MBB: Little East

7express · March 02, 2013, 02:33:56 PM

In ECAC news, Westfield comes from behind to defeat Castleton state 88-72 in the first ECAC semifinal. Westfield was down by 11 (15-4) less than 3 minutes into the game, but took a 3 point lead at halftime, and never trailed again after that. Westfield plays the Eastern/Anna Maria winner tomorrow at 1.

7express · March 02, 2013, 03:43:00 PM

Eastern up 2 at halftime 37-35. Click has 7, Peterson has 10 for the AMCats; Salzillo has 9 on three 3 pointers for Eastern. Teams combined are 9-12 for 3.
Eastern pulls away in the second to win by 12 77-65. Anthony Click finishes with 21 points for the AMCats. Robitaile (22 points to go with 17 boards) and Garrow (21) both finished with 20+ points. Salzillo had 17 on 6-13 shooting. Eastern finished the game at 50.9% shooting. After shooting 3-3 from 3 in the first half, Anna Maria was just 2-11 from 3 in the second. Eastern will play @ Westfield state tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 PM in the ECAC New England championship game. I'll have a prediction later on tonight.

ECSUalum · March 02, 2013, 05:06:10 PM

I think Robitaille needs around 10 points to reach 1000 pts for his career, so looks like he should get them tomorro!!!

warriorcat · March 02, 2013, 08:40:28 PM

Chris needs only four points to reach the 1000 point mark. This is impressive considering that he played limited time as a freshman (30 points) (208 as a soph, 326 junior, 432 senior) and he did not have the benefit of a three point basket (0-1) in his career.

Chris was a force defensively today blocking shots and altering numerous AMCat shots. He owned the paint today. Brian Salzillo hit his first three 3-point shots (five total on the afternoon) which kept Anna Maria at bay. His last three pointer that put ECSU up 9 with 2:07 left was the dagger that finally put Anna Maria away. Mike Garrow slashed his way to 21 points including a convincing dunk over two defenders. Defensively, he also made Click work hard for every point. Tre Preston struggled getting and making shots (2-8) but he handled the Anna Maria pressure well . Brendan Yarborough had a solid hustle game giving the Warriors the energy and intensity he has demonstrated each night for two years. Tyler Hundley's 17 minute return from a concussion was a positive one. He contributed a key 3 pointer in the first half (five points overall), a couple of assists, and three rebounds. There was a scary moment at the end of the first half when he took a hit to the jaw and he walked off the floor holding his head. He was able to return to play in the second half with no visable effects. Justin Nunez also came off the bench for ten very productive minutes in relief of Preston at the point.

I was very impressed with this Anna Maria team. They had a couple of good inside players, four or five small quick guards who pressured ECSU all afternoon, and, of course, Click, who looked like a Conference Player of the Year today. This game could easily have been a 12 point win for AMC with a couple of plays or calls going the other way.

Westfield State was very impressive in the other semi final. From what I saw today, they would definitely have contended with Eastern and RIC for the LEC title this year. It should be a outstanding final and (hopefully) a great finish for an Eastern Conn team that very few people thought would have another 20+ win season.

Argylebballer · March 02, 2013, 09:01:30 PM

RIC with the win and Ramapo goes does. The road got easier for the Anchormen playing Morrisville in round 2

7express · March 03, 2013, 12:23:01 AM

Nice win by RIC tonight in overtime against a very good Hobart team. Hobart had an 11 point lead with less then 8 minutes to go, and it look like USM all over again, the LEC out of the tournament like that and getting ready to write my off-season preview, but like they always say with the defnese RIC plays they are never out of the game if it gets into lockdown defense. RIC outscored Hobart 28-17 the final 7:59 of regulation and 12-9 in overtime to win 72-69. Granted all teams that are still playing are very good, but I like RIC's chances a lot more now to advance to the regional semifinals. The RIC defense would have really been tested against an athletic team (Ramapo) that can get up and down the court. RIC will most definitely be getting the 2nd round at home in Providence now. With a Ramapo win, it would have been up in the air whether it would have been in Providence or @ Nyack College where Ramapo played their first round game, but the Morrisville win left little doubt where the second round will be played.

Sunday schedule:
Eastern @ Westfield state.
Lee Vazquez. Guy beat USM in December on a buzzer beater from halfcourt, then last month against Western he had 33 points, and scored 20 of Westfield's first 24 points. Outside of Vazquez they are not extremely talented. Only 2 other players average double figure points: Matt Devine (11.8) and Grant Cooper (11.6), but Vazquez is their DaQuan Brooks. Of Westfield's 1700 field goal attempts this year Vazquez has attempted 445 of them or more then 25% of his teams total field goals. Of Westfield's 456 3 pointer field goal attempts, Vazquez has attempted 220 of them, or a little less then 50% of his teams total 3 point attempts. If there was 1 good thing about having DaQuan Brooks in your league: you know how to prepare for a DaQuan Brooks. Bill Geitner did a great job of making someone other than Anthony Click beat them yesterday, and he'll devise a strategy to make someone other then Lee Vazquez beat them Sunday. Whether Westfield state can get that second or 3rd option to score some points will be the difference between whether they win or lose.
Eastern 73-66

