It's been the same story for most of Mark McAndrew's '08 career at Brown: The men's basketball team pulls off a big win, as it did this weekend against Northwestern University, but then fails to carry the momentum over to the next game.
The Bears missed free throws and open 3-pointers against Wagner College at the Pizzitola Sports Center last night, and then squandered a chance to win in the game's final seconds, losing 64-63 in a tense, back-and-forth contest.
"It's kind of been that way since I got here," said McAndrew, a shooting guard and tri-captain. "We have a good game, we have a bad one. We win, we win and then we lose. It's about getting consistency."
With the Bears down 62-61 last night, McAndrew was fouled just outside the paint with 26 seconds left in the game. He calmly hit both free throws to give Brown the lead.
But in a fitting end to a game that saw 18 lead changes and 11 ties, Wagner came back down the court and fed the ball to senior point guard Mark Porter. Damon Huffman '08 fouled Porter with 6.7 seconds left, and Porter, who air-balled an earlier free throw, nonchalantly hit both his shots to give the Seahawks the one-point edge.
The Bears had enough time to set up one last shot, but McAndrew caught the inbounds pass near his own basket and was trapped by two Wagner players. He dribbled the ball off his foot and by the time he recovered, Brown had to call a timeout with 2.7 seconds left.
After the inbound, Huffman threw up a wild 3-point shot that clanged off the backboard and rim The loss dropped the Bears to 2-3 on the season.
Brown was out-hustled and out-muscled by Wagner, the small, gritty team from New York City epitomized by Porter, its lightning-quick senior point guard who had a game-high 23 points. The Seahawks out-rebounded the Bears 44-31 but allowed the Bears to stay in the game by shooting just 40 percent from the field.
The Bears weren't able to take advantage. While they shot 44 percent from the field, they went 3-for-21 from 3-point range and were only 14-for-23 from the line, missing many down the stretch that would have cut into the small lead that the Seahawks held for most of the second half.
"We got the looks we wanted," said swingman Chris Skrelja '09. "They just didn't go down."
Brown squandered a terrific performance by Skrelja, who scored a team-high 21 points and even threw down a dunk - his first-ever in a Brown uniform.
"I feel terrible," Skrelja said. "I would have rather scored zero points and have us winning."
"I told him after the game, it's a shame to (lose) the best game of his career," said Head Coach Craig Robinson.
McAndrew added 14 points, and center Mark MacDonald '08 had 12. Huffman had an uncharacteristically poor game, going 3-for-13 overall, and 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He took only two shots in the first half and finished with nine points.
"Damon is one of the best players on the team," Robinson said. "He needs to recognize that" and take more shots.
Robinson was disappointed with the way the Bears played, but he was impressed that his players kept the game close, even on an off day.
"To play as poorly as we did and lose by one - I hate moral victories as much as anyone, but we were in it," he said.
The Bears now embark on a stretch in which they play four games in nine days before finals Robinson said the team will focus on breaking full-court pressure.
"People are going to see this (game) tape and they're going to pressure us," Robinson said. "They're going to try to take our center out of the game."
The Bears next play the University of California at Davis at the Pizzitola Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
