FEDORA

[PointGuard]

1st Assistant Kenyon Haynes

While I wasn’t able to land a head coaching job, it looks like most of the responsibilities of that position for Towson this season are going to be placed on my shoulders with Coach Aura expected to be out of town most of the time. As such I’ll give you a brief recap of each game. I think I will be too busy to do much more than that.

Starters will be: PG Jon Spann, 6-0 Soph. (9.0 ppg, 2.8 apg, 2.4 spg last season), SG Dominick Collins, 6-0 Sr. (10.7 ppg, 2.2 apg, 2.5 rpg), SF Mac McCaffery, 6-7 Soph. (4.1 ppg, 0.8 apg, 1.9 rpg), PF Kevin Holmes, 6-7 Jr. (8.1 ppg, 1.7 apg, 4.6 rpg), and C Donny Flint, 6-9 Sr. (12.7 ppg, 1.6 apg, 10.1 rpg). Our primary reserves will be C/PF Donyell Porter, 6-10 Sr. (7.5 ppg, 1.0 apg, 3.4 rpg), SG Copley Dwiggins, 6-1 Jr. (3.3 ppg, 0.7 apg, 0.3 rpg), and C/PF Calvin Williams, 6-8 Soph. (2.8 ppg, 0.8 apg, 3.3 rpg). Our other subs are freshmen and a JC transfer so we’ll have to see how they will fit in. But I foresee a much shorter bench than we’ve had the past few seasons. We worked hard on conditioning the past month, but I still think the starters plus the top 5 reserves will be dragging at times.

Realizing that with Coach Aura absent we’d be under a lot of pressure, our AD Perry Winkle set up an easier pre-conference schedule for us. We’re again picked to be tops in the Colonial Athletic Association though, so hopefully we’re ready to take on the CAA opposition once conference play begins.

[PointGuard]

Game #1—We played awesome defense against the Cal State Fullerton Titans (0-0) in the first half to take a 44-20 halftime lead. Our defense softened in the 2nd half and the refs whistled us repeatedly allowing the Titans to narrow the gap. We were never seriously challenged and won 78-64. CSU Fullerton went to the line twice as much as us and scored 15 more points on free throws, but we outshot the Titans (44% to 39%, outrebounded them 37-23, and held a 17-10 advantage on turnovers. [1-0]

SG Dominick Collins-24 pts; C Donny Flint-12 pts, 19 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk; PG Jon Spann-12 pts, 14 ast; PF/C Donyell Porter-10 pts; SF Mac McCaffery-9 pts.

[PointGuard]

Game #2—We jumped out ahead of the Howard Bison (0-1) and never trailed. At the half we were on top 41-29 and then added to our lead in the 2nd half to come away with a convincing 98-70 victory over the Bison. We hit 52% of our FG attempts and made just 10 turnovers compared to Howard’s 22. [2-0]

SG Dominick Collins-19 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl; PF/C Donyell Porter-18 pts; SG Copley Dwiggins-12 pts; PG Jon Spann-11 pts, 6 ast; PF Kevin Holmes-10 pts, 8 reb; SF Mac McCaffery-10 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl.

C Donny Flint suffered a pulled groin injury that will limit him for at least 2 weeks.

[PointGuard]

Game #3—We stayed ahead of the Saint Peters Peacocks (0-2) throughout almost all of the first half and came away with a 45-39 advantage at the break. But both of our starting guards would be relegated to the bench in the early part of the 2nd due to each being called for 3 fouls. PF Kevin Holmes joined them when he picked up his 3rd foul with 18:47 remaining. With C Donny Flint unable to play, that made exposed our lack of interior depth. While unimpressive in the 2nd half, we played well enough to pad our lead and win by a final score of 81-70. We again shot well, lighting up the nets by hitting 55% of our FG attempts. [3-0]

C Donyell Porter-19 pts, 8 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk; PF Kevin Holmes-16 pts; SG Copley Dwiggins-10 pts; SG Dominick Collins-8 pts, 4 ast; PG Weldon Walters-8 pts, 4 ast.

[PointGuard]

Game #4—A stellar defense by us held the S.E. Missouri State Redhawks (3-1) shooting to 32% plus forced them to make 15 turnovers in the first half as we cruised to a 37-19 halftime advantage. Our lead held up in the 2nd half and we cruised to a 70-54 win. [4-0]

SG Dominick Collins-19 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk; PF Kevin Holmes-12 pts, SF Mac McCaffery-8 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk; C Donyell Porter-8 pts, 8 reb.

