MBB: Little East

[7express]

USM down by 4.  RIC with the benefit of another flipped call at a crucial moment, the breaks this team gets at the Murray Center is beyond ridiculous as they first called a blocking foul on Michael Palumbo with the Huskies down 2 than reversed it to an offensive foul on Conor Sullivan, then 30 seconds later Palumbo runs over Sullivan like a dump truck, but Sullivan is called for a block.  I don't get it 

[7express]

RIC, Eastern & Dartmouth are winners, Western up by 2.  RIC plays Dartmouth in the late game Friday, Eastern gets the Plymouth/Western winner in the first game Friday.

[ECSUalum]

UM Boston 21  ECSU 21 at the half

Both teams are playing poorly.  Ecsu was down by a many as 11 but they found a way to tie it late.  Trachone Preston leads the ECSU offense  with Salzillo 5 points 10 Garrow scoreless.  Sam Freeman is the high man for UMB with 9 pts.

Coach Geitner NOT a happy camper tonight in the post game interview!!!!!!!!!  Brian Salzillo I think is back, scored 19 tonight and had 4 or 5 3 pointers,  Garrow  with difficulties tonight!!  Preston played well and had 17 or so, (have not seen a final box score)

WCSU over Plymouth 61-60, so another interstate rivalry scheduled for Friday in Willi

[7express]

Eastern over Boston 61-55.  Sam Freeman lead the Beacons with 11, while Brian Salzillo had a game high 19 off the bench for Eastern, and Trachone Preston added 18. The Beacons may have finished winless in conference, but if I had to guess they were probably one of the better winless teams, and maybe even one of the better last place teams in recent years.  Once February rolled around, they could've pitched up the tent and gone home, but as RIC (won by 5), Plymouth (won by 1), Western (won by 4) and Eastern (won by 6) saw they competed down to the final seconds and weren't going to lay down for anyone.
RIC over USM 74-66.  RIC placed 4 starters in double figures lead by Chris Burton's 14.  Tyler Penney lead the Huskies with 23, and Conor Sullivan finished with 9 in his final career game.
Western survives Plymouth 61-60.  Crazy ending!  Phil Starks had 14 to lead the Colonials, but had 9 or 10 of the 14 in the first half, while Petey Skevas had 17 in his final game for the Panthers, and Curtis Arsenault also added 17.  Up 1 with 17 seconds to play, Derek McIntyre fouled Arsenault who made 1-2 free throws to tie the game at 60.  On the other end, McIntyre rebounded on a Joe Groski missed shot and got fouled himself with 2 seconds to play and made the first free throw to put Western back up 1.  He missed the second, Arsenault rebounded the miss, and heaved one from half court that just missed.
Dartmouth over Keene 81-68.  Nate Howard had 16 to lead Keene, while Abi Akanni and Tucker Bouchard each had 18 for the Corsairs and Wale Abraham had 11 points and 18 rebounds.

So, that sets the semifinals.
#4 Western @ #1 Eastern will be one semifinal and #2 RIC vs. #3 Dartmouth will be the other.  Both games are at Eastern.  Times are still TBA, but I believe it's 5:30 & 7:30 with Eastern/Western being the first game of the day.  Since that will draw the bigger crowd, I don't know why'd they make it the first game and make RIC/Dartmouth the undercard, but the home team plays first.

103-39 and a +1 for the under 187 in the Keene/Dartmouth game.

[Bengalsrule]

Congrats ECSUalum, and Eastern Conn, on a good playoff win tonight!!

[AllStar]

USM down by 4.  RIC with the benefit of another flipped call at a crucial moment, the breaks this team gets at the Murray Center is beyond ridiculous as they first called a blocking foul on Michael Palumbo with the Huskies down 2 than reversed it to an offensive foul on Conor Sullivan, then 30 seconds later Palumbo runs over Sullivan like a dump truck, but Sullivan is called for a block.  I don't get it 

Man.  That's surprising.

