MBB: Little East

[ECSUalum]

ECSU loses 56-52 loss vs F/M on crappy officiating!!!  Whats a "flop" against F/M is an offensive foul against Eastern in the final seconds of the game where Eastern could have tied the game!!!

2nd half ECSU TO's and very good defense by F/M was the difference!!  Other than what is stated above!!!

[7express]

Couldn't have been worse then Colorado's game winning 3 pointer that would've beaten undefeated Arizona that got overturned, even though ALL replays showed the ball was out of his hands with 0.01 on the clock.

[LECFAN32]

Before the 1 year at ric perri was a assistant under a very good coach at Bentley, who at one point unsuccessfully tried to convince the admissions people in Waltham mass that my 71 Gpa was actually a 88

Luckily 71 was all western needed

May watch all of f n m's games from here on outfox the broadcast alone.

Warriors are certainly battle tested a definite good thing with the league being down. Sal zillions release is a thing of beauty when he's in a groove

[7express]

Thursday results:

Eastern 52-56 loss to F&M.
2 technical's for Eastern??  Really??  That's already a long drive as it is, but a close loss like that makes it feel a lot longer.  After taking that trip out to Lancaster last March, going out there makes going up to USM seem like your going across the street.
Keene over Lasell 73-63.
The 63 points allowed by Keene is their fewest in quite a while, actually first time allowing this few since February 4 of 2012 when USM only scored 57.  That's a remarkable stretch of 16 straight games allowing an opponent to hit over 63 points more than half a season's worth.  Now can you see why their an awful defensive team??  Western only has 2 wins and already 3 times this year alone has held an opponent to 63 or less.  This leads to 3 observations A) Is this a mirage B) is this a predicted result against a 1-8 team playing on emotion or C) Have they indeed flipped on the switch??  If its C I like my chances of the H.M.S. Keene avoiding the iceberg, if its A or B, they still have a lot of work to do to turn the ship away from the iceberg.
RIC big over Wheaton 86-42.
That's what we call a beating ladies and gentlemen!  No one of RIC played more then 24 minutes, and for 40 minutes at least had an answer to their porous 3 point defense.  Wheaton was 2-26 from 3 for a sizzling 7.7%.
33-37 OOC record.

Next games up Saturday as round 2 of conference play resumes:
Boston @ RIC.  Conferences #2 scoring offense vs. the conferences #1 scoring defense. 
USM @ Keene.  I'll nominate this for best game of the day or maybe 1 and 1A with this game and the RIC/Boston game.  Conferences #1 and #3 scoring offense.
Western @ Dartmouth.  Two 2 win teams, blah!  If the women's game between these 2 wasn't going to be good I'd probably go to Providence instead since I have to pretty much drive through it to get to Dartmouth anyway.  Games there are much better.
Plymouth @ Eastern.  If Eastern can't win by at least 10, something is seriously wrong.

[AllStar]

Couldn't have been worse then Colorado's game winning 3 pointer that would've beaten undefeated Arizona that got overturned, even though ALL replays showed the ball was out of his hands with 0.01 on the clock.

No kidding.  What an awful call....with replay no less.

[7express]

Couldn't have been worse then Colorado's game winning 3 pointer that would've beaten undefeated Arizona that got overturned, even though ALL replays showed the ball was out of his hands with 0.01 on the clock.

No kidding.  What an awful call....with replay no less.

This is the last thing I'll say about this because it's going off topic, but what completely boggles my mind is that they actually called it good on the floor and then overturned it when they went to replay.  That was a joke.  I'm not sure whether they actually looked at the monitor or whether they were listening to the crowd seranade them with "no good" and that made them make their decision.  Talk about a homer call.

[amh63]

ECSU.....Know that this may not help.....BUT your team played well against a ranked team in their home court, in spite of it all.  Hope the team learns from the experience and it becomes a "good loss?"
My other comment is....."been there, done that".....last year, I was sitting in the stands at F&M among the Amherst supporters watching the Amherst team play against the underdog F&M in the NCAA quarter finals.  I was looking forward to the possible matchup game with MIT the next day with the winner going to the Final 4.  It was not to be.....Amherst got behind at the half but we were still expecting a win.  Then the game slipped away as questionable calls against Amherst and for the opponent started to show up.  I complained on line and was chastised for it....expressing my free speech and all.  Still feel that games played in Lancaster have more "homer calls" at critical junctions.  Things like that always bring up the question of the quality of referees and the necessity of out of region refs in situations where there are clashes between teams from different "areas".  Another topic and no real solution since it will cost more.

