Danes can’t hold lead in opener

Gaels force turnovers in second half to overcome Ualbany’s advantage

Opening night in the outskirts of New York City revealed a little of everything for the University at Albany basketball team.

Coach Will Brown used 11 players in the first half — some would say that nearly doubles what he is comfortable with — to start the season against Iona.

The Great Danes showed a lot, taking a 15-point lead in the first half, but they couldn’t close against the Gaels, who forced 22 turnovers in a 72-68 victory Friday night at Hynes Center.

“For us coming in here, it was about learning what we have,” said Brown, whose squad returned just two scholarship players from last season. “Youth and inexperience and playing guys ... the disappointing thing is we put ourselves in a position to win the game. As good as Iona is, you can’t hurt yourself as much as we did.”

There was plenty of good. Junior point guard Ahmad Clark, no longer in the shadow of David Nichols, scored a career-high 21 points before fouling out with 2:53 to play. Devonte Campbell, the only other regular back, contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Ualbany made 15 of 16 free throws to stay in the game, but that was offset by the turnovers and 10-for-34 (29 percent) shooting from inside the 3-point arc.

Beyond the numbers, what got Iona, which has only two returning players itself, over the hump was the ability to quicken the pace, something the Danes had under control in the first half.

“Our defensive intensity and our pressure helped us a lot,” Iona coach Tim Cluess said. “We got a couple of turnovers, we got out off some rebounds because we rebounded the ball better, and got down the court better.”

The Danes trailed for only 30 seconds, at 1-0, over the first 29 minutes of the game. Ben

Lopez’s 3-pointer with 10:56 to play gave the Gaels a 46-44 advantage.

There were six lead changes total, the last coming on Isaiah Still’s fast-break layup with 4:46 remaining, giving Iona a 62-60 edge that it wouldn’t relinquish.

“Twenty-two turnovers is disappointing, and the baskets that we gave up off the turnovers put us at a disadvantage,” Brown said. “Good win for Iona. Our guys competed. We’ll have some good film to learn from.”

As expected, Ualbany started its three redshirt freshmen from Australia. Two were factors.

Guard Cameron Healy scored 14 points. He also had five turnovers, but he also drew three charging fouls in the second half.

Forward Adam Lulka had eight points, six rebounds

and three turnovers in 27 minutes.

“For a lot of guys it was their first D-I game,” Campbell said. “My objective going into the game off the bounce, trying to get these guys acclimated.”

Early on, the Danes did just that, opening leads of 11-1, 18-4 and 23-8. When Lulka and 6-10 center Brent Hank (no points, two rebounds in 15 minutes), the third Aussie starter, each picked up his second foul, Brown shuffled through his bench to evaluate his players.

Results were mixed, but Ualbany had a 30-26 halftime lead.

“We were very stagnant,” Cluess said of the start. “Part of that is credit to Albany’s defense on us in the first half.”

Down the stretch, Ualbany employed four perimeter players to help with ball preservation, but that made

it difficult to score inside. Including twice when they were fouled on 3-pointers, the Danes got more than half of their offense from outside, making 11 of 24 of their longrange tries.

Clark was the key trigger man, hitting 5 of 7 from outside, but he was lost after two questionable foul calls in the second half.

“They did a good job of trying to speed me up and forced the ref to make a call,” Clark said. “I’ve just got to control my tempo.”

Next up for the Danes is their home opener Wednesday night against Boston University.

“When we look at the film,” Campbell said, “we’re going to see a lot of things down the stretch that we can improve on.”