MBB: NESCAC

[Old Guy]

Midd closed the half with a little run, tightened it up a bit, down eight at the half, 46-38.

[Vandy74]

Wow, again. Midd awful so far in the first half - turnovers, porous defense, missed foul shots. Middhoops' circumspection last night well-placed. CC with 44 points with 3 minutes left in the first half

Hard to follow with no commentator and a vid feed so choppy I have to look at the scoreboard to see if shots go in or out.  CC shooting well and MC not playing much D.  No real intensity until those final minutes when the Panthers finally seem to get their heads in the game.  Hopefully that will continue in the 2nd half.

[AmherstStudent05]

Resilient Midd goes on a nice little run at the end of the half to cut the Camel lead to 8.  Connor Huff was in foul trouble for most of the first half which, in this case, I think really hurt Midd.  In his absence the interior defense offered almost no resistance.

For an Amherst fan this is an unusual game to watch.  Has there been a single made three pointer?  Maybe one or two snuck by me.  But both teams are attacking the hoop.  Conn also continues to practice old school basketball -- does any team in the NESCAC attempt more long range two-pointers? 

[Old Guy]

CC over Midd 82-81. Excellent second half. Midd erased the deficit right away and it was back and forth the whole half.

Midd up one, with under 30 seconds to go, 81-80. CC fouls Dahleh - okay he's missed one foul shot all year (6-6 last night). His shot rims out, half way down the hole. Some guy from CC goes the length of the floor and makes a hoop. I say "some guy" because the camera guy missed the hoop - and there's no announcer (nice presentation CC). Midd ball with 16 seconds to go, CC plays good D - Jake Brown misses a contested shot in the lane, game over.

Exciting game. Frustrating loss for Midd. I watched with Young Guy, who is on break till Monday. I suffer in silence, he suffers loudly. 

[middhoops]

Old Guy, I was alone and my neighbors have good reason to complain.
Very difficult ending to endure.
That is, for better or worse, the beauty of the game.
Good win for Conn College.

[polbear73]

Great comeback win for Bowdoin at Bates behind Lucas Hausman's 42 points. After last night's blowout at Tufts, a good character win for the Polar Bears.

[AmherstStudent05]

Outstanding game in New London.

Jake Brown hit 1 of 2 free throws with just under a minute to play to give Midd a one point lead.  You would have thought a two for one was inevitable at this point, but Conn's offense goes strangely stagnant and then Jake Brown makes an outstanding steal with 30 seconds left to play.  My memory may be off but I think Conn botched an almost identical situation the last time they hosted Midd two years ago. I thought at that point they were destined for a similar result. 

However, Midd misses the front end of the ensuing 1and1.  Conn scores a layup right away (different schools of thought here -- I generally prefer holding for the last shot, but it is hard to argue with a layup, if that in fact was it was).

The Conn defense evidently watched the Road to Salem as they seemed to know exactly what Jake Brown was going to do with his last second shot. 

(At the end of the game brown hit the deck hard and it looked like things were about to get out of control but credit to both teams for keeping their composure)

Unlike the first half both teams were taking their shots from distance in the second half.  MSA was once again excellent for Midd.  But congrats to the Camels for getting a great win.

Also is Tarantino hurt or just out of the rotation?

[amh63]

Last season, Hauseman set the 44 point record? .... against Bates....according to the announcer.  Seems with Bowdoin at 78 points and Bates a few points behind, No.21 has half of The Polar Bear's points with 39.  No one on the Bobcat team can check him it seems.

[NEhoops]

Impressive weekend for the Jumbo's. Can anyone provide insight beyond the box score on what made their offense so effective the last two games?

Tough start for Colby. I thought their experience was going to close out the game against Bates and then it seemed like once they got behind today they just didn't have it in them to make a run.

As hot as Bates was on Fri, seems like they were the exact opposite today, particularly the bench. As mentioned earlier, great character win for Bowdoin. Hausman is the real deal and between Palecki and Simonds they have some strong complimentary pieces as well.

[Bucket]

Chatting with Old Guy on Friday afternoon, I expressed the opinion that a split on the road to open the NESCAC season would be just fine with me. Oh how perspective changes after a Friday night win and a lead with less than :20 on the clock on Saturday!

I was unable to watch the stream, so my account of the game is based solely on the live stats play-by-play and the write ups here.

Sounds like Midd once again fell down big (14) early, only to battle back. Back and forth in the 2nd half with 14 lead changes.Then  one of those painful ways to lose for the Panthers, though credit to the Camels for getting the bucket and the stop when they needed to. Hats off to them on the victory.

Unfortunately, Midd reverted to earlier season form at the charity stripe—59 percent. That obviously hurts in a one-possession game. I obviously feel for Dahleh missing the front-end of that one-and-one, even more so after hearing the ball was in and out. The young man will have plenty of opportunities to change the script in his career.

