MBB: Liberty League

[buck1053]

Was anyone at the SLU-Union game Saturday? Watched the Live Stats and looked like Union made some poor decisions at the end (ie. turnovers) that cost them the game. Also it seemed like they went a stretch at the end without being able to score, and Desmarais missed the front end of a one-and-one with like 30 seconds left with Union down 2. It's hard to tell how much of it was St. Lawrence playing better or Union playing worse.

[with age came?]

Sorry Buck dn see SLU vs Union- was at the Clarkson-Union game and they are two evenly matched teams.   Union does not quite have the depth of Clarkson but Goldstein (I think that is his name) hit some big shots down the stretch while Clarkson went cold.  Demaris is big and uses his body well, Madjei is a good shooter who I think got bailed by the ref's a couple of times.  Will also say this: saw Clarson- Skidmore game and Skidmore has the best freshman recruiting class of any liberty league team I have seen so far this year (Clarkson, SLU, Union & Skimore).  There was plently of time when 3 or more freshman were on the court for Skidmore and they acquited themselves quite well. By the end of the season and going forward they (Skidmore) will be very dangerous.  In my humble opinion they could be a playoff team and potential champion in a year or 2.

[buck1053]

Sorry Buck dn see SLU vs Union- was at the Clarkson-Union game and they are two evenly matched teams.   Union does not quite have the depth of Clarkson but Goldstein (I think that is his name) hit some big shots down the stretch while Clarkson went cold.  Demaris is big and uses his body well, Madjei is a good shooter who I think got bailed by the ref's a couple of times.  Will also say this: saw Clarson- Skidmore game and Skidmore has the best freshman recruiting class of any liberty league team I have seen so far this year (Clarkson, SLU, Union & Skimore).  There was plently of time when 3 or more freshman were on the court for Skidmore and they acquited themselves quite well. By the end of the season and going forward they (Skidmore) will be very dangerous.  In my humble opinion they could be a playoff team and potential champion in a year or 2.

What about SLU's freshmen Parham and Garrett Sharlow? They lit up Union (23 points for Parham in 30 minutes of play, 24 points and 7 rebounds for Sharlow in 25 minutes) and rank among the team's leaders. Parham is only sixth in scoring with a 11.6 points per game average, but Sharlow is fourth in scoring with 12.1 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game.

[with age came?]

Sorry Buck dn see SLU vs Union- was at the Clarkson-Union game and they are two evenly matched teams.   Union does not quite have the depth of Clarkson but Goldstein (I think that is his name) hit some big shots down the stretch while Clarkson went cold.  Demaris is big and uses his body well, Madjei is a good shooter who I think got bailed by the ref's a couple of times.  Will also say this: saw Clarson- Skidmore game and Skidmore has the best freshman recruiting class of any liberty league team I have seen so far this year (Clarkson, SLU, Union & Skimore).  There was plently of time when 3 or more freshman were on the court for Skidmore and they acquited themselves quite well. By the end of the season and going forward they (Skidmore) will be very dangerous.  In my humble opinion they could be a playoff team and potential champion in a year or 2.

What about SLU's freshmen Parham and Garrett Sharlow? They lit up Union (23 points for Parham in 30 minutes of play, 24 points and 7 rebounds for Sharlow in 25 minutes) and rank among the team's leaders. Parham is only sixth in scoring with a 11.6 points per game average, but Sharlow is fourth in scoring with 12.1 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game.

My Point is: the entire class.  In all fairness it is probably (definitely) easier to crack a Skidmore lineup than a St Lawrnece lineup.  St Lawrence has 2-3 freshman contributing but really enjoying the advantage of Josh Sharlow who I feel is the true engine of the team.  He plays great defense, runs the show delivers the ball and provides Parham and Garrett Sharlow with looks.  I would suspect Parham who does run the floor very well in particular benefits from the transition baskets.  Temgoua will improve as he learns the game, but the rest of the class either has not had the chance or has not deserved the chance to show much.  Wheareas the Skidmore freshman are providing the the spark.  Gerard O'Shea is among the quickest I have seen (a poor man's Burton), Langyintuo & Oloa are learning the game and contributing. Kyle Clark has a mean streak and toughness that I like.  Terron Victoria has a senior body as a freshman and will get better as he adjusts to the speed of the college game and Brian Lowry is a very competent back up point guard to O'Shea who has a good handle. Hence Skidmore has 6 contributing freshman while St Lawrence has 2-3 who depend on upperclassman more than the Skidmore freshman.