[PointGuard]

Game #5—In our first away game of the season, we fell behind the Weber State Wildcats (2-2) by 11 points. But we were able to dig ourselves out of that hole to take a 2 point lead before letting the Wildcats come back to take a 43-40 halftime lead. We captured the lead early in the 2nd half and expanded it to 10 midway through the half. We held onto a double-digit lead most of the rest of the way before settling for a 91-84 victory even though Weber State hit 15 of 29 from beyond the arc. But a 36-27 rebounding advantage and a 17-12 turnover advantage made the difference. [5-0]

C Donyell Porter led the way with 18 points and 6 boards. PG Dominick hit for 17 points plus had 6 rebounds, PG Jon Spann scored 16 points and dished out 7 assists, and reserve SF Freddie Jackson also popped in 16 points.

Acting Head Coach Kenyon Haynes’ press conference after the game:

Reporter1: Congratulations on the win, Coach. You’re undefeated as a head coach. How’s it feel to be leading the team this season?

Haynes: I’m having fun. It’s definitely a big challenge but I’m getting tremendous support from the coaching staff and the team. They’re really all pulling together. And Coach Aura is in contact with me regularly to go over things. I truly appreciate his input and advice.

Reporter2: Has Coach Aura indicated when he might be back?

Haynes: I’m sure he’d like to be back immediately, but his first priority is his family and his parents still need him there with them. The injuries were severe so even though recovery is progressing, it’s not surprising that it’s a slow process. As an only child, Crash (sorry, that’s my nickname for Coach Aura), it’s doubly important that he’s there with them providing support and encouragement.

Reporter3: What’s been the biggest surprise on the team so far this season?

Haynes: Well, luckily we’ve been winning so I haven’t been hung in effigy. But seriously, maybe the biggest surprise is how strongly Donyell Porter has been playing. He was coming off the bench to play both center and power forward and ringing up a lot of points for us and giving us a real shot in the arm. And then when Donny Flint got injured, Donyell has been starting at center for us and just doing a tremendous job, both in putting points on the board and being a big presence on the boards. And the pick he set at the beginning of the 2nd half to free up Jon Spann was awesome. I doubt you would have seen him do that last season. He's just progressed so far. Another player who has come on strong this season is Dominick Collins. He’s been our leading scorer and tremendously consistent. He’s become a real leader on the team and there’s been points in our games where he’s really carried the team.

Reporter2: Speaking of Donny Flint, when do you expect him back?

Haynes: I never predict that sort of thing. But he’s rehabbing well and getting darned close to being ready to get back into games. He’s begun practicing with us again…at reduced speed and not at full intensity, but that’s going to ensure he’s back in the flow when the doc and trainers say he’s ready to go physically. It will be great to have him back on the floor for us.

Reporter4: Was the injury bothering Flint before it was reported? He was less productive in the games he started before the injury was announced.

Haynes: I don’t agree at all. He played extremely well…scoring, rebounding, defending. We have good overall strength, so it’s not surprising that the scoring is more evenly distributed amongst a variety of players. One thing that has slowed Donny down is the officiating. He’s been called for some really questionable fouls…and that cut down on his time on the court. He plays rock solid defense…the refs just have to let guys play the game and quit tooting their whistles so quickly. Some of the refs seem to think players should maintain social distancing out there.

Reporter5: Do you think as the acting head coach, you need to be taking it to the refs more than you’ve done?

Haynes: That definitely would be satisfying at times. But with fewer coaches on the sidelines for us, it’s important that I don’t get thrown out of games. So I make my case known, but I’m not going to cussing out the refs, start throwing chairs, or anything like that.

Reporter1: How long do you think you can continue to go undefeated?

Haynes: Hopefully forever but that’s not a reasonable expectation. My desire is for our team to play up to their full potential each and every game…then we just have to let the chips fall where they may.

Reporter6: Do you think this is a better team than last year’s team was?

Haynes: That’s a tough call. Last season’s team was pretty special. But we certainly have a good team this year as well. One big difference this season is that we have a lot of first-year players, so they’re still getting used to what we do. That’s reduced our depth from what we had last season. The young guys are coming along. A prime example is Freddie Jackson coming in off the bench tonight to pour in 16 points and haul down 5 rebounds. He came to us with JC experience but is still learning our sets and approach to the game. The rest of the new guys are freshmen so it’s a slower process. So let’s just let the guys play things out and see how they do rather than saddle them with a comparison.

[PointGuard]

Game #6—C Donny Flint returned to action in our game against the California Golden Bears (4-0). He’s not yet 100% so we’ll see how many minutes he’s able to play. In the 3 games he missed, Donyell Porter started in his place and scored 45 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. Cal comes into the game with a 4-0 record.