Statistical observations: St. Amour again leading the Panthers in scoring w/ 23 points (4-7 from 3). Very nice start to the conference season for him. Baines was the freshman to watch today with 12 points, including 2-3 from distance.  Matt Daley with the double-double—16 pts on an efficient 7-10 and 12 boards.

One game remains—Trinity-Williams—in the opening weekend.

Biggest surprise: Conn 2-0 or Colby 0-2? Or Tufts winning by the margins they did against Bowdoin and Colby?

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin bounces back today to defeat Bates: 84-77

This was a nice win for the Polar Bears after last night and the story of the game was Lucas Hausman who put the team on his back lead all scorers with 42 points - just two shy of the school record of 44 points he set last year - at home against Bates.  This year Hausman shot 50% from the field (11-21), 62.5% from downtown (5-8), and 88.2% from the charity stripe (15-17).  I suspect Coach Furbush will be attending Bowdoin's commencement just to make certain Hausman gets his diploma and leaves Brunswick!

Early in the first half the game went back and forth.  Bowdoin looked much sharper - especially on defense.  On offense they were carried by their long range shooting and foul shots.  The P'Bears only shot 37.5% from the floor but 40% from behind the arc and 90.9% from the line.   Bates shot poorly in the first half: 28.1% from the floor and only 26.7% from long range.  They also were weak from the line shooting only 60%.

Fortunately, Bowdoin didn't cool off in the second half.  In fact Hausman's 3 point shooting picked up.  The Polar Bears had a couple of players in foul trouble and Bates made a run or two narrowing the score to 4 or 6 with less than 10 minutes to go.  They made another run and had the lead down to 1 with just less than 2 minutes but Bowdoin was able to widen the lead and hold on.  It was nice to see the team win a tight one convincingly.

When I checked the box score I surprised to see that the fouls were even.  Bowdoin was on the receiving end of some really questionable calls - mostly on the bigs.  I was getting texts from Bowdoin fans at the game who had the same impression.

On Tuesday Bowdoin will travel to Pres Isle, ME for a non-conference match up.

[old_hooper]

Congrats to Conn College, this is the first time in Coach Satran era he starts 2-0 in CAC. 

Tufts is playing very well with a solid starting five. They beat two very good teams on their trip to CA. First was Whitman ranked 25th who has only two losses this year to the #2 Whitworth and Tufts, then a win against Cal Lutheran on their court.  That is never easy to do that time of year.  CalLu surprised a Stevens Point team one year.  If the Jumbos can win on the road the next two weeks at Midd-Hamilton and Wes-CC they will have a great chance to win the conference. They play at home against Amherst, Trinity and Bates. 

[Vandy74]

Nothing to add to what MC posters have already said.  Agree with OG.  If you can't provide audio coverage at least have a camera that can cover the entire court.  Hats off to Conn. Coll. on a good win.  Watching them warm up before game time I knew I saw a team with many good athletes.  This is the 3rd season in a row the Camels have given the Panthers fits.  They finally come away with that W.  Again, congratulations on a well deserved victory and 2-0 start.

[amh63]

It seems a little strange not posting about an Amherst game today.  Still trying to figure out the reasoning behind the CAC scheduling and the "annoying" decision of separating the WBB and MBB games.
On the "rise" of CC...it has been awhile.  Been to the BB facility across the street from the main campus.  Remember seeing a Williams game in it...seating with the Conn parents...of course.  Was in the area with my Best Man....we had gone to an UConn game earlier.  The facility has an architectural roof like LeFrak...much smaller....no charm or history like the small gym at Bates.  Maybe one day I will sit in OG's favorite gym in Maine .  My Best Man has moved to the Chapel Hill area.  We are planning a visit to another " smaller" facility there....Cameron at Duke in a game situation.  Will Not camp out for attendance! 
Amherst's next games  will be at home against Wesleyan and Conn College.  It should be both interesting and important to win them.  I keep reminding myself that Amherst crushed Wesleyan twice before losing to the Cardinals in OT on a neutral court.  Different team, new season.
I could not watch much of the CC game....was getting a headache...and there was no video feed from Middletown.  Both schools are not using the NSN system.
Oh yes, looked at Tufts record.  Did watch the MIT lost at home...earlier post.  Saw an earlier narrower win over RIC....yes the now 1-11 team that loss to Wes in OT.  Tufts has a veteran team that continues to improve, it appears.  Can say that all CAC teams are maturing, minimizing the home and away play.  I am getting the thought that Matchups and Depth will be the key factors  in the race for the title.

[nescac1]

Always good to see an alum of my HS kicking butt in hoops.  I'll be rooting for Vinny Pace in every non-Williams game! 

Great article on Colby hoops alum Jonathan Kalin's work to fight campus sexual assault: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/fashion/sexual-consent-assault-college-campuses.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone