y Rob Knox

D3hoops.com Mid-Atlantic Correspondent

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Stevenson University sophomore forward Tyrus Costly’s eyes lit up when he heard his favorite play in the world called, “TKO.” He knew he was about to rock the house and leave the fans with something special to remember.

It wasn’t an immediate knockout once Costly completed a you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it alley oop dunk over a bigger player midway through the first half, but Stevenson eventually proved to be the better team by a unanimous margin. Costly’s facial jam provided the fuel needed to lift host Stevenson to an 80-69 victory over 18th-ranked Middlebury Friday night in the fourth game of the Hoopsville Classic.

“This is a big win for our program,” Costly said. “We wanted to make a statement so we focused on playing hard and rebounding for the entire game. As soon as we saw Middlebury in a zone defense, coach called the play for me and another one of my teammates, who also can jump really high. Basically, I caught the ball and made a quick decision.”

Starting on the left side of the court and then rising above everybody like a hot-air balloon, Costly’s ESPN top-ten play worthy dunk shook the cozy facility to its core and provided an electrical surge as fans rose out of their seats in celebration while simultaneously letting out a chorus of oohs and ahs. LeBron James would have been impressed as Costly’s dunk probably elicited a bunch of “OMG” text messages.

Although Costly’s dunk proved to be temporarily costly for the Mustangs – pun intended – as he was slapped with a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct, the two points that Middlebury got off of the ensuing made technical foul shots never mattered.

“I didn’t mean to get a technical foul on that,” Costly said. “I have to do a better job of staying disciplined and play hard. I can’t yell in people’s faces. I just got beside myself a little bit and I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Stevenson was quicker to the ball, outrebounding the much-taller Mustangs, 47-42, and forcing 25 turnovers to improve its overall record to 2-0 on the young season and served noticed that it will be a force to be reckoned with this year.

Costly made all of four of his shots to finish with 10 points. He was one of three Mustang players to reach double figures. Alfonzo Hawkins led Stevenson with 17 points and Christian Roberts added 13 points. Justin Kuntz and Darius Walker finished with nine points each.

“We’re trying to improve our program,” Stevenson coach Gary Stewart said. “It was important for us to compete well and have some success against the best of the best. Middlebury is well coached and represent everything great in college athletics so it’s a significant win from that standpoint, but we have to keep it in perspective. I was pleased with our intestinal fortitude because we knew Middlebury would make a run and we were able to withstand it.”

Middlebury’s Jake Nidenberg provided the final tie of the game, 28-28 with 3 minutes, 8 seconds remaining. Less than 30 seconds later, Stevenson’s Colby Giacubeno, who recorded the assist on Costly’s dunk, gave the Mustangs the lead for good, 31-28.

Middlebury made Stevenson earn this victory as it refused to allow Stevenson’s lead to get larger than 11 points. Stevenson never trailed in the second half and led by 11 points on four different occasions, but each time it looked up, Middlebury was within four points. The Panthers had the ball, trailing by three points with a chance to tie the game with 1:44 remaining. However, Hawkins turned a missed Middlebury 3-pointer into a game-clinching old-fashioned 3-point play that put Stevenson ahead 71-65 with 1:33 remaining.

Keeping Middlebury in the game was the tandem of Hunter Merryman (game-high 21 points) and Jake Brown (14 points). Merryman, sporting a pair of bright yellow Jordan sneakers, drained five of the Panthers’ eight 3-pointers during the game. Merryman has improved his game, which will be a bonus as Middlebury navigates its season.

“We showed a lot of grit and I liked the way we competed,” Middlebury coach Jeff Brown said. “Stevenson pretty much dominated us throughout the game, but we came back with several runs to close the gap. There’s a lot of fight in this team. We didn’t play particularly well today, but it was due to Stevenson’s pressure on the defensive end of the floor.”

