BENNINGTON, Vt. - Basketball is a game of streaks. At times making a hoop feels as easy as tossing a penny into a fountain, while at others it's more akin to trying to heave an elephant through the eye of a needle.

The Southern Vermont College men are experiencing that nature of the game fully right now, having opened their season on a four-game losing streak despite having victory within their grasp in nearly every one of those contests. So with Union College invading the SVC Field House for tonight's 7 p.m. tip-off, head coach Mike McDonough implored his team to shift its focus away from the seesaw nature of their basketball fortunes, toward the elements of the game that they can - and must - control.

"Union runs a very disciplined offense, which is going to put pressure on us to play disciplined defense," McDonough said prior to his team's practice on Monday. "Our keys for (practice) are mental and physical toughness - because those go hand-in-hand with that discipline that we'll need to win."

Plain and simple, shooting often slumps. Many of the Mountaineers' best marksmen are struggling in the early goings, including the usually sure-handed Emory Wheeler (1-for-11 from the floor) and Brendan Kordana (2-for-18 from three-point range). McDonough is confident that those numbers will progress to the mean at some point soon, but in the meantime he must keep his players confident in their ability to shoot through such adversity and rediscover their strokes.

"Emory has not found his touch at all, and it seems like now he's a little reluctant to take his bat off his shoulder," McDonough said. "And Brendan is in only his second semester of college basketball, so in terms of playing time he is basically still a freshman. I'd hazard a guess that young players are more susceptible (to shooting slumps) than veterans.

"He's pressing a little bit; we're all pressing a little bit. What team with any sense of pride is going to be comfortable at 0-4?"

One approach for breaking such a slump is to get back to fundamentals, and use a classic inside-out game to gravitate your offense toward more high-percentage shots. Union seems like the perfect opponent against which to accomplish such a shift, for a number of reasons.

First of all, the Dutchmen provide the best possible example of just such an approach on the offensive end. Their smallish lineup relies on motion and smart decision making to get good looks for marksmen Steve Medej and Joey Lokitis in the backcourt, and will stretch SVC's defense like none of its opponents have yet.

"We're going to have trouble guarding them on the perimeter," Mountaineer captain Joe Karnik said. "They're going to be coming off screens and pulling up for 15-footers, because that's their bread-and butter."

But should the Mountaineer forwards manage to complete their defensive assignments outside the paint, the rewards inside should be abundant indeed. Size like SVC's doesn't slump - and the Mountaineers have shown a penchant for strong rebounding even against equally big opponents (they've out-boarded three of their four foes so far this season). Karnik foresees a similar carnival of caroms tonight.

"It's going to be hard for (Union) to keep us off the glass," Karnik said. "That should give us a lot of second-chance opportunities on offense. I think the glass is where the game is going to be won or lost."

Another thing that doesn't slump is defense. Swingman Lance Spratling has been called upon to lock down the opposition's biggest weapons all season, and has met the challenge by holding some marquee scorers - including Skidmore's Terron Victoria and Vassar's Brian Butterworth - well below their averages.

Spratling will draw yet another tough assignment tonight against Medej, yet is confident that he can slap the cuffs on the senior sniper and render him a relative non-factor.

"I feel like our team thrives off its defense," Spratling said. "If I can hold (an opponents) best player below his average, it gives us a better chance to win, night-in and night-out. And even if he gets by me, I'm confident that my teammates will step up behind me and stop him."

And despite his demanding assignments on D, Spratling hasn't had trouble scoring - he has averaged 17 points in the Mountaineers' first four games. He says that the secret to such production is simply recognizing good shots, an idea that dovetails perfectly with McDonough's directive for the Mountaineers curing their offensive malaise.

"You just have to try and play within the offense," Spratling said. "If you see a good opportunity to score, seize it - but don't try to push too hard and do too much."

Perhaps the best advice to give anyone during a streak is to ride the hot hand - and in this case, that hand belongs to freshman forward Deandre Kennedy-Ebron. The hulking forward garnered his second Rookie of the Week award from the New England Collegiate Conference this week, after shredding Skidmore for 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The Albany native has averaged 19 points and nine rebounds so far for SVC, and already has opposing coaches drawing up complicated schemes to try and shut him down inside. That provides the perfect distraction for Karnik - who is himself averaging 12 points and seven rebounds per game - to let loose with his full arsenal of offensive firepower.

"Skidmore was so worried about (Kennedy-Ebron), they let me take two open jump shots in the first eight minutes of the game," Karnik said. "He and I have co-existed great so far, and I think we're only going to get better as the season has gone on. It's going to interesting, and fun to watch."

As should the entire SVC squad, once the funk of the season-opening losing streak has been shaken off and the game becomes fun for the Mountaineers once again. Because when all is said and done, a slump only exists because we name it so, dwell on it, give it life.

To that end, McDonough says that a time comes to put aside the clipboard and allow the X's and O's to dissolve back into what basketball really is - a game.

"We have to let them play," McDonough said. "If we wrap them up in too much structure, we end up taking things away from what they're capable of."