MBB: Little East

[7express]

Warriorcat or Allstar: Either of you going to be up @ the Keene game today??  I'll probably end up heading up there tonight.

[warriorcat]

Sorry.  I can not make it.  I will be watching on line. 

I hope to be at the Springfield game next Tuesday. 

[amh63]

Thanks for the heads up 7 express.  May tune in on the Keene state game or the WPI early game tonight. 
Doing some early planning...maybe catch a game at WConn in Danbury this year.  My two sons have moved up in the area...one in Patterson, NY.  Maybe we can watch a game in Danbury with my Younger son who enjoys MBB.  Had a quick dinner at the Blue Diner in Newtown, Exit 10 off of 84 last Thursday with my wife.  We were on our way up for Homecoming at Amherst..the whole family "mob" was gathering.  Oh yes, got to chat with some of the Amherst MBB players and coaches.  Seems the team wants to return to the Final 4 again.

[ECSUalum]

76-62 WPI over ECSU.  Don't have the stats, however, Eastern's low shooting % (ie too many missed layups), together with WPI shooting +/- 70% from three point range sunk the Warriors.  Freshman Carlos Gonzalez looked good on defense, Tarchee Brown led ECSU with 21, but he had a slow start in the 1st period.  Hugh Lindo made some nice blocks and I think led in the RB column. Kendal Marquz made a couple nice 3s from deep but looks a little rusty. Overall, ECSU dominated by WPI from the start!! WPI is a well coached, well conditioned, excellent shooting basketball team who should do well this year.

[warriorcat]

Nice win for Keene tonight 87-60 over So. Vermont. Keene led by 5 at the half before turning on the defensive intensity in the second 20 minutes. Ty Nichols was the player of the game leading all scorers with 28 pts. Jeff Lunn added 21 against an undersized but athletic SVC squad. The owls out rebounded SVC 54-40 and held them to 33% shooting from the field. Keene travels to New York this weekend to play Hartwick and Oneonta St. 

[AllStar]

Tuesday results:

UMass-Boston took care of Mitchell 85-72.  The Mariners led 33-32 at the half, but Boston used a 53-39 second half to win.  Sam Freeman scored 29 points (14-of-19 shooting) and Alex Sanchez scored 16.  Michael Sanders was 4-for-4 from three off the bench, scoring 12.  The Beacons made just 12-of-22 free throws.  Not sure you can take much from this result since Mitchell is probably mediocre at best.

WPI beat Eastern Connecticut 76-62.  The Engineers were led by Ian Converse (19 points) and Jake Wisniewski (14 points).  Sean Doncaster chipped in 10.  WPI shot a sizzling 11-of-16 from three, but only 13-of-23 from the free throw line.  Go figure.  ECSUalum already touched upon this game.

Salem State handled UMass-Dartmouth rather easily, 89-73.  The Vikings led 45-34 at halftime and were never significantly threatened in the 2nd half.  Shaquan Murray scored 22 points for Salem (10-of-19 shooting), while Alexander Santos and Marcus Faison each scored 20.  Atakan Akcam and Nick Portelance each scored 14 for UMass-Dartmouth, who will need way more than 13 points from its bench if it is to be successful after losing Jordan Rezendes.

Rhode Island College rallied from six down in the final 1:30 to stun Fitchburg State 68-66 at the buzzer.  Newcomer Benjamin Vezele scored the final six points for the Anchormen, including the buzzer-beating layup off a miss by Kevin Justinien.  Fitchburg State led by 16 points in the first half, but started caving before halftime, as the Anchormen trimmed the deficit to five at the break.  Vezele led the Anchormen with 16 points.  Jimmy Fritzson scored 14, but was 3-of-12 shooting threes.  Jaleel Bell scored nearly half of the Falcons' points, as he put up a 30 point, 11 rebound double-double.  The rest of his team only managed 36 points.

Keene State used a 47-25 second half to beat Southern Vermont 87-60.  Ty Nichols scored 28 points for the Owls on 10-of-14 shooting, while Jeff Lunn scored 21.  Dizel Wright was rusty in his first game back from last year's injury.  Matt Ozzella had 15 rebounds.  Keene did some good things, but also learned things to work on.  They had 22 turnovers and shot 48% overall, but just 5-of-20 from three.  The turnovers and shooting will have to improve in future games.  Rayshawn Taylor scored 16 points for Southern Vermont and Nate Goldsmith added 14, but the Mountaineers were outrebounded 54-40.  Warriorcat touched on this game already. 