Kitzinger lifts travel-tested Trinity

In addition to scoring a team-high 17 points in leading Trinity (Tx.) to an 82-67 victory over Keystone College in the second game of the Hoopsville Classic, guard Robert Kitzinger served as the Tigers’ unofficial East Coast tour guide. While many of his teammates were enjoying their first trip to the Baltimore-Washington area, Kitzinger was making his second visit in six months to this region.

The 6 foot, 7 inch senior forward did an internship in Washington, D.C. over the summer while working for a Michael McCaul, who represents District 10 in Texas. When he wasn’t practicing his feathery jump or winning another game of H-O-R-S-E, Kitzinger, sat in on hearings, handled plenty of phone calls and dealt with constituents. Since McCaul is the chairman of Homeland Security, Kitzinger didn’t have a dull summer.

“It was a great time and I learned plenty,” said Kitzinger, a business management major from Carmel (Ind.).

Katzinger has sizzled this season for the Tigers, reaching double digits in scoring in every game. He entered Friday’s game fresh off of a 21-point effort against Pugent Sound. Katzinger is poised for a strong senior finale. In averaging 10.4 points per game, which was ninth in the SCAC, Katzinger was named to the all-SCAC third team and to the 2013 SCAC All-Tournament Team. He also shines in the classroom as he was a member of the SCAC Academic Honor Roll and the NABC Honors Court.

The Tigers may not be used to life on East Coast, but they have grown accustomed to traveling in style, crying babies, battling over aisle seats with adequate legroom and airport security checkpoints.

“Usually the big guys get those seats,” Kitzinger said.

Trinity opened the season last week in the Pacific Northwest. The Tigers will also visit Chicago in two weeks. So if anybody is keeping count that’s lots of frequent-flier miles and three flights. One bright side is each trip becomes progressively shorter. Last week’s trip to Seattle was 2,189 miles. The excursion to Stevenson was 1,640 miles and the journey to Chicago is a quick 1,242 miles.

“It’s been a lot different to take 3-4 hour-plane rides,” Kitzinger said. “We arrive the day before and we have to get our legs under us because we’re playing really good teams. We’ve had a lot of fun and we’ve eaten some good seafood. Flying has been a challenge especially when we’re used to busing it around Texas. I think we’ve adapted to it and we’re used to traveling. ”

While they arrived on Thursday, the Tigers showed no signs of jetlag or playing on opposite coasts in seven days. Trinity limited Keystone to 30 percent shooting in the second half (9-for-30). The Tigers also were protective of the ball, only turning it over four times. They also shared the wealth by finishing with 23 assists on their 33 field goals. Joining Kitzinger in double figures for Trinity was Matt Hopper (13 points), Jonathan Wilt (11, nine rebounds) and Matt Selling (10).

Balanced Salisbury comes through in the end

Third-year Salisbury men’s basketball coach Josh Merkel played under legendary coach Ward Lambert in the late 90s. He enjoyed the consistent pressing and frenetic pace that the Seagulls played. One reason is because everybody got a chance to play and enjoy a piece of the high-scoring action.

Merkel’s teams may not press and run like Lambert, but he has implemented a system in which everybody plays. Twelve Salisbury players scored during its 75-72 victory over Birmingham Southern in the third game. The Seagulls got 11 points each from Tim Harwood and Gordon Jeter. The balance was needed to offset a monster 27-point performance from Birmingham Southern’s Griffin Schamp. Larry Thomas also added 17 points for the Panthers. Salisbury’s bench outscored BSC, 42-8.

Harwood’s twisting basket with 1:09 remaining broke a 72-72 tie and gave Salisbury the lead for good.

“I saw a sliver of space and I knew the shot clock was winding down,” Harwood said of his go-ahead basket. “I went in the lane and saw that I could draw some contact and luckily the refs called it and ball went in the basket. It’s nice to be able to go deep as a team and know that anybody can step up at any given moment.”

Saturday’s slate

Saturday’s schedule features LaVerne playing Keystone at 3:00 p.m. Stevenson meeting Birmingham Southern at 5:00 pm and Ohio Wesleyan battling Trinity at 7:00 p.m.