MBB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[DeWayneCarter]

Congrats to the Marlins.  They hit huge shots in the second half and the loose balls that HSC got in the 1st half went there way.  They made too many three pointers and shot 84% from the foul line.  The refs let this game get out of control in the first half and it showed in the second half.  I don't know what Mike Murray did to get a technical, but I still can't figure out how VWC did not have at least one technical.  There were at least two times I thought they should've gotten one.  Those calls help the Tigers if they are made but still don't guarantee a win because of HSC's foul shooting.  The Tigers were done in by a 27-5 run during a stretch in the 2nd half after getting up 13.  I look forward to a rematch in Salem.

Mike Murray elbowed Art Crew in the throat, which is why he was called for the technical. I thought that the refs, while calling alot of fouls, did do a good job of not making the game a tech fest, because it very well could have been that on both sides if they decided to call it in that fashion. But this game was an all out war, one of the most physical ODAC battles I've seen in a long time. A packed crowd, hostile environment, physical game, exactly what ODAC basketball is all about. I think that Harrison George and Khobi Williamson are good players, but they need more from their guards. In comparing the two teams, I think that VWC is a deeper team than HSC and that is why the Marlins won the game tonight. HSC's coaching staff made sure to feed their best players early in the game and in the first half, but VWC was able to play good enough D on the two big men and was able to go on a run. Wasn't surprised that HSC went on a run to get back in the game but I'm glad VWC was able to show toughness and come out of the fleet with the W. Also, I really like Mike Murray's game. I think that Dee Vick should have called a timeout after Teasley's bucket with 6 seconds to go though. That's asking alot of a freshman to make a play by himself with such a limited amount of time. He'll be a good PG for HSC though down the line.

[hasanova]

That's how it's setup!

Thanks, Brian.

[jdubyadubya]

WOW!

[2RMCFans]

Haven't checked the complete stats but did the Jackets really only have 9 TO's last night???  Way to hang on to the ball guys.

Hoping we can finish the season strong at home on Sat.  Should be a big crowd in Crenshaw with the students back from J-term break.

Congrats to all the winners last night & good luck to all for the final weekend.  What a conference!

GO JACKETS!!!!!! 

[algernon]

The Tigers started their five seniors ... Fletcher Lumpkin, Harrison George, Randall Ward, Alex Potapov, and Patrick Corrigan ... with injured senior Randall Ward making the first goal of the game to put the Tigers up 3-0 and finish his career.  Great cheers from the crowd on that one, since Randall hasn't really had a chance to play since early in the season!

The HSC/VWC game was as expected, a game that could have gone either way.  After the 3 by Randall Ward, the Tigers maintained a 1-9 point lead throughout the first half, finally getting to 10 points on a Kodie Critzer 3-pointer with about 40 seconds left in the half, to take a 40-30 lead.  After going into the locker room, the Tigers maintained a 10-13 point lead until 14:47, when Woodmore's jump shot narrowed the HSC lead to 51-43.  That was followed by 9 more points by the Marlins in the next 1:14 minutes, many of them at the free throw line, to get the score to 53-52.  The Marlins then extended their lead over the next 6-7 minutes, getting the score up to 69-58 with 7:08 to go in the game.  The Tigers than came roaring back (metaphor intended) over the next 2.5 minutes to take the lead, 70-69, on a Keegan Wetzel 3-pointer with 4:34 left in the game.  The score was within 3 points, one way or the other, for the rest of the game.  Mike Murray put the Tigers up by 1 point on a 3-pointer at 0:35 and Chris Teasley made a jump shot to the put the Marlins ahead by 1 point at 0:07.  Khobi Williamson got a good shot off with about a half second to go ... but it bounced off the rim and failed to go in.

DeWayne ... Saying that Harrison George and Khobi Williamson are good players is kind of like saying that D.J. Woodmore and Chris Astorga are good players.  What does it take to be called better than a "good player"?  All four of these guys could be on the ODAC First Team.  Harrison didn't have his best game, but he scored a game-high 24 points on 10-18 shooting, with 4-5 from the free throw line.  Khobi had 18 points on 8-10 shooting and had a game-high 9 rebounds in only 24 minutes of action.