Southern Maine fended off University of New England 76-67.  Zach Leal scored 25 points and James Starks III had 21 points and 16 rebounds for the Huskies.  Southern Maine was just 3-of-22 from three in the contest.  Jean-Luc Parker scored 16 for the Nor'easters, who tied the game at 65 with 3:52 left, but managed only two points the rest of the way.

Plymouth State beat up on a mightily struggling Rivier team, 84-60.  Ernie Johnson, Curtis Arsenault and Jack Preston all had 14 points for the Panthers, who played 17 players in the blowout.  Plymouth dominated the glass against the Raiders 47-28.  Tristian Givens had 17 points for Rivier, but was just 7-of-19 shooting.  The Raiders will likely be a bottom-feeding GNAC team again this season.

The next game in the LEC is Thursday, when Plymouth has their home opener against Norwich.

[7express]

6-1 to start off for me Tuesday and 5-2 for the conference in the early going.

Thursday's lone game has Plymouth hosting Norwich.  The Panthers are a big 14.5 point favorite, and much like Tuesday, I think they'll cruise to an 89-71 victory.

[7express]

Plymouth with a closer than expected 67-60 win over Norwich Thursday.  Brings me to 7-1 and the conference to 6-2.  Onto Friday:

Sage (+13) @ Eastern.  I'll take Eastern 67-60
Southern Maine (+7.5) @ Wesleyan.  I'll go Wesleyan 72-60.  Tough trip from Maine and Wesleyan is a good team.
Trinity (-3.5) @ Dartmouth.  Corsairs get lucky as this is the Batams first game of the year while the Corsairs got theirs out of the way Tuesday, but still think Trinity wins, but I'll take them by less than 3; 69-67
Clark (+1) vs. RIC (@ Roger Williams).  Tough on here as both got upset wins last time out.  RIC beat the better MASCAC team, but Clark won on the road.  Since the Clark win over Worcester was a rivalry game, throw that out and I'll take the Anchormen 67-65
Western (-13) vs. Haverford (@ Lycoming).  Western should win, but 13 points playing in the middle of Pennsylvania (I think Lycoming is in Williamsport, famous for the Little League World Series host) and the first game of the season is too much to risk, so I'll take them 87-79.
Keene (+2.5) @ Hartwick.  Even though they are #19 in the country, and Hartwick didn't even receive a single vote in the preseason top 25 poll, the oddsmakers don't like them.....and neither do I!  Hartwick with the "upset" (if you can even call it that) 74-78.

[ECSUalum]

Willimantic native Kendal Marquez came off the bench working 26 min and shooting 8 for12 from the field, 4 for 8 from the arc and a perfect 6-6 on the FT line to lead all players with 27 points, and Eastern  to an 87-70 victory over the Sage Colleges at Geissler gym.  Hugh Lindo electrified the crowd with another one of his signature slam dunks, leaving the floor at about the Free throw line.  That was followed by a Tarchee Brown dunk immediately after.  Sage actually closed the lead to 12 points 3/4 of the way through the 2nd half with Eastern bench players in the game, but ECSU pulled away for the final margin down the home stretch.  Eastern led by as much as 25 points midway through the 1st half.   
Huge Lindo had 9 pts, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots, Tyrell Arnem had 13 pts and David Canny and Carlos Gonzalez contributed 10 a piece.  Marcus Patterson led Sage with 22 with Wayne Weir and Fran Larose contributing15 and 10 pts resp.  Sage pressed the Warriors  the entire game but Eastern handled it w/o problems.  Tarchee Brown had a sub par game only adding 6 points in 19 minutes, however, I noticed his wrist was taped which was the result of an injury he picked up @ WPI. The game was fast paced and at times a bit sloppy on both sides.  Eastern complete bench saw at least a couple of minutes of action.  Middlebury was dominating Salem St the first half so its likely ECSU and Middlebury will play tomorrow for the Tip Off Championship game at 3 pm. I will be in attendance

[7express]

Eastern, Dartmouth (OT), RIC, Western & Keene won 5 games for the conference, while USM @ Wesleyan was the lone loser.  5-1 day for the conference brings them to 11-3 and my total record to 11-3.  Now onto Saturday:

