MBB: NESCAC

[amh63]

nescac1....thanks for confirming that the coach was the Williams player Crotty.
Frank U.....nice to hear from you...recovered from the football season, I guess.  Must say that your terse post is perceptive.  Not unexpected, I missed that point entirely.  Just thought that someone put the stop on him, somehow.  Wishful thinking on my part.

[Old Guy]

Middlebury down 29-28 at the half, not playing very well. Wolfin went down (ankle) but came back. Sharry getting every def. rebound. Don't know the numbers but the Panthers are not shooting very well. Salem State is carrying the play: aggressive man defense, picking up full court, making Wolfin and Kizell work hard bringing it up. Sharry has two fouls. Midd sat back in a zone for a while. Lots of turnovers. Salem State anything but intimidated. Easy to say, but the Panthers appear to miss the stabilizing influence of Thompson: he contributes in so many ways - good against pressure. Hopefully, we're repeating the pattern of last year - slow first halfs, great second halfs.

Incidentally, this is the best webcast I have seen. Very clear. The announcer is excellent, a minimalist, rare for a college student who often horse around and know more than the coaches (cf. Colby)

[Old Guy]

54 all, Midd-Salem St. 5:20 left. Midd went up by 8 quickly, seemed to have the game in hand. Salem St. came right back.

[Old Guy]

66-63 Middlebury. Phew. Wolfin and Kizell hit big hoops in the final minute. Veterans. Kizell hit two foul shots (1and1) with 18 seconds to go and Midd up one. Ice water. Hard to know how much of the game was due to Middlebury's coldness and how much due to Salem State's gameness. they certainly came to play. An escape. I took a couple of mental health breaks in the second half. I'd rather be at the game, less nerve-wracking. I'm anxious to see the stats. Maybe someone who was there will report.

[Bucket]

Midd holds off Salem State, 66-63. Don't have the stats in front of me, but watched the stream. I know Kizell topped 20; Sharry certainly had a double-double. Wolfin with some clutch, clutch baskets. Salem was physical, aggressive, really took it at the Panthers. Was impressed with Salem, nice inside-out play.

Bullock and Brierly have much bigger roles now with Thompson out, and both had positive moments followed by mistakes. This will happened with a freshman and a sophomore who didn't see a lot of time last year. What was impressive, though, was their poise...they seemed to assimilate well with the veterans. Lynch seemed to struggle a bit with the athleticism of Salem. He had some good buckets and boards, but also some big missed opportunities. Jensen brings athleticism and energy. Looking forward to getting Alvarez back on the court. He was back in uniform after missing the first part of the season due to injury. My guess is that it will take a few weeks of practice to get him back in the rotation. His ballhawk defense will certainly be needed once conference play starts.

Was a good game. Midd should be happy to leave Salem with the win. Panthers will be getting everyone's best this year.

[nescac1]

Three underwhelming wins for the big three to close out 2011 -- Midd and Williams both scrape by decent opponents, and Amherst wins in less than impressive fashion over what should have been a totally outmatched team.  Then again, all were far from home, all were likely a bit out of synch after the long exam / holiday break, and all were missing at least one key player due to injury.  I still think all three will be tough to beat in any NESCAC game as they get back into rhythm, assuming guys like Holmes, Thompson, and Rooke-Ley can return soon.  But Wesleyan, Trinity (who had an impressive weekend and will get tougher as the frosh mature), and Bowdoin will all be looking to score an upset once conference play starts. 

Midd has been particularly impressive given all the injury woes they have suffered (three starters have all missed significant time), if they can start to get healthy, I don't see them losing the number one ranking for quite some time, if ever, during the regular season.  Amherst on the other hand seems to be headed the other direction after a scintillating start.  Toomey is shockingly 0 for his last 13 from three, and Amherst as a team has struggled from deep at around 20 percent from three over the last four games despite not exactly playing a murderer's row during that stretch.  That can't continue as Amherst heads into NESCAC play. 

