Empire 8

[FROMAFAR]

I think I have it now..... If NAZ beats IC ( not likely) they get tie breaker over Fisher..... If not Fisher gets it because NAZ lost twice to UC............this is of course if they finished tied.........

[e8bballfan]

Final weekend predictions of the regular season...

Ithaca 87 - Naz 82...(IC just too much firepower, but Naz will make it difficult.)

Utica 71 - Fisher 60...(Fisher still hungover from Alfred loss.)

Alfred 62 - Hartwick 58... (Alfred playing with confidence looking to close season out strong.)

Fisher 67 - Elmira 55... (Fisher ends season with a win.)

Alfred 61 - Utica 70 (Utica goes 2-0 on the road trip.)

RIT 66 - IC 83...(RIT is in a funk, IC keeps rolling & hosts E-8 tourney.)

Best of luck to everyone!

[Bombers798891]

Final weekend predictions of the regular season...

Ithaca 87 - Naz 82...(IC just too much firepower, but Naz will make it difficult.)

Utica 71 - Fisher 60...(Fisher still hungover from Alfred loss.)

Alfred 62 - Hartwick 58... (Alfred playing with confidence looking to close season out strong.)

Fisher 67 - Elmira 55... (Fisher ends season with a win.)

Alfred 61 - Utica 70 (Utica goes 2-0 on the road trip.)

RIT 66 - IC 83...(RIT is in a funk, IC keeps rolling & hosts E-8 tourney.)

Best of luck to everyone!

At the half

SJF 33, Utica 26

Franklin leads the Cardinals with nine. A win with a Naz loss puts them in position to take back the final spot in the conference tourney. Herring leads Utica with 11

Ithaca 56, Nazareth 46

Could have seen this score coming, as neither team is playing defense. Ryan McAdam has 12-9 at the half for Nazareth. Burton with 13 and 8 assists for Ithaca. A win clinches the #1 seed in the conference tournament for the Bombers and possibly a conference POY award for Burton.

[UCgrad45]

Great game going on with fisher/UC.  Hometown refs making it interesting. May have fired up UC. They gave a statement call against Herring at the end of the first half, and it was bad. Then in the second, Newman (I think it was him) gets in the refs face for almost a full 45 seconds after a foul call and nothing happens. A few minutes later, Herring gets hit in the face as he shoots with no call, asks for the foul and gets an immediate technical. There is only one of the three calling anything against fisher, and he just injured his ankle. Hopefully he is ok and able to stay in the game. Both teams playing tough.

Herring earlier in the game sat in the stands for a minute. I can't imagine trying that in that gym 3 years ago. Not only would he have been assaulted, UC fans in general would have had a hard time.

[UCgrad45]

Tie game with less than 7 minutes left.

[UCgrad45]

Under 4 and Utica up by 4.

[UCgrad45]

Franklin can play. He is the only one keeping them in this game. UC is getting a lot of players scoring now.

[UCgrad45]

And the ref with the mohawk who has been doing everything short of wearing a fisher jersey calls a phantom foul on UC and Fisher gets the lead. This guy has been hosing UC all night.

[UCgrad45]

UC up by one with less than a minute to go.

[UCgrad45]

UC up by one with about 22 seconds to go.

[UCgrad45]

UC wins 68-63. Huge win.

[Bombers798891]

The Bombers are the #1 seed for next weekend's conference tournament. Ithaca rolls over Nazareth again, this time 113-86. Nazareth offers absolutely no defense once again, as the Bombers score at will. Ithaca's defense wasn't much better, but 15 three pointers and 18 offensive rebounds mark the difference.

Frankly, this should end the conference POY debates. Burton gets 32 and 13 assists and is going to lead the conference in scoring (Unless Carson outscores Burton by 43 when they play). The 13 assists also push him ahead of McAdam for the most assists in the conference, although the lead is only four and could change since Naz is playing Elmira and Burton may get some rest. At the end of the day though, it's tough to come up with an argument against the Conference's leading scorer and possible leading assist man when his team finishes with a much better record. Athough it's not Carson's fault, RIT faded down the stretch and the Bombers never missed a beat despite losing one of their best players to injury.

It will be interesting to see what Ithaca does on Sunday. In all likelyhood, they've wrapped up a #1 seed in the East, so the game may not mean much, and they certainly won't want anyone hurt. However, they may see RIT in the conference finals, so they don't want to just roll over.

As far as the rest of the conference tournament goes, Fisher hangs tough but falls to Utica 68-63. The loss probably spells the end for the Cardinals, as both they and Naz have one game left against conference doormat Elmira. If both win, here are the matchups:

Ithaca-Naz
RIT-Utica

Bombers have to be very happy, playing a team they've beaten twice by an average of 29.5 points and against whom they've scored 117.5. I can't see Ithaca having any trouble with Nazareth in round three

As for RIT-Utica, the Tigers took both matchups in the regular season, although the second, on the road, was only by three. A lot will depend on the game Sunday. If RIT looks impressive, I'll go Tigers. But if they struggle again, and Utica can top Alfred, it might go to the Pioneers.

Good luck to all!

[bamm]

Hey Bombers --

While I'd be fine with the award going to Burton (he certainly deserves it), I think it's a mistake to think his performance tonight was the nail in the coffin (unless you are asserting that Ithaca's clinching of the regular season championship is the deal sealer).

Carson and Burton have been equally impressive individually this year, I think it would be fruitless to argue for either through their statistical strengths.  Burton plays on a better team that eventually took control of the conference, and that's a good enough reason to give him the award. 

But by individual performance, they were equals.

[Michigan452]

WOW cant believe that fisher-UC game.  One that will go down in the record books most likely, as this is the first time that fisher has not made the e8 tourney. These guys cannot hit a free throw.  Also fisher needs to focus on making better decisions in the clutch.  This can be attributed to bad preparation by the coaching staff.  Obviously fisher does not practice situational basketball at all.  I cant believe they blew this game.  Utica did play well down the stretch with good shooting and good decisions.  This shows how much Connelly has progressed in his coaching.  I am very excited to see Utica in the next 2 years.

[Bombers798891]

Hey Bombers --

While I'd be fine with the award going to Burton (he certainly deserves it), I think it's a mistake to think his performance tonight was the nail in the coffin (unless you are asserting that Ithaca's clinching of the regular season championship is the deal sealer).

Carson and Burton have been equally impressive individually this year, I think it would be fruitless to argue for either through their statistical strengths.  Burton plays on a better team that eventually took control of the conference, and that's a good enough reason to give him the award. 

But by individual performance, they were equals.

Yeah, that was my point, should have made that clearer. The statistics are essentially dead even, (That is, if you assign equal weight to assists and rebounds) but the fact that Burton did it for a 23-1 conference champ missing one of their best players for a good chunk of the season while RIT faded puts it over the top