MBB: Conference of New England

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

NJIT settled down in the second half, made their adjustments and cruised to a 76-43 win.

It's going to be a good problem for ENC's coach Aller - lots of guys who can play minutes.  I don't envy him trying to figure out a line-up.  Veterans Johnson, Barbosa, and McCoy, none looked very sharp in this game.  A number of freshmen played better.

Eric Lynch, a 6'2" guard from Georgia, made a lot of good decisions.  Alex Jarman, from RI, started and played lots of minutes.  He was solid, but I think he got time more for his height than anything else.  The little guy Jaylen Owens, also from Georgia, is brash and not afraid to shoot.  A decent ball handler.  There were a few other freshmen contributing as well.

They're certainly not going to be a pushover team for the CCC.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Salve hosts Johnson & Wales tonight to kick off the season.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Salve outlasts J & W in OT 79-75.  The CCC is undefeated on the year.  Pringle put up 24 points.  Hohlfelder had 17.  They got some decent contributions from the bench as well.  Not bad.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I really hope I'm not posting to myself here this year.

Tonight:

UNE v Thomas @ Farmington
WNEC @ EConn
RWU hosts Lesley
ENC v Fitchburg @ NEC
EC v Framingham in Nashua (Rivier? maybe)
CC v Colby-Sawyer @ Amherst

[uconn05]

UNE v Thomas @ Farmington
WNEC @ EConn
RWU hosts Lesley
ENC v Fitchburg @ NEC
EC v Framingham in Nashua (Rivier? maybe)
CC v Colby-Sawyer @ Amherst

Don't worry Hoops, I'll be here too. I only have EC getting a win tonight but I think the RWU/Lesley and CC/CSC games are toss-ups. I'll take Lesley because they played last night and might have ironed out some first game sloppiness.

[gordonmann]

I'm reading if that makes you feel any better.

[ronk]

That's called writing, Gordon.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I don't know much about Fitchburg this year, but I'm excited about the ENC season.  They wouldn't have had nearly as bad a record last year if they could finish games.  They'll have no shortage of guys willing and able to take the last shot this season, so I think they'll improve.

I'm cautiously thinking W tonight.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

WNEC got absolutely trounced by EConn 34-62.  They ran up against a buzzsaw defense and without Andre Shaw to bail them out, it was tough to score.  No one scored more than 7, but the minutes were spread around a lot - looks like they've still got to figure out the rotation.

UNE went down to Thomas 76-99.

ENC gave up a nine point halftime lead, losing to Fitchburg 74-80.  ENC hit only three FGs in the second half.  Rough finish.  Freshman Justin Wagner hit 5-8 from downtown to lead the team with 15 points.  Ezeigbo went for 12 and 13.  Obviously the second half was a mess - we'll see how things develop as they integrate the freshmen.

EC beat Framingham 74-62.

RWU took care of Lesley 56-53.

Curry took out Colby-Sawyer 97-96 in what must have been a great one.

We're missing a lot of boxscores right now; hopefully the teams are just working out the kinks to open the season.  I can't wait to see that CC scoring chart.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

RWU took a butt-load of threes in this game.  They made about a third of them.  The only player in double figures was James Lecardi with 22.  A lot of forced turnovers with only 11 for RWU.  Seems like their discipline is in form already.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

EC picked up right where they left off - all five starters in double figures.  They were short on rebounds, but shot well from deep and limited turnovers.

I don't think anyone was overly impressive tonight, but a number of teams have solid foundations to work on.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Finally saw the Curry boxscore.  Four guys scored over 17, so that's twice as many reliable scorers as last year.  Could be beneficial.  They shot poorly from deep and still scored well and won.  Solid performance.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Today, Gordon opens the season hosting #1 MIT.  The engineers are missing a couple key pieces, but they still stomped Lesley in their first game.  This will be ugly.

SRU plays at Babson, WIT is at Colby.

RWU hosts Sufflok

Currently, Curry is getting smoked at Amherst and EC is in a tight one at Rivier.

Already today,

Nichols beat Lasell 99-82.  Lasell took and hit a ton of FTs, but they could not make a three to save their lives (14%).  For Nichols, they played the typical inside-outside game, but neither Sheehan nor Kuntz played.  Not sure what's up there - injury?  Langadas had 30, including 10 FTs, while sophomore went 5-10 from downtown for 23 points.  I don't know what's up with Nichols' two best players sitting this one out, but if they can win without them, this could be a very good team when at full strength.

ENC took down NEC big time 104-73.  ENC played 17 guys, no one more than 25 minutes.  It looks like Ezeigbo woke up from the slow performance last night, scoring 21 on 8-9 shooting in 19 minutes.  Jeremy Wagner got inspired by his brother's hot performance last night and put in 10 and 6.  Another freshman, Alex Jarman, had 12 and 7.

UNE dropped a close one to Farmington 58-60.  Freshman, Devin Thompson had 22 on 6-13 3pt shooting.  Really got beat on the boards.

WNEC loses to Bowdoin, but not so bad - 63-72.  Damon Alston had 20; Mickiewicz had 15 - they combined 9-15 from three.  Looks like we've got a lot of long-range gunners in the league this year.  Impressive opening night shooting performances.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

EC managed to take down Rivier 65-60.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Curry managed to hold their own against Amherst, losing 96-117.  Sedale Jones lit it up, going for 41 and proving he's a top offensive talent.  They held close on rebounding, but that's mostly because Amherst's big guys rarely missed, both going 10-12 from the field.

I think we're in for some feisty matchups during the conference schedule.  Not going to be too many pushover games this year.

RWU handled Suffolk 69-52.