The Tigers didn't play their best game, but they played well against a Marlins team that also played well.  Tigers hit 48% of their shots; Marlins hit 43%.  15 Marlins turnovers; 13 HSC turnovers.  Rebounding was 33-33, with each team getting 10 offensive and 23 defensive rebounds.  The game was pretty nearly a tie, but Teasley hit the jumper with 7 seconds on the clock (and had a great game!) and Khobi did not hit his with .5 seconds left (but also had a fabulous game!).  The Marlins won the game by hitting an amazing number of foul shots .... going 21-25 (84%) from the foul line, whereas the Tigers were a more average 13 of 19 (68%).  This game could easily have gone the other way.  The Tigers led for much of the game, but the Marlins came back and went ahead, then the Tigers came back and pulled even and it was close all the way to the wire!

After the game, a Tiger coach (different sport) said that both teams were Final Four calibur.  I agree that either could go very deep in the tournament, with good play.  The Marlins definitely improved their chances of a Pool C bid last night.

[algernon]

I've looked at the head-to-head tie-breakers and this is how things stand:

1/2 - Virginia Wesleyan.  They get the #1 seed if they beat Lynchburg.  A loss to Lynchburg and Tiger W at E&H would put them at #2.

1/2 - Hampden-Sydney.  A Marlins' loss to Lynchburg and Tiger W at E&H would put them at #1.

3/4 - Randolph.  Randolph beat RMC earlier this year.  If they win on Saturday at RMC, they'll be the #3 seed.  If they lose, they'll be #4.

3/4/5 - Randolph-Macon.  If they defeat Randolph on Saturday, that'll but both teams at 5 losses and 1-1 in the head-to-head.  Randolph-Macon will win the "points" tie-breaker, because their big win over VWC will make the difference, so they'll be the #3.  Otherwise they'll be #4 if Guilford loses at Bridgewater and #5 if Guilford wins at Bridgewater.  (RMC loses the tie-breaker with Guilford, given their loss to the Quakers.)  It doesn't matter to RMC what happens with the Lynchburg game, because they've beaten Lynchburg twice this season and would come out of a possible tie with the Hornets with the higher seed.

4/5/6 - Guilford.  Guilford beat RMC but lost to Lynchburg.  If they win, RMC loses, LC wins, producing a 3-way tie, the Quakers get the #5 seed.  In a 2-way tie with RMC, they'll get the #4 seed.  In a 2-way tie with Lynchburg, they'll get the #6 seed.

5/6 - Lynchburg.  Lynchburg lost to RMC twice and will lose any tie-breaker with the Yellow Jackets, whether Guilford's part of it or not.  Their highest seed is #5.  They'll win a 2-way tie-breaker with Guilford (LC wins, GC wins, and RMC wins ... or LC loses and GC loses).

7/8/9 - EMU.  EMU has the best chance, of the 7/8/9 teams, of finishing at #7.  If they get a W on Saturday against Roanoke, they'll get the #7, since EMU wins tie-breakers with BC (2 wins) and W&L (1 win).

7/8/9 - W&L.  W&L should get the win against Shenandoah and could finish as high as #7, if Guilford defeats BC and Roanoke defeats EMU.  However, they won't get any tie-breakers with the other two teams, since W&L lost to both EMU and BC.

7/8/9 - BC.  Bridgewater will have a tough time defeating Guilford, even at home, but could finish as high as #7 with a win.  BC loses a tie-breaker to EMU (2 losses) but wins a tie-breaker with W&L (1 win).

10/11 - Roanoke.  Beat E&H, so they'll get any tie-breaker.

10/11 - E&H.  To get the #10 seed, they need to defeat the Tigers on Saturday, while Roanoke loses at EMU.

12 - Shenandoah.  One ODAC seed is definitely determined, and the Winchester Hornets will be making the long trip to Randolph-Macon, Guilford, or Lynchburg on Tuesday the 19th for what will be their last chance to get to Salem.

[tigerfanalso]

Officials let the game get out of control. VWC should have had two technical fouls called against them in the first half, neither was called. The tech called against HSC in the second have should not have been called either based on the refusal to call the two the other way in the first half, my opinion. If the ODAC can't find better officials for a game of this magnitude, there is a problem. Officiating bad both ways.

