In their first meeting since 1980, Sacred Heart defeated Marist men’s basketball 67-54 Friday evening. The Pioneers outscored the Red Foxes (20-6, 13-4 MAAC) 34-22 in the paint and played with high defensive energy to stifle the Marist offense.
Graduate student forward Bryce Johnson dominated the paint with a season-high 22 points and seven rebounds. He entered the starting lineup since redshirt junior forward Anquan Hill did not play due to a back injury. Redshirt junior forward Tanner Thomas followed with 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Sacred Heart’s (13-15, 9-8 MAAC) defense stole the show for much of the night; they forced the Red Foxes into frustrating situations, creating 15 turnovers with nine steals. However, sophomore guard Josh Pascarelli continued his Player of the Week level play with 18 points on just nine shot attempts.
“[Sacred Heart] is competing hard for a bye. Their energy level at home is good. Their 10th in the league in turning teams over, so I was a little disappointed that we had eight turnovers so quickly in the first half,” said Marist head coach John Dunne.
Sophomore guard Jadin Collins-Roberts complemented Pascarelli with 15 points and seven rebounds, but no other Red Fox scored more than five points. The other 10 Marist players who entered the game combined for only 21 points.
Marist senior forward Jackson Price missed his seventh straight game due to a right foot injury and tonight the Red Foxes’ centers struggled on both ends. Without Price, Sacred Heart focused on Pascarelli and got the ball out of his hands.
Marist has largely adjusted to that since Price’s injury, but tonight they did not convert on those similar opportunities, missing 10 layups and four other paint attempts below the free throw line.
“We did get some looks and just did not make enough. We missed some chippy’s in the paint. Teams are going to keep coming after Pascarelli. We’re not going to win a tournament with one guy scoring,” said Dunne.
Collins-Roberts started the game a perfect 3-3 shooting for seven points in the opening minutes. Sacred Heart answered with a 20-0 run and forced two Red Fox timeouts between buckets to lead 25-12.
The Pioneers without Hill employed a smaller lineup and played tough defense, negating Marist’s bigs from post ups while getting open looks on the other end. The Red Foxes did not score over five minutes until Pascarelli scored an acrobatic layup in transition.
“When we went to our bench, our defensive intensity subsided. We gave up some gameplan discipline buckets which kind of drew my ire because we cannot be doing that at this stage of the year,” said Dunne.
Sacred Heart’s lead came from extremely active defense, switching aggressively and not giving up an inch. The Pioneers recorded seven steals and forced eight Marist turnovers with 6:55 left in the first half, leading 27-17.
Both teams missed shots in the final six minutes of the half but Collins-Roberts scored Marist’s last four points to finish with 11 as Sacred Heart took a 32-24 lead into the break.
The second frame started sluggishly with both teams scoring once in the first four-plus minutes. Marist’s offense looked completely off-kilter and after another turnover leading to runout Dunne called timeout with his team down 39-29.
Pascarelli scored the Red Foxes’ first 13 points of the second half, keeping Marist close, but he could not do it by himself. Sacred Heart kept their halftime lead behind freshman guard Mekhi Connor’s playmaking, who finished with eight of his team’s 14 assists while adding eight points and seven rebounds.
“When he’s diming them up, they’re rewarding him with making shots. He’s a good player that makes good decisions. I don’t think our ball-screen defense was particularly great today,” said Dunne.
The Red Foxes scored six straight to make it a one-possession game with 8:19 left after Collins-Roberts got in the lane to spark the run. Sacred Heart responded, getting the ball in the paint with Johnson and Thomas. Johnson scored 15 in the second half including nine of Sacred Heart’s 12 points in a four-minute window to close the game.
“Our bigs have a hard time chasing perimeter bigs. He got some timely offensive rebound putbacks. You get spread out defensively because they’re such a good shooting team. He did a good job of putting it on the ground and attacking,” said Dunne.
From there, the Pioneers outscored Marist 17-9 in a slow-paced second half to get a crucial win in the middle of the MAAC standings. Sacred Heart matched the Marist blueprint, maintaining their defensive intensity and did not force a high-pace. The Pioneers shot 38% from the floor but scored a point per possession.
The Red Foxes honor their seniors on Sunday, March 2 when they host Saint Peter’s. Tipoff in McCann Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Edited by Aidan Lavin
Graphic and Photo by Kira Crutcher
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.