Bunch, Azzarelli Are Sparks for Monmouth

Bunch, Azzarelli Are Sparks for Monmouth

Published: 3/14/06, 5:46 AM EDT
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) - Tyler Azzarelli and John Bunch are at opposite ends of Monmouth's team height chart.

Azzarelli is generously listed at 6-foot-1 in the Hawks' media guide. At 7-2 and 320 pounds, John Bunch might be the biggest player competing in the NCAA tournament.

Both players will be in the spotlight Tuesday night when Monmouth (18-14) faces Hampton (16-15) in an opening-round NCAA tournament game that determines the opponent for No. 1 seed Villanova.

While Marques Alston's second-half, highlight-reel dunk and Chris Kenny's buzzer-beating layup are the dominant images from last week's Northeast Conference championship game, it was the play - not to mention the grit - of Azzarelli and Bunch that turned game in Monmouth's favor.

Azzarelli scored five points early in the second half and on two occasions got in the face of 7-foot FDU center Andrea Crosariol and 6-7 Gordon Klaiber after the whistle. Bunch silenced the taunts of the Knights' fans with six points and five blocks in the second half.

The Hawks live and die with a balanced, deliberate approach on both ends of the floor that has some similarities with the system developed by former Princeton coach Pete Carril. That doesn't mean they are devoid of emotion, as Azzarelli demonstrated when he challenged Crosariol after the two fought for a loose ball.

"I was around his hands, going for the ball trying to get my nose in there," Azzarelli said. "I don't play dirty, but I play tough, physical. Sometimes it upsets some of their guys when a little guard comes down and pushes and shoves with them."

Monmouth coach Dave Calloway was recruiting a player in Jacksonville, Fla., when he heard about Azzarelli, a Tampa native who played on the same high school team as current Detroit Lions wide receiver Mike Williams. One half of one game was all it took to convince Calloway he had his point guard, a feeling apparently shared by Azzarelli when he visited the school.

The whole deal took little more than a week.

"We knew he was our type of guy and he knew he'd fit in here," Calloway said. "He plays that same way, of just knowing what he needs to do."

Bunch exhibits the same single-mindedness. When he shot free throws in the first half against FDU, fans serenaded him with sing-song chants of "He's A Fat Boy!"

Unruffled, the junior shut down Crosariol in the second half and had two baskets as Monmouth erased a nine-point halftime deficit.

"That's a part of basketball. You just have to go with it," Bunch said. "When you hear people chanting your name and wanting you to do bad, that basically means you're a good player. You have to just tune it out. It's nothing. I listen and I just laugh at it."

Both players overcame difficult circumstances early in the season, and their travails mirrored their team's as the Hawks lost seven of their first eight games. Azzarelli suffered a stress fracture in his foot and missed 10 games, and Bunch was suspended for eight games along with freshmen Tyson Johnson, Jon Ager and Mike Shipman for violating team rules.

Their return to the lineup coincided with Monmouth's rejuvenation that has landed them in the NCAA tournament for the third time in six seasons.

"When they told me we were going to be suspended, I was ready to accept whatever they were going to hand us and just move on from there," Bunch said.

"My mother always stressed to me that you always have to look forward and not back, that it'll get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. We saw that it got better."

credit BellSouth