Men’s Basketball Struggles Against Conference Foes

The week of Nov. 28-Dec. 3, the Bobcats were put to the test with three games in six days, with two conference games against Mary Washington and no.7 Christopher Newport.

With a rough schedule during the week, the Bobcats went to war against Washington College on the 28th in Bobcat Arena.  Frostburg finished with three players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as the Bobcats suffered their fourth straight loss. Frostburg Freshman Rhashad Johnson tallied a season-high 17 points behind a game-high of five three-pointers. He entered the contest with 15 points in three previous games.

Tyler Michael and Dalton Gaus scored 22 of Frostburg’s 38 first-half points and they helped the Bobcats to an eight-point lead, 18-10 to start the game off.  The Bobcats had an electrifying first half, going back and forth with Washington, scoring deep threes and transition baskets.

Leading up to the last seconds before intermission, the ball game was tied but FSU’s Christopher Coston got a nice back-door cut to get a layup to close out the first half up by two.

The second half was full of a different atmosphere; Frostburg’s crowd was quieted as the team came out to a slow start to the second half.  The Bobcats failed to halt their opponents’ momentum, and were unable to match the scoring that allowed Washington College to go up nine points early in the period. Washington kept a five to twelve-point lead for the rest of the game and the Bobcats could not overcome the deficit.

Hoping to put together a win after a disappointing loss, Frostburg traveled to Mary Washington for their first CAC competition.

Junior Tyler Michael, sophomore Edwin Cole and freshman Rhashad Johnson each finished in double figures, but the Frostburg men’s basketball team tumbled 75-55, in the league opener for both schools.

In that contest, the Bobcats  shot just 33.3 percent from the field on 21-of-63 attempts. Mary Washington finished 27-of-57 from the field, but made 11 three-pointers.  These three pointers were what killed the Bobcats, who struggled to match their competition’s scoring output.  The game became one-sided in the second half after just a seven-point lead at half.  Mary Washington came out with a different type of energy and made the decision early that they wanted this game.  Frostburg tussled and pulled to try and cut this lead, but soon collapsed to a twenty-point turn to close out the game.

With these two losses back to back, the Bobcats went to possibly their toughest competition of the year, Christopher Newport, in Virginia.

The Bobcats surged back from a sixteen-point deficit in the first half, and Junior Tyler Michael made back-to-back jumpers in the second half of play to give the Bobcats a two-point lead over the nationally-ranked Captains with eight minutes remaining in the game. Michael finished the day with a team-high 15 points, with Gaus trailing with eight, and Cole with six and ten rebounds.

The Bobcats fought hard and pushed for a second half surge to keep the game in reach, but couldn’t put away the three point shooting of the Captains and closed the game with a 62-53 defeat.

The Bobcats have been on a slump after opening the season to Mount Aloysius, but the team, coaching staff, and Frostburg community are pushing for a productive Roanoke College Tournament at the end of the month.