62-61. St. Joseph’s Jamie Rajda came back and hit a pull up three-pointer with 2.6 seconds left to put the Saints up 64-62, and in doing so deflated the Stannard Gymnasium. The Hornets tried to inbound the ball full court in the final seconds, but were unsuccessful in making the final shot.
The main problems for the Hornets have been shutting down players on the defensive end of the court as well as focus day in and day out.
“We need to stop people better on defense which was our concern going into the year,” said Krupinski. “We’re showing the signs of a younger team where some days we’re in it and some days we’re not. If we come with a consistent effort everyday we’re going to have a decent second half of the year.”
The offense, however, has been keeping the team in games. The Hornets are currently third in the North Atlantic Conference at 71.1 points per game. Warrick, who was recently named rookie of the week in the North Atlantic Conference, is helping lead that offense with his 15.1 points per game, which is currently fifth best in the NAC.
“We haven’t been shut out because of our offense,” says Warrick. “We just need to clean up the little mistakes.”
Coach Krupinski likes what he sees from the offense.
“We’ve moved the ball better and played better on offense,” says Krupinski. “We’ve been getting the ball inside a lot better the last couple of games.”
With the first in conference game on Jan 14 against Husson there is plenty of time for improvement. Warrick sees the team making progress through the strife.
“Everybody has their roles and are getting it,” Warrick said. “Instead of at the beginning of the season when everybody struggled with what they needed to do.”
He sees that this team can get better and be a contender in the NAC.
“We know what our potential is,” says Warrick. “We know the level that we can play