MBB: Conference of New England

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Quick Run Down:

Wentworth tops EC in overtime 73-71.  PBJ hit the game winner with seconds to go as part of his game high 24 points, Brian Gaine had 14 for Wentworth.  EC was led by 18 points off the bench from Gary Corbett, Nemanja had another great line at 10, 8 and 6; Burgos and Sullivan each had 12 points.  This was the opener for WIT's new gym and this was a great way to start out.  EC had won the last 13 meetings between the two schools.  EC won the battle on the glass, but had 19 turnovers.  Both teams were quite even throughout.  It will be interesting to see which one of these schools can finish ahead of the other in the standings.

CSC over NEC 91-79.  Murray tied his own school record with 19 boards again in this game to go with 11 points.  Rosso led CSC with 24.  Fouriner had 15 with 7 assists and Szeliga and Trunciletto had 12 each.  NEC was led by, surprise, surprise, Jaziri with 28.  They also got 17 from Quinn and 13 from Sylvia.  Both teams had over 20 turnovers, but CSC dominated the glass and got a ton more shots to make up for NEC's usual FT advantage.

Nichols over ENC 71-58.  Jasmin showed up again for ENC with 20 points; Corey had 10.  Nichols was led by 23 from Vallee and surprisingly 7 assists from Ron Powers.  Wilcox, Riley and Paquin all had 10 points.  ENC won the rebound battle, but couldn't really hit any of their shots and found themselves at the wrong end of a 6-18 FT differential.

Curry slips past AMC 66-54.  Nunnally is really coming on for AMC pulling down 14 boards to go with 10 points.  Anthony McDonald also had 10 points for the AMCATS.  Curry was led by 20 points from Brittian and 19 and 15 from Bowers.  Tim Jones had an awful, awful night shooting 2-14 from the floor, but AMC didn't have enough to capitalize.

Gordon doubles up UNE 66-33.  UNE got ten points from Mike Floyd and GC held Stickney relatively quiet, which is a good sign for them.  Trigg started in place of Herr, who only logged 11 minutes.  Hopefully they're just trying to rest him up and that the injury isn't more serious.  Marstaller had 14, Bajema 12 and Logan and Schnack had 10 each.

RWU stayed clean against Salve 74-67.  Bashaw led RWU with 17.  Wooley had 12 and Parrish 10; he'll go over 1,000 points by the end of the season.  Salve got 21 from Grendal and 20 from Hazzard who led SRU on a big comeback to pull within three with three remaining.  Good win for RWU.

[gullfan]

  As for the EC/WIT game. I went to the stats for the game and it looks like Gary Corbett was 7-11 from the floor - including the 3's. From what I can see, that's the most shots in a game he's had. Eleven isn't even a lot. Maybe we need to get him involved more. Marinkovic has played himself back into his old self (a nice explanation on the EC website - he was athlete of the week), Sullivan can be deadly inside and with the foul line jumper.  Todd Burton has come up big when his scoring has been needed.
  What we need is for all of them to come fired up each night, like the Gordon game and see where that takes us!

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Corbett was getting more minutes at the beginning of the season (I think he even started a few games) and contributing well, but he fell off there in the middle.  I don't know if it was illness or injury or what, but he's a solid presence on both offense and defense and he'll be key if EC wants to make a run.

[gullfan]

 One of my buddies told me that the switch had to do with going with more "2 guard" offenses. That's why Corbett is coming in off the bench. I have seen him guard lots of smaller and quick people. Somehow, they need to keep him on the court!

[backboard]

He was on fire in the first half but they kind of stopped going to them in the second.  Either you could acredit that to Wentworth making changes at the half, or Endicott changing their gameplan.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Eight teams in action tonight:

AMC @ Mitchell
CC hosts Newbury
WIT @ UNE
SRU @ ENC
NEC @ EC

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Round-up:

Curry trashes Newbury 76-55.  15 and 10 from Bowers, 20 points with 7 assists from Tim
Jones, 16 from Brittian and 12 from Prescod.  Apparently Curry has this thing where they don't play well until February.  Seems like things continue this year.  Although their three point and FT shooting were both off, they didn't shoot much of either and didn't really need to do so.

Wentworth survived the trip to Biddeford, winning 75-62.  Floyd and Farynaz had 13 a piece and UNE also got 10 from John Marriott.  WIT was led by 29 from PBJ, 19 from Doyle and 10 from Bynes.  These guys are going to be quite a threesome the next couple years.  WIT shot lights out and controlled the ball well.  That program is really coming along.

ENC got close to Salve, losing by only 18, 63-81.  Luc Jasmin led with 19 fro ENC, newcomer Jeremy Hueston came off the bench to score 16.  They must have succeeded in recruiting some intramural players for the varsity during the homestretch.  Salve got 25 from Woodworth, 18 with 5 assists from Grendal, 17 from Hazzard and 8 assists from Goodridge.  Too many turnovers and poor shooting again plagued ENC.  They did come out on top in rebounds however.  Perhaps coach Yeh is just focusing on fundamentals for next season.

