Beagle again bright spot in Danes’ 5th loss in row
TROY — One of a handful of bright spots in a difficult stretch for the University at Albany men’s basketball team has been freshman forward Jonathan Beagle.
The Hudson Falls native, a six-time America East Rookie of the Week, is Ualbany’s second-best scorer (12.1 points per game) and leading rebounder (6.7 per game). In Saturday night’s 72-68 loss to Maine, Beagle led the Danes (6-17, 1-7 America East) with 16 points to go with six rebounds and two assists.
After Ualbany coughed up a 13-point lead early in the second half, Beagle gave Ualbany a two-point lead with a pair of free throws, but didn’t score in the final 12 minutes.
“They were just making it uncomfortable for me. They wouldn’t let me put the ball on the floor. They were kind of sticking to my gaps and making it uncomfortable for me to just dribble and play freely,” he said.
When Ualbany took its big lead, Maine went to a zone defense, which made the team “tentative” and gave Beagle trouble, said coach Dwayne Killings.
“The man-to-man allowed us to do some different things,” Killings said. “I thought there were a couple times he had opportunities to score it, but it’s just a little bit different look when you got two bodies on you, and we haven’t seen a ton of zone all year, so seeing it live is a little bit different.”
Beagle has increasingly been the focus of opposing defenses.
“It’s new, definitely, but I just need to adjust to it. It happens. So just need to get better every day,” he said.
With the Great Danes beset by injuries, Beagle has averaged 33 minutes per game, second only to senior forward Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who rarely leaves the court.
“I’ve been really impressed with his poise, because I think a lot of guys could get rattled not knowing exactly what you’re walking into, but he just wants to win. And he’s pissed off and so are the other guys because they had it in their hand and we just couldn’t close it,” Killings said.
Ualbany raced out to a 26-13 lead but faded in the second, letting Maine shoot 57.1 percent from the field. The Great Danes still had chances to win late but were hampered by turnovers and defensive missteps. The loss was their fifth in a row.
Reddish a starter
Sophomore forward Aaron Reddish made his first start of the conference schedule Saturday, replacing fifth-year guard Da’kquan Davis in the lineup.
Reddish was benched for two games due to what Killings called failing to meet program standards. He returned against Binghamton, scoring nine points in 21 minutes. Saturday, he had 14 points and five boards in 37 minutes.
“It feels good to be back out there, be able to help my team as much as I can. Unfortunately we didn’t get it done tonight, but we’ll take everything with this one and bring it to the next one,” Reddish said.
Reddish and the rest of the starters — Drumgoole, Beagle, fifth-year guard Sarju Patel and freshman guard Marcus Jackson — played for 184 of 200 minutes. Junior guard Malik Edmead played 12 minutes, senior guard/forward Trey Hutcheson played for four, and junior* forward Japannah Kellogg came in for three seconds to give a foul late in the game. Hutcheson (back) and Edmead (finger) are both playing through injury.
“We need to invest more time in this lineup. I think this is the lineup we want to try to get to for a while. Obviously we had to do some things with Aaron, but I think he’s in a good space right now,” Killings said.
Davis, who averages eight points per game, was dressed but didn’t play.