Bolting For Greener Pastures

[Wayne23]

I've never seen a team get only 21 points. Wow!

[PointGuard]

Yeah, VERY strange.

[3manweave]

I hadn't either until that game. Hoping it's just a one-off. Hard to write a recap other than....it was a complete beatdown haha.

[3manweave]

November 26th, 2021

Melissa and Gracie came to visit and attend the game against Brown yesterday, and it was the first time I've seen my daughter in person since I left Kansas City nearly five months ago. I talk to her almost every day via FaceTime on her mom's iPhone, but nothing beats getting to see her up close. They even got the tour of the locker room and facilities after the game. My sister and brother-in-law (well, former) are hosting them for the next few days (they also attended the game), and Melissa motioned for Gracie to join them.

We took another brief tour of the locker room, and went down to the basketball weight room and basketball offices in the arena. It must have been a good fifteen minutes or so that we walked and talked, and were able to catch up. Gracie just finished her first half-year of pre-K, and would be starting full-time kindergarten next fall.

Melissa also told me she was getting back into coaching basketball herself, as she would volunteer at the high school down the street from her new house. I asked her if she had any bigger plans in that arena, and said no.

Towards the end of the walk-and-talk, she came right out with it.

"Is this really what you want? ...I mean, you're in a city you've never been, and I really worry about you not having anyone up there. Coaching can be a lonely profession. Plus, your daughter is missing out, and you are too. We don't mind visiting, but would love it if you can carve out time to come down and see us."

When it came down to it, I was just wanting to get away from it...the divorce, the city, and the itch to coach again, but this time to try and do it at a higher level. I told her that I don't know how long I'd be here. Could be a year or five or ten years, but that I'd visit as often as I could, and would try to schedule games in the Midwest to give them chances to see us play more often.

[3manweave]

Iona was game for a half, as the two teams played to a 36-28 halftime lead in favor of the host Scarlet Knights. Junior center Trent Crosland led all scorers in the first half with ten points, but was held to just two in the second half as the Gaels fell further behind after the intermission, eventually falling 83-60 on the road at Rutgers. Crosland finished with a dozen points on 3-for-6 shooting, including 6-for-8 from the charity stripe with a season-high nine rebounds.

There wasn't much of an answer for Rutgers senior forward Luca Johnson, who came off the bench to score twenty-two points in just twenty-three minutes. He shot 9-for-13 from the field, grabbing five rebounds. Guards Tanner Coleman and Lucas Faust scored nineteen and seventeen, respectively, to back up Johnson's efforts.

Skylar Ellis tallied nine points, with freshman Darius Grace scoring a season-high eight in the loss. Grace didn't miss a shot from the field, going 2-for-2 with a 4-for-4 night at the line. The bigger Scarlet Knights squad outrebounded the Gaels 37-25, including an 8-4 offensive rebound advantage.

"We gave it a really solid effort throughout, but shots just didn't fall in the end," said Iona coach Travis Greenleaf, whose Gaels shot just 37% from the floor. "That said, we had a few lapses defensively, and they went on a couple of runs that were essentially the difference in the game."

Iona hit just 5-for-24 from three-point range, as their three-point shooting continues to struggle in the early going of the 2021 season. Kevin Weaver hit 2-for-5, but no other player hit more than one triple.

[3manweave]

In spite of thirty-two points and five boards from Trent Crosland, the Central Connecticut Blue Devils turned an eleven point deficit at the half into a 90-85 defeat for the visiting Gaels. Crosland shot 15-for-19 from the field, including 2-for-3 from the free throw line. Skylar Ellis scored thirteen, while Fletcher Owens notched ten for Iona.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were much more balanced -- they had twenty-one from Chico Sherry, nineteen from Kevin Serviss, fifteen from Tip Seals, and thirteen off the bench from David Orr. Sherry also grabbed seven rebounds and hit eight-of-ten shots. Serviss took thirteen shots, a dozen of them threes -- hitting five of those.

"There seemed to be a little bit of relaxation on our part," noted Travis Greenleaf, who was seemingly agitated at his team's second-half effort. "There were times I thought we didn't fight, didn't go for loose balls, didn't fight for the offensive board, just the extra step or two."

The Gaels hit just 4-for-19 from three-point range, but continued to shoot well overall with 54.1% (33-for-61), including 15-of-19 from the free throw line.