We got off to a hot start offensively and defensively, taking an 18-6 lead in the first 7 minutes of play. In the first half we outshot the Golden Bears 48% to 25% and outrebounded them 23-15 resulting in a 35-25 lead at the break. Donny Flint played just 11 minutes but scored 9 points and pulled down 9 boards. Aided by ref calls against us, Cal gradually cut into our lead in the 2nd half and overtook us by a score of 51-50 with 10 minutes left. We literally fell apart and went down by 6 points before rallying to cut the lead to 63-62 with 3 minutes remaining. Unable to pull ahead, we had to foul late in the game and went down to a 72-68 defeat. [5-1]

C Donny Flint had 13 points and 11 rebounds as well as a steal and 3 blocks. PF Kevin Holmes dropped in 13 points while hauling down 9 rebounds. SG Dominick Collins had 9 points, 6 boards, and 4 assists.

[PointGuard]

Game #7—We opened a 13 point lead in the first half over S.E. Louisiana Lions (4-2), but they cut into it late and the half ended with us on top 44-36. We played lackadaisically throughout the 2nd half. While we never gave up the lead, we just held our own and won unimpressively by a 78-72 score. We hit just 37% of our shots and had it not been for advantages in rebounding (+5) and turnovers (12-6), the results could have been different. [6-1]

We were led by C Donny Flint (21 points and 10 rebounds) while our SG’s Dominick Collins and Copley Dwiggins chimed in 12 points and 10 points, respectively…but they combined to hit just 8 of 27 shots. PF/C Donyell Porter had 9 points and 8 boards and PF Kevin Holmes scored 7 while pulling down 9 rebounds.

PG Jon Spann strained an abdominal and will likely see limited play for the next week.

[PointGuard]

Game #8—Jon Spann can play, but we’re going to use him judicially against the Bucknell Bisons (1-5). So we’ll start Dominick Collins at PG instead of SG and start Copley Dwiggins at the 2.

The Bisons’ PG James Goff apparently likes his home court. He hit 3 quick 3’s and then 2 free throws to put the BIsons on top 11-3 after 5 minutes of play. The hometown refs called Donny Flint for his 2nd foul just 7-1/2 minutes into the game. We struggled the entire first half, hitting just 31% of our shots while letting Bucknell knock down 46% of theirs plus hit 6 or 12 of their 3’s. After being down by 14 we finished the half trailing 37-27. Donny Flint, who’d played less than 8 minutes, went off on the team in the locker room, saying we looked worse than a high school team. Although Bucknell hit a field goal on the first possession of the 2nd half, Spann buried a 3, then shot a pinpoint pass inside to Porter for a bucket, McCaffery hit a 3 and Flint took it inside to score on a finger roll…and we were within 2 points at 39-37 after just 2-1/2 minutes. 30 seconds later Collins intercepted a pass, lobbed it upcourt to a streaking Spann who laid it in to tie the game. But a minute later Donny Flint picked up his 4th foul. We pressed and Collins intercepted a pass, whipped it to Porter who threw down a jam to put us on top 48-46….our first lead since we scored on our first possession of the game to make it 2-0. We scored the next 5 points as well. We seemed to finally be in control. But Collins picked up foul #4 with 10:38 remaining. So we had our two top scorers on the bench with 4 fouls apiece. The Bisons took advantage by going on a 15-1 run to go up by 8. We had to bring in Collins and Flint and both fouled out with the refs calling foul after foul against us and none on Bucknell. With the two of them out, we just didn’t have enough fire power. We went down to a 76-66 defeat. 20 fouls called on us, 4 on Bucknell the entire freakin’ game. We scored 3 more points than the Bison from the field but they beat us by 10 and they only hit 2/3 of their free throws! It blows to play on the road. [6-2]

Top scorers for us: C Donyell Porter-14, PG Jon Spann-13, SF Mac McCaffery-10. For Bucknell C Oliver Lindeman had 23 points and 10 rebounds and PG James Goff scored 20.

[PointGuard]

Game #9—We poured it on against Abilene Christian Wildcats (4-2), going ahead by 20 with 10 minutes left in the first half. We led 38-21 at the half. We basically held the Wildcats at arms-length in the 2nd half and put a 70-56 game in the win column. So-so offense but good defense and rebounding. [7-2]

SG Dominick Collins scored 23 plus had a 4 steals and a block, C Donny Flint scored 10, and PF/C Calvin Williams had 8 points and 9 boards.