By Garth Shanklin
Sports Editor
Much like the women’s team, the University of Cincinnati Clermont Cougars men’s basketball team features several new faces, including one at the head coaching position.
Steve Ellis leads the Cougars after spending the previous nine seasons at Mariemont High School. He and his team held their season-opening contest at home on Nov. 2 against Edison State.
The Chargers, a junior college located in Piqua, Ohio, finished last season 12-19 overall. They jumped out to an early 7-2 lead thanks in large part to four fouls on UC Clermont in the first 2:05 of the game. The Cougars called timeout down 11-4 at the 15:13 mark of the first half, sparking the team on a 6-0 run that lasted 1:38 to pull with one point at 11-10.
The teams kept it close for most of the first half, with Edison holding a slim 22-21 lead with 7:22 left in the first half. The Chargers led 35-30 at the break.
Things went downhill quickly in the second half for the Cougars. Edison opened up a 13-point lead less than four minutes into the period, and would build it to an eventual 74-49 win.
Dae’Shawn Jackson tallied 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Chargers. Teammate DeAnthony Griffin chipped in 14 points and six rebounds.
Adam Westbald led UC Clermont with 14 points and five rebounds. He shot 66 percent from the field, connecting on six of his nine attempts. Teammate Mikhale Buck added 12 points and eight rebounds on five of 12 shooting. The Cougars shot just 32 percent as a team, including a 20 percent mark from the three-point line. Edison, meanwhile, shot 43 percent of 63 shots and hit 11 of 25 three-point attempts.
Ellis said the Chargers had a hot hand shooting the ball, and his team’s lack of experience at the collegiate level played a role in the team’s inability to get back into the game.
“They were red-hot,” Ellis said. “It was the first game for a lot of these guys, the first time in a college game. I think we were inexperienced and they had a lot of experience, and it showed. Once we missed a couple shots we started pressing, we started putting pressure on ourselves and it just wasn’t happening.”
Rebounding, especially in the second half, was a problem for the Cougars. UC Clermont out-rebounded Edison 43-41 in the game, but most of that damage was done in the first half. The Cougars could not get second chances throughout the second period.
“We’re going to work at that,” Ellis said. “When we’re not shooting well, we can’t just be one and done, as they say. We have to get to the boards. We have some long, athletic guys that can go and get rebounds. The few times we did that, it worked out in our favor. We have to get better at doing that.”
Rebounding and continuing to play as a team are things the Cougars will get better at as the season goes on. The squad is filled with newcomers to the team, and Ellis said he liked how well they meshed in their first taste of hardwood action.
“The one thing I liked is how they were all playing together,” Ellis said. “We have to have a lot more of that. We have to get back on defense more, but our biggest thing is we have to practice more on defense. We let them have wide-open shots. That’s something we’re going to work on. We shared the ball on offense well and got some decent looks, and when we ran our plays it was effective for us.”
The Cougars were also composed throughout the game, a task made difficult given the chippy play that began around the same time Edison built their lead. While Edison’s Brian Hall was assessed a technical foul, no Cougar was punished for losing their cool, something that was not lost on Ellis.
“One of the things that I noticed, and I had a few other people tell me as well, that no matter what the score was, they were playing hard,” Ellis said. “They were playing together for the most part and cheering for one another. When things like that happen, it gets heated. I think our guys got frustrated and they let it get to them a little bit. When you get frustrated, it takes you out of the game. We called a couple timeouts to slow that down and get corrected.”
Another thing the Cougars definitely benefited from, according to Ellis, was the home crowd. The stands were packed with fans well before the start of the game, which the players took notice of.
“It certainly psyched them up,” Ellis said. “They were talking about it in the locker room before the game and they were fired up about it. I was fired up too. We were happy to get our feet wet, it was the wrong result but we have 27 more games. I think we’re going to learn from that and we hope that people will come support us.”
UC Clermont hits the road for a neutral site game against Penn State Greater Allegheny at Southern State Community College at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 12. The Cougars return home to host Andrews University at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13.