One and done! St. Joseph's blowout caps Gryphons' struggles
by Joe Lazauskas '10
Tuesday February 19, 2008
Down by 29 early in the second half of their first-round HVMAC conference tournament game against St. Joseph’s, Coach Ross’s mantra, “we’re in it to win it,” finally seemed to kick in. The Gryphons stormed back to close the gap to 11, but foul trouble and fatigue plagued the Gryphons down the stretch en rout to a season-ending 90-66 loss. It was a tough season for the Gryphons that featured thrilling match-ups and buzzer beaters. Game by game; here is the path the Gryphons took the second half of the season:
Jan. 26: Berkeley 62, SLC 47
When the Berkeley cheerleaders arrived midway through the first half, the Gryphons finally began to fight, but despite a dominating 22-point effort by senior Rich Hempel, the Gryphons ran out steam late and fell to the Berkeley Knights 62-47.
An athletic bank shot in traffic by Hempel closed the gap to 38-42 with 7:23 left in the game, but the Gryphons failed to match the energy of Berkeley’s full-court press and floundered down the stretch with sloppy turnovers and missed shots. Berkeley’s James Dorismond caught fire and put the game away with 15 second-half points.
The Gryphons were shorthanded by the absence of backup first-year guard Max Teicher and the dismissal of the team’s most dynamic player, sophomore Jason Julien, for disciplinary reasons. The team only dressed seven players, and Berkeley’s deep six-man bench kept them far fresher than the Gryphons.
“The reason the press worked against us is because we ran out of gas,” Coach Joe Ross said. “We were tired and we were a step slow. We didn’t handle it the way we had to handle it.”
The Gryphons trailed 37-25 with 14 minutes left in the second half before they went on a 13-5 run to close the gap, aided by 8 points from Hempel. The team trailed 24-17 at halftime.
The Gryphons started extremely flat, missed seven lay-ups in the first five minutes, and trailed 11-2 with 11:00 left in the first half when the Berkeley cheerleaders arrived. Suddenly, the Gryphons went on a 15-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with 4:13 left in the second half. The team was unable to sustain the lead. Berkeley Center Jazmel Blake came off the bench to score 6 points during the team’s 11-0 run to end the half.
“We’re not the type of team that can miss a lot of these easy opportunities and recover,” Ross said.
Hempel was the lone Gryphon to reach double digits. Forward Tristan Eastburn was second on the team with eight points. The team was ice-cold from behind the arc throughout. Even the usually hot-handed first-year Max Mallory went 0-6 on his three-pointers and became visibly frustrated on multiple occasions.
The game became an intriguing chess match between Coach Ross and Coach Chris Christiansen of Berkeley as the Gryphons attempted to avenge a Dec. 9 68-48 defeat on the Gryphon’s home floor to a bigger, faster, stronger, and deeper Berkeley Knight squad.
Coach Ross countered the Knight’s early tendencies to drive through the Gryphon defense by implementing a big lineup featuring 6’6’’ centers senior Dan Lewis and sophomore Peter Hempel along with the 6’4’’ Rich Hempel, 6’1’’ senior forward Aaron Lindenbaum and 6’2’’ guard Eastburn. The big lineup stymied the Knight’s drives and led to quick, easy baskets the other way that helped the Gryphon’s take their only lead.
However, Coach Christiansen countered with a tenacious full court press that forced a clearly-fatigued Gryphon squad to constantly push the ball up the court away from the Knight’s pressure. This led to a litany of Gryphon turnovers as they were unable to run with the fresh legs off the Knight’s bench and take care of the ball effectively.
Jan 29: Cooper Union 44, SLC 29
For stretches against Berkeley College three days before, the Gryphons thoroughly outplayed an athletically superior team. On Jan. 29 an inferior team completely dominated the Gryphons.
The Gryphons—short handed without point guard Jonathan Callahan—lost to Cooper Union 44-29 in the team’s worst offensive game of the season. The team was so short handed that two mid-season additions—senior forward Michael Telis and sophomore guard Akash Radia—played significant minutes in their first action of the season. Without Callahan and with Jason Julien off the team, the Gryphons had no strong ball-handlers on the court and played sloppily throughout the night.
No Gryphons reached double-digit points. Rich Hempel led the way with 9 points, while Max Mallory scored 8 in his first start of the season. The team looked particularly despondent after fumbling away their first truly winnable game after winter break.
Feb 3: Pratt 50, SLC 49
When Pratt and Sarah Lawrence met in the first conference game of the season, a late Jonathan Callahan three sealed a thrilling 20-point come from behind win. Neither team recorded a conference win from that point forward. When Pratt returned to Sarah Lawrence on Super Bowl Sunday, both teams played with thrilling intensity and hunger millions of fans would see later that day.
With seven seconds left, co-captain Tristan Eastburn drew a clutch foul to get to the line down 48-47. Eastburn calmly sunk both free throws, and Pratt could surely sense another defeat being wrestled from the jaws of victory.
