MBB: Conference of New England

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Lots of games tonight:

WIT @ EC
GC @ Newbury
CSC @ NEC
NC @ Becker
ENC @ CC
UNE @ AMC
RWU @ SRU


A lot of local rivalries tonight as well as Wentworth's chance to move into outright second place in the North.

[d3bballinboston]

Newbury Beats Gordon!

Brookline, MA: Newbury College improved their record to 9-7 with a spectacular and exciting victory over the Commonwealth Coast Conference league leading Gordon College (12-5) by a score of 70-69 in Brookline tonight.  The game came down to the final seconds, as Newbury turned the ball over with 3 seconds to go clinging to a 70-69 lead giving the Fighting Scots one last chance at victory. Unsung hero, Ivan DaSilva (New Bedford, MA/West Bridgewater) sealed the victory for the Nighthawks, stealing the pass in the final seconds.



After an early 10 point lead for Gordon College in the first 5 minutes of the game, the Nighthawks clawed back with defensive intensity and selfless offensive play to even the game at halftime at 37.  Newbury had four players in double figures, led by Heman Honore (Medford, MA/St Clements's) 18 points, 7 blocks and Kevin Cleveland (Lynn, MA/Lynn Voc) 15 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assist.  Also playing a major factor was Arch Mitchell (Framingham, MA/Framingham) 12 points and point guard Steve Morris (Somerville, MA/Somerville HS) who controlled the tempo, while pitching in 11 points with 6 assists.



Jon Marstaller, a 6-5 forward from Naples, ME, was sensational in defeat leading all scorers with 25 points on 10-16 shooting, 2-3 from behind the three point mark.  Also contributing was Brady Bajema (Whitinsville, MA/ Whitinsville) scoring 10 points, Michael Schnackenber (South Portland, MA/Cheverus) 9 points and Michael Herr (Lampeter PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) also tossed in 9.



The Nighthawks, winners of the last 5 of 6, travel to MIT on Saturday; game time is 3:00.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Yikes.

As you've seen, GC goes down to Newbury by one 69-70.  You'd think with Gordon's experience, they could pull out a close one.  They're gonna have to win the tournament now because there's no chance for a Pool C anymore.  I'm not sure where dball got the stats from as there is nothing on the GC site, but see the previous post for details.

EC beat Wentworth pretty good 83-68 to retain 2nd place in the North.  Marinkovic continues he resurrgence with 18, 10 and 7.  Whitelaw has 15, Burgos had 13 and Burton had 11.  WIT was led by 26 from PBJ, 13 from Gaine, Bynes had 11 and Doyle 10.  Rebounding was 49-24, which should say a lot.  WIT went 1-9 from the arc.  EC had 21 turnovers but overcame it with solid 50% shooting from the floor and the arc.  Looks like the GC game got them back on track.

NEC ran over CSC 120-96 as Colby-Sawyer's lack of defense really proved too much for themselves to handle.  Jaziri had 39, Evans had 24, Quinn had 22 with 9 assists and Tonkovich had 15.  For CSC, Szeliga had 29, Truncilleto had 14, Cousins had 13 and Murray had 10.  It seems NEC did well defending the post and keeping CSC off the boards.  25 turnovers for CSC and a 41-44 night from the foul line for NEC made the difference.  41-44 that's insane!  UNE has won games this year only scoring in the low 40's.

Nichols took care of Becker 95-71.  No stats that I could find (although I didn't look that hard).

Curry wins a close one with ENC 79-71.  Seaberg had 15 for ENC, which actually spread some scoring around and hit the boards, gaining the rebounding edge 44-43.  Jones had 19 with 6 assists, Brittian had 16, Mastrullo 14, Bowers 11 and Prescod went for 13 and 10.  Stats were pretty even across the board, Curry just put a couple of extra buckets in.  Curry was up 18 with two minutes to go and ENC could only get it down to 8 by the end.  ENC really needs to figure out how to play as efficiently at the beginning as they do at the end.

Anna Maria over UNE 69-50.  Stickney had 17, Floyd 14 and Belmonte 5 assists.  For AMC, Daigineault had 11 rebounds, Nunnally had 15 points and Lance Spratling came off the bench for 20 points.  AMC just shot better than UNE; they also got more shots because of a rebounding advantage.

Salve knocks off Roger Williams 56-50.  Salve has the athletes to compete with the best; they just haven't put much together this season.  Grendal had 17 and Goodridge had 15.  Roger Williams was lead by Billy Barrett at 13 and 11 from Barranger.  I think both teams just played badly.  Neither team could hit a three.  It seems like a classic rivalry game with the two teams slugging it out and Salve coming out on top.

[Bill Gorman]

Just as a side note from the Wentworth/Endicott game last night, Wentworth head coach Tom Devitt did not coach in the game, as he was called away from Endicott on a family emergency.  Unfortunately, his father, who had been ill for a long time, passed away about three hours ago.  I ask the CCC fans on this board (or who lurk on this board) to keep Tom in their thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Certainly,  I can imagine everyone involved in the program has had a tough night.

[AlexTrebek]

Gordon tops Nichols 66-74

[gullfan]

Endicott got by Curry! The Curry team is a very athletic and aggressive team. A little team discipline and shot selection and they are even tougher. Good luck playing them if you get them on a night when they make good choices with the ball!!!!!!!