Middlebury (-4) @ Eastern Connecticut.  Eastern will see the upper echelon NESCAC teams this year, and coach Geitner and staff should have a pretty good idea who will be top dog by the 2nd week of January.  They have this game and then regularly scheduled games vs. Williams & Amherst already on the schedule, all 3 of whom should be contenders in the CAC.  Middlebury will have the best player on the court Saturday afternoon in Matt St. Amour (for those who haven't seen him, he's really, really good) so tough to pick against Middlebury.  I'll go Panthers 76-65
Wheaton (MA) (+2) vs. USM (@ Wesleyan).  Wheaton beat Dean by 12 and lost by 15 to WNEU, at least the Huskies should head back to Maine with a 1-1 split in CT; USM 65-58
Western (+5.5) @ Lycoming.  Lycoming is 2-0 clobbering Schuylkill who is a USCAA school, and beating Fredonia who hasn't ended the season with a winning record since 2009.  Lycoming, even though were only 19-10 overall and 8-8 in the conference received 42 votes in the preseason top 25 poll.  On the road will be tough for the Colonials, but I'll pick them for Saturday's "upset" special after Friday's failed miserably.  Western 85-83
RIC (+3.5) @ Roger Williams.  Usually they are on the schedule since they are only about 20 or 30 miles (if even that) from each other, but this year they are just meeting in the RWU tournament after both teams won Saturday.  RWU 73-68
Keene (+1) vs. Oneonta (@ Hartwick).  This is technically a "neutral court" game though should be pro Oneonta as both Oneonta & Hartwick are located in Oneonta, NY, but it isn't a true road game, and Hartwick seemed like the better of the 2 teams they played, so I'll take Keene for the easy money 78-71.
Bowdoin (+3.5) @ Dartmouth.  Toss up for me, both won games I probably didn't think they'd win as Bowdoin won a close one over Southern Vermont in the first game Saturday.  Dartmouth 81-80

[AllStar]

Expanding a bit on Friday's results:

Eastern Connecticut raced out to a 52-30 halftime lead and pounded Sage 87-70.  Kendall Marquez scored 26 points off the bench for the Warriors, who led by 25 in the 1st half.  Marcus Patterson led the Gators with 22 points, 14 coming at the foul line.  He also had 10 rebounds.  This game featured a whopping 51 fouls called.  ECSU plays No. 24 Middlebury tomorrow.

Wesleyan used a big second half to run away from Southern Maine, 84-63.  Salim Green led the Cardinals with 21 points off the bench, while Joseph Kuo and Kevin O'Brien each scored 15.  Wesleyan held a gigantic 58-29 lead on the glass over Southern Maine, who shot just 32% for the game.  Zach Leal led the Huskies with 18 points and Jacob Littlefield added 14.  Southern Maine plays the consolation against Wheaton tomorrow, while Wesleyan will get Western New England.

UMass-Dartmouth rebounded from being handled easily by Salem State to win a wild overtime affair with Trinity, 83-76.  Five Corsairs were in double-figures, led by Jon Robinson's 17 points.  Nick Portelance scored 15 and Atakan Akcam 14.  The Corsairs benefited from 29 Bantam turnovers and built a 17-point lead in the first half, but Trinity roared back and actually led by 6 with 2:30 left, but UMD rallied.  The Corsairs began overtime on an 11-2 run to take a 79-70 lead, and hung on from there.  Ed Ogundeko scored 25 points for Trinity, but missed what would have been a go-ahead free throw in the final seconds of regulation (the only one he missed of the six he took in the game).  Jeremy Arthur added 20 points for the Bantams, who will play Southern Vermont in the consolation.  The Mountaineers fell 74-71 to Bowdoin.  UMass-Dartmouth gets the Polar Bears in the championship game of the Hampton Inn Tournament.

RIC racked up 55 points in the 2nd half and came back to beat Clark 85-78.  The Cougars led by 17 points in the 1st half and by 10 at halftime, but the Anchormen shot a sizzling 21-for-31 in the 2nd half to rally.  Roosevelt Shider and Chris Donaldson each scored 21 to lead Rhode Island College.  16 of Shider's points came in the 2nd half.  Lamar Berk and John Pisacreta (5-of-8 from three) each scored 15 for Clark.  I believe the Anchormen get host Roger Williams on Saturday.

