MBB: Little East

[Mr. Ypsi]

I gotta ask - why is Massachusetts College referred to in here as MCLA?  (You had really thrown me for a loop - who the heck is MCLA? -  until I saw the scoreboard today.  The answer can't be geographic (North Adams is not Los Angeles!) - so what is the LA?

[Pat Coleman]

Liberal Arts.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is too long for us to put on the scoreboard.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Liberal Arts.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is too long for us to put on the scoreboard.

I suppose having worked my whole career in colleges of liberal arts I should have guessed that!  But I had never heard of a whole school being referred to that way.

[LECFAN32]

Have been away from the board for a few days but have watched alot of games- eastern vs nichols was very interesting because they really tried to speed the warriors up which is not what geitner likes, ives scoring is a pleasant development, and garrow is starting to play like the man over there, dangerous team, putting up 76 vs this ric team is quite a bit. pretty deep, lets hope salzillo will be back soon, really enjoy seeing him shoot the ball, incredibly quick and fluid release. 

not surprised keene was flat coming off the win over boston, boston is as I stated before very very athletic and plays with more fire n discipline compared to the last few years so they will be tough whoever they play. back to back never an easy thing.

southern maine looks to be a pretty nice team this year, definitely capable of scoring a ton of points, which alot of teams off of that long bus ride wont do. have some athletes, which they have not always been known for.

western looks to be improving, like i said southern maine really tough place to play at, laporte just looks uncomfortable handling pressure, he would be productive on the wing, no doubt in my mind. disapointed to see bridtter n groski not play big minutes, as it seems like they will both need to play well for this team to succeed. starks has alot of promise, hes just shaky at the point not looking to get the team into offense first and foremost. from what I hear jensen may very well be returning. tough game vs a big strong clark team, hopefully somebody can slow down vayda and bailey.

[7express]

I gotta ask - why is Massachusetts College referred to in here as MCLA?  (You had really thrown me for a loop - who the heck is MCLA? -  until I saw the scoreboard today.  The answer can't be geographic (North Adams is not Los Angeles!) - so what is the LA?

As Pat said Mass College of Liberal Arts.  Just like that's too big to post on the scoreboard, that's also too big to post on my preview/recap.

[7express]

Tuesday predictions:

Western 62 @ Clark 70.
They are playing better, but how are they going to slow down Vayda??  Clark should've beaten them last year in Danbury and would have if not for DaQuan Brooks who seemed like scored every basket the last 8 minutes of the game, and Vayda being injured for Clark.  We have a worse team this year, no Brooks to bail us out, and Vayda looks like he's healthy and ready to play.
Dartmouth 56 @ Johnson & Wales 70.
J&W has won 3 of 4 after starting the season 1-3 and the lone loss was an 8 point loss to undefeated Middlebury in a game that, iirc, was tied with 3 or 4 minutes left to play.  Dartmouth can't win anywhere: road or home, close games, blowouts, you name it, they lose them all.
Maine-Farmington 64 @ USM 68.
One of the things I love about going up to games @ USM is finding out they have this Maine basketball coaches and writers poll for teams in the state.  Somehow Husson is at the top even though their 1-2 (someone explain that??) followed by St. Joes & Bowdoin.  USM & Farmington round out the top 5 in that order.  Big week for USM, they host 7-1 Farmington Tuesday, and 7-1 Wetsfield state Friday who beat Springfield earlier in the season.  Farmington is 7-1 and is 4-0 against Maine schools, however in 3 games against Maine d-3 schools, they've won those 3 games by a combined 9 points (UNE by 2, Colby by 1, Bates by 6).

[warrior]

Wow! I can't believe it!  We finally beat RIC at home!  That's the one thing Jamie and his senior teammates never accomplished in 4 years, so I know they all were pumped!

I must apologize to all my blog friends - they let me on the air a few minutes before halftime of the Nichols game and I planned on giving a shout-out to my LEC Blog buddies, but, in the excitement, I forgot!  I can't believe it!  I'm never nervous in front of an audience (I'm a former Ringling Brothers Clown!), so I'm really mad I forgot! Oh well, I promise next time to remember! 

As for Brian - he's out for two weeks (rules violation) and may or may not be able to travel to Florida.  Tough break for a great kid, who just made a mistake. Like Hamilton last year, he'll be back and the two weeks will be forgotten if we can win another title!!

As for Jamie - his team is doing great (13-3) - 2nd of 14 teams in England's top league.  He's still averaging a  double double (19 pts/ 10 rebs) and is ranked second individually in the latest England player rankings.  Needless to say, the LEC prepared him well for overseas! 

[7express]

Western ties with Clark 33 all at half.  Phil Starks sat for most of half with 2 fouls and Western has 3 or 4 with 2 fouls, but I like our chances in 2nd half

[7express]

Western wins 68-63.  Nice momentum to head into the break and something to build on for the second half

[7express]

Tuesday results:
I said on Sunday the LEC would be lucky to get 1 win.  They did 3 times better as they went 3-0 for the best day the conference has had this year.