Corbett hit a huge three at the half -with no time on the clock. Nemanja was his usual self. Watch him day in and day out. He works real hard. For a guy who can't jump so much - he gets great position and spacing for rebounds. He missed a few big layups toward the end that might have iced it for the gull, but his free throws and shots at the end made up for it.

Still too many turnovers at bad times fpr the Gulls. All in all - not a bad week.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Weekend Round-up:

GC over Nichols in OT 74-66.  I'm not sure if this means GC is still struggling or if NC is back on form, but surely this was a good game.  Vallee went for 15 and 10, Riley had 15 and Powers had 12 for Nichols.  GC was led by 20 and 12 from Marstaller along with 5 blocks and 20 points from Trigg off the bench (he's clearly played better as a sub this year than as a starter).  They also got 11 from Logan and 5 assists from Kauffman.  Rebounding a turnovers were even, as were shooting percentages for the most part.  There's ample reason for this one to have been tied at the end of regulation.  GC missed FTs during the game, but picked them up in OT and pulled it out.  Scary one for GC, but nice to see the post players picking up a game for once and Trigg able to hit from deep when the rest of the squad was struggling.  Good showing on both sides.  Nice pick-me-up win for GC.

EC over Curry by two 64-62.  Another good win for EC and another big, big performance from Marinkovic, who seems to finally be getting in rhythm.  He had 22 and 13 to go along with 15 from Sullivan and 11 from Corbett.  Bowers had 21 fro Curry again showing he can score on undersized post players; we'll have to wait and see what he does against the big boys.  Jonesh ad 15 and Mastrullo had 10.  Again these two teams were fairly even throughout on stats.  EC went 18-24 on FTs to CC's 8-10, which may have been the difference.  It's exciting to see so many teams playing so well in the midst of conference play.

UNE picks up another win, beating Salve 58-55.  The trip to Biddeford is taking a toll on the CCC; it seems like no one plays well there and very few come away with a win.  The Nor-easters stifled Grendal and SRU post players, dominating in the paint.  Tom Button pulled down 19 rebounds to go with 11 points, Stickney had 15 points and 11 boards, Farynaz and Belmonte had 12 points each with Belmonte dishing out 5 assists.  Salve was led by Jon Hazzard with 16, Mike Walsh with 11 and Goodridge with 10.  Salve managed only 4 assists for the whole game and was again stifled from the arc.  For a team that was #3 in the nation in three point percentage before Christmas, this cold streak must be really troubling.  Anna Maria has now jumped to third place in the south. 

Roger Williams outruns NEC 95-85 in New Hampshire.  I can't get the NEC box score on this one to load.  Maybe later.

CSC knocks off Wentworth 68-63 to save some face and re-take third place up north.  Szeliga had 17, Rosso had 13 and Murray pulled in 12 boards.  WIT got 15 a piece from PBJ and Doyle along with 12 from Gaine and 11 from Bynes.  Boards and turnovers were even, but CSC hit better both from the floor and from three.  It was a close game throughout, but CSC had better execution when it mattered.

[Maq Diesel]

Hoops I know the Gordon box score showed that the starters were Logan, Kaufman, Herr, Marstaller and Shnackenberg but Herr actually didn't start because of a calf problem and Trigg did.  Trigg it seems plays for the game how he does in the first 5 minutes.  When he hits shots early he has played very well and when he missed shots early he has struggled to score, but for the most part he always plays solid defensively.  As for the Nichols game, Nichols always seems to be a tough game for Gordon and I don't know why, they might have wanted this game badly after last years play-off miracle in Wenham which ended their season..  They hit a good amount of threes that kept them in it and again Gordon was a little shaky with their free throws down the stretch.   Vallee is a tough guy to guard for us and Logan was on him for most of the night, even though he was giving up 3 inches and at least 25 pounds.  Vallee in addition to getting the absolute worst hair cut in the league put on a lot of weight in the off-season, he is much bigger than last year.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

For the first time we have all twelve schools playing conference games on the same night:

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

[dwebbs]

wowie... a lot of good games tonight. GC, EC, and RWU all have a chance of falling tonight.

[backboard]

As long as Gordon plays their own game and doesn't fall into the trap that is Biddeford, Maine, then they should come out with a win.  It still don't expect a blowout either way.  Also, should be real fun to watch NEC go to CSC after their shoutout a couple of days ago.  CSC will be looking for revenge certainly.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Any word on Herr?  I think there's some anxious GC fans out there wondering if he'll be back tonight.

[dwebbs]

I haven't heard anything... but my guess is that they needed him to play in the NC game, and he toughed it out, they will almost certainly need him on the road. And now it's been five days since the Newbury game... it probably even healed a little more.

Again, this is all speculation. But he really wanted to play in the NC despite the pain. And although he didn't put up his usual numbers or shot attempts, his presence somewhat turned the Scots offense around. I would expect him to play tonight.

[scout]

Gordon tops UNE 66-33. It was 38-21 at halftime, so Gordon held UNE to 12 points in the second half, posting 28 of their own.

A solid defensive output for a team that has been taking criticism for not much reason. With this win, Gordon is solidly perched atop the CCC North and aims to carry increased success into the tourney with hopefully a number 1 seed attached.

Gordon plays at Curry on Saturday.