Nichols can apply all of the old cliches to last night's loss at St. Mary's:

 It was just their night, they wanted it more, they outworked us, they punched us in the mouth right from the start, etc. 

The cliche I'm going with to describe the Lancers domaination of Nichols last night is simply to label it as a good old fashioned butt whoopin!

St. Mary's played its best game of the season and gained some swagger for the postseason, beating Nichols 66-50, in front of a high energy home crowd on Friday.   It was the kind of win that they hope will provide the necessary momentum to carry them to another win if the two meet again in less than a week, when the real season begins…the Manhattan Cup playoffs.

The Lancers brought so much energy to start the game that the Lancer Nation student section, donned in all white, fed off of their energy rather than the other way around.  One second after Nichols claimed the opening tip, the Lancers stole the ball and were off and running in the other direction.  It was a clear sign of things to come.  Matt Wrobel scored the first six points of the game, as part of an 8-0 burst to begin the game and a 10-point first quarter for the junior.  After eight minutes, the Vikings were reeling as they faced an early 16-4 deficit.

For the rest of the game, St. Mary's played like the school yard bully, holding Nichols down and refusing to let them get back up.  The Lancers increased their lead to as many as 15 points in the second quarter, and allowed consecutive field goals to be scored by Nichols just once in the first half and only three times in the entire contest.  Cory Kiebzak responded to the Vikings only attempt at a run in the half by sticking a trey from the corner, while Dion Strong made a strong contribution in the quarter and added five points for St. Mary's, who led 31-17 at halftime.

Nichols tried to show some signs of life in the third quarter, and pressed the Lancers into a pair of quick buckets from Adam Noonan that pulled them within 10 points.  But St. Mary's senior Paul Rath would have no part of giving the Vikings any room, and quickly threw in seven points in just over a minute, including a 3-pointer hailed by the PA announcer with an "Oh my", to push the score back to 42-26.  Another long range bomb from Rath to end the third quarter had the Lancers up 54-34.  A free throw from Rath to start the final stanza gave St. Mary's a 21-point lead, its largest of the game.  The fourth quarter became a mere formality, but the effort from St. Mary's never wavered in the last eight minutes, epitomized by Rath hustling back to block a fast break attempt and Quinn Gill poking a ball loose any time a Vikings player eased up for even a second.

It's hard to tell if last night will serve as a wakeup call for the Vikings as they head into the postseason, or if the Lancers are really just capable of dominating them with their best game.  We will know soon enough, but one thing is for sure – the Vikings won't stand a chance if they allow themselves to get beat down the court consistently, like they did last night.

Rath scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Lancers, Matt Wrobel finished with 14 points, Tyler English added 13 points, and Dion Strong chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Nichols got 12 points from Cam Lewis and 11 points from Liam Ryan in the loss.

-centercourt

@centercourt42