By David Otero
After losing two of their first three games of the season, the Pioneers men’s basketball team has rebounded and is now even with a 3-3 record.
During the home opener on November 30th, the Pioneers won a close encounter with Bloomfield College 89-84. Jonathan Kohler, a guard in his second season, recorded his first double-double of the year scoring 19 points and snatching 20 rebounds, including nine offensive rebounds. Senior forward Aaron Hall also had a solid all-around game scoring 19 points, hauling in four rebounds, and securing three steals.
A back-and-forth match between both sides as each traded buckets for a good portion of the game. With just over three minutes left in regulation, the game tied at 77, a combination of free-throws between Hall, sophomore guard Tobin Carberry, and junior guard Billy Butler gave Post a lead that they would never let go. After a resounding slam-dunk by freshman forward Vaughn Allen with less than a minute to play, Bloomfield still stayed alive by nailing a three-pointer.
Later after numerous missed free-throws by the Pioneers, Bloomfield still had two opportunities to tie the game with three-pointers, but failed both times. With one second remaining, junior guard Stefan Bonneau put the finishing touches on a Pioneers victory by nailing two free-throws, making up for the poor 65 % team free-throw shooting.
The next day, C.W. Post was pitted against their first East Coast Conference rival, Mercy College. The Pioneers shot the lights out versus the Mavericks shooting 58% from the field, a season high. The Pioneers had four starters reach double figures in points, and had great production from role players getting 29 points off the bench. Kohler led the way for Post with 21 points, and guard Gilbert Montalvo set the tone for the offense scoring 14 points and dishing out four assists. Montalvo also played fantastic on the defensive side of the ball forcing four steals and bringing down six rebounds.
The Pioneers were completely in control of the game as their biggest lead was by 30 points. C.W. Post put on a shooting clinic from just about everywhere on the floor, shooting 38% from three-point range and made 24-31 from the charity stripe. The Pioneers breezed past winless Mercy 104-80.
But in their most recent contest, the Pioneers fell to Dowling College 86-73 in a sloppy game filled with turnovers by Post. Bonneau led the way for Post scoring 23 points, 18 of them coming in the second half of play. Hall had yet another great game scoring 18 points on 7-13 shooting, and led the team in rebounds totaling nine. But overall, turnovers proved too costly to overcome as Post could never quite get close to Dowling.
The Pioneers next game is at home on Wednesday December 8th at 7 p.m. against conference rival New York Institute of Technology (2-2) where both squads look to push their records over the .500 mark.
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