Western 68-63.
Rebounding still sucks, but Briddter, Groski, Mayers & McIntyre played great defense on Brian Vayda holding him to only 15 points and 3-15 shooting.  Got more contributions from someone other then Phil Starks.  As I mentioned at halftime Starks sat most of the first half with 2 fouls and only finished with 10 points but did have a couple big baskets in the 2nd half to give Western a lead.  Groski (8 points) and Mayers (10 points) played well.  After Western lead by as many as 8 in the 2nd half, a Travis Curley old fashioned 3 point play tied the game at 63 with about 1:05 left and was thinking to myself, "gee, how are we going to lose this one?"  Luckily Briddter had his own old fashioned 3 point play with 51 seconds left in which it looked like 1 official wanted to call a charge on Briddter, but got waved off by another official who called a block on Clark and the basket which won the game.  Mobilio hit 2 free throws after Curley missed a game-tying free throw for the final margin.
USM 69-52.
USM finished the first half on a 21-6 run to turn a 15-9 deficit into a 30-21 halftime lead, scored 6 of the first 8 points of the 2nd half to go up 11 and Farmington only got it below 10 once the rest of the game.
Dartmouth gets firtst win 86-83 in OT over Johnson & Wales.
4 of the 5 starters for Dartmouth finished in double figures lead by Mike Rotando with 30.  Jake Laga hit a layup with 4 seconds to play to force OT.  Like Western, a nice boost they needed heading into a break.
With the 3-0 day, LEC evens their OOC record at 26 and 26.

With the Christmas break upon us, Western, Keene & Dartmouth are done until after Christmas (and Dartmouth doesn't even play again until after New years).  USM, Plymouth, Boston & RIC each have 1 game remaining: Boston & USM at home, RIC & Plymouth on the road.  Eastern has 2 games in Miami Florida next weekend the 21st & 22nd.
Next game Thursday: Framingham state @ Boston.  Will have a prediction later tomorrow.

[ECSUalum]

Wow! I can't believe it!  We finally beat RIC at home!  That's the one thing Jamie and his senior teammates never accomplished in 4 years, so I know they all were pumped!

I must apologize to all my blog friends - they let me on the air a few minutes before halftime of the Nichols game and I planned on giving a shout-out to my LEC Blog buddies, but, in the excitement, I forgot!  I can't believe it!  I'm never nervous in front of an audience (I'm a former Ringling Brothers Clown!), so I'm really mad I forgot! Oh well, I promise next time to remember! 

As for Brian - he's out for two weeks (rules violation) and may or may not be able to travel to Florida.  Tough break for a great kid, who just made a mistake. Like Hamilton last year, he'll be back and the two weeks will be forgotten if we can win another title!!

As for Jamie - his team is doing great (13-3) - 2nd of 14 teams in England's top league.  He's still averaging a  double double (19 pts/ 10 rebs) and is ranked second individually in the latest England player rankings.  Needless to say, the LEC prepared him well for overseas! 
[/quote,

[ECSUalum]

Wow! I can't believe it!  We finally beat RIC at home!  That's the one thing Jamie and his senior teammates never accomplished in 4 years, so I know they all were pumped!

I must apologize to all my blog friends - they let me on the air a few minutes before halftime of the Nichols game and I planned on giving a shout-out to my LEC Blog buddies, but, in the excitement, I forgot!  I can't believe it!  I'm never nervous in front of an audience (I'm a former Ringling Brothers Clown!), so I'm really mad I forgot! Oh well, I promise next time to remember! 

As for Brian - he's out for two weeks (rules violation) and may or may not be able to travel to Florida.  Tough break for a great kid, who just made a mistake. Like Hamilton last year, he'll be back and the two weeks will be forgotten if we can win another title!!

As for Jamie - his team is doing great (13-3) - 2nd of 14 teams in England's top league.  He's still averaging a  double double (19 pts/ 10 rebs) and is ranked second individually in the latest England player rankings.  Needless to say, the LEC prepared him well for overseas! 

Introduction video for roster of Tees Valley Mohawks of the English Basketball League (Division-I).
Go to bottom of page on below link and click on the video, Jamie is 3rd person to introduce himself. 
Good Luck Jamie , and stay healthy!!! 
http://www.teesvalleymohawks.co.uk/roster.html

[7express]

Thurs prediction:

Framingham state 62 @ Boston 74.
Framingham has played 2 teams with a winning record.....and lost both of them (12 to Endicott [6-2], 10 to Brandeis [8-2]).  They also have a head scratching loss to 4-6 and 0-3 GNAC school Mount Ida, not exactly an athletics powerhouse.  Boston will be the first LEC school to 10 games played as this is game #10 for them

[LECFAN32]

Nice win for western, that clark team had alot of experience and talent up front. good to see that they made a point to go inside..werent having luck otherwise, and if pelletier stays out of the rotation outside of mobilio and starks theres not enough firepower on the perimeter to center your attack around guard play.

mayers and groski should both be getting isolation post ups, and bridtter is turning into a nice face up shooter. if all of those guys, plus the transfer mcintyre attack the glass consistently and they get solid production from one of the guard positions there is some promise, add in mike jensen and they could be a tough out every night.

[7express]

Thursday results:

Boston 71-55 over Framingham.
Boston was down 36-28 at halftime, but outscored the Rams 43-19 the second 20 minutes and held Framingham to 25% shooting the second half while the Beacons shot 47.1%.
LEC goes above .500 with the win to a 27-26 OOC record

Next games Saturday: Westfield @ USM, Plymouth @ Lyndon state