MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[mwcsid]

Manhattanville 78, Mary Washington 74

The University of Mary Washington men's basketball team held a 72-68  lead late into the game, but Manhattanville College scored ten of the game's final twelve points to defeat the Eagles, 78-74, on Saturday night in the championship of the Washington & Lee University tipoff tournament.

Sophomore guard Justin Baker of Mary Washington was named the tournament MVP in defeat, as scored 26 points and added nine rebounds, after scoring 22 and grabbing ten boards in Friday's game. A.J. Fitzgerald was also named to the all-tournament team, as he scored 21 points on Saturday.

[bisonpride]

Result from 2nd day Coaches vs Cancer Tip-Off tournament at Mt. Aloysius College..

Franciscan (Ohio) -  66
Gallaudet (1-1)    -  100
Halftime: GU led 56-18

Jackson - 20 pts (8-13 FG)
Haney, Jr. - 18 pts (6-9 FG)
Babatunde - 12 pts
2 of the Bison PGs had combinated of 17 assists, 9 and 8 each.

   Our defense play much better today. It was great compare to last game, we won the boards and had 22 steals compare to Franciscan's only 2 steals against us. We shot 50% FG in whole game, Franciscan shot just 8-31 (25.8%) in just first half alone. All of the players did play in the game. We lead by 40 points in most of the game.
   In total of two tournament games, the Bison offense average 94.5 ppg while defense allowed 80.5 ppg despite bad defense performance in season opener. At least, they bounce back to it's old form by allowed just 66 points (esp. 18 in first half!). Gallaudet Bison improved it's record to 1-1.

Next game on November 22nd, the Bison will host Penn State - Berks at home for first time this season in it's own noisy Field House.

[seahawks]

SMC wins their first game of the year against the University of Redlands from southern california.  Redlands plays a unique brand of basketball, attempted 84 three point field goals in the game and basically appears to have played dummy defense.  SMC posted 142 points with 4 players with 20+.  SMC hosts McDaniel on tuesday..... 

[Matt Letourneau]

That must have been something to see.  Its tough for a team not used to seeing that to be ready for it. Must have been a thrill to put up that many points!

Clint, yeah, I'm ready to go this year, I think CUA is going to make some noise this year so I'm looking forward to it.  Nice to see you're up and active so early also.  As always, appreciate the updates on Mary Wash.

Thanks MLB for the skinny on the two games.  Obviously not the highest level of competition but its nice to see two good outings, especially if you're saying CUA wasn't really firing on all cylinders in game 1.  The thing that stuck out of the box score from today's game for me was Aaron Kelly's 7 assists and 0 turnovers.  He's such a steady, unselfish player who was REALLY missed last year.  He makes the other 4 guys on the court a lot better.

[kitchenrat]

Even though YCP had to play w/o Brandon Bushey they played good D while waiting for the points to come. We did get an idea of what the team will look like when Chad McGowan is the floor leader as he put up 16 pts 13 rbs and 5 blocks. As always York played a team game and even got some of the Freshman involved. Howard and Frye look like they will both become part of the regular rotation as the season unfolds and Paddy Lee would have seen more time if he didnt get into foul trouble. Tough one coming up on Tuesday as we open the last season in the Kitchen.

[mwcsid]

Kitchenrat...
possibly the best handle on this site.

Looks like YCP and CUA have a ton of depth. That is huge at this level.

(Wait)... I think St. Mary's just scored another bucket. Wow!

[Pat Coleman]

Mary Wash 64
Southwestern TX 50

LEXINGTON, VA - Junior guard Justin Baker scored 22 points and added ten rebounds, both game highs, as the University of Mary Washington men's basketball team opened the 2005-06 season with a big 64-50 win over Southwestern (TX) University on Friday evening in the Washington & Lee University Tipoff Tournament. Southwestern was ranked #13 in the nation by DIII News in its preseason poll, and received 93 votes in the D3Hoops preseason poll.

Yeah, well, what does DIII News know?

[VJC SID]

Pride of Maryland Last Day Score
7th & 8th place game

Salisbury 83  (1-2)
Goucher 70  (0-3)

[mlb]

Matt

Good catch on the Aaron Kelly stat line.  A.K. should have been named to the all-tourney team.  I know that defense doesn't usually get much attention, but he shut down the top scorer for Salve-Regina and frustrated a leading scorer for UMD.

There were lots of little things that CUA can and should do better.  They will have to if they want to be competitive in the conference.  However, one thing that doesn't have to improve is A.K.'s intensity and defensive pressure.  It set the tone for both games.

As to the assist mark, all the kids have their heads up and eyes open.  These guys like playing with each other and are generally good passers.  It generated a lot of easy baskets.

It will be a good test this week.  Haverford will give them a tough game at home and the kids have to re-group after a long weekend and long trip back.  Then they get a couple days off and have to face Scranton.  This will be a tough game after the Holiday break.

[mlb]

One more comment

I haven't seen the league games yet, but I am perplexed by the lack of respect that this league gets relative to some others.  Obviously, I am familiar with the ODAC and I attended a CCIW school.  The CUA team would compete in either league.  I don't think they would fare as well against Illinois Wesleyan, but when IWU is playing well, there aren't many teams in the country that can match them.

CUA - at least as it's roster is comprised this year - would easily compete with the top level ODAC teams - Virginia Wesleyan, R-MC and Hampden Sydney.  Yet it appears that CUA isn't the top team in the conference - York is.  Mary Washington also seems to be a strong team.  I understand that the "worst" team in the CAC may be weaker than the "worst" team in the ODAC, but I don't think that alone warrants the lack of respect. 

I know everyone says that York's road to the Final Four was "easy" last year, but at the end of the day they beat the teams put in front of them.  Catholic had to do the same thing when they won the whole thing 4 years ago.  If a conference has a two final four teams in a span of 5 years and one national championship, it can't be that bad.

It will be interesting to see as the year progresses.  After I get some actual "experience" under my belt I can comment more.

[Matt Letourneau]

Amen! Nobody is saying this is one of the best conferences in the country, but...there are teams here that could compete in any conference, and at this very, very early juncture it would appear that there are two legitimate, quality teams that will be strong contenders for postseason play.

Now, it so happens that apparently Goucher isn't one of them....but its a long season and things can change.

I have always enjoyed watching Aaron Kelly play, and I'm glad he's getting so many minutes and stepping up here in his senior season.  I think his absence from the team last year hurt more than some realized when he first went down.

[mwcsid]

Pat -
It just seemed more impressive than "93 votes", but I guess that's better than none, which we'll get this week. 

[mlb]

Here's a link for anyone who's interested in last night's CUA game.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-05/11-20-05/e01sp971.htm

[cuainfo]

Here is another article on Catholic's win Saturday.
http://heraldnews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15609490&BRD=1710&PAG=461&dept_id=99784&rfi=8

[Matt Letourneau]

Well, from the results of the Pride of Maryland tourney, Catholic is going to have its hands full when it heads up to Villa Julie in early December.  They improved immensly last year, obviously the trend has continued.  They beat Hopkins today to win the event.