7express · March 03, 2013, 01:47:50 PM

Eastern leads Westfield 39-29 at halftime. Turned this on about halfway through, with Eastern down 8 (18-10). Matt Devine of Westfield is doing a great job of holding Robitaille in the post, I believe he only has 4 points, and both of those came when Devine was out of the game. Eastern also having some trouble with the Westfield trap as well. Eastern is on fire from 3; 8-11. Game changed when Brian Salzillo crossed up Jordan Santiago for a baseline jumper to get Eastern within 1 at 29-28, then on the next possession got a theft of Santiago and Santiago committed an intentional foul on Salzillo. Salzillo hit the 2 free throws to put them ahead, then on the possession since they got the ball back due to the intenetional, Garrow drained a 3 to put them up 5. 5 point swing late in the half was a key boost for them.
Eastern wins 74-60. Finished the game only 12-20 from 3. Westfield had a few runs to get it to within 4 or 5, but could never get closer then that. Robitaile was shut down for the most part by Matt Devine: 7 points 3-10 shooting 3 rebounds, but still managed to get the 1,000 points I believe. Salzillo had 20 on 6-11 shooting. Mike Garrow was the player of the game for Eastern: 25 points 14 rebounds, 6-10 from the floor 4-5 from 3.

Argylebballer · March 03, 2013, 02:02:15 PM

The Anchormen will host again next Saturday. As good a road as they could want to the Sweet 16.

7express · March 03, 2013, 02:48:08 PM

They'll probably be hosting the sweet 16 game as well vs. Alvernia/St. Mary's, but have to get through Morrisville first.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · March 03, 2013, 02:53:04 PM

If Alvernia wins... I am not sure why RIC would host. Alvernia was #1 in the final regional rankings...

ECSUalum · March 03, 2013, 04:44:21 PM

Quote from: 7express on March 03, 2013, 01:47:50 PM
Eastern leads Westfield 39-29 at halftime. Turned this on about halfway through, with Eastern down 8 (18-10). Matt Devine of Westfield is doing a great job of holding Robitaille in the post, I believe he only has 4 points, and both of those came when Devine was out of the game. Eastern also having some trouble with the Westfield trap as well. Eastern is on fire from 3; 8-11. Game changed when Brian Salzillo crossed up Jordan Santiago for a baseline jumper to get Eastern within 1 at 29-28, then on the next possession got a theft of Santiago and Santiago committed an intentional foul on Salzillo. Salzillo hit the 2 free throws to put them ahead, then on the possession since they got the ball back due to the intenetional, Garrow drained a 3 to put them up 5. 5 point swing late in the half was a key boost for them.
Eastern wins 74-60. Finished the game only 12-20 from 3. Westfield had a few runs to get it to within 4 or 5, but could never get closer then that. Robitaile was shut down for the most part by Matt Devine: 7 points 3-10 shooting 3 rebounds, but still managed to get the 1,000 points I believe. Salzillo had 20 on 6-11 shooting. Mike Garrow was the player of the game for Eastern: 25 points 14 rebounds, 6-10 from the floor 4-5 from 3.

Congratulations to Coach Geitner and the Eastern Warriors on another fine season (22-8 w/l RECORD), and for winning the 2013 ECAC Championship over Westfield St in what looked to be a very physical matchup. Also congrats to Chris Robitaille for his 1001 career points, (I believe). Chris has truely been a WARRIOR in his career with Eastern and we will miss him. Salzillo and Garrow were too tough for Westfield and picked up the slack for Eastern, Mike with a double double, 25 points/14 rebounds, and Brian 4-8 from 3 and 20 points. ECSU shot 49.0, 60.0, and 87.5 % FG, 3PT and FT this afternoon, not too shabby for thier last game of the season.

Finally I would like to thank 7express for another great posting season and again providing tremendous insight into D-III NE and LEC basketball +k

PS the person running the camera at Westfield St this afternoon was a disaster......it still amazes me how someone can screw up such a staight forward task

. However, the announcers were pretty good for homers

7express · March 04, 2013, 12:17:31 AM

LOl I was gonna say the same thing about the camera as well Alumn, that guy was an absolute disaster. Makes the USM ppl seem like a professional place.

pjunito · March 04, 2013, 12:19:26 PM

COngrats to East Conn!

Charles · March 04, 2013, 12:26:53 PM

Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on March 03, 2013, 02:53:04 PM
If Alvernia wins... I am not sure why RIC would host. Alvernia was #1 in the final regional rankings...

starting to think that doesn't really matter.

Dave 'd-mac' McHugh · March 04, 2013, 01:24:27 PM

I don't know why you don't think that matters... Alvernia was #1... RIC I think was #45 off the top of my head. Alvernia's SOS in the last public regional rankings was .549... RIC's was .530. Alvernia was 4-2 vRRO and RIC was 3-3. The only category RIC wins is the WP with less losses. So based on that criteria Alvernia would be the host. There are certainly other factors at play like whether Alvernia can even host next weekend. But it certainly does matter where a team is regionally ranked and it does matter what their criteria data shows.