Empire 8

[magicman]

Just back from the Galanis Family Arena where Pep's Saxons upset the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher Cardinals, 60-59. The AU win snapped Fisher's 18-game winning streak and gave the Cardinals their lone blemish in the Empire 8 standings.

Dalton Walsh had the game of a lifetime, leading all scorers with 18 points, none more important than swishing his second free throw attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining to give AU the 60-59 win. AU had led most of the second half but the Cardinals tied it with 18 seconds to go.

A vociferous crowd supported the Saxons. Attendance was recorded at 738 but they must have taken a head count during the first half. Throughout the second half, the crowd seemed to swell and get louder. Probably the most spirited, hard fought men's basketball game Pep has seen in Alfred in about 30 years.

On Saxon Warriors!

Congratulations on the big win last night Pep. I believe that win clinches a playoff spot for the Saxons even though none of the releases I read stated that fact. Stevens can no longer finish ahead of you since you own the tiebreaker against them. If Elmira wins out and you lose your remaining games then Hartwick and Elmira would own the tiebreakers over the Saxons but Alfred would own the tiebreaker over Ithaca, should the Bombers win their final game. So I think you've clinched a spot in the E8 tournament, unless I've missed something.  Way to go.

[Bengalsrule]

Just back from the Galanis Family Arena where Pep's Saxons upset the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher Cardinals, 60-59. The AU win snapped Fisher's 18-game winning streak and gave the Cardinals their lone blemish in the Empire 8 standings.

Dalton Walsh had the game of a lifetime, leading all scorers with 18 points, none more important than swishing his second free throw attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining to give AU the 60-59 win. AU had led most of the second half but the Cardinals tied it with 18 seconds to go.

A vociferous crowd supported the Saxons. Attendance was recorded at 738 but they must have taken a head count during the first half. Throughout the second half, the crowd seemed to swell and get louder. Probably the most spirited, hard fought men's basketball game Pep has seen in Alfred in about 30 years.

On Saxon Warriors!

Congratulations on the big win last night Pep. I believe that win clinches a playoff spot for the Saxons even though none of the releases I read stated that fact. Stevens can no longer finish ahead of you since you own the tiebreaker against them. If Elmira wins out and you lose your remaining games then Hartwick and Elmira would own the tiebreakers over the Saxons but Alfred would own the tiebreaker over Ithaca, should the Bombers win their final game. So I think you've clinched a spot in the E8 tournament, unless I've missed something.  Way to go.

Plus 1 on the congrats the Pep!!!!

[AUPepBand]

Just back from the Galanis Family Arena where Pep's Saxons upset the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher Cardinals, 60-59. The AU win snapped Fisher's 18-game winning streak and gave the Cardinals their lone blemish in the Empire 8 standings.

Dalton Walsh had the game of a lifetime, leading all scorers with 18 points, none more important than swishing his second free throw attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining to give AU the 60-59 win. AU had led most of the second half but the Cardinals tied it with 18 seconds to go.

A vociferous crowd supported the Saxons. Attendance was recorded at 738 but they must have taken a head count during the first half. Throughout the second half, the crowd seemed to swell and get louder. Probably the most spirited, hard fought men's basketball game Pep has seen in Alfred in about 30 years.

On Saxon Warriors!

Congratulations on the big win last night Pep. I believe that win clinches a playoff spot for the Saxons even though none of the releases I read stated that fact. Stevens can no longer finish ahead of you since you own the tiebreaker against them. If Elmira wins out and you lose your remaining games then Hartwick and Elmira would own the tiebreakers over the Saxons but Alfred would own the tiebreaker over Ithaca, should the Bombers win their final game. So I think you've clinched a spot in the E8 tournament, unless I've missed something.  Way to go.

Pep believes you're right. Thanks for the congrats...you and BengalsRule. +K It wasn't mentioned likely because there's such a logjam that they hadn't yet figured it out. AU has the edge in a tiebreaker against any team the Saxons split with, as AU split with Fisher. No one else did. Hartwick would have the tiebreaker against AU on the basis of sweeping the Saxons and, in all probability, it will be the Hawks and Saxons in Round 3 in the Empire 8 Tournament (as #2 and #3 respectively), but this weekend will determine how it all plays out.