Leon Hargrove simply has to play more than 17 minutes against teams as strong as VWC. Greg Lewis got 21 minutes and I think he needs to be on the floor more against quality opponents.

Fun game to watch, painful to watch the inconsistent officiating.

[hasanova]

The Quakers had four players in double figures last night versus the Wasps - McCarthy 25, Freeman 15, Pittman 12 and Richardson 10.  Expect to see sophomore Matt McCarthy take over a larger scoring role for the Quakers next season - he had 111 points as a rookie and has 314 so far this season, including the 25 he put up last night.  He's a good outside shooter, with 7 of 12 threes last night.  With 262 points, 182 rebounds and 28 blocks, I also expect to see Zeb Richardson in the ROY discussion this season.

[tigerfanalso]

ODAC Tourney is going to be fun. More than likely, HSC and VWC will see each other in the championship game and that will probably be another close game. If these teams played 10 times each would win 5. HSC better underneath, guard play for VWC is better.   

[hasanova]

ODAC Tourney is going to be fun. More than likely, HSC and VWC will see each other in the championship game and that will probably be another close game. If these teams played 10 times each would win 5. HSC better underneath, guard play for VWC is better.

I think the Top 6 teams have a reasonable chance to win it, but I do agree with your phrase "more than likely." 

[tigerfanalso]

hasa

Stranger things have happened and I don't discount an upset or two in the tourney, but based on the few games I've seen this year I don't think the ODAC is deep enough for 6 teams to have a shot at winning the tourney.  Just don't see it happening. RMC & GC maybe, a big maybe. I don't see LC or Randolph having the fire power to run the table. If both HSC and VWC are upset early, then it's a coin toss, but the chances of both going out early are slim at best. That is simply my opinion, but self admitted, I don't know basketball very well and I'm living for football season to start !!!!

[marlinpg10]

having diagnosed last nights game that is what ODAC Basketball is about. The marlins and tigers were in a battle the whole night, although my marlins won i did not want the game to be over. I wanted to watch 20 more mins of that kind of basketball. If those 2 teams can continue to play at that level maybe they could meet 2 more times. once in salem and maybe once in atlanta  , yea its wishful thinking but that was the level that these teams played at last night. The Marlins and the Tigers both had the we will not lose approach  and if you put 10 more secs on the clock it could have went the other way. Hope these 2 meet in salem for the ODAC championship

[jdubyadubya]

OK. Now I'm going to get all sappy about the Fish vs. the Tigers. That was ODAC basketball at its zenith. You can't script it any better, except as has been said a rematch in the next couple of weeks. Sure this is Divsion III basketball but I can assure you that the pride of playing for your school was bigger than life on both sides last night. And, it's been said, it could have gone the other way if the Tigers had made the last shot. I guess we all knew this was where the season was going. There were some runs by some other solid ODAC teams early on but in the long run, here we are again: VWC and HSC. I won't be in Salem this year but I will be following it all closely. Old #44 graduated almost 8 years ago now but I just can't tear myself away from staying close to what I consider the most exciting basketball on the planet! 

[yj424]

Observations: Va Wes and Hsc are the 2 best in ODAC. No doubt about it. Seeds 3-6 are capable of beating both. It all comes down to how teams match up and perform game time.

Colton Hunt is a very good player. Gets more calls in his favor than deserved for he is great at creating space with his subtle push offs.

Harrison George a very good player as well. He could have averaged 21 and 10 with 28 mins each game.

A very concerning factor with the student's section of hsc though after last night's loss, did they actually come onto the floor after buzzer and mutual middle finger gestures wanting to fight? And this after the embarrassing event with the presidential election? Parents may think twice now before sending their sons there.

And tigersfanalso...stick to football....stop compalining of officiating....it's odac officials...they try to do their best. Contact me next year and I'll see if I can get you a ticket to the RMC-Hsc game in Crenshaw.

[DeWayneCarter]

Yeah, things got pretty heated after the game. The game was testy the whole time. But after VWC rushed the court after the victory, the student section under HSC's basket made their way all the way on the court, and it could have gotten out of hand. Luckily things didn't escalate.