The St. Joe's game was horrendous. Don't be fooled by the final score; although it would have been one of the most amazing comebacks in UMass history. (The greatest comeback in UMass history came back in the 94-95 season when the # 1 Minutemen went to Morgantown and trailed by 18 with less than five minutes to go and came back to win in OT - If there are any old timers out there who'd like to debate that, please chime in).
The first half was utterly disgusting. UMass had TWELVE points with two minutes left in the first half. TWELVE. They were missing layups, open threes, it was just a pathetic display. When CN8 showed the leading scorers for each team at halftime they had to show ALL of UMass's scorers because so few people had scored. The Minutemen's leading scorer at the half had 4.
Which makes the final score so amazing. Last night's game was a paradox between halves. The two teams COMBINED to score 45 first half points? UMass scored 61 in the second half alone. But they only had 53 with less than 2:30 to go in the game. So they scored 53 in 37 1/2 minutes, then somehow went ballistic and scored 24 in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
They were down by 16 with just over 2 minutes to go, and I briefly stepped away from the TV. I came back a couple of minutes later and the score is 79 to 77 with 5 seconds to go. I was floored. What the hell happened in those 2 minutes? Ricky Harris scored 16 points in less than 2 minutes. I think Harris has a chance to break the single game record for points in a game (41).
Let me say this about St. Joe's: they are a very good team and should be receiving some votes in the polls. A couple of breaks here and there and St. Joe's would be 13 and 3 or 14 and 2 right now.
It doesn't get easier as # 23 Xavier invades the Mullins Center on Sunday. A win on Sunday will keep the Minutemen in the also receiving votes; a loss and they're out altogether.
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