Empire 8

FisherDynasty · January 18, 2008, 11:29:54 AM

interesting predictions, have to say I cant even make one. I dont know what the hell to expect from the E8 teams year. Have not seen Stevens play, Hartwick has hot hands Coco, RIT is solid but not good, Ithaca is talented but still not where they need to be for easy predictions, Fisher i dont even know what is going on there, NAZ goes through defensive lapses, Utica can beat anybody in the conf and lose to anybody in the conf, Elmira is actually playing good right now? Alfred well they are easy to predict they are awful.

Not sure if this is a make or break game for Fisher but definately is a big one. If they lose to the team that is likely to win the conf and win the just about the rest of their conf game, it doesnt do too much damage to the cardinals. As long as Fisher splits with Naz and gets some other wins they will get in the tourny. This year more than any, once in the tourny the team that gets hot, maybe they will be an really late bloomer this year who knows (can only hope haha). Luckily their lost against RIT doesnt really matter, they got the important one during conf. play. the loss to Naz was bad but was on Naz home court so again not the worst of losses. Their two losses are to the top 2 seeds in the tourny thus far (barring ithaca, we'll know more about how good they are during their first Naz matchup this weekend)

bombersquadron · January 18, 2008, 10:31:37 PM

Just talked to some of the Bombers, big win at Naz. Had an 8 point lead at the half and started out the second half on fire and just put it on Naz 91-78. Big games from Burton (27 points) Bostic (21 and 12) and Brendan Rogers (23 Points). Huge win for the Bombers who shot 60 percent in the second half and 40 percent from three for the game. Any news on Fisher vs. Stevens, heard Fisher was up at the half.

Caz Bombers · January 18, 2008, 10:55:40 PM

Finals Tonight

IC 91, Naz 78 as BomberSquadron mentioned...very nice road win for Ithaca, is this the start of Same Ol' Naz?

Fisher thumps Stevens 71-59. Congrats to Stevens on becoming the Hawai'i of the E8. Death at home and kittens on the road. SJF with four in double figures; Beigel and Baltz 13 each. Passalacqua leads the Ducks with 15. Big bad Waleed Farid 3-12 from the floor, finishes with 9, 9 and 5.

Utica pulls one out at Hartwick 60-54. No box on the E8 site.

RIT wastes Elmira 70-56. Why did we think this was going to be close? It's Elmira. Barrett Zeinfeld had 19 points for the Tigers; I assume this puts him at about 5,000 career points in what feels like his 9-year college career.

EDIT: Also on the RIT front, former Tiger Bob Bevilacqua stars on ESPNU; the Canisius walk-on scores 10 points to spark the Griffs to major upset over archrival Niagara (GB15 is surely not happy) and court-storming ensues.

Caz Bombers · January 18, 2008, 11:00:55 PM

Utica-Wick stats: Herring 25-5-4 with 2 steals, 15 and 7 for McClendon. Cocopuffs dropped 20 and AJ Beaulieu had 15 for the Hawks. Beaulieu missed a 3 with 32 seconds left that would have tied it and Dennis Munch seals it with two key late free throws.

FisherDynasty · January 19, 2008, 11:24:03 AM

Fisher recoups at Home getting a big win. Could be the start of something good, although i think they will still be inconsistent until the end of the season. They really needed that win if they want a chance at hosting the tourny.

Ithaca beats Naz which is also big. The conf is wide open right now.

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 12:02:34 PM

Nice win for the Bombers last night. Looks like they just buried Naz in the 2nd half of last night's game. I wonder if all those big, emotional games of the last week or so caught up with Naz. Plus, I think last night was a game Ithaca had been looking towards since they hadn't really won a road game against a quality opponent yet. Whatever the reason, it was a nice win for Ithaca.

Ithaca can make a statement that they're a contender for the regular season title if they can win at RIT today. Most teams don't sweep the Naz/RIT road trip so today could be huge. After today, the Bombers have only three conference road games and Fisher will be the only tough one (the others are Alfred and Elmira). So today is a big one.

PREDICTIONS

RIT topples Ithaca, 82-74. RIT is a tough team and Ithaca hasn't been playing well in the afternoon road games in conference.

