Tenacious Terriers of St. Francis Battle But Come Up Short

Story and Photos by Michael Silver

The scrappy squad from Brooklyn came into the Dome Monday night and was unfazed by the “Loud House” or the ninth-ranked Orange basketball team.

The Terriers controlled the tempo early and often with a pressuring man defense and aggressive inside play in the paint. Syracuse was lucky to be up by four at halftime, 30-26.

St. Francis, who plays in the North Eastern Conference, made headlines to start the season, shocking the University of Miami on the road, 66-62 in overtime.

The Terrier defense began to lock down and slow the pace even more in the second half. Orange players were forcing bad shots and committing untimely turnovers to the dismay of the home crowd.

Brooklyn senior guard Ben Mockford hit three 3-pointers to silence the crowd during the last 20 minutes.

“We needed to keep playing our style of basketball," Mockford said. "Getting in the passing lanes, aggressive defense, it was working really.”

With four minutes remaining, the small school from Brooklyn took a four-point lead. But the lead slipped away as the Terriers began to turn the ball over.

The Orange went on a 10-0 run to finish and win going away 56-50, in what became an unexpectedly entertaining matchup.

Looking dejected after the loss, Mockford, who hails from Shoreham, England, touched on how close his team had been to another upset in this early season.

“A few plays here and there down the stretch and we could have won that ball game,” he said. “It’s tough to shoot in that zone [defense], you know. It’s not your typical zone where people think you can shoot threes. The wings are 6’8”. It's tough.”

Wayne Martin, the freshman forward who attended South Shore High in Brooklyn was dominant inside for the Terriers. He outplayed all of the Orange big men, finishing with 13 points on five for eight shooting, with five rebounds and two blocks.

Head Coach Glenn Braica expressed admiration for his young team and the strategy coming in.

“Our game plan was to get the ball inside, then go from there," Braica said. "Whether it was our bigs going to the basket, or playing inside out.”

Mockford, the team captain with plenty of tattoos and attitude recognized the opportunity his team had. Playing on national television, in a hostile environment and summed things up eloquently.

“Syracuse are a great team, a great program. We came into this game wanting to win. It came down to a few plays here and there, and it’s just the way it fell."