Interim coach Jason Harlow got his first win with Western Connecticut as the Colonials pulled away from a pesky Haverford team, 78-67.  Jauch Green scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Colonials.  Rashard Rodriguez had 15 points.  Joe Scibelli led the Fords with 27 points and 12 rebounds.  Western Connecticut will play Lycoming in the championship game tomorrow.  The Warriors ran up 65 1st half points in a 111-81 win over USCAA Penn State-Schuylkill on Friday, though the Colonials will pose much more of a challenge than what Lycoming got from Schuylkill.

Keene State used a 22-9 run in the 2nd half to pull away from Hartwick, 79-63.  Ty Nichols scored 18 points to lead the Owls.  Dizel Wright added 16 points and Matt Ozzella had 13 points and 13 rebounds.  The Owls got bench contributions from Damonte Turner (11 points) and Jaquel Edwards (10 points).  Keene outrebounded the Hawks 56-36.  Hartwick was led by Brandon LaForest's 19 points, while Joey Lufkin added 17, but the Hawks were limited to 26% shooting in the 2nd half.  Keene State plays Oneonta State tomorrow, while Hartwick plays SUNY-Cobleskill in the second game of the predetermined matchups.

[AllStar]

Saturday results:

Southern Maine won a wild FIVE overtime affair over Wheaton (MA) 131-125.  James Starks III had 30 points (9-of-20 shooting) and 18 rebounds in 62 (!) minutes for the Huskies, who improved to 2-1 and won the consolation game of the tournament at Wesleyan.  Zach Leal added 21 points for USM.  Timothy Berry scored 27 points for Wheaton, while Quinton Dale had 16 points and 18 rebounds.  The Lyons outrebounded Southern Maine a whopping 75-54, but were hurt by making just 30 of 51 free throws.  Wheaton trailed for most of the second half, but got a buzzer-beating three from Ryan Fogarty to send it to the first overtime.  The Lyons had plenty of chances to ice the game with a lead in the second overtime, but couldn't and Bryon McMillian hit a three to force a third OT.  USM finally sealed the game with a James Lathrop (who only played 10 minutes) three with 17 seconds left in the 5th overtime that made it 130-125.  The Huskies travel to play Bates on Tuesday, while Wheaton has a home game against Roger Williams.

Keene State got 22 points from Dizel Wright and 21 from Ty Nichols in a 104-90 win over Oneonta State.  The Owls trailed 56-53 at halftime, but outscored the Red Dragons 51-34 in the second half.  Keene State outrebounded Oneonta 39-29 and had a big 64-36 advantage in points in the paint.  The Owls trailed 65-59 early in the second half, but used a 19-4 run to turn the game around and take a 78-69 lead.  Lawrence Coleman scored 26 points for the Red Dragons and Mikey McElroy had 18 (4-of-6 from three).  Both teams shot the ball well.  Keene State shot 59%, while Oneonta State shot 51%, including 9-of-19 from deep.  Keene State hosts Springfield on Tuesday.  Oneonta State goes to Pittsford, NY to play St. John Fisher on the same day.

Middlebury used big games from Matt St. Amour (22 points) and Zach Baines (15 points, 12 rebounds) to beat Eastern Connecticut 83-74.  The Panthers trailed 38-37 at halftime, but outscored ECSU 46-36 in the second half.  Middlebury shot 50% overall, including 6-of-12 from three.  Eastern also shot the ball well from deep (8-of-12), but shot 42% overall.  Hugh Lindo led the Warriors with 19 points and 15 rebounds.  Tarchee Brown came off the bench (?) to score 12 points and Jaysen Nunez had 10.  Eastern Connecticut will host another NESCAC foe, Connecticut College on Tuesday.  Middlebury has their home opener against a New Paltz team that is struggling mightily on the same day.

All five starters scored in double-figures for Lycoming as the Warriors beat Western Connecticut 103-90.  Nyk King had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Lycoming, while Alex Newbold also had 15 points.  The Warriors shot 54% overall and had a wide 40-21 advantage in free throws attempted.  Tre'Von Perry scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting for Western, while Bobby Bynum had 17 points.  Elias Rodriguez had 13 points off the bench, but the Colonials were hurt by 26 turnovers.  Lycoming had 24 turnovers themselves in what seemed to be a rather sloppy affair.  Western Connecticut will have their home opener on Tuesday against Dean College, while Lycoming will travel to play Susquehanna.

