MBB: Little East

[7express]

Western leads Boston 41-33 at halftime.  First 8 or 9 minutes was atrocious, Beacons played a 2-3 zone and we played as if we had never seen a zone or 2-3 defense before but started to pull away towards the latter part of the half.  Gates, Starks, and Jimmy Luissant are killing the Beacons from the arc with this zone once they figured it out.

[7express]

Western wins in overtime 95-91.  Boston totally choked up 12 with 4 minutes left.  Besides their horrific free throw shooting they also couldn't run a press offense.  If they do one OR the other (either hit free throws at a greater then 65%) clip or can run a press offense, they win fairly easily.  It's a win but definitely not impressed.

[warriorcat]

Eastern Connecticut used a 22-10 run over a nine minute stretch in the middle of the second half to earn their fifth Conference win without a loss against Southern Maine this afternoon in Willimantic.  Although the final score was 69-59, USM did not quit and pressed the Warriors to play right up to the last minute.  Brian Salzillo led ECSU with 23 points.  Brian scored his 1000 career point in the first half.  It was fitting that he needed 15 points and he hit five three pointers to get the mark.  Congratulations to Brian.  He is certainly one of the premier three point shooters in Division 3.  Another player off the bench, Kevin Leumene, was a key player in today's win.  He finished with 17 points in 24 minutes which was necessary because Tra Preston had a rare off day today, 4 points on 2-11 shooting in 28 minutes..

[7express]

Saturday results:

Western over Boston 95-91 in overtime.  2 key numbers for Boston as to why they still sit at 0-5: 68.9%, & 34.  68.9% was their free throw percentage and they committed 34 turnovers.  In the car when I wrote my 2 sentence tidbit, when Boston was up 12 with 4 minutes left, they had about, literally, 8 straight possessions they turned it over in the back court.  I think they went about 1:50 of game time without advancing the ball past the midcourt stripe which is ridiculous.  And the thing I'll say for Western, and this is even going back to the DaQuan years, I know it's tough to get up for some games (and this was probably one of them), but why couldn't you play with the same intensity the first 36 minutes that they did the last 4??  If you come out with that same intensity the whole game, they win by 20 and don't have to squeak out a win with the Beacons turning the ball over everytime down the court and missing 15 free throws when they do get it in their end.  And another thing, why are we abandoning the press when we take the lead?!?!  Boston has shown for the last 2 minutes not only can they not break it, they can't even get it across halfcourt, so why put us in a halfcourt defense in a 1 point game when we just trimmed a 12 point deficit in 50 seconds by utilizing the trap while the Beacons had been killing them in the halfcourt the whole game.  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  At least make the Beacons prove to you they can beat it consistently before abandoning it.  Carl Joseph had a game high 23 points & 12 boards for Boston.  Ronnie Underwood lead Western with 22, including 2 free throws with 12 seconds left to force overtime.
RIC over Plymouth 58-41.  Austin Cilley lead RIC with 11; Petey Skevas had 12 for the Panthers who shot just 26.5%.
Dartmouth wins a high scoring game vs. Keene 103-90.  Nate Howard had 27 for Keene; Ryan Walsh had 29 for the Corsairs.  The second Corsairs player to record 29+ points this week after Tucker Bouchard put up 30 on Eastern Tuesday night.  Speaking of Bouchard he had another 20 point game as well.  In 3 games this week, Bouchard put up 57 points (30 vs. eastern, 7 vs. Curry, 20 vs. Keene) and Walsh put up 54 points (9 vs. Eastern, 16 vs. Curry, 29 vs. Keene).  Co-players of the week this week from the same team??  Has that ever happened before??
Eastern over USM 69-59.  Cole Libby had 20 for USM; Brian Salzillo had 23 for Eastern which included his 1,000th career point.  Congrats to him.

44-33 LEC: 678-28 me.

Standings:
1) Eastern 5-0 (11-4)
2) RIC 4-1 (10-5)
3) Dartmouth 3-2 (10-5)
3) Western 3-2 (10-4)
5) Keene 2-3 (5-9)
5) Plymouth 2-3 (8-7)
7) USM 1-4 (5-10)
8) Boston 0-5 (5-9)

Schedule:
Tuesday, January 21:
RIC @ Western 7:30
Dartmouth @ Boston 7:30
Plymouth @ USM 7:30
Keene @ Eastern 7:30

Thursday, January 23:
Western @ Western New England 7:00
Tufts @ Boston 7:00
Keene @ MCLA 7:00

Saturday, January 25:
Eastern @ RIC 3:00
USM @ Western 3:00
Plymouth @ Dartmouth 3:00
Boston @ Keene 3:00

[ECSUalum]

Coach Geitner on Hoopsvile tonight @7pm:

http://gowarriorathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/releases/hoopsville

[amh63]

Thanks ECSU...may even watch the show a bit.  Not too interested in the Football games....no coins put down.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

To expand upon ECSUalum's post...

