MBB: Conference of New England

[akirk]

I just looked at EC's losses and all the teams they have lost to have only 2 losses combined.  I have to say there are a lot better than any of us gave them credit for.  Lets see if they can put together a few wins in the conference.  If they do, I have to say they are the new favorites.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I think EC has been the favorite since CSC has performed so poorly at the beginning.  Just to update over the holidays:

Nichols lost at Union by two points.  Butler and Vallee led the way, it looks like they picked up a new player over the break; I'm not sure if its an injury recovery or a transfer.  He contributed well- Sturdahl.

Carroll over Nichols 96-63 on the 30th.  Carroll is very good, so this is totally expected.  I'm not going looking for stats on this one.

Gordon lost to Emory yesterday 64-57.  They got outrebounded badly, but the offense seemed pretty solid.

Colby-Sawyer got into one of the best holiday tournaments, but unfortunately lost both games, to Springfield 70-88 and to Trinity (TX) 58-74.  Thorpe was back...sort of, he didn't play that much or that well.  St Clair had 18 in the first game and 29 in the second.  The team defense was slightly improved, but still needs some help.  It looks like once again it will come down to the EC-CSC games for the tourney bid.

Curry plays at Brandeis tonight.  We'll see if Lamb and Jones are back yet.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Curry lost to Brandeis 62-74.  Not a bad loss, as the Brandeis team is very talented, but it would have been good for CC to pick this one up.  Lamb was back in the line-up and led the team with 24 points on 10-14 shooting.  No one rebounded and nobody else scored more than 9.  Tim Jones is not yet playing.  I hope Wynn can figure out the chemistry issue on his team, much like last year, they talented players not named Lamb seem to have a difficult time finding their games when Lamb is on the court.  Curry desperately needs to find a way to maintain their momentum from the pre-Christmas stretch and work Lamb into the offense.  They also need to hit their free throws.  Mohrin did have 6 assists, but they need to be spread around better for this team to really work.

Roger Williams supposedly played Johnson & Wales last night, but I can't even find a score anywhere.


Gordon is playing at Piedmont tonight.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Score is up.  Roger Williams beat J&W 73-62, leading throughout.  This win came on the backs of Brandon Parrish and Geoff Baranger again.  Parrish put up 25 and 8, Barranger 13 and 9.  Wooley had 5 assists, Camobreco had 4.  Neither team could hit anything from behind the arc.  J&W is apparently a one man team, with one guy taking 26 shots and scoring 32.  They have been performing quite badly in their own right this year and I'm not too sure what to make of this win.

[dwebbs]

gordon beats piedmont. big win.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

GC over Piedmont 85-77.  I don't know if I'd call it a "big" win, but its very good for Gordon. It counts for nothing, being out of region, but Piedmont isn't exactly the class of the South, although they are better than average.  I see it more as good experience and a confidence booster heading into heavy CCC play.  No stats or recap anywhere I can find.


Tonight:

AMC hosts Fitchburg
RWU hosts Conn Coll
SRU is at Worcester State

[creekhoops]

HoopsFan -

I would not look too lightly upon RWU's victory over Johnson & Wales.  As you know, J&W was playing at home, their first in 8 games, where they have had much success in the last few years.  RWU has struggled this season, and any victory on the road has got to be seen as a step in the right direction.  Theoretically, any team who allows a kid to take 26 shots may seem to be one dimensional.  However, in their most successful run (2001-2004) J&W always had a prolific scorer who took a similar amount.  The problem there now is a lack of overall scoring to compliment a damn good defense.  Coach Benton will straighten that out.  It was a solid win for the blue and gold, and one they can build on.

[AJ]

Mike Herr seems to be hitting his stride for Gordon after a slow start to the season.  He had 17 pts and 8 boards verse Emory and 19 pts and 8 boards verse Piedmont on Gordon's winter break trip to Altanta.  Gordon is going to need numbers like this constantly from Herr if they realistically hope to take the conference this year.

Its also nice to see Aaron Vogelzang continue put up some good numbers (16 and 5 verse Piedmont).  Aaron is one of those players that can drop numbers like that at anytime, he could be extremely dangerous for Gordon down the stretch if he continues to play like he has all year.

[creekhoops]

Just to solidify my point, Roger Williams can rest assured that their opponent earlier in the week was indeed worthy.  Plymouth State lost to Johnson & Wales, being held to just 66 points.  Again, as their scoring comes along, J&W will be competitive.  They play a lot of CCC schools, some years more than others.  Keep them on the schedule, because they will always give you a game.  Best of luck the rest of the year - this is a fun conference to follow.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Keene and Plymouth both come back to earth last night... good news for our big boys in the CCC.


Roger Williams goes down in a tight one to Connecticut College 68-65.  No boxscore that I can find.

Salve took out Worcester State in OT 77-75.  Coute didn't shoot real well overall, but he hit 4-7 from three and scored 21 to lead SRU.  Walsh contributed 14 and Grandal 12 (but only 1 rebound).  WSC shot 1-14 from the arc, but 50% overall, very wierd game.  Salve got a decent win though; a good result for them.

AMC went down at home to Fitchburg 91-82.  No stats yet.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

This weekend's matchups:

Saturday

WIT @ AMC
CC plays Alvernia in a tourney at Scranton
GC @ ENC
CSC @ EC
SRU @ NC
UNE @ RWU
NEC @ St Joseph's (Long Island)

Sunday

Curry plays either Scranton or Chestnut Hill at the tourney in Scranton
UNE @ Middlebury


There appear to be some grudge matches and some good conference tests.  We'll learn a lot this weekend.

[AJ]

I don't know why ENC and Gordon would schedule this game while both schools are still on winter break.  While this game would usually have a packed gym you can probably expect a really poor turnout for saturday's match.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hey Chris, ENC has been back in class since Tuesday.  They run a January term attended by like 85-90% of the student body.  I think ENC does this on purpose so that they can have the most fans around.  Certainly the ENC support of their athletic teams has not been what it once was of late.  They would hate to be shown up in their own place.  Even when the talent level of the two squads was very different, these games were always close.  I'm not so sure that will be the case this year.  It could be a rout.  ENC hasn't played in a month and they were legitimately one of the five worst teams in the country pre-Christmas.  I hope they can pick it up for the sake of the rivalry, but I doubt it.

[AJ]

Yeah my bad, I didn't realize ENC started so early.  That makes more sense now from ENC's standpoint.  I am still disappointed on missing out on the game today though even if it won't be close at all.

[broke_ya_ankles]

in response about Keene and Plymouth coming back to earth...

in a way yes i mean their records arent as flawless as they were, keene having lost 2 in a row is too bad, the loss to bridgewater was a battle within itself as Keene was without 2 of their starters who themselves are 3 year starters in the Keene program so thats HUGE to lose 2 guys like that for one game.  the loss to Springfield is legit they were still without one of their starters but sully was back and springfield is a very good team. 

keene should return to full strength soon and get back to their winning ways, this is likely just a minor setback...

as for plymouth they could be in some BIG BIG BIG trouble, Andreas Pope their all-american caliber player has not played since the semesters end which means 1 of 3 things.....1.) hes hurt....2.) hes ineligible....3.)hes off the team for some off the court issue other than grades.....

now i havent a clue which of the 3 it is but it has to be 1 of them, and without him plymouth goes from a contender to a pretender big time....