The Hounds nip the Knights as they strive for consistent play

In a well-earned victory in front of a homecoming crowd, the Assumption men's basketball team demonstrated its ability to come together as a team, and notch a win over Saint Michael's 77-60.The Greyhounds and the Purple Knights were evenly matched throughout the first half in all categories, including points, rebounds and steals. The Greyhounds were efficient at both ends of the court, but it was 3-pointers that kept the Purple Knights in the game. The Greyhounds excelled in finding the open man; the scoring was evenly spread with many players contributing. The hounds were on top by one at the half.

In the second half, the Greyhounds came out like a rocket, going on a 15-3 run to lead 52-40. However, the Knights inched their way back into the game, coming within four points with six minutes left. At this point, the Greyhounds turned up the heat once again, pulling away from the Knights and ending with a 77-60 final score.

Junior co-captain Mike Baldarelli led the Greyhounds with 12 points and eight rebounds. After the game Baldarelli attributed the success to the second half game play. "We started to work together as a team," he said. "We played a lot less sloppy in the second half."

Senior co-captain Courtland Bluford was awarded the ceremonial game ball before the homecoming game for achieving 1000 plus points so far in his career at Assumption. Bluford, an essential piece for the Greyhounds, has shown steady improvement throughout his career at Assumption. In his first-year he averaged 9.3 points, sophomore year 10 points, junior year 10.9 and is currently averaging 14 points per game. This season Bluford scored his 1000 point at a home game against Bentley on December 29, 2009.

Tim Beinart had nothing but compliments for his fellow teammate. "Courtland is obviously a great player, he always brings a lot to the table. He is a great athlete, scorer and a very good defender." Bluford is often regarded as being an excellent leader, especially to the younger players on the team. Bluford contributed 11 points, five rebounds and five assists to his team's win.

With a slow start to the New Year (0-6), Assumption is now on a three game winning streak. Coach Serge DeBari had this to say about the 0-6 start: "A lot of it has to do with the people you're putting on the court.we were missing certain players as we were facing the top teams in the league." One of Assumption's biggest losses was co-captain Mike Baldarelli, who was out with mono at the beginning of the year.

With the team's third win in a row under its belt, DeBari describes each season as having "its own personality." DeBari continued on to say that his team's personality is still developing, and that it is a matter of growing and evolving. DeBari tries to have the same message every time in the locker room, that "the enemy every team faces is itself." In other words, DeBari tries not focus on his opponents as much as his own team's presentation.

With that, DeBari continued to mention that his team has been struggling with spurts of bad play. The best goal for his team was to have 40 solid minutes of game play. On Tuesday, January 9, Assumption picked up a road win at St. Anselm. DeBari said that, "it's encouraging that we went on the road and had almost 40 good minutes of game play.that's a sign of a mature team"

The team will play well-rivaled Pace University this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Laska Gymnasium.