I was at the Midd Trinity game tonight. Trinity played this Middlebury team VERY tough. They were very aggressive on the boards and played great perimeter defense against a team that we all know loves to shoot the three.

It seemed as if there were points in the game where the Midd offense was stalled, but Rudin stepped up and came through for them in the clutch. It really felt like Trinity had it in the bag during the first OT... Down 6 with about 50 seconds left... Midd came down the court and Jamal Davis put up a three that he ended up getting fouled on, this was not only big because it was a chance to cut the lead in half w/out time running off, but because it was Paul Rowe's 5th foul. Davis made all three and after only making one of two from the line, Midd got a quick basket and then forced a turnover and Rudin finished it off tying it with 9 seconds left in OT.

It just seemed as if both teams were so exhausted in the 2nd OT... With Paul Rowe fouled out for Trinity and Aaron Smith fouled out for Midd, both offenses seemed to just stall. The lone field goal Middlebury got in the 2OT was the only they needed as Rudin drove left down the lane, underneath the basket and gave Locke a nice bounce a pass which he then layed up for the win and silenced the Trinity crowd.

Truly a fun game to watch, Middlebury really showed they had some heart fighting to come back from down 6 with 42 seconds left. Rudin also showed how he's a candidate for NESCAC POY with his performance tonight, brilliant.

Congrats Midd on the win and hopefully they left some in the tank for Amherst tomorrow.

Huge win for Babson tonight. They grabbed an 11 point lead going into halftime and watched it slowly slip away. Then came the most exciting last minute of Basketball I've seen all year.

Norm De Silva hit two big free throws on a 1 and 1 with about 45 seconds left to put Babson up 66-64. MIT came down the court and couldn't find an open look until Bartolotta pulled up from the top of key, ATLEAST 25 feet out. With MIT up 67-66, Babson called a timeout... everyone seemed to know it would go to Zach Etten like it has all year. Babson set a double screen from him at the foul line and he popped out and hit one of the biggest three's all year for them. There were still 9 seconds left, but Etten played great D and popped it out of Bartolotta's hands. They got it back to him, but it wasn't a decent look as time expired.

Great game as Babson has won 4 out of 5 and improves to 4-5 in the NEWMAC. MIT falls to 7-3 in NEWMAC with the tough loss.

Great stats hugenerd. NEWMAC is looking great.

I meant to do this awhile back, but I wanted to congratulate Babson Senior Captain Zach Etten for scoring his 1,000th Point against Trinity on 11/30/08. Zach is now 19th on Babson's all time scoring list.

Also, another good win for Babson last night, they came back from a tough first half against a decent Lasell team who beat Brandeis early on and lost to WPI by one. Babson 71, Lasell 66.

Agree with Old guy. The combination of Harris and Smith last season made this team so deadly. The threat of Harris on the perimeter is something that is very hard to replace. Harris had one of the purest shots (lefty mind you) I've ever seen.

Midd has been taking the same exact amount of threes per game as last season (22), but they are only shooting 26 % ! Last season they were over 39 %

This year Midd is struggling to find out who that go to guy on the perimeter is. I feel as if they will settle in and either Dudley or Coghlan will turn into that guy.

Smith should return very soon if not today coming off his bruised elbow.

The NEWMAC is looking veryy strong.

Babson tonight may not have been able to contain Shannon (42 points!?), but they dominated Emerson on the boards. Also Babson shot 11-16 (69%) from three, including a 5 for 5 performance by Shelton Ladson. Both teams looked very strong offensively and if the refs weren't calling a lot of small hand check fouls, I think both teams would have scored over 100 points. There were a combined 52 free throws taken in the game, including an 11-11 line from Zach Etten. Hmm.

NEWMAC is now a combined 25 - 7 to start the season.

NESCAC is a combined 21 - 15.

I'll let those numbers speak for themselves.

Babson wins its annual Invitational Tournament for the first time since 2004 beating Union 68-58. Underclassmen for Babson gave them 55 of thier 68 points. They have three freshman starting for them and one playing 15+ minutes off the bench. This young team led by Senior Zach Etten is looking like they have some real potential. As a team they are averaging 5 more assists per game than last season and they seem to have a lot team chemistry already.

Babson (3-0) hosts a very talented Emerson (2-0) team Tuesday night, this should be a great game.

How about this start to the season for the NEWMAC?

All 7 teams have a winning record and are a combined 20-5.

