Finn Courtney (@finncourtney_)
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Trying to shake off back-to-back losses, head coach Zach Spiker and Drexel men’s basketball leaned on CAA preseason player of the year Amari Williams. The big man did not disappoint Saturday against Albany.

The British-born 6-foot-10 senior continued a strong senior year with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds and two blocks in the Dragons’ 71-52 home win. He showed the grit and toughness that made him a two-time CAA defensive player of the year.

“I feel like for the fives and fours, our main goal is just to crash the offensive rebounding all the time, [and] I feel like that’s our mindset, to just go every time,” Williams said.

“I think he’s a very, very talented player who can do a lot of things in a lot of different ways; certainly as the tallest guy on the floor, there’s an expectation for him to score every time he touches it. That’s not realistic,” Spiker said. “He can impact the game offensively by passing and getting teammates open with setting some great screens.”

Led by Williams, who had seven points and eight boards in the first half, Drexel dominated Albany on the boards 54-26. The Great Danes were held to just 10 rebounds the entire second half.

“Every game our approach is to win that rebounding battle. I thought we did a good job not only on the defensive glass but offensively,” Spiker said. “To get 19 offensive boards, I thought some of those led to critical kickouts, extra [passes and get] a little bit of momentum.”

With back-to-back double-double games, including 16 rebounds against West Virginia, Williams feels good about his play and his team’s play heading into conference play.

“We got a lot of veteran guys, a lot of grad students, […] so everyone’s just playing their role, making sure everyone’s ready, it’s a team effort, more than just one person, which is different than most years,” Williams said. “I feel like we got a great team this year, […] we’ve got the confidence with shooting and knocking down more shots.”

Somewhat overshadowed by Williams was a good all-around performance from bench guard Jamie Bergens, who capped off an early 9-0 run by the Dragons with a breakaway 3-pointer to go up 21-12 with eight minutes until the half. 

Bergens finished with nine points (4-for-8, 1-for-2 from 3), three assists and four rebounds.

“I thought he was really good […] and more importantly, timely shots, energetic plays,” Spiker said. “[Bergens] did a good job getting out with some ball-screen traps and finding [guys]. When you get quick guards that are good with the ball, it puts you in a situation to find success if you make the right decisions.”

The Dragons came out of the locker room on fire with a seven-point blitz, forcing a Great Danes timeout after a Mate Okros 3-pointer. The graduate forward had a good day, finishing with 10 points (2-for-6 from 3; 4-for-4 on free throws).

“We had three or four stops in a row followed by conversions at the other end that was a 7-0 run, we defended well where they weren’t scoring and we were scoring,” Spiker said. “Any time you can do that, that’s huge and you hear it in any college game, [those] first few minutes, first few possessions of the second half can really set the tone, and I thought we did a good job setting the proper tone.”

It was an excellent defensive effort from the Dragons, who held Albany to just 31.3% from the floor (21-for-67) and a poor 18.2% from beyond the arc (4-for-22).

An emphatic second-half dunk from junior Garfield Turner put Drexel up 19, a lead that only grew from there. Despite losing the turnover battle to Albany 18-10, 10 different scorers and a 50% second-half shooting percentage (16-for-32, 5-for-10 from 3) propelled the Dragons.

“[Albany was] a physical team, they did a good job all night at pressuring us, sometimes we did a good job with it, sometimes we did not,” Spiker said. “Eighteen turnovers is entirely too many to find consistent success, but when you shoot the ball at 50% in the second half, that can cover up a couple of those mistakes.”

The Dragons (6-5) won’t get much time to recover before their last two non-conference games of the year, staying at home for a Monday morning matchup against USCAA school Penn State Greater Allegheny (9-4), before heading up to Rhode Island for a date with the Bryant Bulldogs (6-6).

After that, it’s CAA play.

Homecoming for several Albany players, coaches

The game also marked a homecoming for former Temple assistant Dwayne Killings at the helm of Albany (6-5) and former St. Joe’s star Ryan Daly, now rising as a young assistant coach under Killings’ tutelage. 

Their players also had ties to Philly with forward Aaron Reddish growing up less than an hour away from the DAC with his brother and now-NBA player Cam in Norristown and former Archbishop Wood star Muneer Newton returning home to square off with an old teammate in Drexel guard Justin Moore (not to be confused with the Villanova star).

Newton suffered an injury late in the first half, taking a hard fall to the back of his head and needing to be helped off the court. He didn’t return to the game but was said to be fine and required stitches. The Great Danes were outscored 38-to-27 without him in the second half.