Last night, Stroudsburg fell to East Stroudsburg South, 48-47. This was their fourth consecutive loss to open up the season after making the playoffs a year ago.
Stroudsburg got out to an early lead in the first, forcing South to burn a timeout halfway through the quarter. Out of that timeout, South went on a 12-2 run that lasted into the second quarter. Stroudsburg was ice-cold, not being able to get a single bucket to fall.
The Mountaineers were not able to score again until the 4-minute mark of the second quarter. They found themselves down by 6 going into the half.
The two teams would continue a back-and-forth affair until the fourth quarter, where Stroudsburg started to mount a comeback, leading to a tied game with 50 seconds remaining.
Guard Alex Pacitti, ’25, would hit two free throws to tie it a 45-45. South responded with two free throws to take a 2-point lead. Forward Kelvin Martell, ’27, tied the game back up with free throws of his own. Martell was on a different planet last night, scoring 21 points which led all scorers.
South was fouled on the other end and hit one of the two free throws. With 10 seconds remaining, Stroudsburg came out of a timeout seemingly without a play drawn up which forced center Mehki Kirkland, ’25, to try to finish a tough layup at the rim as time expired. On that layup, it did seem like Kirkland was whacked in the arm, but like majority of the night, the refs swallowed their whistles for Stroudsburg and the game was over.
Stroudsburg was dominated on the defensive boards all night long, allowing South to have second, third, and sometimes fourth opportunities at the rim. The Mountaineers were not able to get the same amount of opportunities on their own end.
Questionable lineup decisions and bad coaching also plagued the Mountaineers in this loss. Down by four with 4 minutes remaining, it didn’t seem like Coach Tarik El-Bassiouni put out the team’s best lineup to have a chance to win a winnable game. On the final possession, Stroudsburg had an opportunity to win the game. The team called a timeout and came out of it with what seemed like a messy play call which led to the team losing.
This was a winnable game that Stroudsburg let slip from their hands in a variety of different ways, most ways the players could not control. Poor coaching cost the Mountaineers this game and that cannot be a consistent if the team wants the opportunity to win games this season. Yes, this team has improved even from Tuesday, but there is a lot more they can do to be very good this season.
Their next opportunity for their first win comes on Tuesday, Decemeber 10, when they take on Easton on the road at 7:00 p.m.