MBB: Little East

[7express]

They have to get through a tough Morrisville team on Saturday.  Let's win that, then we can argue about who should be hosting.  Can't overlook ANY opponents this time of year, even a team out of the NEAC.

[Argylebballer]

I agree 7express, first lets just win this weekend. But I will say the region RIC comes from is a far better region. I guarantee that Alverina would not be #1 in a New England region.
All that being said the best part of March is that for all we know, St. Marrys could end up hosting Morrisville....

[7express]

I agree 7express, first lets just win this weekend. But I will say the region RIC comes from is a far better region. I guarantee that Alverina would not be #1 in a New England region.
All that being said the best part of March is that for all we know, St. Marrys could end up hosting Morrisville....

Exactly!  I don't think anyone would have predicted RIC hosting Morrisville last Monday, and hell Hobart was only a couple possessions away from hosting Morrisville which would have been even less likely.  That's what makes this time of year so exciting.

[7express]

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

And +K to you as well Alum, I'll see you over on the baseball board in the spring.  Not as much info as basketball, but I'll do my best.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

I agree 7express, first lets just win this weekend. But I will say the region RIC comes from is a far better region. I guarantee that Alverina would not be #1 in a New England region.
All that being said the best part of March is that for all we know, St. Marrys could end up hosting Morrisville....

I don't disagree that Alvernia would not be #1 in the Northeast Region, but their criteria would probably put them ahead of RIC if ranked in the same region.

[ECSUalum]

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

And +K to you as well Alum, I'll see you over on the baseball board in the spring.  Not as much info as basketball, but I'll do my best.

7,
51 karma points is a nifty total for someone only 2 years on the D-III boards, people are liking what you say!!!!!
Thanks for your kind comments, will be looking forward to a good WCSU baseball season.  Coach Holowaty and Eastern has had all kinds of trouble with Western over the years!!

[7express]

Morrisville @ RIC.

As I said earlier in the week, can never take anything lightly, but I like this matchup better then Ramapo.  Morrisville was able to put up 80+ on Ramapo last night, but they may struggle to get even half of that total against RIC.  As long as RIC doesn't look past them, and are getting it on the defensive end, they should get this W by 10+.
RIC 72-59

[Argylebballer]

Yeah this Morrisville team is better than they look at first glance, Ramapo can tell ya that. But I expect Coach Walsh to have the team ready and focused. If RIC plays their game (Tough D and a balanced Off) they win.
I say RIC 71-62

[amh63]

Argy.....expect/hope RIC to win today at home.....but your prediction puzzles me a little.  Coach Walsh has often stated that if an opponent scores over 50 points, RIC is in trouble.....RIC is not an offensive power.....71 points and giving up 62.  You expect a "shoot out" win?

[ECSUalum]

Article on Jamie Kohn  playing in England:
http://nutmeg.easternct.edu/mt-static/athletics/2013/03/former-eastern-basketball-standout-jamie-kohn-still-rolling-overseas.html

[AllStar]

RIC/Morrisville State going to overtime tied 51-51.  Anchormen offense has been bad tonight, just as it was vs. Hobart.  Morrisville killing themselves with atrocious free throw shooting.

[AllStar]

RIC loses 66-61 in OT to Morrisville State.

[7express]

As Allstar stated, RIC loses to Morrisville 66-61.  Impressed with Morrisville, they lead for the majority of the game, and even late in the second half where they went into a 5 or 6 minute scoring drought which allowed RIC to take the lead and go up as many as 6 with less then 2 minutes to play, they hung with it, got a couple turnovers and a couple 3's which forced overtime.   I think their going to be a tough out for St. Mary's next week, even down in Maryland.  And for as good as RIC's defense is their offense is just as bad if not worse.  You have to score some points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have to wonder what effect, if any, having a healthy Nyheem Sanders (he left early in the 2nd with a face injury) and a Michael Palumbo (left late in the 2nd with a knee injury) would have had, but really you have to put points on the point.  They had 2 points at the 9:50 mark, that's not going to get it done come tournament time.  Since the LEC is going into baseball season now, it doesn't matter if your pitcher throws a no hitter every game you have to at least put up 1 run to get the win.  It doesn't matter that RIC is the conference leader in points allowed, and second in the country in FG percentage SCORE.SOME.POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully I'll see some of these posters on the baseball board later in the spring I'll be back in the next week or so to make my offseason preview.

[7express]

Everyone go vote for Tahrike Carter in the D3 Hoops poll.  Voting ends at noon Wednesday.

[wcsu91]

Western CT 2013-2014 Men's Schedule is up on their web site.