Baby Canes Rocked MSG and the Owls

Without re-hashing the fine work my colleague Jerry did with the game recap I thought I'd give a shout out to the 4 Miami freshmen who helped energize the Canes hoop squad when they needed it most. With Tonye Jekiri out with a head injury at the 6 minute mark and already without Angel Rodriguez, the Canes youngsters really came through. Ja'Quan Newton stepped up big filling in for Manu Lecomte who was in foul trouble early. Newton hit clutch shots down the stretch and delivered 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assist  and 1 block.  Deandre Burnett contributed 8 points, including 2 three pointers and a HUGE layup with 35 seconds to go to put the Canes back up by 3.  James Palmer had a highlight reel "posterizing" dunk that set Twitter on fire and helped spark the Miami rally.  Last but definitely not least, I witnessed Omar Sherman grow up before my eyes midway into the second half when he scored 6 straight points for the Canes helping to cut a 6 point deficit to two with just over 10 minutes to go.  He made some huge rebounds late and had a monster block that led to a score, putting the Canes up 7 with 3:42 left to play. From there the Owls looked defeated after the Baby Canes delivered stifling defense which forced Temple to go 0-15 from 3 point land in the second half.  In the end CanesHoops survived a late surge but they now advance to the NIT Championship for a chance to cut down the nets and hoist a banner at the BankUnited Center.