If there's one quality South Carolina State men's basketball coach Benjamin Betts has adopted from mentor and predecessor Cy Alexander, it's staying positive regardless of the circumstances.

With the Bulldogs (7-7, 1-3) returning today to the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center for practice, still reeling from its longest losing streak in four years and currently in the unusual position of looking upward in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference standings, Betts' optimism is being put to the test. Making the task of keeping his team's confidence high even more difficult is the sting still remaining from Monday's heartbreaking 70-68 overtime loss to Hampton at S-H-M.

After forcing the extra period on a three-pointer by freshman guard Derek Moore, SCSU was upended with .5 remaining on a buzzer-beating baseline jumper by sophomore reserve Junior Pehoua. It was the fifth straight loss overall for SCSU after an impressive 7-2 start, its second straight defeat at home and third in three overtime games played this season.

While not calling it the toughest loss of his two-year head coaching career with the Bulldogs, Betts admitted the team needed time away from the court to regroup.

"I think just the way the game finished was probably just a tough loss," he said. "It wasn't one of the toughest, but still, the way the game finished was maybe the toughest it's been. I guess looking back, it's still a loss."

Instead of holding team practices in preparation for Saturday's home game against Howard University (5-7, 2-1), Betts and the coaching staff spent the past two days holding individual meetings with the players.

While reigning MEAC Player of the Year Thurman Zimmerman continues to lead the team in scoring and rebounds and last year's MEAC Rookie of the Year Brian Mason had his best game of the season against the Pirates with 23 points, Betts said the whole team is not playing with the level of intensity and focus displayed early in the season.

"We've been playing close games, so we've been right there in ballgames," Betts said. "Once again, it goes back to I think we're giving the physical effort. I think guys are playing hard. We've got to get better production from our bench and in a game which was on Saturday (a 55-52 loss to Norfolk State), there's certain things that stand out as far as turnovers, and also turnovers at key times. A lot of it is mental and you've just got to be honest with the guys and tell them what you think it is because the physical effort has been there."

Turnovers and inconsistency at the free-throw line has stymied the Bulldogs during their losing streak. In the two losses to Norfolk State and Hampton, SCSU has combined for 39 turnovers and just 26-39 shooting from the charity stripe.

Even more frustrating for Betts is watching the usually poised Bulldogs become mistake-prone in the final minutes of games with either players making ill-timed passes or inopportune jump shots.

This was especially prevalent against Norfolk State last Saturday.

Two of SCSU's last five possessions ended with turnovers and Moore was forced to take a wild jumper which went way off the mark after the Bulldogs were unable to run an offensive play for the potential game-tying or go-ahead score.

"To take no credit away from the opposing teams, still we've got to do some things," Betts said. "When it's a close game and you get into 3-5 minutes to go, you've really got to play flawless basketball. You've got to take care of the ball, you can't have turnovers, you've got to execute and you have to make your free throws. Down the stretch of games, we've had a number of mental errors."

It's far from a coincidence that SCSU's difficulties began right after starting freshman point guard Derrick Davis injured his shoulder in a Dec. 29 loss to Utah State. While Moore has performed admirably Moore in place of Davis, who's expected to miss two more games, the on-court chemistry has changed dramatically with the players at times seemingly not in sync with each other.

Betts said his team's woes are a lot more complicated than just the absence of one player.

"I think one of the things is that when you're going through a period in which we're going through where you're trying to get yourself back on track and you're right there, instead of guys just keeping their poise, they want to make big plays," Betts says. "In close games, we just need to keep our poise, keep our composure and just be very sound so to speak on both ends of the floor. That means executing on offense, getting to the free throw line and just playing solid defense and coming up with stops without fouling guys or giving them scoring opportunities. If we do give them scoring opportunities, we've certainly got to get stops on the defensive end.

"I still think ... our chemistry is still somewhat out of sync. We've got to get more guys ... we've got to get Shawn Wiggins playing like before and we've got to get Dwight Dean playing better. So, certainly the bench production is something which has to change for us and then we need to get more production from our starters."

Through all the difficulties, Betts does see some positive signs in that his team has stuck together through this five-game slump. Despite the team's current standing in the MEAC, he also still believes the season is still young and the Bulldogs still have a shot a rebounding strong in time before the tournament.

The men's game on Saturday will follow the 4 p.m. women's contest at S-H-M. SCSU will then close its homestand on Monday against Delaware State.

-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at mrosier@timesanddemocrat.com or by office phone at 803-533-5529.

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