Seeking consistency
Panthers get Allen, Cusinato back as team looks for first win of season
Darrell Glenn is looking for consistent effort from his men’s basketball team tonight.
“If I had my biggest wish it would be that we came out tomorrow night and we were competing at the level we are capable of competing at,” he said Friday afternoon.
The first-year Panthers bench boss has seen flashes of the team he thinks they can be during the first six games, but it’s not been consistent.
They have lost by 44 and 53 yet have had chances to win games late only to see each game end in a loss.
“Even more important than winning right now is us playing well,” Glenn said. “If we can start to play well, and address some of the things that we haven’t been doing well, the wins and losses will take care of themselves.”
The green and white will get a boost tonight with D’Adrian Allen making his debut and Marcus Cusinato returning from injury.
Allen, a sixfoot-eight forward in his fourth year of eligibility from Toronto, has been unable to play due to a fatigue issue. He is expected to help protect the paint, on the glass and hopefully open up some shots for players on the perimeter.
“He’s a low-post threat,” Glenn said. “Other teams are going to have to double down on and we just haven’t had that over our first six games. It’s really put a lot of stress on our offence.”
The Panthers are the lowestscoring team in the conference at 67 points per game.
Cusinato, the six-foot-five Australian forward, sustained a concussion after one game.
“His IQ for the game is really what we’ve missed,” Glenn said. “He’s a very smart player and really another coach on the floor that really helps direct us offensively and defensively and we’ve missed that.”
He’s a good communicator, who plays hard and others feed off his energy.
Hugh McLarty is questionable for tonight’s game with a foot injury.
The rested Panthers squad, which was idle Friday, will get an Axemen squad that hosted St. FX on Friday night.
“I would like to believe that gives us an advantage, but I don’t think any of that matters if we don’t come out with the energy and effort we need,”
The Axemen, which entered last night’s game 5-0, have a balanced roster of player who can hurt you. Eric Nissen led them in points per game (16.8) followed by Ben Miller (13.4) and Nick De Palma (12.4), who can both light up teams from downtown.
Milorad Sedlarevic leads the Panthers at 14.3 points per game followed by Samy Mohamed (9.3) and Dakelle Brooks (9).