However, back down the court the Gryphon’s zone did not say tight, and Pratt’s Matt St. John slashed through two defenders, lofting a running lay-up in the lane that swished through as time expired for a heart-wrenching 50-49 Pratt victory. St. John finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds.
Rich Hempel led the way with 13 points and 3 blocked shots, but a stinging sixth straight defeat lay on the Gryphons’ shoulders.
Pratt fouled early and often, but the Gryphons ran cold and were not able to capitalize from the line.
“You also can’t miss 20 free throws and expect to win a one-point game,” Coach Ross said.
The Gryphons squandered the chance to clinch a tournament birth with a win and stood locked in a tie with Pratt for the last spot heading into the seasons’ final days.
Feb. 7: St. Joseph’s 86, SLC 61
In a conference tournament preview, the Gryphons were simply athletically overmatched.
Rich Hempel was able to penetrate a long, fast St. Joseph’s defense that can run the floor and score at will but has trouble stopping big men when they get the ball on the block and post up. However, even Hempel’s 20 points, which gave him the Gryphons’ all-time scoring mark passing Tudor Benga ‘04, was not enough to triumph over St. Joseph’s.
Feb. 9: SLC 58, Hampshire 36
On Senior Day the Gryphons were jump-started by their only player who already holds a diploma.
Ferocious steals, eye-popping dishes and a long, shot-clocking beating three by Graduate Student point guard Jonathan Callahan sparked an early 14-3 run in the game’s first four minutes that put the Gryphons ahead comfortably for good in a 58-36 blowout of Hampshire College.
Aided by raucous noisemakers and green pom poms distributed to an enthusiastic crowd, the Gryphons played their best game in two months and snapped a 7 game losing streak.
“I really felt good for the guys. They work incredibly hard, and it was great for them to show what they have accomplished in front of their family and friends,” Coach Ross said. “To be honest, I think the crowd was a big factor in the win; the guys really fed off its energy.”
Four-year Gryphon veterans Rich Hempel and Tristan Eastburn received the loudest applause of appreciation and did not disappoint on the court. Eastburn slashed to the hoop with abandon early, snatching consecutive mid-air dishes along the left baseline from Callahan during the Gryphons’ early run and finished with 14 points. Hempel scored 9 of his 11 points in the second half to go along with three blocked shots. Senior Aaron Lindenbaum played arguably his finest game of the season, finishing with 8 points. Senior Dan Lewis commanded the boards and finished with 7 points.
Hampshire often played like a one-man team; point guard Cody Tannen-Barrup shot early and often, finishing with 15 of the team’s 36 points.
The Gryphons led 30-19 at the half and held Hampshire scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second half. A switch to the full court press slowed the Gryphons and allowed Hampshire to go on an 8-0 run to cut the Gryphon’s lead to 40-29 with 7:43 left, but quick baskets by Lindenbaum and Hempel ended any Hampshire hopes for a comeback as the Gryphons adjusted to the pressure defense and cruised the rest of the way.
Feb. 10: SLC 62, Culinary Institute 51
If this Gryphon team was going to go down, they had go to go down gunning. A loss to Pratt the week before had robbed the Gryphons of a chance to clinch a tournament birth, but they were still alive and had the chance to build momentum with a second non-conference win in two days. Their season would be determined by whether Berkeley beat Pratt the next day. They were playing with literally nothing on the line.
The team held no momentum at the half, trailing The Culinary Institute 21-24. Jason Julien’s second half heroics had saved the team the last time these teams met, when his 26 second half points sparked a furious comeback. The Gryphons did not need Julien to save them this time.
After Culinary Institute scored the first four points of the half, senior captain Tristan Eastburn intercepted a Muhammad Jami pass and outraced the defense coast-to-coast to finish. This set the pace for possibly the last half of Gryphon basketball, as they continued on a 20-5 run. Senior Aaron Lindenbaum continued his stellar play, and a ridiculous, under the basket hook lay-up in traffic that nearly went over the backboard before falling through the hoop gave the Gryphons a 30-28 lead that they would not relinquish. Max Mallory escaped his slump and capped the run with a long three to put the Gryphons up 41-33 with 13:40 left in the game.
Kyle Morse closed the gap to 41-39 with 11 minutes left, but Culinary Institute would never get that close again as the Gryphons went on a 10-2 run and held a double-digit lead the last six minutes of the game.
Finally playing a team with a similarly shallow 9-man roster, the Gryphons efforts to run were not stopped by a team with a seemingly unlimited supply of fresh legs. Mighty-mite Jonathan Callahan played like the biggest man on the floor, scoring 16 second half points and logging 4 steals. Callahan and Eastburn—who scored 9 during the comeback run—alternated nabbing steals and pushing the ball up court.
The next night, Berkeley beat Pratt 61-51, and the Gryphons headed into the conference tournament.
