Flyers Fall to Falcons in Long Island Challenge

It’s best to get these things out of the way quick. Before they become a distraction, before they begin to fester and grow and become something ugly. Chaminade hoops coach Bob Paul came out of the gate four nights ago with a victory – his first at the reins – and he followed it up Saturday with their first loss, a 46-43 fight to the end against Bishop Ford in the Long Island Challenge at St. Dominic’s High School.

It’s incredible they came that close, giving Tom Ahern the fade-away shot from behind the arc that would have sent it to OT only to have it hit off the rim.

“We can’t have a second quarter like we had against Commack the other day and now we had a repeat of that today,” Paul said, referring to the 13-2 run that the Falcons were able to rattle off across the entire second frame that saw them go into the locker room up 28-20.

“I don’t know what it is, we’re going to have to figure that out. We can’t just let teams get us down like that. It’s hard to battle back like that against a very good team like that.”

The Flyers were only able to mount a comeback due to two factors: Jon Patterson and Mike Walsh. The former drew a series of fouls in the third to set up at the line.

“No moral victories though,” Paul sighed. “Patterson did a good job inside and once again, we’re 6’12” from the free-throw line. That was the difference in the game.”

Meanwhile the latter was able to spark that rally that gave Chaminade a chance at the win.

“Having Mike back is huge for us, he plays so freakin’ hard and he’s got to get in basketball shape, he’s not in basketball shape right now but he’ll get there,” the head coach said. “He helps us out, he’s got great energy, he knows how to play, he’s got a great IQ.”

Still, it comes down to what is shaping up to be a mysterious second quarter, something that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

In the season opener, Chaminade scored 15 points in the first quarter but only six more before the half, allowing opponents to go six and nine, respectively.

“We could have gotten blown out in the second quarter,” Paul said, at a loss to explain the drop-off before the half. “We could have gotten blown out and I told them at half time ‘now you have a second opportunity to actually make something of it. The energy that we played with in the second half is what we have to play with all the time.”

Before it becomes more of a distraction.