MBB: NESCAC

[nescac1]

Amherst going to the hack-a-Troy strategy.  He needs to work on his FTA's in the offseason ...

[T990]

Trinity leads Middlebury 58-56 2:24 remaining.

http://caribou.cc.trincoll.edu/depts_athletics/live/xlive.htm

[Hugenerd]

Trinity leads Middlebury 58-56 2:24 remaining.

http://caribou.cc.trincoll.edu/depts_athletics/live/xlive.htm

OT now

[nescac1]

Awesome, awesome win for the Ephs.  A loooooong time coming.  Whittington was a force inside (if he could only hit free throws ...) and had an absolutely viscious block on Bennett that visible demoralized the Jeffs.    Snyder played very tough all day.  But of course the key was Wang -- his ridiculous stat line tells the story.  He struggled a big on defense, which is to be expected for a smallish frosh (and probably the reason he hasn't played more  until this point), but on offense no one on Amherst had a prayer of sticking with him, just spectacular play after spectacular play.  Looks like the Ephs found their point guard ... the key for the Ephs was the bench play, Rubin, Wang and Whittington played well together and really provided a spark.   The Ephs finally were tough on the glass, they just had a different attitude about rebounding and it showed. 

As for Amherst, Meehan is nasty, he can penetrate at will and he is big and strong.  I am guessing he has no shot since guys were playing five feet off him -- if he works on that aspect of his game, he will be very difficult to handle.  Waller has scary athleticism for his size at this level, but he realllly telegraphs his moves, you could call his charges two seconds before they happened.  Still, he'll be great in time.  Baskauskas looked lethargic, I am guessing he is one of the Jeffs who had the flu this week. 

Hopefully the Ephs can win tomorrow against a suddenly tough Trinity squad to lock up a high seed ...

[nescac1]

Wow, looks like Midd is about to go down.  Gotta pull hard for Middlebury tomorrow because if they win the Ephs can do no better than the third seed I believe under the tie-breaking procedure ... hopefully they won't be too tired to give Amherst their "A" effort.  Tomorrow's game is still for the home court in the conference, just didn't happen the way everyone expected. 

So glad the Ephs finally broke through -- first regular season win at Amherst in twelve years, incredible.  These guys really deserved the victory and took it to Amherst all game.  Congrats! 

[Hugenerd]

With Amherst's loss, that gives them 5 in region losses with a pretty weak schedule.  Amherst (5 region losses), Williams (6 region losses), and Colby (6 region losses) are all going to need to win the NESCAC tourney to get a bid, in my opinion.  Middlebury is a lock with only 2 losses at this point (even if they end up losing tonight).

By the way the Mid-Trinity game going to 2OT.

[BankShotCharlie]

Rough one tonight, lets bounce back against Middlebury tomorrow.  Wang looked alright [pause], speed kills.  However, I think Amherst beat themselves in the start of the 2nd half.  We couldn't get anything going on offense and couldn't come up with the key stops defensively. 

Lets keep this Nescac tourney in Lefrak, it's where it belongs.

[ephoops]

Congratulations to Coach Maker and the entire team on an absolutely terrific win at Amherst.

Maker wins his first of hopefully many Little Three titles.

[Hugenerd]

Midd wins 78-76 in 2OT.  Looks like the tourney will be at Midd and Williams can capture the 2 seed with a win over Trinity tomorrow.

[nescac1]

Wow.  Ephs better take care of business tomorrow against an exhausted Trinity team as I imagine Midd will be pretty damn spent against Amherst ... two vs. three seed is  HUGE difference this year as whoever is the six (colby, bowdoin, trinity) will be a very dangerous team. 

[CWM_42]

Ephoops, I give credit where it's due.  I watched the last 13 minutes of the Amherst-Williams game and the Ephs looked to be much the better team...it was not an 11-point game.  Williams played great team defense, involved everyone in the offense and looked a step quicker.  Amherst seemed to have no sense of urgency until the last four minutes and was lackluster on the boards.  Wang really controlled the tempo.

Bowdoin and Colby had strong defensive efforts against Wesleyan and Conn College, respectively, holding both under 50 points.

Trinity takes Middlebury to double overtime!  Not bad for a team that entered the game with an 8-13 record.  Can someone who was at the game weigh in with some thoughts?

Most importantly, how do we get QuickTime video feeds mandatory for all NESCAC games?

[nescac1]

oops, misspoke, if Williams wins tomorrow, they get a rematch against Trinity as Bates would edge them out I believe -- some reward!  

[nescac hoops]

R Wang looked alright [pause], speed kills.  However, I think Amherst beat themselves in the start of the 2nd half.  We couldn't get anything going on offense and couldn't come up with the key stops defensively. 

Lets keep this Nescac tourney in Lefrak, it's where it belongs.

Spoken like a real Amherst fan! Giving credit where it's due. Charley, you've been hanging out with Coach Hix too long. Wang is very quick [pause] but he also makes very good decisions. Speed doesn't get you 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 19 points. I only saw the second half but he completely ran the show for the Ephs in the second half - and yes, he also is very quick.

[Bucket]

Panthers win. EXHALE.

Wow. Tough one to follow over the computer. Midd really seemed to gut it out, especially with Smith fouling out in regulation.

Panthers clinch top seed. The special season for the Panthers gets that much more special. Am just overwhelmed. And then my boy Makes takes his team into Lefrak and walks out with a W for the first time in more than a decade.

Good night for the Bucket family.

[frank uible]

Williams beat Amherst at Lefrak in 2003 and 2007.