[amh63]

Amherst won by double digit and messed up Walzy's predictions.  There is a nice write-up on the Amherst website that point out the highlights.  It was enjoyable to watch a live game sitting among several ex-Amherst players of different generations with sharp eyes.  Now to point out what was NOT in the boxscore and the write up.  Marymount is a young team with several big front court players that were both in at times to counter Amherst size overall.  For example, Workman at 6'6' was often guarding a Fr. guard Konadu who is under 6'.  The only stat that gives a flavor of the game is the fouls.  The boxscore list 20 fouls by Amherst and 32 by the Saints.  The Saints play an aggressive game with tough defense.  The referees allowed the players to go after each other and almost let the game get out of hand.  One scary moment under the basket occurred in the second half in a battle for a loose ball.  Amherst got the rebound but as the players cleared, Aaron Toomey was on the floor holding his knee.  Game stoppage, trainer out and Toomey walks off slowly.  An Amherst fan yells out to the refs and points out that is the outcome of allowing rough play.   Toomey insist on getting back into the game.
In the first half, there were about 15 fouls called within the first 5 minutes and it made for a choppy game.  The majority of the calls went against Amherst and players were getting tentative.  Amherst, led by Workman, Toomey and Kalema started to drive to the basket and got obvious fouls in the 2nd half.  Two Saints fouled out and the 2nd big man had 4 fouls.  At times, the Amherst fans were wondering if the refs. were watching a game in another "dimension".  A loose ball hits a Saint foot and goes out of bounds.  Ball to the Saints.  A Saints center walks twice under the basket and scores.  This observation was pointed out by the best BB player out of D.C. who went to Amherst(Adam Harper'04)....and who also is a former conference defensive player of the year.  Adam who was on an Amherst final 4 team just shook his head after making the comment to us.  Coach Hixon got a technical foul and was also told to sit down.  The boxscore has the Saints getting a Team Technical foul.  Still, it was a Saints player who went to the foul line and made two shots.
OK...the positive points of the game for Amherst.  Kalema was often paired with Toomey and both often went one on one against their defenders.  Both got to the basket whenever they wanted.  Amherst had the outside shot but was working the ball inside to the younger front line players.  Amherst had a number of fast breaks that reminded the Amherst faithful of the Olsen years.  Toomey had a number of spectacular assists.  Barrise had a fine game with 9 points, 9 boards and 4 steals.  He was often on the floor as the only senior with many younger player combos....the steady Captain.  Coach Hixon got the opportunity to mix and match his players.
I believe that Holmes was not injured and/or sick.  It was a rough game and it was best to have Pete Kaasilla and the strong big Buckner and Tim Prowitt (local boy) inside battling and getting floor time. 
I will close out with the comment that the game ended with two under 6' Amherst guards (one a Fr.) in the back court.  Both are football players, with "LL" the star cornerback( that ended the Williams football game with a pick) being one.  Both Amherst guards enjoy the contact.  Forgot....the boxscore list of blocks is not correct.  There were about 10 blocks, evenly divided for both teams.  Even my old eyes could see them.

[magicman]

#24 Buffalo State 80 Wesleyan 77

Wesleyan led Buffalo State 34-31 at the half. First 10 minutes of the game was a back and forth affair with both teams hitting some good shots and taking care of the ball. Last 10 minutes was extremely sloppy play by both teams with a dozen fouls and 13 turnovers.
Wesleyan ended the half with 12 turnovers, while the Bengals had 9. Wesleyan had 14 free throw attempts and fortunately for Buffalo they only made 5. Bengals with only 4 attempts and made 3. Officials called a lot of shooting fouls against the Bengals. Buff St. had a 21-16 lead with 9:21 left in the half but the Cardinals would go on a 9-0 run to grab their largest lead of the period at 25-21. Bengals came back to take a 28-25 edge but were outscored 9-3 in the final 3:29 of the period.  Cardinal's Jason Mendall led all scorers with 12 pts. at the break.

Wesleyan opened the second half with another triple by Mendall, and after 2 free throws by the Bengals, Cards got back to back buckets to open up their largest lead of the game at 41-33. Bengals closed to within 3 on two Ahmed Nagaya baskets, plus a Norman Simmons jumper and finally a Jake Simmons triple tied the score at 44. Eight more lead changes and two ties would follow before the Bengals would grab the lead for good on a jumper by Anthony Hamer at 58-57. Hamer would then nail a 3 pointer to make it 61-57 and Buff St would gradually increase the lead to 71-62 behind 2 Jake Simmons triples for their largest lead of the night. Bengals were still up by 6 when the Cardinals sandwiched a jumper and a 3 pointer around a Bengal trip to the line, where Norman Simmons made 1 of 2, and closed the gap to 77-75. Justin Mitchell was fouled and made 1 of 2 to make it a 3 point game and Wesleyan's Sasha Brown came down and scored to make it 78-77. Jake Simmons quickly drove to the basket on the following possession before the Cardinals could foul anyone and made it 80-77 with 15 seconds to go. Wesleyan came down and had a wide open 3 point attempt with 2 seconds left that hit the back of the rim and the Bengals corralled the rebound for the win. Buffalo State hit just enough free throws down the stretch as they were 7x9 inside the final two minutes.