Tonight's Hoopsville is set to air starting at 7 PM EST. Tune in to hear from Eastern Connecticut's Bill Geiner along with the following guests:

- #13 Augustana MBB coach Grey Giovanine
- Concordia (Wis.) WBB coach Stacey Brunner-Jones
- #20 Ferrum WBB coach Bryan Harvey
- Mary Hardin-Baylor MBB coach Ken DeWeese
- Staten Island MBB coach Tony Petosa

You can tune into Hoopsville on our website or here.

Also don't forget to interact with the show via:
- Twitter: @d3hoopsville or #Hoopsville
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hoopsville
- Email: hoopsville@d3hoops.com

And don't forget to consider helping Hoopsville. We have an ongoing fundraising campaign to help improve the show. For more information read our blog story or go to our fundraising website.

Thank you and enjoy the show!

[ECSUalum]

Thanks ECSU...may even watch the show a bit.  Not too interested in the Football games....no coins put down.

Thanks amh63,
Yeah, My daughter, (now a Los Angelina, but born and raised in CT), a huge Patriots fan, was at the game this afternoon.  I am normally a Giant fan... but will not go there ... so I of course was rooting for the Pats as well.  Payton Manning and the Broncos, a bit like Amherst MBB... are a machine that just executes very well, plays outstanding defense, and wears you down.

Thought Dave did a nice job with the interviews tonight, and it was nice Coach Geitner and the Warriors received some Hoopsville love   I also made a  contribution to D3Hoops (Hoopsville) tonight!

[amh63]

ECSU....nice wrt to the contribution.  Sorry for your daughter's team  ...not really.  When I discussed the football playoffs with the waiter serving us on Sat....I gave him the answer that I would prefer Denver.  Been in Denver and have seen the Stadium.....also my younger brother lives in Boulder with his family.  Still to be rational about it, it is a basically a Little Three football rivalry thing when it comes down to it....HFC and owner of the Patriots are Wesleyan and Williams graduates, while Peyton Manning's father sent up a OB to play at Amherst.  The player, the backup to the younger Manning QB for the Giants in high school in New Orleans.....wanted to play QB in college, while the Ivy schools wanted to make him a CB.  The young man played well as a starter for three years....three winning seasons for Amherst.  Truly a strange way to pick a NFL team, when you think about it.
Been thinking about making a contribution.....it will have to be at least 5th in my priority at present...Amherst, MIT, Family, and grandaughter.  Need to check my piggy bank

[AllStar]

Saturday results:

Western over Boston 95-91 in overtime.  2 key numbers for Boston as to why they still sit at 0-5: 68.9%, & 34.  68.9% was their free throw percentage and they committed 34 turnovers.  In the car when I wrote my 2 sentence tidbit, when Boston was up 12 with 4 minutes left, they had about, literally, 8 straight possessions they turned it over in the back court.  I think they went about 1:50 of game time without advancing the ball past the midcourt stripe which is ridiculous.  And the thing I'll say for Western, and this is even going back to the DaQuan years, I know it's tough to get up for some games (and this was probably one of them), but why couldn't you play with the same intensity the first 36 minutes that they did the last 4??  If you come out with that same intensity the whole game, they win by 20 and don't have to squeak out a win with the Beacons turning the ball over everytime down the court and missing 15 free throws when they do get it in their end.  And another thing, why are we abandoning the press when we take the lead?!?!  Boston has shown for the last 2 minutes not only can they not break it, they can't even get it across halfcourt, so why put us in a halfcourt defense in a 1 point game when we just trimmed a 12 point deficit in 50 seconds by utilizing the trap while the Beacons had been killing them in the halfcourt the whole game.  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  At least make the Beacons prove to you they can beat it consistently before abandoning it.  Carl Joseph had a game high 23 points & 12 boards for Boston.  Ronnie Underwood lead Western with 22, including 2 free throws with 12 seconds left to force overtime.
RIC over Plymouth 58-41.  Austin Cilley lead RIC with 11; Petey Skevas had 12 for the Panthers who shot just 26.5%.
Dartmouth wins a high scoring game vs. Keene 103-90.  Nate Howard had 27 for Keene; Ryan Walsh had 29 for the Corsairs.  The second Corsairs player to record 29+ points this week after Tucker Bouchard put up 30 on Eastern Tuesday night.  Speaking of Bouchard he had another 20 point game as well.  In 3 games this week, Bouchard put up 57 points (30 vs. eastern, 7 vs. Curry, 20 vs. Keene) and Walsh put up 54 points (9 vs. Eastern, 16 vs. Curry, 29 vs. Keene).  Co-players of the week this week from the same team??  Has that ever happened before??
Eastern over USM 69-59.  Cole Libby had 20 for USM; Brian Salzillo had 23 for Eastern which included his 1,000th career point.  Congrats to him.

