MBB: NEWMAC

Hugenerd · January 22, 2012, 09:55:25 AM

Quote from: mass_d3fan on January 21, 2012, 09:42:38 PM
Terrible weather day here in Massachusetts today, but my wife & I went to spend the weekend with some old friends in the North Shore last night so the ride to MIT today was not too bad. We all had a good time watching two very good teams battle it out today and then back to their place to enjoy a little winter barbeque. We watched Notre Dame upset the Orangemen as we let the steaks sizzle on the grill.

This was a HUGE win for WPI at MIT today. It was the best team play I have seen from the WPI squad in all the games I have seen this year. They moved the ball much better and found open guys or players with good position most all day. They also played a very, very good defensive game.

Hate to disagree with the Dr. HN, but the difference was not turnovers, only +5 in points for WPI in that category. From a category standpoint it was 2nd chance points as WPI won that one 13 to 2. In the 2nd half, the real difference was Carr holding Hollingsworth to 3 points and 2 boards in the 2nd half. Meanwhile the WPI center put up 9 points, grabbed 5 boards, had two big assists in the stretch where WPI opened the game up a couple of blocks. It was a pleasure to watch these two very talented bigs play head to head for an entire game. Noel had a good 1st half with 12 points.

Another key for the visiting Engineers was the play of their young players, Sam Longwell (14 pts, 5 boards), Ryan Kolb(10 pts, 3 rebs) & Domenick Mastascusa(9 pts, 4 rebs). These guys all stepped up their play on a big stage today. Kolb & Mastascusa combined to do a very good job on Will Tashman. He did get the line for 9 pts, but was only 1 for 4 shooting with only 2 rebounds and fouled out. David Brown(10 pts, 3rbs) & Jamie Shannon(17 pts, 5 assts) also put forth stellar efforts on both ends of the court today. Carr finished with 18 pts & 8 rebounds.

It was a very big win for the Engineers who played without their 2nd leading scorer Marco Coppola. The chat in the crowd was a possible knee injury for him.

For MIT, Mitchell Kates was their top performer with 22 points, 7 assists & 4 rebounds. Hollingsworth had 15 points and 4 boards. Billy Bender pulled down game high 10 rebounds to go with 4 points. Jamie Karraker posted 11 points, as did Tashman.

I will 2nd HN's congrats to Mitchell Kates for getting his 1,000th point.

Feel free to disagree, I didn't watch the game, just a quick glance at the boxscore.

WPI89 · January 23, 2012, 10:51:36 AM

WOW - thanks for the recap MASSD3. Must have been fun. Like I said pre-game - I thought they would come out playing for their lives - I also think it possible (likely) that MIT pounds them next month in Worcester.

Congrats to the Crimson and Gray!

mass_d3fan · January 23, 2012, 11:45:59 PM

WPI89

It was a great atmosphere. Good crowd from WPI and a good student group from MIT. It had the feel and emotion of a post-season game. Both teams played hard and left it all on the court. It was a very big win for WPI, no question. Especially after the very poor performance against Wheaton. Going to be another big one on Wednesday at Springfield. Last year the Pride outplayed the Engineers out there and kept them from the undefeated conference season.

Congratulations to Springfield's Alex Berthiume for being named NEWMAC Player of the Week.

http://www.newmacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/POTW/mbkbPOTW012312

NEWMACJACK · January 25, 2012, 06:56:55 PM

Does it take an MIT education to get the game on the web through their website?

Hugenerd · January 25, 2012, 08:56:17 PM

Quote from: NEWMACJACK on January 25, 2012, 06:56:55 PM
Does it take an MIT education to get the game on the web through their website?

I think just a credit card....

Hugenerd · January 25, 2012, 08:56:36 PM

Springfield down 2 with 10.7 seconds left in OT, hits 2 FTs to tie it. Then on WPIs next possesion, they get a long rebound and hit a buzzer beater to win it by 2.

Final: Springfield 65, WPI 63

mass_d3fan · January 25, 2012, 11:13:54 PM

Actually HN it was not a turnover, it was a long rebound that got batted around then knocked towards the Springfield basket. Martin outraced everyone and released the ball just before the clock expired for his only basketof the night. Heads up play by him!

Carr played another great game inside with game highs of 25 points & 12 boards. Mastascusa had a career high 16 pts to go with 6 boards. Springfield hung tough in the first half when Coburn got 2 fouls on the games first 2 possesions. WPI failed to capitalize on that. While Carr did have 11, WPI shot 2 for 8 from beyond the arc in a situation that really dictated taking the ball to the rim. Not sure why this team wants to constantly wind the shot clock down to 10 seconds or less before seriously attempting to do anything. Offensive execution was very weak and defensively they had trouble staying in front of the Pride guards all night. 13 turnovers (5 by Shannon) in the first half just completely took the team out of any sense of rythm. The focus & concentration was just not there tonight. They had control over their own post-season fate, but no longer.

