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Awl returns to spark Chestnut Hill past East Stroudsburg

11/23/2016, 8:45pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Liban Awl (above) had a career-best 22 points as Chestnut Hill held off East Stroudsburg at home. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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In Chestnut Hill’s game against Georgian Court last Wednesday, Liban Awl didn’t play a single minute.

That didn’t sit well with the sophomore guard, who appeared in 24 games as a freshman, starting four and averaging 6.4 ppg. But in his first two games this season, he’d only scored six points in a total of 18 minutes, and head coach Jesse Balcer wasn’t thrilled with the way the 6-foot-1 Manassas (Va.) native was comporting himself on the court.”

“He was trying to do too much, trying to score off the dribble and beat guys off the dribble,” the Griffins coach said. “We’re trying to tell him just move the ball and it’ll show up and you can go right by them, and he wasn’t doing it.”

A week later, Awl got his redemption.

With usual starter J.J. Butler sidelined thanks to emergency appendix surgery, Awl slid into the starting lineup and had his best game yet in a Chestnut Hill uniform, dropping a career-high 22 points as Chestnut Hill survived East Stroudsburg, 79-77 at home on Wednesday afternoon in a non-league matchup.

Balcer noticed a difference from Awl immediately following the benching, when he came back with a vengance at the following day’s practice, and again on Friday and Saturday.

When Butler phoned his coach over the weekend to let him know about his appendix, Balcer decided to put Awl back in the starting lineup, to see how he’d respond.

“He was pretty bad the first couple of games...but he didn’t hang his head, he kept on working hard,” Balcer said. “All of a sudden he started paying attention to what we were telling him, and he started making shots.”

“I knew what type of player I am, I’d been messing up early but I knew I could get back on track,” said Awl, a digital forensics major whose goal is to land a job as an FBI agent after college. “I just needed one game to get right for the rest of the season.”

He didn’t even need an entire game. The opening 20 minutes saw Awl score 13 points, knocking down 3-of-4 from 3-point range to lead all scorers during that time. He got most of his production down the stretch from the free-throw line, where he went 9-for-9, attempting (and making) his only shot attempt of the second half.

None of Awl’s points were more important than the game-winning foul shots he hit with 2.1 seconds left, helping the Griffins (2-2) hold onto a game they led at one point by 25 early in the second half.

“I just knew I had to make those free throws,” he said. “We knew they were going to come back hard, just had to hit those free throws to seal the game up.”

Awl was one of four Chestnut Hill players in double figures, joined by junior Chris Evans (15), junior Ed McWade (12) and sophomore Dakpe Yiljep (10).

East Stroudsburg’s relentless full-court pressure defense, which Chestnut Hill managed somewhat to avoid in the first half, wore down the Griffins as the game went on. The Warriors forced 28 turnovers -- 17 in the second half alone -- while giving it up 17 times of their own.

Chestnut Hill kept the lead above 20 for the first nine minutes of the second half before the press’ effects set in. A 10-0 run made it 63-53 with 9:02 left, and after the Griffins briefly pushed the lead back to 14, the Warriors (3-3) ran off another 7-0 run to bring it back to single digits.

ESU senior Rasheed Moore was huge during that stretch, scoring 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. The 6-5 forward had four and-one opportunities in the second half, including two in one possession during that 10-0 run.

“At halftime I said the game is a long way from over,” Balcer said. “(During our) timeouts, we said, ‘we told you this was going to be a game, we knew this was going to be a game. Finish it, embrace this moment and take it home, just finish it’.”

After Moore tied the game at 77 with 26 seconds remaining on another tough finish, it was Awl who put it away. His drive to the left drew contact and a whistle, and the foul shots were both true.

East Stroudsburg’s Kitt Najee Walls got a decent look at a 30-footer at the buzzer but hit back iron.

“I don’t really care that we were up by 24, all I care is that we won,” Balcer said. “To be able to stay in there and finish the job, that’s all I care about.”


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