44-33 LEC: 678-28 me.

Standings:
1) Eastern 5-0 (11-4)
2) RIC 4-1 (10-5)
3) Dartmouth 3-2 (10-5)
3) Western 3-2 (10-4)
5) Keene 2-3 (5-9)
5) Plymouth 2-3 (8-7)
7) USM 1-4 (5-10)
8) Boston 0-5 (5-9)

Schedule:
Tuesday, January 21:
RIC @ Western 7:30
Dartmouth @ Boston 7:30
Plymouth @ USM 7:30
Keene @ Eastern 7:30

Thursday, January 23:
Western @ Western New England 7:00
Tufts @ Boston 7:00
Keene @ MCLA 7:00

Saturday, January 25:
Eastern @ RIC 3:00
USM @ Western 3:00
Plymouth @ Dartmouth 3:00
Boston @ Keene 3:00

Man...I knew you were good at predictions...but that's ridiculous! 

[7express]

Tuesday predictions:

RIC 65 @ Western 67.
Can never seem to defeat RIC.  Last year in Western's 5-21 campaign they lost to RIC in 2 relatively close games.  In the game in Providence RIC won by 5, but trailed most of the second half and only 21 offensive rebounds was able to sneak out the win.  In the game in Danbury, Western had a lead as high as 9 in the second half, and only RIC free throws in the final minute made it a 9 point RIC win, as the game was a lot closer than the 9 points would indicate.  As I said last week vs. Keene, there are just some teams that have your number, and RIC is another team that has Western's number.  This is a start of 3 straight home games vs. RIC, USM & Eastern.  I think if Western wants to be taken seriously for the championship, they can't do any worse than 2-1 on this home stand, and they have a better chance at beating RIC than beating Eastern, imo.  RIC seems to turn it on this time of year, but this team hasn't looked as good as the RIC teams the last couple years.
Dartmouth 78 @ Boston 69.
Dartmouth beat them in Boston last year when Dartmouth sucked, and Boston was decent.  Boston may play well, but Dartmouth's talent gap vs. the Beacons gets the win.
Plymouth 67 @ USM 74.
USM is due for a win, they'll get it at home.
Keene 68 @ Eastern 81.
For as much success as Keene has had vs. Western, they've had an equally amount of failure against Easter.  Keene did win in the semifinals last year which ended a streak of something like 9 Eastern wins in the last 10 games of the series.  Eastern will look to start a new streak vs. the Owls.

Massey ratings:
Eastern 83-67 94%
RIC 75-71 64%
Dartmouth 83-75 78%
Plymouth 61-60 51%

[amh63]

See the RIC vs Western game is postponed!.....What's up with you all New Englanders   Middlebury traveled to RIC in a storm and played in a delayed game....5 plus hour trip.

[7express]

As Amh states Western RIC postponed to tomorrow.  Not sure of the other 3 games, I'm in class now but I'll check on them and post it here.
Boston Dartmouth still playing moved to 6.
And as Allstar stated, Keene/Western postponed today and made up tomorrow.
USM/Plymouth looks to be played as scheduled.

[AllStar]

Keene vs Eastern Connecticut doubleheader postponed to tomorrow.  Keene's game against MCLA will be moved from Thursday to some time in February.

[7express]

Dartmouth wins by 6 or so not sure of the final as I was eating dinner
USM up by 5 at the half.  Extended halftime in Gorham this evening as it's Gorham town night, and a bunch of elementary school kids are playing basketball.  I'll have full recap of both games when this game goes final.
USM up 65-64 3:07 left.  Plymouth is getting hosed in the foul department here, moving screens on Plymouth's end, no calls on the same plays on USM's end, but since it's in Maine it shouldn't be that surprising, should it??