[ECSUalum]

Congrats ECSUalum, and Eastern Conn, on a good playoff win tonight!!

Thanks my friend, however the game ECSU played last night was sort of ugly.  But... at least Salzillo seems back to condition.
Bengals had a good season, hope they have a great recruiting year for 2014-15

[7express]

Semifinals predictions:

#4 Western @ #1 Eastern.
Let's play 1 more time in the tournament!  The third time in the last 4 years Eastern & Western are meeting in the tournament.  Since that Eastern semifinal win in the 2011 tournament, the Warriors have won 7 of 8 games in the series, with the lone Western win being the Robinson-Brooks winner that made the D-3 recap back in February of 2012.  Since that game, Eastern has a 5-0 series lead.  Eastern swept the season series winning by 12 in Danbury and by 15 in Willimantic where this game will be.  Tough to beat a good team 3 times in 1 season as 2011 proved when Western swept the regular season series, but Eastern got them in the tournament this year, but at home with Eastern playing for a chance to host in the NCAAs (since they'll probably be in regardless of whether they win the LEC tournament), they'll get the 3rd win over Western and the second straight 3-0 season sweep of Western after doing it last year.  The oddsmakers have made the Warriors a big 9.5 point favorite.  I'll take the Warriors with the win, but the Colonials with the points.  One team might pull away in the final 7 or 8 minutes, but for the first 30 or so, it's usually close.  Eastern 83-76

#2 RIC vs. #3 Dartmouth (@ Eastern).
They split during the regular season with RIC winning by 6 at home and Dartmouth by 12 at home.  Not much difference between the 2 seed and the 3 seed and on a neutral court between the 2, the better team usually wins whether it be the 2 seed or the 3 seed.  I still think Dartmouth is the better team and I'd probably take the Corsairs in a 7, 10, 20, or 100 game series, but with a winner-take-all, win-or-go-home game I'll take the team coached by Bob Walsh.  The game plan he comes up will neutralize any advantage the Corsairs may have, and he's only lost in the LEC tourney like 3 or 4 times since he's been at RIC.  The numbers speak for themselves.  If I were Eastern fans/students I'd be rooting hard for Dartmouth, because I'd much rather have them in the finals (a young team that hasn't been in this spot in 4 or 5 years, vs. a team with an expierenced coach with success in LEC championship games).  I think Eastern will beat them both in the end anyhow, but imo, Eastern has an "easier" time with Dartmouth and I put easier in quotes because no game in the LEC will be easy.  If Western somehow beats Eastern, I'll be rooting pretty hard for Dartmouth too, because I'll want no part of RIC.  This game is listed as a pick 'em.  RIC 73-70

[Bengalsrule]

Congrats ECSUalum, and Eastern Conn, on a good playoff win tonight!!

Thanks my friend, however the game ECSU played last night was sort of ugly.  But... at least Salzillo seems back to condition.
Bengals had a good season, hope they have a great recruiting year for 2014-15

Good luck tonight vs. W. Conn. Hopefully your home crowd can be the 6th man!

And thanks!!

[ECSUalum]

Congrats ECSUalum, and Eastern Conn, on a good playoff win tonight!!

Thanks my friend, however the game ECSU played last night was sort of ugly.  But... at least Salzillo seems back to condition.
Bengals had a good season, hope they have a great recruiting year for 2014-15

Good luck tonight vs. W. Conn. Hopefully your home crowd can be the 6th man!

And thanks!!

Thanks Bengal, you, Buffalo St and the SUNYAC class acts!!!  About 1500 sixth men and women tonight at Francis Geissler Gym!!!!

Stats on ECSU vs WCSU:
                     Wcsumb   Ecsumb
Field goals   27-76 35.5%   28-54 51.9%
3-point FGs 7-19 36.8%   11-23 47.8%
Free throws 14-18 77.8%   21-26 80.8%
Reb (O-D)   37 (20-17)   39 (9-30)
Turnovers         8                 16
Last FG       2nd-00:29   2nd-02:53
Large lead 3 (1st-14:45)   18 (2nd-14:

Salzillo, Preston, Garrow 19, 24, 21 pts resp  Lindo 17 boards!!!!
16 TOs = too many   Need to continue to work on response to full court press.

