Marist’s guards deliver first win to Chuck Martin

Marist returned to the site of its first regular season game, but the result turned out differently this time.
Riding his guards’ play, Chuck Martin earned his first win as a head coach. Guards David Devezin, Dejuan Goodwin, and R.J. Hall led the Red Foxes to a 72-55 win over the Robert Morris Colonials.
Marist moved to 1-2 on the season and won its first game of the Garden State Classic. Robert Morris fell to 1-3 on the year. The Red Foxes will close out the Garden State Classic Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) against Delaware.
Point-guard David Devezin contributed a game-high 18 points while dishing out three assists. Dejuan Goodwin, a surprise starter, poured in 11 points while hauling in six rebounds in his first start of the season. Goodwin took Kaylen Gregory’s starting spot in the rotation for this game.
For Chuck Martin, his first win was more about his staff and his players than himself.
“It’s rewarding for my staff and it’s rewarding for my team more than me,” Martin said. “I think my staff did a great job, and I think the kids really did a great job of buying into it.”
Marist fell behind early and trailed for most of the first half, but after senior Ryan Schneider drained a corner three-pointer to give the Foxes a 30-27 lead, Marist never looked back.
The Red Foxes offense improved dramatically. Marist shot 50 percent from the field and 55.6 percent on three-point attempts. The shots started falling tonight.
“It makes a big difference,” Schneider said. “When you shoot 30 percent in your first two games, you’re going to have a hard time winning…It’s nice when you hit shots because you just see the energy level picks up.”
With Robert Morris presenting smaller size than Marist has seen in the first two games, Martin looked to exploit that. Dejaun Goodwin started as an extra guard in the backcourt and R.J. Hall saw extensive minutes coming off the bench. The Marist guards combined for 45 of the team’s 72 points.
“I think they did a great job just being poised, composed and playing not to lose, playing to win,” Martin said regarding the Marist guards.
Marist ended the first half with a 33-31 lead, but that is the closest that Robert Morris would get. David Devezin opened the half with a driving lay-up that prompted Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice to take an immediate timeout.
From that point on, the Marist defense smothered Robert Morris. Robert Morris only scored nine points in the first 12:08 of the second half.
“Certainly in the second half, we just locked down and had a lot more energy and intensity defensively,” Schneider said. “In the first half they hit some tough shots and we were kind of in their face for a couple of tough shots, but certainly in the second half we did a much better job of kind of getting up and putting some ball pressure and rebounding better.”
After moving to 1-2, Marist will take on the Delaware Blue Hens in its final game of the Garden State Classic. Delaware also sits at 1-2, with its lone win coming against Saint Bonaventure. Delaware opened up the season with losses to both Rutgers and Robert Morris.
Marist’s game against Delaware will mark its second game in two days.
“It’s a tough turnaround, but we just have to gut it out and find a way to compete and see what happens,” Martin said.