Cabrini men’s basketball came up short after losing to Immaculata University by just one point in the first round of the Atlantic East Championship tournament. The game’s final score was 58-57.
The team finished with a 10-16 record. Although they struggled to put together a playoff run, The Cavaliers secured key wins against Rutgers Camden in the season opener, and against conference opponents Immaculata and Neumann earlier this season.
However, these wins just weren’t enough to stay alive.
Another year of disappointment
“We came up short because of the lack of playing as one and keeping our head on our shoulders. We play with a lot of emotion every game and if you don’t keep a level head this can go south quickly, and that’s what happened for us,” said Patrick Campbell, sophomore guard and business management major.
With the 2020-21 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021-22 season ending with a similar record of 9-16 with another first round playoff loss to Immaculata, it’s fair to say that the Cavaliers are not satisfied with the results of their last three seasons.
Jaden Dickerson, sophomore guard and health sciences major said, “We came up short because we weren’t consistent. We aren’t satisfied with just making the playoffs, we want to be able to make noise.”
Consistency seems to be the biggest problem for the Cavaliers. However, the team is improving and also did many things well this season.
A look on the bright side
With just 10 wins and multiple losing streaks throughout the 2022-23 season, it’s easy to look at the Cavaliers as a weak link. However, the team is still a threat and extremely hungry for success when their camaraderie is high.
“I feel like we became a lot closer as a group throughout the season. It showed that when we’re playing as one, we could be dangerous,” said Campbell.
The Cavaliers’ offense was led by sophomore guard Aquil Stewart, who led the team with 405 points. Stewart also had some help from another star: sophomore marketing major and forward Ahmadu Sarnor. Sarnor was second in points with 324.
Potential for the future
Although the team came up short, the Cavaliers return with a strong number of returning players as they are only losing three players to graduation.
“The future is bright, only losing three guys next year and we have a good group coming in. I’m confident about our squad next year,” Campbell said.
With a strong recruiting class coming in as well as team chemistry coming together throughout the season this year, the team has potential for a 2023-24 playoff run. However, it will be up to the Cavaliers work ethic this off-season as well, if they plan on speaking their words into action when it comes time for playoffs.
“The future holds what we want it to, honestly. I believe our guys will work hard in the off-season and come back hungrier next year,” Dickerson said.
“I think that we dealt with adversity well this year. It’s easy to give up during the ups and downs of a season, but we never gave up. That’s something I think we can be proud of as a team,” Dickerson said.
With a 10-16 record, and lots of adversity this season, the Cavaliers never gave up and were still able to make the playoffs where they only fell short of a point. It’s safe to say that with multiple beneficial factors with next season’s roster, the future for this team is bright.
