MBB: Liberty League

[d3d3d3]

Tuesday
Vassar 77, Skidmore 65 (lost by 40 up there last month)
Bard 82, Union 77 (Bard down 15 in second half)

[Bartman]

Tuesday
Vassar 77, Skidmore 65 (lost by 40 up there last month)
Bard 82, Union 77 (Bard down 15 in second half)

Congrats to Vassar and Bard...a very competitive LL season.The Canton crew stands alone at the top. ...so far

[Ice Bear]

Tuesday
Vassar 77, Skidmore 65 (lost by 40 up there last month)
Bard 82, Union 77 (Bard down 15 in second half)

Union...ugggh...dlip turned it off at the half to hit the hay fairly confident his beloved Garnet (who were dropping threes like wildfire) would handle business. Guess they didn't. Props to Bard for not packing it in and fighting back. Maybe this also explains more about the earlier loss to MCLA. That the Dutchmen are just inconsistent and haven't found their footing yet.

[LibertyLeagueGuru]

Almost half way through conference play and only one big surprise so far: St. Lawrence......Really didn't expect Naclerio's return to have this level of impact, although they do have a stellar freshmen class as well. Considering how rough of a season they had last year as well as a couple of impact outbound transfers, this is definitely a surprise.

Hobart is playing as well as you can expect considering what their injuries. Even without those guys, they should have enough talent to finish with a top 2 seed. Skidmore has had a rough stretch here but I expect them to turn it around. It feels like outside of RIT, any team has the ability to be beat anyone else on any given night, should be an exciting second half.

[stlawus]

Naclerio has had a big impact but the biggest surprise is Chris Miner.  He has played extremely well this year at center.  He's blocked a lot of shots, rebounded well and most importantly been a threat offensively down low.

[Bartman]

Sh(n)owdown between  SLU and Hobart this weekend ......can SLU keep the mojo and stay on top or has Hobart settled into a groove post injuries to tie it up ?

[stlawus]

This is always an interesting matchup.  Hobart used to shoot the lights out in one of the 2 games just about every single year with the exception of 2016 when SLU had their best season in almost a decade.  SLU's bigs have been playing extremely well the last 2 weeks, but Hobart has some decent length and can match up well. 

[d3d3d3]

Friday

Union 65, Vassar 60
RPI 82, Ithaca 79
SLU 55, RIT 54 (4-point play by Naclerio with 25 secs left the difference - he finished with 7 points)
Skidmore 77, Bard 66
Hobart 78, Clarkson 67

[stlawus]

Unbelievable.  SLU wins on another 4 point play by Naclerio.  RIT had time for a full possession unlike Ithaca but got nothing.   I don't know how SLU pulled that one out.    RIT is clearly much better than their record shows.

[UfanBill]

Union vs RPI basketball games, both men's and women's, postponed until Tuesday 1/22 due to the impending snow storm.

[Bartman]

HWS games with SLU postponed as well

[d3d3d3]

Saturday

Skidmore 75, Ithaca 66
Bard 73, Vassar 67
Clarkson at RIT, ppd TBA
SLU at Hobart, ppd to Tues
Union at RPI, ppd to Tues

Standings
SLU   7-1  10-5
Skid  8-2   10-6
Hob   6-2   9-6
RPI   5-3   10-5
Bard  5-4   9-7
Ith     4-5  8-8
Union  3-5  7-7
Vass    3-7 7-10
CU      2-7  3-12
RIT      0-8  3-12

[d3d3d3]

St. Lawrence 73, Hobart 62 (Hobart never led - at home)
Union 72, RPI 69 (at RPI)

Standings heading into weekend

SLU     8-1    11-5
Skid    8-2     10-6
Hob    6-3     9-7
RPI     5-4     10-6
Bard   5-4     9-7
Union  4-5    8-7
Ith      4-5    8-8
Vass    3-7   7-10
Clark   2-6   3-12
RIT     0-8    3-12

[stlawus]

Another solid win tonight for my alma mater in Geneva.   Got off to a hot start on both ends of the court but Hobart started hitting 3's to end the first half to make it within 8.  They came out firing from beyond the arc to start the half but SLU kept answering with jump shots.   Very impressed with the team's defensive resiliency to get some key stops the final 8 minutes to open up the lead a bit off a spark initiated from a Karera dunk.    This has been a very pleasantly surprising season as everyone including myself had us finishing in the bottom tier at the start of the campaign.   

Hobart is still a solid team even with the injuries.   A little too reliant on the 3 ball I think, but I guess it doesn't matter if they can keep the 3PG% consistently high.   You can tell their injuries are hurting their inside game.   The rematch in Canton should be a good one.

[LibertyLeagueGuru]

Things are starting to get interesting in the middle of the pack, looks like this playoff race will go right down to the last weekend. Not even Hobart at this point is guaranteed a spot. Looking ahead at schedules it looks like Bard has the most favorable schedule with just 3 away games left while RPI, Ithaca and Union have 4 away games left including 2 away weekends. Hobart has a really really tough schedule coming up with 7 of their final 9 games on the road. Vassar and Clarkson at this point have most likely played themselves out of a playoff spot. They would need 2 of the above teams to collapse to have a shot.

Huge game on Saturday as Union plays at Ithaca (and tough weekend for Union as they play at Skidmore the night before).