Duane Ticknor, a minor-league coaching veteran who led the Dakota Wizards to back-to-back playoff appearances from 2007 to ’09, will be the next head coach of the Mad Ants.
Joey Meyer, the Mad Ants’ new coach, began opening night by grabbing a microphone, thanking the crowd for coming to Memorial Coliseum and promising his team would be a hard-working one.
He said he wouldn’t guarantee a victory, though, and that was a good thing.
Meyer concluded things Friday by apologizing, through reporters, to the 4,019 fans for an 85-77 loss to the Erie BayHawks.
“You can sugarcoat it all you want, but we were awful tonight,” Meyer said. “The thing I was most worried about was what showed up. Our athleticism, they beat us on the bounce and beat us on the boards. We’ve got to do a better job.”
To be fair, what looked like it was going to be a blowout wound up being a competitive contest.
The Mad Ants, who trailed by as many as 19 points, got within seven points with 2:42 remaining.
But Brandon Cotton missed a layup, Kyle McAlarney turned the ball over and, most disturbingly, the team failed to get a shot off and suffered a violation for it with 1:13 remaining.
“I look bad on that one. That made me look bad,” said Meyer, the winningest coach in D-League history. “I had told them not to take a timeout. I wanted to push it and attack the rim in transition because they didn’t have their defense set. I always think you’re better doing that, but we weren’t that possession.”
It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers – Fort Wayne shot 35.7 percent from the field, was outrebounded 47-36, outscored 40-32 in the paint and never had a lead – but Meyer said the bottom line is his team must play better.
“The first word, the only word, is ‘awful.’ I don’t have anything else to say. We were awful,” he said.
If there was a bright spot, it was the play of center Sean Sonderleiter, who had a game-high 21 points, along with 10 rebounds. Guards Ron Howard and Cotton scored 19 and 16 points, respectively.
“This wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, but there a lot of new guys on the team, guys fresh out of college. Everything’s a lot different,” said Sonderleiter. “Once we start playing and jelling together, I think we’re going to be a real good team. We’ve got really good players, and we’re really smart.”
