Despite moments of displaying their talent and skill, the Pilots fell to LMU 65-54 in the first round of the WCC Tournament
Senior guard Derrick Rodgers makes a jumping pass to junior forward Ryan Nicholas posting up. Rodgers’ growth as a play-maker coupled with the consistency of Nicholas was a surprise for the Pilots’ season. (Stephanie Matusiefsky | THE BEACON)
By Katie Dunn, Staff Commentary
The long basketball season came to an end for the Pilots on a Las Vegas night March 6. The Pilots stumbled against the LMU Lions in the first round of the WCC tournament, which ended in a 65-54 loss. This was a much faster ending to the season than any Pilots wanted, but the season was not something to regret.
This season was an improvement from last in more ways than one. Most noticeably, their 11-20 record looks much better than last season's 7-24 record. It may not seem like much, but winning more than half the number of games they lost is a big step and makes the team more confident. They began taking smarter shots and improved rebounding, which led to more wins.
Senior guard Derrick Rodgers was one of the key players this season and helped the Pilots score many of their points with his improved play-making. He lead the team on the court as well as in the locker room by taking over the leadership position passed on to him as the only senior.
Junior forwards Ryan Nicholas and Thomas van der Mars who were named to the WCC All-Academic Team along with sophomore forward Riley Barker, who earned honorable mention. This is an honor well earned by all three who have shown significant contributions to the team while maintaining at least a 3.2 GPA. Nicholas led the team in scoring and rebounding, being one of the players the four freshmen can look up to.
The Pilots have a promising future ahead of them, only losing one senior and four strong freshmen maturing everyday. Guards Bryce Pressley, Oskars Reinfelds, David Ahern and forward Jake Ehlers make up the fresh-faced future of the team. Each freshman has gotten playing time, and two started on a regular basis toward the last half of the season. Their hard work mixed with fun personalities help everyone want to play and have fun while their doing it.
Any proud Pilot can see the potential this team has and should be counting down to the next time they can see the team play (it's nine months if anyone is really counting). The long offseason gives the Pilots time to work on everything they need to in order to be even more successful next season. Smart shooting, offensive rebounding and consistency will no doubt be on the list of things for Head Coach Eric Reveno and his team to focus on.
2012-2013 was a strong building block of a season for what can be a competitive and fearsome team in the years to come.
Sophomore forward Thomas van der Mars goes up strong in the post against Santa Clara on Feb. 23. van der Mars will be needed to expand his game even more to compliment Nicholas in the post. (Stephanie Matusiefsky| THE BEACON)
