St. Mary's (Md.) and center Macgyver Biniak split two games at the Hoopsville Clasic. Biniak averaged 9.0 rebounds in the two games. Hoopsville photo by Dave McHugh

By Brian Falzarano
D3sports.com

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Each of the eight coaches offered coachspeak variations of the same theme, of why they decided to start their season at the inaugural Hoopsville National Invitational Classic here at Stevenson University: That regardless of whether their teams left with two victories, two setbacks, or a split, it would be a worthwhile experience to test their student-athletes on a national stage.

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In the minutes after No. 19 St. Mary's suffered a 65-52 upset at the hands of a resurgent Catholic squad, coach Chris Harney wondered aloud about what would become his team's identity. Would they be the same bunch that got blitzed by a 43-13 run? Could they be the team that looked every bit a Top 20 team in jumping out to a 28-16 advantage late in the first half the night before?

For one night at least, Harney and the Seahawks learned they are more the latter than the former Sunday evening in the nightcap of the Hoopsville Classic's final day against No. 24 Randolph-Macon. Buoyed by the three-guard backcourt of Devin Spencer, Nick LaGuerre, and Donn Hill, St. Mary's displayed the lessons learned from its loss to Catholic with a gritty 59-49 victory.

“It's huge,” Harney said. “I'm not so much looking at the record, but when you're coming off a loss, you're looking for how your team will respond.”

Although 1-1 looks and feels appreciably better than 0-2, senior guard and All-Classic Team member Devin Spencer, fresh off an 18-point performance that included four clutch three-pointers, warned that, “We haven't accomplished anything we want to accomplish.”

Maybe so, but season-opening showcases such as the Hoopsville Classic are all about teams who challenge themselves early and learn just a little more about themselves less than one-twelfth of the way through this marathon of a season they hope will end with them cutting down the nets in Atlanta.

Essentially, the Seahawks are not all that different than other teams two games into their schedule. Harney is still looking for his team to establish its identity, something he openly questioned after that 43-13 Catholic run nearly ran his Seahawks out of Owings Mills Gymnasium.

“We went back to the hotel, regained our focus, and basically buckled down on what we needed to do to not be 0-2,” Spencer said.

Right after St. Mary's lost Saturday night, Transylvania found the sense of fortitude its coach, Brian Lane, wondered aloud about following a 26-point loss to Catholic on Friday night by staving off Randolph-Macon at the buzzer.

And St. Mary's may have found a sense of that identity Sunday evening against Randolph-Macon. Although the Seahawks' first half looked like a continuation of the night before — they shot just 31.3 percent and looked a step slow in stretches, trailing 27-25 after 20 minutes despite forcing 13 turnovers — the second half showed a roster eager to answer its coach's challenge.

Spencer started the second 20 minutes by burying the first of his three second-half three-pointers, then LaGuerre drained a jumper, and suddenly, St. Mary's led 30-27. Then Spencer kept hitting big shots, Hill scored six key points and LaGuerre hit two free throws in the final seconds to ensure a quality Randolph-Macon team would start its season 0-3 despite playing Christopher Newport and two ranked teams this weekend.

“We just played harder. And we had to play together,” said LaGuerre, who finished with 11 points. “We all came out flat (against Catholic). … We came out with the mindset that it was going to be a fight.”

After suffering an opening-round knockdown, the Seahawks rallied to win the second round Sunday night.

“You play one game against a nationally ranked team then you have to turn around and play another one. It's just a great classroom (for our players) to learn,” Harney said. “It's a great thing for the team to turn around and play a quality opponent like Randolph-Macon and make corrections from the night before and turn it around …

“The guys answered my question. They went out there and did it. We said to them in the locker room, 'That was your game.' They show what kind of players they are.”

Stevenson finds a spark

James Milton traveled a circuitous route to Stevenson. From Detroit, the Mustangs' sophomore first arrived in suburban Baltimore from the Motor City four years ago for a simple, albeit profound, reason.

“I wanted to change my whole life around,” Milton said. “I was getting in too much trouble back home.”

After two seasons at Parksville High School here in the Baltimore suburbs, where he won a high school slam dunk championship in the Charm City, he spent a season at Dodge City Junior College in Kansas before contacting second-year Stevenson coach Gary Stewart about coming back to his second area — a place that Stewart said has “been very good to him.”

Although Milton commutes 30 minutes from Perry Hall, Md., his athleticism and energy each day has given Stevenson a spark off the bench through its first two games. Especially on Sunday afternoon, when he contributed 13 points and nine rebounds against a rugged Mass-Boston frontline in the second half as the Mustangs rallied from a seven-point deficit down the stretch to procure a 72-70 victory on its homecourt.

Stevenson relied heavily upon the energy both Milton and junior guard Alphonzo Hawkins (17 points) provided, overcoming several uneven stretches to continually attack the basket. After 29 minutes of run, Milton finished with a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds, including seven caroms off the offensive glass.

“He's a terrific kid. He's a team-first guy,” Stewart said. “He's not really a guy that looks at a lot of basketball. He just enjoys playing. That's prob why we're so excited about him; he's a receptive learner and he enjoys the game.

“We were very fortunate that he contacted us,” the coach added.

For a Stevenson squad coming off a 6-19 season that was selected last in the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth Conference preseason poll, the addition of Milton along with Hawkins and All-Classic team member Brett Burrier (14 points vs. Mass-Boston) could help reverse the Mustangs' recent fortunes.

After all, Milton has already staged a successful turnaround of his own in terms of his own life.

“It made me a better person,” Milton said of moving east. “It made me appreciate what I didn't have back at home. Now that I do have it, you have to appreciate what you don't have.”

Gallaudet productive down low

Even before Gallaudet played its first two games under first-year coach Brendan Stern, its new bench boss knew the Bison's identity. It might have taken until the second game for his roster to realize as much, but Gallaudet possesses a strong frontcourt duo in first-year 6-7 junior Orion Palmer and 6-6 senior center Danny Kelly.

Even against a smaller, inexperienced Franciscan squad that has now lost 27 straight contests, the dominance of Palmer (11 points, 14 rebounds) and Kelly (12 points, 10 boards) helped the Bison seize an early double-digit lead en route to an 85-72 victory in Sunday's first game. In addition to being two of six players in double figures, they helped Gallaudet own a 46-29 rebounding edge and a 42-22 edge on points in the paint.

“It was definitely a learning experience for us these first two games,” Stern said. “We really need to understand that our offense needs to start in the paint. We're playing inside to outside and not just outside to inside.”

Indeed, the Bison could very well possess the North Eastern Athletic Conference's finest frontcourt. Kelly is back after an abbreviated 2011-12 that saw him average 15 points and 8.8 rebounds in just 11 games. Meanwhile, the 6-7 Palmer is in his first season at Gallaudet and brings with him the experience of playing for the 2011 USA Deaf Men's Basketball Team.

“I actually came from California to Gallaudet as a new student and I'm very impressed with Gallaudet,” Palmer said. “It's a very friendly environment. I want more recognition for Gallaudet. Coming to this tournament is really showing what we can do.”

Hoopsville National Invitational Classic Team

Selected by each team's head coach, the eight-member squad includes Chris Kearney (Catholic); Chris Dukes (Franciscan); Jocus Houston (Gallaudet); Marcus Badger (Randolph-Macon); Devin Spencer (St. Mary's); Brett Burrier (Stevenson); Brandon Rash (Transylvania); and Carl Joseph (Mass-Boston).