[7express]

Sat schedule:

Boston 62 @ RIC 67.
Think this will be closer then people think.  Boston is the #2 offensive team in the LEC, while RIC is the #1 defensive team in the LEC.  I'm taking RIC mainly because they've been here, done that, and are at home while Boston is the new kid on the block trying to play.  Boston isn't going to be an easy win this year like most years: Keene found that out last month, RIC will find this out Saturday, but I still like them to walk away with the win.  The opponent is never out of the game with Boston leading late since Boston is only a 58% free throw shooting.
USM 78 @ Keene 76.
Can USM win outside Maine??  Was the Keene showing Thursday an abberation, or are they starting to turn it on??  Only time will tell.  The wheels have started to fall of for USM, but they can put them back on with a win.  Both teams are in the top 3 in scoring, whereas, USM's defense is a lot better then Keene's is.  I think USM can get a key stop more so then Keene can.  May come down to which team has the ball last, wins.
Western 76 @ Dartmouth 75.
Should be another close game....but only because both are bad teams.  Both of Western's wins (Clark and Worcester) are better then Dartmouth's (Regis and J&W).  Dartmouth lost to Worcester state at home while Western beat them on the road.  Dartmouth is on a 2 game winning streak and Western has lost to two bottom dwellers at home.  Once agin, may come down to whatever team has the ball last.
Plymouth 53 @ Eastern 78.
May be close for 10 or 20 minutes as Eastern just finished with 2 games in Central PA.  They should pull away in the 2nd and cruise to a victory in what is probably the worst game of the day.  Of course, it seems like these types of games turn out to be the best and the games you think will be good turn out to be the worst.

[ECSUalum]

ECSU.....Know that this may not help.....BUT your team played well against a ranked team in their home court, in spite of it all.  Hope the team learns from the experience and it becomes a "good loss?"
My other comment is....."been there, done that".....last year, I was sitting in the stands at F&M among the Amherst supporters watching the Amherst team play against the underdog F&M in the NCAA quarter finals.  I was looking forward to the possible matchup game with MIT the next day with the winner going to the Final 4.  It was not to be.....Amherst got behind at the half but we were still expecting a win.  Then the game slipped away as questionable calls against Amherst and for the opponent started to show up.  I complained on line and was chastised for it....expressing my free speech and all.  Still feel that games played in Lancaster have more "homer calls" at critical junctions.  Things like that always bring up the question of the quality of referees and the necessity of out of region refs in situations where there are clashes between teams from different "areas".  Another topic and no real solution since it will cost more.

amh63,

You are correct as usual.  Take it as a good loss, and yes the Warriors played pretty well.  Wish they could of hit a few more 3s, but I have to admit F/W has a great team and, and in particular, their defense, just hate to see the game get marred by bad officiating at a critical time.

[7express]

Halftime scores:

Western 32-22, USM 38-37 RIC 34-17 I believe.  No score from Eastern Plymouth

[7express]

Finals are in:  I'll have more when I get.  At Fridays watching part of this football game.

Western by 15(??), RIC by 14, Eastern beats Plymouth by 9 and USM (LOL) defeats Keene just like I said they would yesterday.  What a joke that Keene team is.  Complete waste of talent to have then giving up 90!!!!!!! at home to USM.  Western will beat Keene Tuesday.

[ECSUalum]

ECSU over Plymouth 73-63.  Game was close until the last 5 min, when ECSU pulled away.  PSU played very good defense and stats were generally even, except Eastern only shot 57% from the FT line . Eastern had lapses in defensive concentration at times, allowing Skevas, Burt and Roberts to penetrate for some easy layins, however Robitaille was fantastic, Tres Preston gave the team a couple of offensive boosts with steals/fast break lay-ups as well as some timely 3s. I'll tell you, for a 5'9'' guard, he is always in the fray on the defensive rebounds and gets his share!!! Salzillo started a bit cold then heated up to finally drive the dagger in with 5 min left.

Skevas, Roberts and Burt are very quick talented players.

Just goes to show that even though PSU has a relatively poor record, they and most LEC teams play conference gamewith a "take no prisoners" attitude.

