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Durham, N.H.
No one who plays or coaches for the UAlbany men’s basketball team was going to say Monday’s America East Conference game with New Hampshire was the biggest of the season.
But it was.
Here’s why. Going into it, the Danes were reeling, coming off a frustrating loss to Stony Brook Saturday at SEFCU Arena. That gave UAlbany two losses in its past three games at home. And, take this into consideration. Before playing the Wildcats, UAlbany had a record of 1-4 against teams in front of it in the league standings.
And, one more thing. New Hampshire beat the Danes at SEFCU last month.
“Every game in our conference is a big game,” said sophomore guard David Nichols, and that was the right thing to say with coach Will Brown sitting two seats away at the postgame press conference.
Brown and the Danes had a satisfying four-hour bus trip to Lundholm Gymnasium, as UAlbany tripped up the Wildcats 69-55.
With the win, the Danes improve to 6-5 in the league (15-11 overall) and move past the Wildcats into fourth place in the league. Even though there are still five games left to play in the regular season, for the time being, the Danes are in position to host a first-round game of the league’s playoffs next month.
“We are right there with (New Hampshire) in the standings, so it was a big game,” Brown said. “But I don’t think a game right now at this point of the season is a make or break game. But it was a huge win.”
UAlbany got big nights from sophomore guards Joe Cremo and Nichols, who combined for 39 points. Cremo had a game-high 21, scoring 16 in the second half. Cremo made three of his four 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes.
“All the credit goes to Albany,” New Hampshire coach Bill Herrion said. “They really outplayed us; they were a much tougher basketball team. Cremo and Nichols were terrific. We could not guard them.”
The Danes were up by 12 points in the second half, but New Hampshire (14-10, 5-5) stormed back to tie the game at 45 with 11:31 left. Instead of caving in to the Wildcats, the Danes stepped up.
UAlbany went on a 10-0 run, the big basket being a 3-pointer by Cremo from the corner with 8:37 to go. New Hampshire never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
“When it got to be 45-45, we did not have one guy who threw on the cape and tried to be a hero,” Brown said. “We trusted each other.”
Brown was referring mostly to Nichols and Cremo, whom he thought were trying to do too much by themselves when the Danes got down at home to Stony Brook. Against New Hampshire, Travis Charles had 10 points, Devonte Campbell had nine and Dallas Ennema had seven.
“We are at our best when we trust each other and share the ball,” said Cremo, who scored 20 or more points for the 12th time this season. “At this point of the season, we don’t want to take any steps backwards.”
When New Hampshire beat the Danes 75-67 on Jan. 11, the Wildcats made 14 of 30 shots from 3-point range. On Monday, New Hampshire was 6-for-21 with Daniel Dion, the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 18 points, going 4-for-7.
“We showed some poise, and we showed some maturity,” Brown said. “A good win.”
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
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