[buck1053]

Sorry Buck dn see SLU vs Union- was at the Clarkson-Union game and they are two evenly matched teams.   Union does not quite have the depth of Clarkson but Goldstein (I think that is his name) hit some big shots down the stretch while Clarkson went cold.  Demaris is big and uses his body well, Madjei is a good shooter who I think got bailed by the ref's a couple of times.  Will also say this: saw Clarson- Skidmore game and Skidmore has the best freshman recruiting class of any liberty league team I have seen so far this year (Clarkson, SLU, Union & Skimore).  There was plently of time when 3 or more freshman were on the court for Skidmore and they acquited themselves quite well. By the end of the season and going forward they (Skidmore) will be very dangerous.  In my humble opinion they could be a playoff team and potential champion in a year or 2.

What about SLU's freshmen Parham and Garrett Sharlow? They lit up Union (23 points for Parham in 30 minutes of play, 24 points and 7 rebounds for Sharlow in 25 minutes) and rank among the team's leaders. Parham is only sixth in scoring with a 11.6 points per game average, but Sharlow is fourth in scoring with 12.1 points per game and leads the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game.

My Point is: the entire class.  In all fairness it is probably (definitely) easier to crack a Skidmore lineup than a St Lawrnece lineup.  St Lawrence has 2-3 freshman contributing but really enjoying the advantage of Josh Sharlow who I feel is the true engine of the team.  He plays great defense, runs the show delivers the ball and provides Parham and Garrett Sharlow with looks.  I would suspect Parham who does run the floor very well in particular benefits from the transition baskets.  Temgoua will improve as he learns the game, but the rest of the class either has not had the chance or has not deserved the chance to show much.  Wheareas the Skidmore freshman are providing the the spark.  Gerard O'Shea is among the quickest I have seen (a poor man's Burton), Langyintuo & Oloa are learning the game and contributing. Kyle Clark has a mean streak and toughness that I like.  Terron Victoria has a senior body as a freshman and will get better as he adjusts to the speed of the college game and Brian Lowry is a very competent back up point guard to O'Shea who has a good handle. Hence Skidmore has 6 contributing freshman while St Lawrence has 2-3 who depend on upperclassman more than the Skidmore freshman.

OK, I can see your point about the class overall.

[magicman]

St. Lawrence waits 11 months for some payback and crushes Clarkson 93-62. Avenging their loss to the Golden Knights in last Feb. LL tournament the Saints grabbed a double digit lead 4 1/2 mins. in and never looked back. Doubling up Clarkson at the break 52-26, SLU stretched their advantage to 43 at the 11:42 mark and emptied the bench. Saints shot 58% from the field 32x55 and 53% 9x17 from 3 pt land. Josh Sharlow, Garrett Sharlow, and Terry Parham all scored 15 pts and Tom Wopperer added 13 for SLU. Elson Pickering and George Koduah led the Knights with 9 pts each.

With the win the Saints are now tied atop the League with Hamilton at 3-0. Clarkson falls to 1-2

Next up for the Saints is RPI and Vassar on the road this weekend  while Clarkson flip-flops those same 2 teams on Fri. and Sat.


RPI travels to Poughkeepsie and  comes away with a 69-59 win over Vassar College. Big closing 1st half 18-4 run put the Red Hawks up 44-28 at the break. The Brewers got it down to 6 once after a 10-0 run of their own to open the 2nd period but another 12-2 RPI run gave them their biggest lead of the night at 56-40. Vassar could get it no closer than 7 the rest of the way. RPI now 2-1 in LL and Vassar falls to 0-3.

[magicman]

St. Lawrence travels to RPI and gets upset 77-72.

Hamilton takes care of visiting Union 72-56.

Clarkson loses on the road to Vassar 75-71.

[organizingmom]

Hobart squeaked by Skidmore 61-60 and is now 2-2 in the league and plays Union tomorrow

[UCAAHoops21]

went to rpi tonight to catch SLU and came away impressed by RPI...Looking at their scores they might be a sleeper.  They are tough and they have more than Simmons.  If they play defense like that they are going to be pretty good.  They really slowed down SLU. 

Nobody has really said anything about RPI on the board...Are they going to hold up?

Surprised Clarkson went down at Vassar.  Thought Union would do better at Hamilton, should be some good games tomorrow.