[7express]

Sat Results:

USM 90 Keene 83.
The defense is terrible, the sub patterns are terrible, the coach isn't very good, but there has gotta be more to to this Keene team then what's on the surface.  This team is so bad that it can't be one of those things that's the root of their problems.  This is a USM that has won one conference game outside of Maine in the last 5 years!!!!!!!!!!!  And they did it against a team that was expected to romp through the conference.  I'm officially jumping ship, I'm done with them.  I think Western can finish with a better conference record then they can.
Western 57-44.
Wow Dartmouth is bad.  We didn't even play that well and we were still up by double digits the majority of the half after going up 10 at the break.  PLayed good defense, had some good passes in the paint for easy layups for Groski, Mayers, and JR Barnes, but really Dartmouth couldn't do anything.  They couldn't make layups, turned the ball over (only got credit for 9 but it seems like they had a lot more almost double that amount), and went about 9:30 in the first half with only 2 points and 1 basket which greatly contributed the 10 point halftime deficit.
RIC wins over Boston 63-49.
Teams combined for 43 fouls and 56 free throws of which the teams combined only made 35.  RIC was up 36-14 at halftime, so no matter how well Boston played in the 2nd it was pretty much over at halftime.
Eastern 73-63.
Petey Skevas has 13 points, and Alex Burt had 17 to lead the Panthers.  Chris Robitaile with 19, Trachone Preston with 16 and Brian Salzillo with 17 to lead Eastern.

Updated standings (through games on 1/5):
1) Southern Maine 8-5 (3-0)
2) Eastern 8-5 (2-1)
2) RIC 10-2 (2-1)
2) Keene 7-5 (2-1)
5) Boston 6-5 (1-2)
5) Western 3-9 (1-2)
5) Plymouth 2-9 (1-2)
8) Dartmouth 2-9 (0-3)
Raise your hand if you had Keene with a worse record then USM and only the 4th best record on January 4.

Next games on Tuesday, January 8:
Keene @ Western.  Will Keene want to play that game??
RIC @ USM.  Best game of the night.  Can USM keep it up??  Extremely tough to beat up there, especially a Tuesday night game against a team that has to travel that far.  And unlike the Saturday afternoon games where'd they go up the night before, RIC goes up that morning.
Dartmouth @ Eastern.  Once again, Eastern is involved in my worst game of the day.
Boston @ Plymouth.  The weirdest schedule in maybe LEC history.  They start the season with 4 straight road games and 5 of 6 on the road (Western, Keene, RIC, Plymouth and USM.  The game sandwiched between the Plymouth & USM road games is the conference home opener against Eastern on January 12), and end the season with 2 straight on the road (Dartmouth & Eastern).  In between they play the reamaining 6 LEC teams all at home in a single 6 game stretch.  I know each team plays 7 road & 7 home but usually it's more distributed then that and you hardly EVER see more then 3 straight at home or on the road and I've never seen a team play a stretch of 6 straight conference games at home.

[LECFAN32]

its amazing that western won that game while turning the ball over 24 times. there were some positives however

seeing a change in philosophy with the shift going to working the ball inside as a first priority, going forward this seems like a solid plan, mayers, groski, and even barnes are capable of finishing at the rim, and western has re-put in a triangle screen the screener set that led to layups and midrange jumpers for mark laporte, who has become comfortable in this system and is starting to contribute across the board.

terrible loss for keene, as usm does not play well away from home at all. dont understand the little things with colbert, you have the most physically talented big man in that part of the region yet you now bring him off the bench when wolcott is nowhere near capable? you may like the spark off the bench, but thats also 5-6 minutes where you lose that big option for your team. defensively its a struggle and it looks like its a combo of help defense, and rewarding guys with minutes even though they cant guard the ball.

some of these games are pretty ugly. the eastern/ f n m game was a breath of fresh air.

[7express]

LaPorte is starting to get more comfortable also because coach Campbell took him out of the PG spot, finally, so now LaPorte can concentrate on his game, who is a catch and shoot guy.   With the next 3 at home, hopefully they can put together a little run and save this season for coach Campbell who has NEVER had a losing season.  They have finished .500 a couple times, but never below .500.  But whenever I think their taking a step forward, they take 2 steps backwards, so I'm still holding my breath.  Think with the way Keene is playing Western can beat them, and hopefully beat Plymouth & Eastern at home, get Boston @ Dartmouth, and take a hot streak into RIC.  That'll definitely get us back in the race.