Babson, Clark & MIT all play in Championship games today of Tip-off Tourneys, wonder if they can go 3-0.

eclinchy in response to your comments about the tufts/babson game...

i couldn't let you bash too much on a babson team that looked pretty good.. i think part of that early lead for tufts was an inexperienced babson team. 3 freshman started for them, and being the season opener i think they were a little nervous early on. Not much was talked about thier starting PG, Lambros -- who started the game with 4 turnovers in 3 minutes then went on to have 6 assists and 2 TOs the rest of the way and a key 17 second half points. Sure, Ladson didn't have too many stats to his name, but he only got 8 minutes a game last year as a Frosh. So I think this was a breakout game for him.

I agree with you that the Tufts defense did get a little lazier in that second half. I'm not quite sure why because it seemed like a pretty high intensity game. Babson put up 50 points in the second half, pretty impressive for a team whose highest scoring game last season was 78 points. It will be interesting to see how both teams do this season.. overall I think it was a great season opener for both teams and I'm thinking they will both put up winning records in thier respective conferences.

Yeah, tough loss for Tufts... especially on a night when everything was going in for Pierce. I was actually surprised when he put up an off balance three at the end of regulation and missed... He had banked in two threes in earlier.

What really hurt tufts was Galvin getting into foul trouble... Morgan replaced him and had a few turnovers late that really cost them.

This young Babson team had 3 players to also score for 68 points, the exact same number scored by Pierce, Gallant and Beyel. Also 63 points of their total points was scored by underclassmen. It was really a fun game to watch and it was fitting to see the Senior Captain Zach Etten to hit the contested game winning jumper with 1 second left.

Pierce seems to just go off against Babson, scoring his season high 36 last season. It will be interesting to see if he can put up 30+ point performances like this more than just a couple times. From the looks of last night, it looks like he will have no problem.

Quote from: backboard on November 14, 2008, 12:50:25 PM
Usually Babson scrimmages Wentworth, does anyone know how that went?  I'll see what I can find out too

They scrimmaged Tuesday night @ Wentworth. Babson freshmen looked good for the most part. A little inconsistency on offense, but they are still getting used to eachother on the court. It seems as if atleast 4 of the freshmen will get significant PT. As soon as Babson gets comfortable with a consistent PG, they will be a big threat in the NEWMAC.

great to see middlebury finally getting the respect they deserve. are they the favorites right now to win nescac?

Rochester 51 Middlebury 39 with 3 minutes left...

Midd just isnt making thier shots...

Quote from: FormerPolarBear on March 05, 2008, 12:48:56 AM
Congrats to Bowdoin on a great run in thr tourney...Mark Phillips (#50) was awesome for Bowdoin.  He stepped up and played well.  Impressive win versus Amherst and a descent effort v. Trinity. 

First Team
Olson
Baskukas
Stone
Shalvoy
Pierce

Second Team
Choice
Hippert
Harris
Fliegel
Taylor

Roy=- Ellis
COy- Tim Gilbride
DPOY- Sargentson by a single vote over Westbrooks

I have a very hardtime putting Fliegel in over Smith... Smith is ahead of him in all statistical categories and with Midd getting a 17 point win @ Bowdoin, I'd have to give Smith 2nd team. Smith AND Harris on 2nd Team would look great for Midd, but in the end I think only one may get it. 

Friar T:

- Also keep in mind that Middlebury has played better on the road this whole season.
- Middlebury is also coming off a game in which they shot 58% from the field versus their 36% they shot versus Trinity...

Quote from: golflax99 on February 22, 2008, 05:21:11 PM
The Williams @ Middlebury game tomorrow will be very intense and will probably go down to the wire. A couple things I think some people are forgetting about Middlebury though.

-When they played @ Williams, they were without leading scorer Andrew Harris.

-Aaron smith who averages over 13 points and 8 boards a game got into foul trouble
early and only ended up with 5 points and 1 rebound in 20 minutes.

It should be interesting to see if Williams goes at Middlebury's big men early again. I  think the Geoghegan vs. Smith/Walsh will be the game changer. Middlebury has struggled at home lately, but I think they will step it up with thier NESCAC Title hopes on the line....

GO MIDD!

Smith and Harris prove to be too much for the Ephs as they combine for 32 points just dominating Williams 96-59 as Middlebury shoots 75% from the arc and are just looking unstoppable right now.