Austin Coene and Andrew Wasik combined for 52 points as Roger Williams pummeled Rhode Island College 91-62.  The Hawks led 51-31 at halftime and were never threatened in the second half.  The Anchormen were coming off two wins to open the season (over Fitchburg State and Clark), but were blown off the floor by RWU.  Justin Campbell had 13 points for Rhode Island College, while Benjamin Vezele and Jimmy Fritzson had 12.  The Anchormen shot just 35% in the contest.  Rhode Island College will host Bridgewater State on Tuesday evening.  3-0 Roger Williams will travel to Wheaton (MA) on the same day.

UMass-Dartmouth had all five starters score in double-figures and erased an eight point halftime deficit to beat Bowdoin 93-84.  The host Corsairs won their own Hampton Inn Classic.  Chris Mendes led UMass-Dartmouth with 18 points, while Jon Robinson and Nick Portelance each had 17.  The Corsairs benefited from a 39-24 advantage on the boards and 36-20 on points in the paint.  UMD trailed by nine with 15 minutes left, but turned it around and had their largest lead of 10 with 4:19 remaining.  Jack Simonds had 29 points on 8-of-19 shooting for Bowdoin.  Tim Ahn added 13 points.  The Corsairs do not play again until after Thanksgiving, when they travel to Brandeis on the 29th.  Bowdoin goes to Biddeford and will play struggling University of New England on Tuesday.

[middhoops]

Eastern Connecticut has a very difficult early season schedule.  WPI, Middlebury, Amherst, Williams and more.  NESCAC schools, other than maybe Tufts, try to play easy OOC games to minimize losses in hopes of grabbing an at-large berth come tourney time.
Midd fans were highly impressed by the Warriors.  Hugh Lindo is a nightmare to play against.  Great athlete, incredible hustle, an all round disruptive force.  A D1 calibur athlete.
Tarchee Brown only played at the end of the game against Middlebury.  Good thing for the visitors because as good as our back court is at defending 3 pt shooting, he can move back and shoot over anyone at this level.  An elite scorer.
Eastern will be ready for league play, to put it mildly, after the meat grinder schedule of November and December.  Good luck to their players, coaches and fans.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern Connecticut has a very difficult early season schedule.  WPI, Middlebury, Amherst, Williams and more.  NESCAC schools, other than maybe Tufts, try to play easy OOC games to minimize losses in hopes of grabbing an at-large berth come tourney time.
Midd fans were highly impressed by the Warriors.  Hugh Lindo is a nightmare to play against.  Great athlete, incredible hustle, an all round disruptive force.  A D1 calibur athlete.
Tarchee Brown only played at the end of the game against Middlebury.  Good thing for the visitors because as good as our back court is at defending 3 pt shooting, he can move back and shoot over anyone at this level.  An elite scorer.
Eastern will be ready for league play, to put it mildly, after the meat grinder schedule of November and December.  Good luck to their players, coaches and fans.

Middhoops, +k...Thanks for those kind words re ECSU.  Obviously, coming from a class act!!  Of course Middlebury has always had an excellent basketball team, playing in the premier, (IMHO), conference in the US.   Looking at the roster I noticed most of your players were recruited primarily from the Northeast...impressive!! I know, for example, Amherst players come from all over the US!   Hopefully the Warriors will/have earn/ed another game with the Panthers in the NCAAs and/or perhaps next year in VT. My college room mate's father was a Middlebury alum and he took us up there to his old frat house to stay and go skiing!!  What a trip that was     BTW, Did you get a chance to eat/drink at Willimantic Brewing Co?  Hope you liked it if you did!!

[middhoops]

ECSUalum, yes we did! 
Best Saturday breakfast that Vandy74 and I have had in a long time.
Great beer selection, knowledgeable staff and great atmosphere in the old post office building.
Very nice campus you got there.  We were impressed.
Midd coaches recruit wherever they can.  From what I've heard, two of next year's recruits are from the northeast and one from a long way off.
Trying to recruit against Amherst and Williams is beyond difficult.  Rural Vermont isn't every kid's cup of tea.  Zach Baines from Stamford CT is our best recruit in the last couple of years.  He will be a star for us.