Last Tuesday the Geneseo men's basketball squad dropped their home opener, losing to the Hobart Statesmen 70-54, struggling on the offensive end during the entire game.
The Statesmen used a 6-0 run and later an 8-0 run in the first half to go into the second stanza leading 35-22.
Head coach Steve Minton commented on the Knights' offensive struggles, saying: "One thing we need to work on is our half-court offense. We need to be more patient and make sure it gets started in the right place. A lot of the time we just started off too high."
The second half was even worse for the Knights. At one point, Hobart had a lead of 26 points holding a 20-point lead for much of the half. Geneseo went on a six-point run over the last three minutes of the game to finish out the night.
The Knights are a young team this year with only five seniors, but Minton dismissed this as a reason for the team's struggles. "In the past the younger guys have deferred their talents to the upper classmen, but when they need to step up they'll do that," he said.
Minton also pointed out that this was the Knights' second game of the season. "Once we get more game experience you'll see a lot of improvement," he said. Geneseo normally participates in an early-season tournament, but this year the team opted instead for a trip to Washington over the semester break.
Senior Kyle Stevens led the way for the Knights, recording his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow senior Brandon Simpson added 11 points and five rebounds.
A big problem for Geneseo was the play of two of the team's starters. Senior Jordan Blair had zero points and zero rebounds in 14 minutes, and junior Mike Hoy had just one point and two boards in 21 minutes of play.
Minton said, "We expect Mike Hoy to score but I think he's still finding a comfort level; last year in the second half he was averaging 10 points a [game]."
The Knights start an extended five-game road trip this weekend as they take on SUNY Cortland on Friday at 8 p.m. and SUNY Oswego on Saturday. Geneseo will play several games over the semester break, including their West Coast road trip against St. Martin's University and Western Washington University.