Springfield now holds that honor. The Pride survived and now has a good shot a wrestling control of the conference from MIT. Still a long way to go, but Springfield is sitting a pretty good place.

Hugenerd · January 26, 2012, 12:21:57 AM

I stand corrected, my video was real choppy - it stuck right after the made free throws and came in as Springfield was racing down the court for a layup. I assumed it was a steal but that makes sense also. Good win for the pride.

mass_d3fan · January 26, 2012, 10:45:19 AM

Not an issue HN, my schedule may force me to watch the next couple of WPI games via the net. I was my way to NY state for buisness last night so i stopped in to see the game. I missed the first 5 minutes or so. I was talking to a couple of Springfield supporters and got the low down on the start of the game with Coburn's 2 fouls. The first was a good call, and the 2nd was a questionable offensive foul. Then his backup Evan Christner got a couple of quick fouls too. I was surprised that Coach Brock did not go off and get a 'T', but he made up for it in the 2nd half, getting 2 and being tossed. Good work on the bench by the assistants to keep things working smoothly and constructing some nice plays out of timeouts down the stretch of regulation and OT.

It was an exciting game from a basketball fan's perspective. Great one if you were a Pride supporter, not so much if your rooting interests lie with the Engineers. A good thing WPI followers can take from the game is the continuing development of Domenick Mastascusa. He has had two very good games against the top teams in the conference. He has a good game inside and from the perimeter.

On the really not so good side, Marco Coppola was on crutches. I was not able to find anyone who knew any details about what his situation is. I still had a bit of a ride so I left right after the game ended and did not really chat with anyone. I did see that MIT recovered from the weekend nicely with an easy win over Clark.

The second half of the conference season should be very interesting.

mass_d3fan · January 30, 2012, 08:44:17 PM

Congrats to Noel Hollingsworth for being named NEWMAC Player of the Week

http://www.newmacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/POTW/mbkbPOTW013012

I saw the box score & write up on the Springfield-Babson game. Great win for Babson. Terrible game for Springfield. Much like WPI did not play well after their big win at MIT, the Pride fell asleep at Babson, shooting 34.5% and commiting 24 turnovers including 4 in OT. Great clutch performance by Alex Rudolph.

Everything still up in the air as the week shapes up with some big games:

Wednesday

Babson at WPI
Coast Guard at Springfield
MIT at Wheaton

Thursday

Wheaton at Worcester St.

Saturday

WPI at Coast Guard
Babson at Clark
MIT at Springfield

Just saw that the new poll is out. MIT steps up to #5. WPI stil getting some consideration at ORV #31 with Albertus Magnus.

toooldtoplay · January 30, 2012, 10:53:54 PM

Congratulation to Noel and MIT for a good week and moving up. Hollingsworth, Tashman and Karraker all have multiple players of the week. One name notably missing from that group and arguably the most important player on the team.

toooldtoplay · January 30, 2012, 10:58:18 PM

Babson did a great job at the end of the game. The coaching the last 15 seconds was perfect and Brennan made all the right calls. Kudos to him and Babson who stays in the hunt for a playoff birth. It brings up the age old question. Should you commit the foul when leading by 3 late?

7express · January 30, 2012, 11:33:49 PM

Quote from: toooldtoplay on January 30, 2012, 10:58:18 PM
It brings up the age old question. Should you commit the foul when leading by 3 late?

Unless your playing a team that's very poor shooting the 3 (statistically) and very good at free throw shooting and offensive rebounding (also statistically), than I agree you should foul with 4 seconds or less to go. The other team has a better chance to hit the 3, then they have to hit the free throw, miss the 2nd, get the offensive rebound, AND make the basket to tie the game. Lots of things have to go right via fouling, whereas, if you let the team shoot, all you need is a good shooter that's ready to shoot once the ball gets to him.

mass_d3fan · January 31, 2012, 01:56:05 AM

"Hollingsworth, Tashman and Karraker all have multiple players of the week."

Actually it's

Hollingsworth - 3
Karraker - 2
Tashman - 1
Carr - 1
Coppola-1
Berthiume - 1

I'm sure both Kates & Carr have been 2nd in a few of those weeks. Both have had weeks with good numbers only to be beaten out by someone posting a slightly better number, usually in points.

Hugenerd · January 31, 2012, 11:36:50 AM

I think what he was saying is that Kates is arguably the most important player on the team. All the other guys are great when they get the ball in their spots (Tashman may be the exception, as a lot of his productivity is from being active and crashing the boards), but Kates is the one who typically gets them the ball in those spots.

Lets not forget Bender either, he does a great job playing within himself and is a very effective in his role on the team. He knocks down shots when he needs to, defends, rebounds, passes well, and typically makes good decisions. Their core group of 5 upperclassmen (all who start) are the reason why they are having such success. Except for Bender, all of them will be returning next year as well.