EC beat NEC 83-64.  Jaziri had 24 and Evans 16 for NEC.  EC was led by 24 and 15 for Marinkovic who is quickly closing in on player of the year.  EC got 14 from Sullivan and 10 from Burgos.  EC nearly doubled them up on the rebounds although they continued to commit 20 turnovers a game.  But they shot really well and dominated the glass for an easy win.

Anna Maria beat Mitchell by 2, 81-79.  Mitchell came back from 15 down only to be disappointed on a buzzer beater from Nunnally, who finished with 24.  Lance Spratling had 14.

[the_cru2]

Well it is safe to say ENC will go defeated all season, which is almost laughable.  I feel bad for Coach Yeh, who is a very respected coach in his first season. 

I really hope he sticks around and is able to recruit his own players.  Right now he is playing with Coach Zink's guys. 

The players love him and he is very respected around the college. 

The really good news is, they can't get any worse so its only uphill from here!

[backboard]

Looks like Player of the Week is going to come down to Marinkovic and Prezzie-Blue.  Marinkovic is averaging 17 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4 assists so far.  Blue is leading Wentworth with 26.5 points with the game winning shot against Marinkovic's team.  However, Endicott plays at Roger Williams on Saturday which should decide who wins, not to mention it should be a good game.  Wentworth has off until next Tuesday when they host Roger Williams who will surely be looking for revenge from last year's playoff upset.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Tomorrow's line-up:

UNE @ NC
GC @ CC
CSC @ ENC
SRU @ NEC
EC @ RWU

[jj]

Some observations/thoughts:

1. As someone mentioned several posts ago Brandon Parrish should break 1000 points soon.  A few years ago he was a much bigger part of the equation for RWU.  It is interesting that at this point of his career as senior and about to break 1000 that he is almost an afterthought to some extent.  He has been a very good player at his particular role and Tully has done a good job of bringing in other very good players over the past 2-3 years.

2. As someone mentioned a few posts ago ENC looks like they will go winless.  Regardless of who is coaching or who's players they are it is still embarrasing.  If they shot FT's better than an average junior high team they would have at least won 4 games which would have equaled last year.  Can you blame coaching for that?  Partially maybe.

3.  EC has gone and will continue to go as Marinkovic plays. It looks like he is bringing his "A" game at the right time which could prove interesting.  They also have some nice other players helping them right now but he is the most complete player in the league.....at least in my opinion.

4.  Sometimes the coaches and players of the bottom dwellers don't get enough respect for showing up and competing hard every night with less talent but UNE and AMC seem to do just that .  I would love to see a big upset or two down the stretch.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

By the way, we forgot to congratulate Gordon as they have become the first (and currently only) team in the CCC to clinch a playoff spot.  Even if they lose out, only three teams can catch them.

We're not quite to the place where we're looking at playoff scenarios yet, but from here on out, everyone should be playing scared.

[gullfan]

 I agree with the posting from "JJ". Marinkovic is as complete a player as I've watched. He does so much, sees the whole game and does so with no flash. People in the stands at every game dis him because he's not fast, flashy or above the rim.
Good thing for Endicott, he just plays his ass off and gives everything he's got. There are a couple of guys like that on the team. Mike Sullivan is a "horse"! Just ask anyone who's guarded him. Gary Corbett does lots of the little things and has proven he can score. He is an over looked defensive presence up top. I.E.,he stopped Cain at WPI coldin the first half before they changesd assignments - then Cain ended up with 20+, and he's been doing all the little things to get the Gulls on track.
We don't have Matt G. anymore, but I like where we are. Without looking ahead, I'm getting my tailgate ready for Gordon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dwebbs]

a few thoughts following the curry game,

1. curry isn't a bad team.. except when they only score two points in the first ten and a half minutes. other than that, i agree with gullfan -- they lack shot selection.

2. if tim jones is as valuable to them as hoopsfans says he is (and i have no reason to beleive otherwise), why are they playing the freshman #3 at point guard most of the game? he was 0-7 from the field, and just had terrible vision.

3. brittian had a height advantage over his defender all game (6'1" logan and 6'0" trigg), yet he played mainly around the arc and wasn't even involved in the offense most of the game. that didn't make sense to me.

all that being said, compliments of endicott, gordon takes over #1 in the ccc. if they can take care of business in new london, that sets up an epic match up at the post center. while GC can't lose #1 in the north with a loss (assuming they beat csc), they can still lose the top seed.

but then again, rwu still has to play at wit. a lot of fun upcoming.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Tim Jones is a natural 2-guard; they were playing him at the point before all the injuries.  Apparently Wynn wants to go another direction.  I'm not yet ready to question the guy with the national championship.