Steve Bluth saw fear in his players’ eyes back on Jan. 5 against Collegiate and he saw it again Monday afternoon at Poly Prep.
Maybe it’s the opposition’s reputation or the perceived pecking order in the Ivy Prep League, but for whatever reason, Fieldston has a preconceived notion about Collegiate and Poly Prep, that the two teams are superior, Bluth said.
“For whatever reason, we’ve had a tough time with Poly Prep and Collegiate, especially the first time playing them,” he said. “Maybe it’s that [we] know their reputation, and it’s hard to play with fear.”
Fieldston came out sluggish, yet rallied to pull within a point late in the first half, then struggled mightily in the third quarter and as a result fell to Poly Prep, falling two full games behind the Bay Ridge school in the race for the Ivy crown.
Jason Lightning led Fieldston (17-5, 10-3) with 18 points, 11 in the first half, Michael Bregman had 12 and Will Savage nine. Alex Buford scored 22 points for Poly Prep.
Besides that dreaded third quarter, in which it was outscored 17-7, Fieldston shot the ball well from the field and averaged 16 points in the other three stanzas. Yet facing a zone after Poly Prep went man-to-man in the first half, it managed just those seven in the third. The game plan was to attack the basket and get to the free throw line, but instead Fieldston settled for jump shots. The approach worked in the first half as the shot fell, but it didn’t last.
“The zone definitely messed them up a little bit, it slowed the game down,” Buford said. “They weren’t able to get as much dribble penetration, which was something that was hurting us in the first half.”
The bigger issue, Bluth said, was his team’s soft-as-Charmin defense. That end of the floor has been an issue much of the year, even though Bluth said the Eagles work on defending incessantly in practice. They gave up open 3-pointers as Poly Prep made eight from beyond the arc, didn’t help out enough and were beaten off the glass for second-chance opportunities.
“I don’t think we played hard, I don’t think we played intelligently,” Bluth said. “How many times did someone from the weak side not come over and stop ball? We just didn’t defend the basket at all today.”
Now Fieldston needs help to finish atop the Ivy League. Poly Prep still has three league contests left – against the Eagles, Dalton and Riverdale. Of course, for Bluth’s club to have any shot, it needs to prevail in the rematch Thursday afternoon in The Bronx.
The second time the Eagles met the Dutchmen, they prevailed in overtime, and Bluth the second matchup with the Blue Devils to be similar, if not Identical.
“I think we can play with them,” the coach said. “We’ll see what happens on our court.”