Stevens handles ALFRED, 70-57. Blah.

bombersquadron · January 19, 2008, 12:14:15 PM

Quote from: gobombers15 on January 19, 2008, 12:02:34 PM
PREDICTIONS

RIT topples Ithaca, 82-74. RIT is a tough team and Ithaca hasn't been playing well in the afternoon road games in conference.

Stevens handles ALFRED, 70-57. Blah.

Ithaca is very hot right now, i think they continue the streak tonight. I think it will be close game, hopefully Ithaca can overcome the difficulties of playing back to back games even more so with a few of the Bombers playing heavy minutes last night.

buck1053 · January 19, 2008, 04:05:33 PM

Quote from: Caz Bombers on January 18, 2008, 11:00:55 PM
Utica-Wick stats: Herring 25-5-4 with 2 steals, 15 and 7 for McClendon. Cocopuffs dropped 20 and AJ Beaulieu had 15 for the Hawks. Beaulieu missed a 3 with 32 seconds left that would have tied it and Dennis Munch seals it with two key late free throws.

Wow, Wick's on a roll. They've now lost six straight, even against Green Mountain when Coco scored 39 and Beaulieu had 34. GM is better than in the past, but seems like E8 should be beating independents.

I guess Wick's traditional start strong finish weak is on track again.

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 04:35:13 PM

I just watched the entire 1st half of RIT/Ithaca. Neither team called a timeout. The half took 28 minutes to complete. Empire 8 TV didn't show the score once. I have no clue what the score is.

EDIT: RIT by 9 at the break. Big run to close the half for the Tigers.

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 04:38:27 PM

Also, looks like RIT packed the house. And now their President is going to have orange hair.

http://democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/SPORTS09/801190311/1007/SPORTS

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 05:16:44 PM

Bombers on a run. Tigers led by as many as 14 in the 2nd, but Ithaca cuts the lead to 4. About 4 mins left.

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 05:24:12 PM

Bombers down 1, under two minutes left, Burton just missed a wide open 3 that would have put IC up 2. I would have bet the house that was going in. Let's see if Mullins is smart enough to employ hack-a-Carson.

gobombers15 · January 19, 2008, 05:41:33 PM

What an ending!! Leahy hits a 3 at the buzzer to give Ithaca the 87-85 victory. Scott Young, RIT's leading FT shooter, misses two FT's with under 10 seconds left, leading the frenetic final sequence. Burton dribbles down the floor, throws a cross-court pass to the left wing and Leahy hits a contested 3 to win it. It was Leahy's third 3-pointer in the final minute or so. What a game. Certainly worth the $2 it cost to watch on E8TV. Though, and I hope they're reading this, periodic shots of the scoreboard would be much appreciated. You know, right after fouls and during timeouts. I had to turn on the IC radio broadcast for the 2nd half so that I'd know what the score was.

Also, this gives IC a good shot at the regular season title. This conference is wide open right now.

bamm · January 19, 2008, 07:10:17 PM

Sean Leahy outscores the Tigers 9-2 in the final 23 seconds to win the game.

Given the circumstances, he must be new RIT President Bill Destler's least favorite player.

bombersquadron · January 19, 2008, 10:25:56 PM

Just got back from Rochester and took in the RIT/ Ithaca thriller today. That was a game was an instant classic. Most fans i have ever seen at an RIT game by about 800. The Bombers played well all first half but a slip in teh final three minutes let the Tigers take a 8 or so point lead into the half. Ithaca still struggled to cut into a lead which i felt was above ten most of the second half. However the Bombers battled back through RIT's physical play and some tough call from the Refs.

At one point in the one ref inadverntly got in Burton's way creating a touble team on Burton and forcing a turn-over which lead to a basket and the foul. The refs also allowed for the Tigers to be very physical with gaurding Burton. Ithaca stayed strong and pulled it out. The last thirty seconds of the game need to go to ESPN classic. Leahy was so clutch down the stretch hitting three hughe three pointers. Great win for Ithaca, first sweep of the RIT/Naz trip since 01-02. The win really hurts RIT and really helps Ithaca. Two huge road wins for the Bombers. I am still excited from the end of the game, the crowd had to be stunned and the RIT president who has his hair dyed Orange at halftime has to be upset the Tigers couldn't pull it out. Hopefully Peggy Williams does something like that and Ithaca can draw a crowd like they had at RIT today, at least 1000 people at the game.