- BY JOHN JEANSONNE | john.jeansonne@newsday.com
- March 5, 2009
First, the numbers, although C.W.
Post's performance last night in the first round of the East
Coast Conference tournament was as much an argument for essential
basketball values as statistical details - one of those
share-the-ball, share-the-wealth exhibitions:
Post hammered visiting Molloy
College, 98-63.
Post is 25-0, the best run by a local men's college team since
Adelphi went 31-0 before losing in the national Division II
semifinals in 2000-01. (Suffolk CC was 34-0 and national junior
college champion in 2003-04.)
Round 2 of the ECC tournament is at Adelphi Saturday, when Post
will play 12-16 Dowling, with the final Sunday.
Ten players scored for Post, and six hit double figures.
Sophomore Gilbert Montalvo, who entered with a 2.8 average, led all
scorers with 21. So, although two-time conference player of the
year Jonathan Schmidt is the school's career scoring leader - he
had 19 last night - Montalvo became Post's sixth different
game-high scorer during this megawatt season.
Add up those figures - and coach Tim Cluess threw in a couple more:
Post's 50 rebounds (compared to Molloy's 42) and 29 assists
(Molloy, 16) - and they paint the pretty picture of an unbeaten
team.
During the regular season, Post clobbered Molloy twice, although
Molloy did enjoy an early 9-0 run to take a 9-4 lead last night,
before the visitors were wrung out, strung out and hung out by
Post's team-oriented offensive storm.
"We try to point out," Cluess said, "all the other upsets that have
occurred in basketball, how there's a reason for the name March
Madness, how you have to respect every team. You don't want to be
that story everybody's talking about."
At 11-10, Molloy led for the last time, before Montalvo, picking up
heavy-duty playing time because starter Kevin Spann was slightly
injured, made consecutive three-pointers. Post didn't just run; it
galloped away to victory.
Having coached Montalvo at St. Mary's High, Cluess knew he had a
player with "the mind of a coach," a fellow who "is pretty good at
getting us moving." That Montalvo is only 5-9 - "My mom's 4-11, so
I got stuck with that" - may have kept him from Division I
possibilities, but he demonstrated varied skills last night.
With floaters in the lane, pull-up jumpers, layups and
three-pointers, Montalvo shot 9-for-12. While his mates - besides
Schmidt's 19, Kenny Burkers scored 13, Nick Carter and Kellen
Scantlebury 11 and Lyndon Daniel 10 - pitched in admirably. The
idea for Post is to keep counting. Past 25.
Saturday
ECC Tournament
at Adelphi
C.W. Post vs. Dowling
5 p.m.
