BANGOR, Maine — Mitch Worcester likened Husson University’s season-opening 75-54 men’s basketball victory over Saint Joseph’s College of Standish on Thursday night to a simple math equation.
“We held them to 54 points and that’s pretty good,” said the junior guard from Washburn. “We can usually score over 54, we’ve got a really good offensive team, so if we can hold every team to 54 we’ll be good.”
The defending North Atlantic Conference champions limited Saint Joseph’s to a 27.7 percent shooting night from the field, including a 4-of-26 effort in the first half as the Eagles never trailed after the opening minutes.
And when the Monks (1-1) made a second-half comeback, Worcester found the shooting touch that led him to a 2,000-point high school career, scoring 18 of his game-high 22 points after intermission.
“I didn’t get many clean looks but I just tried to run the offense in the first half,” he said. “I know that as soon as I get my open looks I’m going to shoot it. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, and when those opportunities came in the second half I capitalized.”
Alonzo McCain added to Husson’s balanced attack with 12 points and seven assists, while Justin Martin finished with nine points and eight rebounds, Raheem Anderson had eight points and three assists and Bruce St. Peter contributed six points and eight rebounds.
“On the offensive end of the floor a lot of people gave us something,” said Husson head coach Warren Caruso. “Raheem only had eight but it really didn’t affect our play. I thought he was really patient and trusted his teammates.”
Mario Nery led 1-1 Saint Joseph’s with 11 points, but offense was tough to come by for coach Rob Sanicola’s club, particularly during a first half when only a 9-of-11 effort from the free-throw line allowed Saint Joseph’s to hang within 34-19.
“On the defensive end of the floor I thought we played really well,” said Caruso. “Our movement and rotations were really strong. This group plays with a lot of trust on both ends of the floor.”
Saint Joseph’s shot an abysmal 15.4 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, but it took the Monks less than three minutes of the second half to erase more than half of their intermission deficit thanks to a 3-pointer by Ian Mileikis, a three-point play off an offensive rebound by Marc Corey and another follow-up basket by Jae Johns.
That 8-0 run narrowed the gap to 34-27 and prompted Husson to call time.
Worcester made two free throws for Husson’s first points of the half, then followed a layup by Saint Joseph’s Aaron Hall with a 3-pointer from the key to restore the Eagles to a double-digit lead at 39-29.
Saint Joseph’s drew within seven again at 41-34 on a 3-pointer by Ben Malloy, then pulled within 44-38 on a third-chance inside move by Quinn Richardson-Malloy with 11:15 left.
But Anderson and St. Peter worked a perfect pick-and-roll with St. Peter converting the layup, sparking a 9-2 run that featured three big plays by McCain — a 3-pointer, a jumper off a spin move and a tip away on defense that led to a fast-break layup by Worcester to restore Husson to a 53-40 lead with 8:30 remaining.
Worcester then put the game away with back-to-back 3-pointers, one from each wing off assists by McCain — the first while sprawled on the ground — to extend the Eagles’ cushion to 62-46 with 4:37 left.
“I thought we closed the game out with some really good offensive sets,” said Caruso. “We got open shots and our guys made them, and then we got stops.
“We really did some good things for this early in the season and hopefully we have a lot to build on.”