[magicman]

RPI fresh off their upset of SLU on Friday night loses to visiting Clarkson 80-79 in double overtime. Clarkson's Rey Jefferson fouled with 3 seconds left in the game and the score tied at 79 misses the 1st ft but makes the 2nd . RPI turns it over to end it. Elson Pickering has his biggest output of the season(I think) with 26 pts along with 10 rebounds to lead the Golden Knights. Brandon Linton with 19 pts, 7 assists, 2 blks and 3 steals. Jefferson chipped in with 12 pts.  RPI placed 4 guys in double figures led by Sam Simmons with 23 pts, 7 boards, 6 blks, and 4 steals. DJ Blakemore had 18 pts, followed by Tim Rupp and Mike Brion with 11 each.

Double OT seemed to be the order of the day as Union ekes out a 110-108 win over Hobart needing 2 extra sessions to do so. Hobart has a 15-4 run in the final 2 mins of regulation to force OT led by sophomore Rob Estep who scored 10 straight pts during that run and then nailed a 3 with 6 seconds to total 13 of those 15 pts. He finished with a game and career high 39 pts. Hobart also set a school record for 3's with 18 of them. Hobart had the lead in the 1st OT but Union's Joey Lokitis hit's a 3 with 14 secs left to force the 2nd OT. The Statesmen's luck ran out though as Union goes on an 11-2 run to grab control and despite another 10-3 run by Hobart never reliquished the lead. The Dutchmen had 5 guys in double figures led by Drew Desmarais with 27 pts and 13 rebounds. Matt Covucci was next with 21 pts and 10 boards. Lokitis had 21, Drew Goldstein had 20, and Nick Ciresi chipped in with 12. In addition to Estep's 39, Hobart also had 4 other players in double figures. Tim LLewellyn had a double double with 17 pts and 10 assists, and  Mark Bruce had 15 pts. Adam Salzmann and Greg Stern both scored 11.

Hamilton tops Skidmore 81-61 to remain undefeated in conference play and in sole possession of 1st place. Hamilton opened up with a 13-2 lead and never trailed. Cont's had 4 guys in double figs led by Harlee Wood with 14 pts. Patrick Sullivan and Jay Simpson each had 12 and Ephraim McDowell chipped in with 11. Brian Lowry paced Skidmore with 11 pts. Hamilton's 6th  straight win moves them to 11-4 overall, 5-0 in the LL.

St. Lawrence rebounds from their 1st league loss with a 78-72 win over Vassar. Tied at halftime at 43 the Saints grabbed an 8 pt lead but the Brewers hung tough and eventually grabbed the lead at 62-60 with 8:30 left to play. SLU regained the lead for good 68-67 with 5 mins left and hung on for the victory. Saints were led by Tom Wopperer with 27 pts on 13x18 shooting, along with 8 rebounds. Bela Vonnak and Garrett Sharlow were also in double figures with 12 pts each. Matt Nunn scored 20 pts to lead Vassar, followed by Joe Davis with 14 and Brian Butterworth with 11.

Big matchup for 1st place next Friday at St. Lawrence as Hamilton comes to town.

[lileyes]

Union played without leading scorer Steve Madej today and he only played 8 mins vs. Hamilton.

[gobombers15]

Looks like there is a lot of parity in the LL. I could see six teams winning the LL Tourney. Hamilton definitely seems the favorite at this point.

[with age came?]

No doubt about the parity. Clarkson starts season with five road league games in a row and suffers embarrassing loss to Vassar (worst of season in my opinion) and comes back with what may be their best win against a surging RPI that had beaten a very talented St Lawrence team the night before. Those long bus rides must just have drained the north country invaders because I would have reversed the 2 results of Clarkson very easily. Truly think regular season will come down to Hamilton vs St Lawrence with slight edge to St Lawrence.  Union, RPI, Clarkson & maybe even Hobart also will battle for the remaining 2 playoff spots. Skidmore a little too young but watch out in a couple of years- they have the best freshman class I have seen as a whole.  Vassar lost a lot to graduation and will get some wins but I do not think enough to climb into playoff picture.

[magicman]

St. Lawrence downs Hamilton 80-67 to claim a share of 1st place in the conference.

[magicman]

SLU grabs the lead at 12:47 of the 1st half and never looks back. Up by as much as 12 they settle for a 40-32 advantage at the break. Hamilton hangs in there and cuts it to 48-44 at the 14:44 mark but the Saints go on an 11-0 run to stretch the lead to 15 at 59-44 with 11:38 remaining to play. Open it up to 19 at 74-55 and coast from there. Saints place 4 in double figures led by T. Wopperer with 14, R. Williams 13 pts, 8 reb, G. Sharlow 12 pts, and R. Temgoua with 11. Continentals paced by J. Ciriello with 14, J. Simpson with 13, and D. Harris with 12.

Saints host Hobart tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM while Hamilton visits Clarkson at 4 PM as well.