Men's Basketball Searching for First Win

The first nine games of the 2011-2012 regular season are ones that the Lyndon State College men's basketball team would like to forget.

Sitting at an 0-9 record, the team will look to getting healthier and adding more depth to the roster for the second semester of the basketball season.

Two of the Hornet's guards, freshman Patrick Dunn and sophomore Algie Lovelace, both suffered injuries in the first games they played this semester. Dunn went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his right knee, which will require him to miss the rest of the season. Lovelace, however, is expected to return after suffering a broken bone in his left wrist.

Once Lovelace suffered his injury, his first thoughts were about how his loss would affect the team.

"I instantly thought about the team and how the team was going to suffer because really there is no other point guard that can really run the offense," Lovelace said. "I just wanted to know as soon as possible when I could recover and the things I could do to speed up my recovery."

The offense for the Hornets has certainly struggled without Lovelace in the lineup, ranking toward the bottom in points scored in the North Atlantic Conference.

However, Lovelace thinks that the team has done the best it could do with such little depth.

"It's no doubt that they're doing the best that they can, you know, with that the pieces that we have," Lovelace said. "We're very small in depth, not too much depth at all, so we're doing what we can."

There is only one game left for the Hornets left before break, and it is a big one. The team must travel to Johnson State College on Saturday for its third NAC contest of the season.

Yet for Lovelace and the crew, Christmas break cannot come soon enough.

"Hopefully we can take this break, I can get healthy, and we can rebuild," Lovelace said. "We got a couple of new guys coming in for second semester, just to add for more depth. We're definitely going to have to go from there."

The idea of bringing in new bodies for second semester is exciting to Lovelace, who should be healthy by that point and time.

"The guys coming in second semester will be a big addition," Lovelace said. "I look at the other teams in the league, and they're not really more talented than us. They just have more bodies to get in there and produce minutes, and that's what we lack."

Until then, Lovelace is doing whatever he can to help the team.

"I just try to motivate the guys in a positive way, tell them not to get too complacent. You know, the harder we work and practice, the better we'll look in the game," Lovelace said. "Basically, my role has become just a supporter off on the bench. While I'm on the bench, I tell the guys little things I see that are helping to change the game a little bit to our pace."

Though Lovelace enjoys being a sort of assistant coach to the team, he is still aching to get back into action.

"Watching the guys play and watching them perform without me definitely motivates me and gets me wanting to get hyped to get back on the court," Lovelace said.

A couple of conference games will test the Hornets' roster before second semester can begin. The team will travel to Thomas College and Maine-Farmington on January 6 and January 7 before hosting four other conference opponents: Castleton, Husson, and Maine Maritime.