[amh63]

ECSU....nice solid win overall.  Go Warriors!  Both teams hot from outside in first half.  Watch most of the 2nd half as your team held a steady 8-10 point lead.  Like the little guard and Lindo. His block was Not a goal tending call.  In D3, his effort racing down the court and block should be rewarded in a judgement call at the least.

[ECSUalum]

ECSU....nice solid win overall.  Go Warriors!  Both teams hot from outside in first half.  Watch most of the 2nd half as your team held a steady 8-10 point lead.  Like the little guard and Lindo. His block was Not a goal tending call.  In D3, his effort racing down the court and block should be rewarded in a judgement call at the least.

Thanks Amh63,
Except for TOs ECSU did play a solid game.  very good stats!!
Good Luck to the Lord Jeffs in upcoming NESCAC finals

[ECSUalum]

Baptiste and UMD just did not show up tonight. Baptiste with no time outs after RIC runs.  Why don't you hand the game to RIC on a silver platter?  Horrible game!!  70-54 RIC with 5 min left

[7express]

Baptiste and UMD just did not show up tonight. Baptiste with no time outs after RIC runs.  Why don't you hand the game to RIC on a silver platter?  Horrible game!!  70-54 RIC with 5 min left

Maybe he forgot the rules and thinks the timeouts carry over into next year??

[7express]

Friday results:

Eastern over Western 88-75.  Joe Groski had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Tony Seldon had 19 points for the Colonials who end their season at a respectable 17-9.  After getting picked to finish 7th in the preseason, the fact they made it to the semifinals should be applauded, and with the majority of the team coming back (graduate Derek McIntyre & Joe Setaro), along with an influx of young underclassmen (Bobby Bynum & Kendall Marquez are freshmen, Phil Starks & Ronnie Underwood are only sophmores) the future is bright for the Colonials.  It's too late now, but I wish they would've declared for the ECAC's.  As I said, this was a very young team, so giving them a couple extra games and practices against a team like WPI, Springfield, Bowdoin, Tufts, MIT, Johnson & Wales, St. Joseph's (ME) would be incredibly beneficial.  For the Warriors, the big 3 lead the charge, and will have to lead the charge tomorrow if they want to take the NCAA fate out of their hands and control it themselves: Salzillo had 19, Preston with 24 & Garrow with 21.   Western outshot Eastern 76-54 from the field, partly because of 20 offensive rebounds and they turned Eastern over 16 times.
RIC over Dartmouth 82-69.  Abi Akanni lead Dartmouth with 17 who finished their season 16-11.  Chris Burton and Tom DeCiantis each had 18 for RIC while DeCiantis pulled down 10 rebounds.

105-39.

Saturday schedule:
#2 RIC @ #1 Eastern 5 PM

#2 RIC @ #1 Eastern.
These were the 2 best teams in the conference by 500 miles this year, so only fitting and only right that they play 1 more time for the hardware.  The Warriors win @ RIC in the end of January basically ended the conference race, and Eastern has kept on winning since putting themselves in great position to make the NCAA tournament, and potentially even host the first 2 rounds with another win over RIC.  RIC's has had an up-and-down season, and with them being #10 in the regional rankings, their only way into the dance and continue their season is by winning this game: Bob Walsh will have them ready, but I don't think their talented enough to win @ Eastern.  I'm always weary of the "beating a team 3 times in 1 season" theory, but from what I saw with my own two eyes @ RIC 4 weeks ago, there's a talent gap between the 2 teams that coaching and game planning can't overcome.  The Warriors have opened as a 5.5 point favorite which I think seems about appropriate.  They won by 3 in Willimantic and won by 15 in Providence, I'm thinking it's somewhere between the 2.  Eastern 75-68