Pep was encouraged to see that one of the Saxons, in a post-game interview, basically said that "We can celebrate tonight but we need to put this game behind us because we've got work to do preparing for Utica and Elmira." Pep likes what he's hearing.

Fan support played a huge role in the win....so the Saxons must keep working and improving with every practice, every game, if they ever hope to win a ticket to the dance. While AU travels well, Fisher will have the home court advantage in the conference tourney.

On Saxon Warriors!

[AUPepBand]

Saxons defeat Utica, 98-84 for 7th straight win, moving to 10-5 in Empire 8, 17-7 overall. Utica drops to 6-10 in E8, 10-15 overall.
St. John Fisher averts second straight 1-point loss with a Chaz Lott layup at the buzzer to edge Hartwick, 69-68
Fisher now 14-1 in E-8, 21-3 overall, while Hawks drop to 9-6 in E8, 14-10 overall
Ithaca locks up an E8 Conference Tourney bid with an 83-74 win at Elmira. IC finishes 9-7 in E8, 12-13 overall.
Elmira drops to 7-8 in E8, 10-14 overall.
Nazareth defeated Stevens, 80-71, dropping the Ducks to 7-8 in E8, 10-14 overall while Naz goes to 6-9 in E8, 10-14 overall.

E8 Conference Tourney, unless Pep is mistaken somewhere along the way, should look like this:
#1 St. John Fisher (15-1)   vs.  #4 Ithaca (9-7)
#2 or #3 Alfred (10-5)  vs. #2 or #3 Hartwick (9-6)

Saxons win tomorrow at Elmira, they lock up the #2 seed, which makes no difference because whether they win or lose, they'll be matched up with Hartwick. And, should Hartwick lose to Naz tomorrow, the Hawks, Pep believes, would win the tiebreaker over Ithaca.

On Saxon Warriors!

[AUPepBand]

Stevens hands St. John Fisher their second loss in their last three games, 60-54.
Alfred holds off a determined Elmira squad, 67-62.
Hartwick defeats Nazareth, 100-88.

Empire 8 Conference Tournament:
#4 Ithaca (9-7, 12-13) vs. #1 St. John Fisher (14-2, 21-4)
#3 Hartwick (10-6, 15-10) vs. #2 Alfred (11-5, 18-7)

On Saxon Warriors!

[magicman]

Empire 8 Semifinals

#1 St John Fisher 90 #4 Ithaca 75

#2 Alfred 79 #3 Hartwick 72


Empire 8 Championship Saturday Feb 28th 4:00 PM

#2 Alfred at #1 St. John Fisher

[magicman]

In other news regarding the Empire 8 Conference.

While I was courtside tonight at the Plattsburgh State-Brockport State game I was approached by a gentleman who showed me a press release from Fisher that stated that Keegan Ryan was named as the E8 Player of the Year.

According to the release, Keegan is only the 3rd sophomore in the history of the E8 to win the POTY and the first time a sophomore from St. John Fisher has done so.

Keegan is from my home town and when he decided to go to Fisher 2 years ago I came on this board and stated that the Cardinals got a good one. A player that I had hoped would play for my Cardinals at Plattsburgh because we certainly wanted him to. I thought he might be in the mix for POTY, especially with the year Fisher has had, but being a sophomore felt that his turn might come later. Apparently he couldn't wait. Congratulations to Keegan. 

[magicman]

St John Fisher wins the Empire 8 Championship by defeating Alfred 77-62.

Plattsburgh State lost to Oswego in the SUNYAC championship 70-58

Skidmore defeated Clarkson in the Liberty League Championship 68-64.


That should leave Plattsburgh who was #2 in the last set of Regional Rankings as the first team from the East sitting at the table when the at large bids are determined.  And we think that our vRRO will jump from 1-0 entering today to a 4-1 record vRRO after Oswego as SUNYAC Champions should make the last set of Regional Rankings that no one will see. Also Keene State defeated Rhode Island today, after beating Eastern Connecticut yesterday and won the automatic bid for the Little East Conference. Keene State should make the Northeast Regional Rankings. Plattsburgh beat Keene State on New Year's Eve in Keene. We also defeated Oswego 2 of the 3 times we played them . So with our win over Skidmore  back in November, our 2 wins over Oswego and the win over Keene State we should enter the next rankings with that 4-1 vRRO. If a lot of favorites lose that may hurt us but our 4-1 vRRO should be better than a whole lot of other teams on the bubble. We think we may still be alive.

