"Big Shot Bap"

Moments before the Huskies lost to Drexel at home, coach Coen turned to the bench and said “We won’t forget this when we go down to their place, I guarantee you that”, and he was right.

It was all business for the Huskies as they look for revenge against a Drexel team that came into Matthews Arena a week earlier and beat them. But it was not easy, and came down to one play.

For the Dragons, it was senior night. It was also a night where they could have clinched a bye in the CAA Tournament as well, and the same went for the Huskies. The Daskalakis Center is not an easy place to play. If you haven’t been, it is like a high school gym.

The bleachers square around the court, and the student section is directly behind the visiting bench, literally about 2 feet separates the stands and the bench. It was the only place where the students were louder during timeouts than the game. Every timeout, the Huskies could barely hear due to the students, placed directly behind them, and were basically in the huddle screaming from start to finish.

A quick 12-0 in the first 5 minutes was just was the Huskies needed. But they did could not put the Dragons away early, as Drexel outscored the Huskies 25-15 in the final 15 minutes of the half. In the second half, the Huskies started off hot again, this time going on a 10-0 run to open the half, capped off by a Manny Adako dunk in transition over Leon Spencer. Adako led the Huskies with 17 points.

Again, the Huskies could not keep their foot on the gas, and the Dragons came back with a 15-4 run. With 8:23 left to play, the Dragons led 40-39 thanks to a Tramayne Hawthorne three-pointer. The Huskies defense was focused on keeping Scott Rodgers out of the paint, and it worked. However, Hawthorne was the man left open in the zone, and he knocked down 4 three-pointers in the game, and single handedly kept the Dragons in the game.

With 16.8 seconds left and 8 seconds left on the shot clock, the Dragons had the ball and were up by a point. Tramayne Hawthorne took a free-throw line jumper and missed it, and Matt Janning pulled down the rebound. He threw the outlet pass out to Chaisson Allen, who attacked the lane and dumped the ball off to a trailing Janning who went up for the layup. Janning’s shot drew a lot of contact, but no foul was called and the ball was blocked and Baptiste Bataille caught it and hit a 6 foot bank shot off the glass with 1.3 seconds left to play. Drexel called a timeout and then threw a baseball pass that missed all the Dragons and fell into the hands of Nkem Ojougboh who held it until the clock expired and the Huskies erupted.

From where I was sitting, and a few players on the bench were sitting, the only thing that could be seen was a cluster of body’s as Janning’s shot was blocked and the ball was in the air. Then, the gym was silent and we had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, we see Baptiste’s head poke out of the side of the pile and shoot the ball off the glass and in. It was an absolutely incredible ending to what coach Coen called, “a rock fight” between the teams. The Huskies now have clinched a first round bye in the CAA Tournament.

Baptiste Bataille has stepped up time and time again for the Huskies this season, especially at the end of games. With free-throws, three-pointers, and now 6 footers, Bataille has been clutch for the Huskies. Whether you prefer the nickname Little Big-Shot, or Big Shot Bap, everyone can agree that at the end of the game, the smallest guy on the court has taken over in the biggest moments.