Road-weary foe finds home away from home with ODU rendezvous

The Mount has been on the move.

 The Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball team played its last home game Nov. 25 and won’t play another until Dec. 30. That’s six weeks – and seven games – away from home.

On Monday, at least, the trip was familiar for several members of the traveling party. The Mountaineers were busing the four hours or so to Hampton Roads  for a game tonight at Old Dominion.

Speaking from the road, coach Milan Brown said he and assistant Brion Dunlap couldn’t help but reminisce a bit as the miles rolled by, back to their days at ODU in the 1990s. Brown was an assistant coach, and Dunlap the Monarchs’ point guard.

Their coach/player workout sessions sometimes turned into impromptu games of “knockout,” with Brown, Dunlap and former ODU guard Mike Byers all going at it.

“I was 25 then,” Brown said, laughing.

The Kecoughtan High graduate will be 37 next month. He and Dunlap, in their sixth year at the Mount, return to ODU tonight with a team picked to win the Northeast Conference, and featuring plenty of Hampton Roads flavor. Forward Kelly Beidler played at Tallwood  alongside  ODU point guard Darius James. Forward Shawn Atupem played at Woodside High, where ODU assistant John Richardson coached his older brother. A third player, forward Pierre Brown, is from Williamsburg.

The Mount (3-5) reached the NCAA tournament in 2008 and played in the CIT last year. Its early schedule has been unforgiving, with games at Oklahoma and Georgetown among them. Adding to the challenge, they also opened conference play on the road  at Robert Morris and St. Francis (Pa.)

The Mount dropped both games and is learning something about life as the conference favorite, Brown said.

“We’ve been circled by a lot of people in our league as the game to play,” Brown said.

The Mount has the attention of ODU as well. The Monarchs (5-3) snapped  a three-game losing streak  with a win Saturday over Delaware at the Constant Center. They’d  like to build some momentum heading into games at Dayton on Friday night and Georgetown, Dec. 19.

“We’re going to see a team that’s pretty proud of what they are and trying to come in and see what they can do,” coach Blaine Taylor said. “We better have our antenna up and be ready, because we’re not in a position to take anybody lightly.”

The Mount will be giving up a lot of size to ODU. The 6-foot-5 Beidler is the team’s leading rebounder, and  6-7 Atupem, the best post player. ODU counters with five players 6-8 or taller.

It’s a game in which the Mount is playing up “half-a-level,” Brown said, hoping the challenge will pay off down the road  in conference play. Playing in a familiar setting is a bonus.

“Some of the guys will be excited to be close to home,” he said.

“You just hope they’re not too excited.”

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372, ed.miller@pilotonline.com