NIT Round 2 halftime: Washington Basketball 36 Saint Mary’s 41

The Washington Basketball team finds itself at halftime with an opportunity to give head coach Mike Hopkins a special anniversary gift – an NIT round 2 win

The clash of karma. Saint Mary’s was playing for a school record 30th win at the expense of the Washington Basketball team. On the other side, the Huskies have an opportunity to give Coach Hopkins a memorable one-year anniversary gift: a round two win over the Saint Mary’s Gaels.  We discussed the Washington Huskies preparations for this game, and they employed the right strategy.

The key to disrupting the Gael’s is to take out Jock Landale. And that is what the team did in the early going. But the Huskies did not have a solution for junior Evan Fitzner. Fitzner is the 6-foot-10 reserve center, and he had open looks in the high post again and again.

Naz Carter, marksman

The Huskies countered with hot-handed Nahziah Carter, who dropped two consecutive three-pointers and one more in the second quarter to keep the game from turning into an early rout. Evan Naar played a huge difference in the game as well. While he posed little threat scoring, he dished out six assists in the first half. In contrast, David Crisp did not record an assist.

The first half began with a Saint Mary’s run. But the Huskies began to play much more competitively. Matisse Thybulle had two steals leading to easy layups.  Carter began to shell the artillery. and the Huskies forced the Gaels to beat them with any player not named Jock Landale. Saint Mary’s had success with forward Calvin Hermanson and reserve center Evan Fitzner.  Both Saint Mary’s players scored in double digits in the first half.

At the end of the first half, the Saint Mary’s Gaels held a lead, but the Huskies closed the scored to 41-36