By Wes Kerr
LowcoSports.com
For the better part of January, Ron Fudala’s USCB men’s basketball squad looked pretty close to invincible. Fresh off a program-defining win over North Georgia, the crowd around the Cove was hyped again on Saturday as the Sand Sharks eyed the finishing touches on a 24-point comeback against pesky Flagler.
Then it somehow, incredibly, slipped away in a matter of seconds. It was the first loss of conference play since the Peach Belt opener in December for a team that has proven that they are determined to be in the thick of this thing come March.
“Basketball is a game of runs, they made more runs than we did,” Fudala told USCB play-by-play commentator Justin Jarrett after Saturday’s heartbreaker. “It’s a 40-minute game, we gotta play for all 40.”
When we reach the end of this conference regular season, the first-half performance we saw on Saturday may very well be a blip rather than a recurring theme. Fudala’s group only got a single practice in between the emotional North Georgia triumph and Saturday’s defeat, understandably so due to a rare snowfall that wreaked havoc throughout the Lowcountry. But the final 20 minutes, or at least the majority of it, showed why this team will be a handful to deal with down the stretch this year.
Fudala’s nonstop, hockey-style line-change philosophy requires consistent effort and up-tempo production, which his team demonstrated to perfection early in the second half to quickly trim a 22-point halftime deficit to single digits in just over five minutes of in-game action. When the offense is flowing at its finest, Fudala’s team can overwhelm an opponent in a flash.
Despite losing the Peach Belt 2023-24 Freshman of the Year in Marcus Overstreet, Fudala reloaded instantly, bringing in the youthful energy of 6-foot-7 freshman Dominic Eason, who leads all Sand Sharks with 13 points per game in conference play. Then Fudala added a trusty Division I veteran in Alejandro Ralat, who found time in the rotation for Florida Atlantic en route to its 2023 Final Four run.
And his returners from last year’s inaugural season have elevated and risen to the demand of higher expectations. Hudson Norton has found a steady stroke from beyond the arc during Peach Belt play while bringing his relentless energy to the offensive glass, providing a constant level of grit and production. And flashy senior guard Kenney Gaines can give his team a bit of everything while leading his squad in minutes. His improving court vision and playmaking complement his high-energy effort on defense to help set up fast breaks and momentum-changing plays.
Fudala came to the Lowcountry in search of a unique opportunity: to build a Division II program in all essence from the ground up. In less than two full years, he’s grown a vibrant culture of those wanting to leave their mark on a unit that already has sky-high potential. His athletes play with the same energy that Fudala emits himself, always with a smile and contagious energy that rubs off on his team and the spectators who routinely pack the Cove each home game. They’ve witnessed a quick rise in a challenging conference, punctuated by an unforgettable home victory over No.22 North Georgia thanks to a red-hot shooting performance from Ralat and a gritty effort off the bench from Norton.
Saturday’s game against Flagler looked to be an adrenaline-filled comeback win to back it up, until it wasn’t. But despite the end result, unfortunately aided by some situations that he couldn’t control, Fudala saw something special from his group through the last 20 minutes. A nonstop warrior-like mentality on every possession, turning a game in which many teams would lie down and surrender when down 22 points at the break into one in which the Sand Sharks took full control, pushing Flagler to the brink before the Saints pulled off a last-ditch desperate miracle to spoil it.
But that’s basketball sometimes, and you move on to the next opportunity. And it just so happens to be a big one on Wednesday.
The 5-2 Sand Sharks will get their chance against the top dogs in the Peach Belt thus far, the No.19 Columbus State Cougars, who have yet to drop a contest this year at home. Despite Saturday’s result, this one’s still for a share of first place in the conference. Crazy things can happen on any night on the hardwood, but you can’t change what’s taken place in the past.
The second-half comeback effort against Flagler told us a lot about this team’s confidence. Wednesday night in Columbus State will tell us even more. And Fudala cannot wait to relish every moment on that journey.
“We’ll keep working on offense, keep working on defense, keep working on growing our family,” he said. “We’re gonna keep working on basketball and grow our brand.”
Wes Kerr is a contributor for LowcoSports and an award-winning sportswriter and podcast host.