[Pat Coleman]

That 4-1 would be a good number. They don't just look at a win-loss record or winning percentage or number of games, though -- part of the consideration is the quality of those wins. So if Oswego is the sixth team in the East then it won't mean as much as it would for a team that beat someone more highly ranked in a region.

[magicman]

East Region Teams in the NCAA Tournament tonight.

Oswego State vs Calvin College  at Mount Union College   5:30 PM

Good luck to the Oswego Lakers in tonight's NCAA game. The oddsmakers have made the Lakers a 5 point underdog against Calvin College. Hope Oswego can pull off the upset.

Skidmore College vs Wesleyan University at Johns Hopkins University  5:30 PM

The Thoroughbreds are a slight 1 point favorite here and even though Wesleyan is the NESCAC champions they were only the 6th seed in their tournament. They got hot at the right time but Skidmore has the talent to play with these guys. Hope the Liberty League representatives can win one for the East Region.

#18 WPI at #20 St. John Fisher   7:30 PM

Glad the Cardinals got a home game here. This game matches up 2 teams that are both ranked in the D3hoops Top 25. The point spread favors the Cardinals by a slim 3 points. Fisher needs a big game from Keegan Ryan and Chaz Lott.

SUNY-Cobleskill at William Paterson   7:30 PM

The Fighting Tigers better sharpen their claws because they will have a tough time against the Pioneers from Willie Pat. The oddsmakers have made the Pioneers an 18 point home favorite. Maybe Cobleskill can take a page out of Morrisville's book and pull off the upset of another New Jersey Athletic Conference team like the Mustangs did last year when they knocked off Richard Stockton in the Sweet 16 and the year before that when they beat host Ramapo in the first round. Sure would like to see the NEAC conference take down an NJAC team for the 3rd year in a row. 

Of interest is that the last 2 times William Paterson made the NCAA tournament they were big favorites in the opening round. In 2009-10 a highly ranked 25-2 Willie Pat team, lost in the 1st round to Albertus Magnus when nobody had ever heard of Albertus Magnus. Two years later they were the NJAC champions of the 2011-12 season and again highly ranked. That William Paterson team was 24-3 and played at home against tiny Becker College (enrollment 1299 students) and Becker beat then by a 69-53 margin in the first round. So...hey you never know.         

[magicman]

St John Fisher defeats WPI by a 76-70 final score.

[magicman]

Congratulations to the St. John Fisher Cardinals for making it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

The Cardinals defeated Amherst Saturday night 87-70.

I've been waiting 3 years to type that sentence but was hoping that this year it would be another team of Cardinals that would take care of that job for me. But here in the East Region we will take what we can get. After my Cardinals have been eliminated by Amherst the past 2 years, it's somehow fitting that this year, Amherst was eliminated by a team of Cardinals. Another little bit of irony is that Fisher's Coach Kornaker, was, for a short time an assistant coach under my Cardinals' coach, Tom Curle.

The next game will be a tough one for Fisher as they will have to take on the #1 team in the country, Randolph-Macon, most likely in Ashland, Virginia, on the Yellow Jackets home court.

Good luck to the Cardinals and hopefully they get to play 4 more games. 

[sjfcards]

Does anyone know if video of the SJFC/RMC game will be available Friday night? The SJFC webpage is typically pretty good about listing that sort of information, but does not have video listed as an option to follow the game. The RMC page has video of previous games, which leads me to think Friday's game will be shown, but I don't see a link to the specific game. Any RMC fans out there that know if they stream their games?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The game will be streamed... we just don't have the link information set-up as of yet. We are working on some behind-the-scenes stuff that has delayed that information... but rest assured... it will be streamed.

[sjfcards]

The game will be streamed... we just don't have the link information set-up as of yet. We are working on some behind-the-scenes stuff that has delayed that information... but rest assured... it will be streamed.

Thanks so much for the info. I appreciate you helping me worry about anything else over the next couple days. +K