MBB: Little East

fanofowl · December 16, 2008, 07:20:15 AM

;)Good win yes, but lets not get our chest puffed out just yet. Beating RIC on the road is always a big deal but remember they where playing with a down sized line-not all there normal starters are playing yet. Yes he did hit a three to tie the game but other than that he was a BUST. Once again he refues to go down and bang. He runs away from contact. The underclassmen are taking over this team and that is usaully a road to a losing streak when the games are big. On the good side of things the only two teams to go bird hunting are having excellant years as Williams and really in a big way Springfield are beating alot of good teams in the East. So yes there is hope and maybe mu prediction of a ECAC bid may become reality and things might not need an arc.

KSCfan · December 28, 2008, 10:12:08 AM

Fanofowl- anytime that you can beat ric at ric its a good day. I agree that they shouldnt beat thier chest Kevin Garnett stye but it was nice to see them play well. It is true that the underclassmen are taking over this team, and while maybe it will lead to a losing streak this year, its only going to provide the owls with a stong nucleus for the upcoming years. with three starting freshman, thats four years these three will have together and be able to build on. I agree the ECAC's are looking like a real possibility

OxyBob · January 04, 2009, 03:17:27 PM

From Friday, Jan. 2:

Quote from: OxyBob on January 03, 2009, 11:22:30 AM
Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

UMass-Dartmouth 78, Oxy 59

Oxy: Sean Anderson 12, Jack Hanley 11
UMD: Brandon Shelton 18, Jeff Macchi 14, Matt Walker 13, Brandon Stephens 11, David Riley 11

Halftime: UMD 39-33
Rebounds: Oxy 33-32
Records: Oxy 4-6, UMass-Dartmouth 9-1

UMass-Dartmouth's unrelenting pressure defense finally got to Oxy in the second half, and the Corsairs pulled away for a comfortable win. Oxy led 8-0 after 3 minutes, but UMD came back with a 15-2 run of its own and led 15-10 at 11:45. Sam Kesten's 3-ball gave the Tigers a 29-26 lead at 4:25, but UMass took the lead on a 4-point play by Matt Walker, and the Corsairs led by 6 at the break. In the second half, UMD led 52-40 with 12 minutes to go, but another 3-pointer by Kesten cut UMD's lead to 54-48 with under 10 minutes left. That's when UMass really turned up the heat with it's all-over-the-court pressure. The Corsairs outscored the Tigers 22-5 over the next 8 minutes, and easily won the game by 19. For the game Oxy outshot UMD 45.7% to 41.8%, and outrebounded UMD 33-32, but the Tigers had a real tough time with the Corsairs' press as UMass forced 24 Oxy turnovers.

For Oxy, Henry Meier and Justin Goltz played good defensive games with 7 rebounds each, and Sam Kesten came of the bench and scored 8 including two 3s. For UMD, they had 4 starters in double figures, led by Brandon Shelton who had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 8 steals.

OxyBob

KSCfan · January 04, 2009, 06:17:46 PM

Keene drops a pair down in Florida as they are now 6-4 on the year. Some big games coming up for the owls as they have UMD and WCSU as thier next two conferance games. If keene can somehow knock off Dartmouth, it would put them in a great position in the conferance. I know that the conferance schedule is still young, but a 3-0 conferance start with wins over RIC and Dartmouth would better than most expected.

KSCfan · January 06, 2009, 08:26:00 AM

Keene State picks up a guard in Nate Disessa from Elms college. Has anyone seen him play before. Hopefully he will provide some leadership at the the guard position where KSC is still very young. ANy impressions on what Keene picked up at the "All-Star" break would be greatly helpful

KorsairKILLAH · January 11, 2009, 07:55:47 AM

UMass Dartmouth gave Keene State the business yesterday with Reece Freeman, first team all-conference point guard, on the bench most of the game. The Corsairs have a leg up in the LEC! Go UMD!!

KSCfan · January 12, 2009, 08:13:06 AM

KorsairKillah you are 100 percent right with that. This puts UMD clearly in the drivers seat of thier own destiny. Keene had been unbeaten in the conferance, that is until UMD throttled them at Keene. I was impressed with UMD, and Reece Freeman is a heck of a player that is for sure. Keene is skidding as it has lost 4 straight to settle at 6-6. Colbert def needs to turn the ship around as it has been drowning of late. A must win for them i feel on tuesday as they play Westconn

KorsairKILLAH · January 12, 2009, 07:48:59 PM

Quote from: KSCfan on January 12, 2009, 08:13:06 AM
KorsairKillah you are 100 percent right with that. This puts UMD clearly in the drivers seat of thier own destiny. Keene had been unbeaten in the conferance, that is until UMD throttled them at Keene. I was impressed with UMD, and Reece Freeman is a heck of a player that is for sure. Keene is skidding as it has lost 4 straight to settle at 6-6. Colbert def needs to turn the ship around as it has been drowning of late. A must win for them i feel on tuesday as they play Westconn

i would not give up on keene yet. its all about post season play and keene is always a strong contender in the LEC tournament.