Jake Simmons and Nico McLean both scored 18 points to lead the Bengals. Simmons was 7x13 fg, 4x8 threes, with 5 steals. McLean was 7x13 fg, 0x2 threes, 4x8 ft, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Justin Mitchell with a solid all around game added 9 pts (2x6 fg, 5x6 ft) 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Bengals was killed on the boards 43-29 as Wesleyan grabbed 15 of those on the offensive glass. Cardinals had 19  turnovers as Buffalo pressed the entire game and the Cardinals had trouble bringing the ball into the froncourt on numerous occasions. Bengals ended up with 12 turnovers. Bengals outshot the Cardinals in all 3 areas. Buffalo State was 30x58 from the field (52%), 7x18 from beyond the arc (39%), and 13x21 from the line (62%). Wesleyan was 27x59 fg (46%), 6x16 3's (38%) and 17x29 ft (59%). Buffalo St. had 11 steals and 9 blocks while the Cards had 7 steals and 1 block.

Wesleyan was led by Jason Mendall and Mike Callaghan who both scored 19 points. Mendall was 6x10 from the field, 5x7 from 3 point land and 2x3 from the line with 5 rebounds. Callaghan shot 7x12 fg, 0x1 3's, 5x7 ft, with 9 rebounds. Derick Beresford added 15 points (6x11 fg, 1x3 3's, 2x3 ft) while Shasha Brown had 11 points (4x11 fg, 0x3 3's 3x6 ft) with 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Wesleyan, now 9-2, will take on Massachusetts College (2-9) tomorrow at 2 PM in the consolation game.

#24 Buffalo State, now 9-1, will face off against undefeated host #41 Catholic University (11-0) in the Championship game at 4 PM. 

[walzy31]

Friday December 30th Spread
Amherst @ Marymount (VA)
Amherst -24.5
O/U: 154.5

Amherst 81 @ Marymount (VA) 66
Amherst -24.5 (Marymount Covers +9.5)
O/U: 154.5 (Under +7.5)

Marymount and under.  First game after a long break, like a low scoring game.

+1

Amherst won by double digit and messed up Walzy's predictions.

There were 12 D1 games with spreads and totals today. 4 of the results (3 full games and 2 sides) had larger margins of difference from the posted Las Vegas spreads than the Marymount game margins on D3hoops. I'll take single digit deltas all day!

My apologies for not being active enough on the board to get a spread up for the Midd/Salem game. In case anyone is interested, the line would have been a lot less than the suggested 15.5 points, and Salem would have covered as it would have been more than 3 they lost by.

[nescac1]

Lots of NESCAC recruiting news:

http://www.newenglandrecruitingreport.com/news/article/2328/NESCAC-Commitment-CatchUp.php

Sounds like Tufts is adding some badly needed size up front, after spending two recruiting years bringing in some talented guards. 

[jayhawk]

Harlan Dodson, former Williams College player, assistant b-ball coach and history professor at New Hampton School- Excellent nationally ranked high school b-ball team
www.newhampton.org/athletics

[amh63]

Jayhawk....thanks for the info.  Of interest to me is that it mentions that the MBB team plays the Harvard and Williams JV teams.  I wonder what other conference teams have a JV squad. 

[frank uible]

The nature and extent of information at times appearing on this board is astounding.

[amh63]

Frank U.......Its what makes those who search for knowledge coming back!  Graduates of conference schools are taught to collect and shift data for their entire useful lives....or until their "storage" units are full.

[Bucket]

Apparently RPI likes to run-and-gun, and the Panthers seem happy to play that game.

Midd leads RPI by 9, 66-57.....and it's only halftime.

Ryan Sharry already has 22 on 10-11 shooting; both Kizell and Wolfin are on pace for double-digit assists. Panthers are getting strong bench play inside (Sinnickson 7 pts.) and out (Nascimento has 9 pts, 3 boards and a steal in just 7 minutes of action).

Midd shooting very well--64 percent--and have scored 60+ without the benefit of the three (Midd just 1-6 from behind the arc).

RPI subs in waves, 5 in/5 out every few minutes. If they are the fresher team or their outside shots start to fall (just 4-17 from 3 in the first half), they can shrink the margin in a hurry.

We'll see what the second half brings...