The Triangle

Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Triangle File Photo

Even if everyone else seems to be dwelling on his team's 0-2 start, Bruiser Flint, head coach of the Drexel men's basketball team, certainly isn't putting much stock into it.

Plagued by early inconsistency on the offensive end, foul trouble and some very bad luck, Flint's team dropped its season opener to Saint Joseph's 77-67 in overtime Nov. 13 at Hagan Arena.

Then, after leading by as many as nine in the first half against Niagara, Drexel let the Purple Eagles get back into the game, failed to execute down the stretch and ended up dropping another close one - much closer than the score indicated - 76-69 Nov. 17 in Niagara, N.Y.

"Didn't we lose our first two games last year?" Flint said with a perplexed look on his face. "What was our record to start the season?"

The answer, of course was no. The Dragons actually split their first two games of the 2008-09 campaign.

However, even if Flint was wrong about his first fact (Drexel beat Penn 66-64 in last year's opener Nov. 18 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center), he was spot on about the second. His team lost seven of its first nine games before it finally began to gel. And once the Dragons did, they wound up finishing 13-7.

So what does his team need to do better?

"We just have to start making some plays," Flint said.

Flint never alluded to a pair of missed dunks against Niagara by Leon Spencer and Daryl McCoy when making that statement, but he didn't need to. Those two missed opportunities served only as a small sample size of Drexel's early miscues.

Of course, there's nothing that the Dragons could do about Spencer's late swat winding up in the hands of the Hawks' Darrin Govens, who proceeded to knock down a 3-pointer that knotted up the game at 60 with 14.6 seconds remaining, or Garrett Williamson hitting a leaner with two defenders in his face with 3.7 seconds left to send the game into the extra session.

But as Flint often says, "it is what it is."

Now, as Drexel turns its attention to games against Rutgers (Nov. 20) and Penn (Nov. 24) before a quick Thanksgiving Break and the Legends Classic (Nov. 27-29), Flint's goals are the same: continue to hold opponents down defensively and become more consistent offensively.

In their first two games, the Dragons held opponents to 36.5 percent shooting from the field. However, they shot just 37.7 percent themselves, not exactly a number that translates into wins.

Continued...

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