KSCfan · January 14, 2009, 08:22:31 AM

Korsair i am not giving up on the owls yet, they did manage to win last night against Westconn, and Kathan put up 36. With keene they are defiantly not goint to get a pool C bid, so they need to win the LEC to get in. That being said, they need to do well with thier LEC games so that they can manage the 2 or 3 seed and play home the first game of the LEC tournament and maybe have an outside shot at hosting if they can knock off UMD at UMD and RIC at home. THey need to prove to themselves that they can play with the top tier LEC teams so LEC tourny time they can get hot and make a run at a conferance championship

KSCfan · January 20, 2009, 07:31:12 AM

Keene knocks off the beacon from UMB this weekend in a strong showing. Keene continues to play well against the conference. Hopefully they continue to play well in conference

KSCfan · January 21, 2009, 08:47:37 AM

Keene loses to Plymouth State yesterday in Plymouth. This loss will hurt the owls as they are now tied for third in the conference with Plymouth. The owls are now 9-7 and any hopes for postseason play are quickly getting smaller and smaller. The owls still are a dangerous team when they play well, however they need to beat teams such as plymouth if they are going to be taken seriously

bullpenhero35 · January 21, 2009, 11:40:55 AM

KSCfan I agree with you whole heartedly. Have to say after watching the game though that Keene deserved to lose that game. They didn't hustle, rebound or play good defense. Unfortunately this team has too many freshman and Kathan and Anderson can only do so much. Also, get that point guard they have starting off the floor, i watched him commit 3 turnovers at key points. 1 i'm okay with, 2 get the hook ready, but the coaching staff giving him the chance to make 3 and not going with the bench guy who was outperforming him to that point is bad coaching. Also, if Keene is down only 4 then why is anybody BUT the two seniors shooting the ball. Unless they have a dunk they shouldn't shoot. Basically to sum up, Keene played awful, deserved to lose and did. Now it's up to the coaches to figure out how to get this team back on track and the players to follow the gameplan.

BornBalla · January 21, 2009, 03:09:02 PM

Looks like RIC is back! I think RIC has been under the radar. I know they were nationally ranked but after a few losses, people kind of wrote them off. I'd be curious to hear how the game vs UMD went. I saw RIC had 20+ to's vs the UMD pressure.I think RIC will emerge as conf. tour champs over UMD.

As far as Keene, what happened to the new guy they added at break? I looked at box scores & he started his first couple & now is back up. Is he any good? Why would the coach stay with a kid who has 3 consecutive to's unless he's better than anything else they have?

bullpenhero35 · January 21, 2009, 07:49:18 PM

I have no idea. First one was him catching the ball and trying to run first and the Plymouth player smartly made him travel. Second was him not taking the ball all the way to the hoop when he was open but rather trying to show off and the third was just him throwing the ball away. It was sad to watch after their new guy back up made several good plays or at least was a steady hand. Also Kathan should be allowed 2 three point attempts a game. Max. There is no reason at 6'5'' 230 he is shooting those unless he is open. The coaching staff should put him and Anderson on the block and if they try anything outside of 18 feet unless it's uncontested pull them. No way anybody handles Keene if you give those 2 somewhere between 20-25 touches a game down low. Plus it opens up everything else.
I agree that RIC is back and the LEC this year is just gonna come down to a dogfight for the top seed but I still don't think the top seed will go dancing this year.

KSCfan · January 27, 2009, 09:12:43 AM

Bullpenhero- I agree with Kathan taking three pointers. I have had this discussion with fanofowl many of times. The fact of the matter is that Kathan does not want to go bang down low with the big boys, and i dont know why. He is one of the best big guys down low when he wants to be, but he refuses to do so. Until he decides that he wants to do that Keene will continue to struggle. As far as the turnover machine goes, i think if that new kid keeps turning the ball over then start the other kids and let them go through thier growing pains, so that way they will be better set for next year. So far it has been very frustrating to watch keene play this year, some nights they look like a very good team, and some nights they look they are just god awful. Consistancy is the word of the season for them