It got uglier as time ticked from the bright, red game clock. It was mocking them. Time, the shot clock that seemed to never end, the physical time that passed by, the game. It all alluded them. And it continuously got uglier as the time kept floating off the clock.
Tick. Tock. Buzz. Until the mirage had finally ended in obscurity.
The Lady Monarchs couldn’t score for the first 11:30 of the first half, their first buckets coming off of two free throws from freshman Olivia Hoffman.
No. 1 FDU-Florham’s Lady Devils jumped to a 22-0 lead before half of the first set was finished. It was brutal. It was rough. And the Lady Devils, the defending National Division III champions and conference leaders and defending champs, did what they’ve done to almost every opponent this year.
They made it ugly and ran right past the competition.
“You can take a way a lot from this, but it ain’t gonna be good,” head coach Brian Donoghue said following the 86-41 shellacking to FDU-Florham. “We can’t be minus 15 in rebounding and expect to win.”
But this molly-wop wasn’t fresh work for the Lady Devils, it’s been their nature.
They haven’t lost since March, 1, 2013 and are on a 52-game winning streak and are 76-4 in the last two and a half seasons. Their five-senior led squad showed it’s experience, holding the Lady Monarchs to a measly 10.7 percent from the field in the first half and 21.4 percent for the contest.
King’s hit 12 of their 56 game shots while FDU cruised shooting 52.9 percent from deep in the first half and a respectable 40.7 percent for the game.
Though it had the feel of the New Year’s eve scramble against the University of Pennsylvania, where King’s only put up eight first half points and shot a similar percentage, Donoghue insisted it was different.
His squad will be ready for their next matchup, whether they are mentally prepared or not.
“You have to be ready for Saturday,” Donoghue said about if the 45-point loss will linger much with his team. “This is basketball. The world doesn’t stop because you beat them. And the world doesn’t stop because you didn’t.”
Tyler R. Tynes covers King’s sports for WRKC Digital, follow him on Twitter @TylerRickyTynes or email him at TylerTynes@Kings.edu