Mercy Drops Non-League Game By 33 Points to Shoreham-Wading River

For the members of McGann-Mercy boys' basketball team, Monday night was yet another example of a second half gone wrong. And their coach was sure to let them know.

Mike Clauberg, the tall, red-headed coach of the McGann-Mercy boys' basketball team (1-6, 0-1 League VII), spoke to his players for about 25 minutes following Tuesday's 62-29 loss to non-league opponent Shoreham-Wading River (3-2, 1-0 League VI). It wasn't the score that bothered him so much. It was how it happened. 

"I basically told them we didn't come ready to play today," Clauberg said. "I don't know what it was. But we just didn't have the intensity we did against Babylon. 

"At halftime (down by a score of 32-18), I said we were going to try and win each quarter," he continued. "We were down 14 against Bridgehampton and came back and won. So if we were down 14, we can certainly come back again. But they came out and scored eight points in the first minutes. All due to a lack of effort."

Monday night's 29-point effort, Mercy's lowest offensive output this season, was not the first time the Monarchs have faltered after coming out of the locker room. Three days before, they posted 14 points in the second half of a 59-38 loss to Babylon. In the past four games, the Monarchs have scored more points in the first half of every game.

"We haven't been the best third quarter team," said senior guard Liam McArdle, who led Mercy scorers with 10 points. "We come out hard in the first quarter but it just goes downhill from there."

And for an undersized team - Mercy's tallest player is six feet tall - that Clauberg admits is "most of the time, out-talented by the other team," staying the course for an entire game will be necessary to pull of a victory. But that didn't happen on Monday.

Mercy hung in through the first 15 minutes or so of the game. But ending the first half with a poor stretch - the home team missed 14 layups in the first half alone - put the Monarchs on a down note heading into the locker room. When they came back out for the second half, SWR turned on the jets. Mercy netted a sole three-pointer in the third quarter, while the Wildcats ran away with 17 points. 

"During the half we had a little chat about intensity," said SWR head coach Kevin Culhane. "I told them we did not bring the defensive intensity we are capable of doing. I think we did that in the second half and I think that showed. And what was great was we moved the ball really well - at one point, we had four guys touch the ball without it hitting the floor."

Indeed, as if the Wildcats' size (6-foot-4 John Kovac dropped a career-high 16 points) and skill (Kevin Davis had been averaging 29 point per game, Culhane said) weren't enough of an advantage, McArdle admitted that at times the players simply ignored Clauberg's offensive play calls, with no strategy whatsoever. 

"He's always calling out plays," said McArdle. "And sometimes, I don't know, you just don't run them. It's heat of the moment things. Things just happen ... Some people see a lane and they try to take it. Some people see a shot."

The good news is that the squad has plenty of time to improve. The Monarchs hope to rebound two weeks from Tuesday against division rival Mattituck on Jan. 4.