’Dogs create chaos in win

Poland’s pressure basketball was too much for Campbell.

CAMPBELL — Relentless.

That describes the assault Poland inflicted on the Red Devils at Campbell’s court Tuesday night.

Poland’s chaos-creating pressure was part of the game plan from the opening seconds as the Bulldogs steamrolled in the Metro Athletic Conference opener for both teams, 85-59.

Ben Umbel had 20 points and 10 steals to lead a retooled Poland team (4-0, 1-0) which has committed to the uptempo style.

“We won the game of creating the tempo and getting second and third shots, but I was disappointed in how poorly we shot because I thought my kids had good looks,” coach Ken Grisdale said. “We missed 10 to 12 layups in the first half.”

In the end, Poland registered 91 attempts, but only made 33.

Campbell, by contrast, made 20 of 46.

“It was our worst-shooting night,” Grisdale said. “We were hitting around 50 percent in the first three games. If we can get a shot in, we’ll get up and pressure you and eventually wear you down,” the coach said of the 37 turnovers caused by his Bulldogs. “If you [opponent] can play at that pace for 32 minues, God bless you.”

The havoc is generated in platoon fashion, first from the group of Umble, Anthony DeFelice, Niko Fatimos, Ben Donlow and David White, then a four-man substitution squad of Bryan Kosec, David Baker, Luke Wollet and Ben Brocker.

“The second group is our motor,” said Grisdale. “They’re the guys who are going to fly around. Hopefully, the first group will soften them up a little bit, but then we’re going to come hard with our wild bunch.”

Brocker and Fatimos were JVs last year.

“We want to get into an uptempo where we’re going to wear you out” Grisdale said. “If you don’t have two or three ballhandlers and you don’t have a very deep bench, it can be very difficult. We shot poorly (34 percent) and still got so many opportunities because of the style.”

The Poland staff has as many as 11 players it feels comfortable with.

“We think we can create opportunities for them to play as much as possible,” Grisdale said. “It keeps a lot of people happy, not to mention keeping your kids fresh.”

It certainly helped Poland compensate for Tuesday’s weak field-goal shooting.

“Our kids continued to beat on the glass,” Grisdale said of a 55-40 advantage in rebounding, especially the offensive boards, where the Bulldogs pulled down 32 of their own missed shots, while Campbell collected only eight offensively.

Campbell coach Brian Danilov, however, addressed the biggest problem first.

“If you’re not going to be able to handle their press, you’re going to be in trouble like we were tonight. We were throwing the ball all over the place. We tried to make some adjustments, but they played well.

“Poland’s got a very solid team and their guards — Umbel and DeFelice — are three- and four-year starters and they played like it. Their guys played their roles and they played very well as a team.”

Jera’hme Williams and Antwan Dawson had 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Red Devils (5-1, 0-1), whose last lead was 8-7 following baskets by Nate Hodge and Anthony Moses.

Danilov said that a lack of offensive rebounds has been a problem.

“They kicked our butts on the offensive boards. We’re got to improve our boxing out and rebounding. We’re not big, so we’ve got to do a better job of that.”

In the first half alone, Poland grabbed 17 more offensive boards — 21-4.

The coach said that the ’Devils could improve in a lot of areas.

“If we do, we could be a good team; if we don’t we could have some more games like this. We’ve got to grow individually and collectively.”

He said Tuesday’s experience was an eye-opener for the younger Red Devils, three of whom were a two sophomores and a freshman at one point in the game.

Ben Donlow added 13 points and David Baker 11 for the winners. Umbel also had five rebounds and five assists.

“I call him Spider-Man because if he gets a piece of a ball, it sticks,” Grisdale said of Umbel, a senior. “He understands how to play off the ball. Even when he doesn’t steal, he gets his hands on a lot of passes.”

Grisdale said that Bulldogs can’t get satisfied with success. “When you start to think you’re good, you’re not going to continue to get better.”