MBB: NESCAC

[Bucket]

Middlebury never trails in this one, opening up a 20-point halftime lead and then beating Bates, 79-57.

Ryan Sharry with a ho-hum (I kid) double-double: 24 pts, 10 boards. Dylan Sinnickson continues to add a nice offensive/athletic spark off the bench: 13 points and 5 boards in just 14 minutes of action. Kizel his usual solid self: 12 pts, 5 assists, tough D.

Panthers killed Bates on the boards (47-30) and played their usual stingy defense, holding the Bobcats to 30 percent from the field. John Squires impressed on the offensive end for Bates...when he could stay on the floor. He had 10 points before fouling out having only played 15 minutes. A handful of second half threes by Will Furbush kept the margin within 20.

Midd is deep. Nine guys get double-digit, meaningful minutes--and that's with Nolan Thompson still in street clothes and Luis Alvarez and Jack Roberts easing back into things after missing most of the early season to injuries.

[magicman]

Bowdoin welcomes Hamilton back to the NESCAC rather rudely as they defeat the Continentals 74-61. Hamilton comes back from an 11 point 1st half defict and finally catches the Polar Bears at 16:57 of the 2nd period at 39 all. Bowdoin goes back up by 3 and the Continentals get a trifecta from Bradley Gifford to tie it at 42. From that point on it was all Bowdoin. A 17-1 run fueled by Will Hanley, Justin Nowell, and John Swords put the Polar Bears in control 59-43 with 10 minutes to play. Continentals fell behind by as much as 21 at 72-51. A closing 10-2 spurt by Hamilton shortened the gap. Hamilton had problems with Hanley all night long while Swords and Newall never missed a fg attempt going 7x7 between them

Bowdoin was led by Hanley who was the game's high scorer with 25 points (9x17 fg, 7x9 ft) and managed a double double as well with 11 rebounds. Ryan O'Connell (4x9 fg, 2x5 3's) and John Swords (4x4 fg, 2x3 ft) both scored 10 points.

Continentals had 12 players hit the scoring column led by Pat Sullivan with 9 (4x12 fg, 1x2 3's).  Both Gifford (3x5 fg, 2x3 3's) and Greg Newton (4x10 fg,0x2 3's) added 8 points.

Bowdoin just outshot the Continentals tonight as they connected on 54.7% of their attempts (29x53 fg). They were 4x12 3's (33.3%) and 12x17 from the stripe (70.6%).  Hamilton hit on only 38.5% of their shots (25x65) 7x24 3's (29.2%) and only got to the line 6 times making 4. Polar Bears had a slight edge on the glass 35-32 and both teams were less than stellar taking care of the ball, suffering 15 turnovers each. 

Bowdoin improves to 10-2 and is now off until Friday January 13th when they travel to Tufts for a 8 PM tip off.

Hamilton falls to 10-5 and will next host Colby on Sunday January 8th at 4 PM.

[OchoLoko41]

Wesleyan lost a close one in Amherst tonight.  The few positive points that came out of the game is that this Wesleyan squad can clearly play against nationally ranked competition even with Shasha Brown out of the game for most of the second half due to foul trouble.  Look for this squad to surprise teams in league play.

While most people will laud Aaron Toomey in this game, and his free throw shooting was certainly a key factor in the jeffs ability to squeeze this one out, who really killed the Cardinals was Jeff Holmes getting turning 3 missed Amherst shots into wide open layups off the offensive glass.

For Wesleyan the game did contain some positive notes, mainly in the play of Mendell and the return of St Jean,  After starting the season off slowly Mendell's offensive game seems to have returned right in time for NESCAC play (18 pts on 6-9 shooting).  The return of St Jean has to have Cardinal fans hopeful for this teams chances.  Without taking a shot St Jean certainly left his unique mark on the game collecting 4 charges in limited time while giving a truly impressive number of fist bumps and high fives. 

On this note seeing as he's only played these 10 minutes it is almost certain that the Saint Genius is leading the nation in charges per minute

[Old Guy]

Sharry is playing at a very high level. Tonight, albeit in a one-sided game: 7-10 from the floor, 1-2 from three, 9-9 from the line. He is so efficient.

[walzy31]

Friday January 6th NESCAC Spreads

Tufts @ Williams
Williams -9.0
O/U: 147.5

Wesleyan @ Amherst
Amherst -13.0
O/U: 158.0

Conn College @ Trinity
Trinity -6.5
O/U: 135.5

Bowdoin @ Hamilton
Hamilton -4.0
O/U: 144.0

Bates @ Middlebury
Middlebury -17.5
O/U: 138.5

Tufts 80 @ Williams 71
Williams -9.0 (Tufts Covers +18.0)
O/U: 147.5 (Under +3.5)

Wesleyan 64 @ Amherst 66
Amherst -13.0 (Wesleyan Covers +11.0)
O/U: 158.0 (Under +28)

Conn College 53 @ Trinity 70
Trinity -6.5 (Trinity Covers +10.5)
O/U: 135.5 (Under +12.5)

Bowdoin 74 @ Hamilton 61
Hamilton -4.0 (Bowdoin +17.0)
O/U: 144.0 (Under +9.0)

Bates 57 @ Middlebury 79
Middlebury -17.5 (Middlebury Covers +4.5)
O/U: 138.5 (Under +2.5)

[walzy31]

Williams and under (1 for 2)
Amherst and under (1 for 2)
Trinity and over (1 for 2)
Bowdoin and under (2 for 2)
Middlebury and over (1 for 2)

You would be up about 0.4 units, but I will give you a full +1

[walzy31]

My picks: Williams and under (1 for 2), Wesleyan and under (2 for 2), Trinity and over (1 for 2), Bowdoin and over (1 for 2), Middlebury and over (1 for 2).  I like Bowdoin as the best bet there (Yup, Bowdoin, Tufts, and the Amh/Wes Under were the three best bets tonight).

Same as 7express at 6-4 or up 0.4 units.
+1

[walzy31]

Williams and Over (0 for 2)

Wesleyan and Over (1 for 2)

Trinity and Over (1 for 2)

Hamilton and Over (0 for 2)

Midd and Over (1 for 2)

With 10 bets and putting down $110 to win $100 on each I expect to go 7-3. Walzy gets his $10 fee per bet and I still come out on top. Please somone let me kno how it turned out (3 for 10 lost $470 the way you bet it but luckily just costs you -1)

[amh63]

Some loose end comments on the Amherst-Wes. battle last night.  The writeup on the Amherst website is a nice summary of the ebb and flow of the game.  The important part is that Wes. shot the lights out in the second half and got key shots from their younger players.  Also it is to be noted that Wes. made a 10-2 run when Shasha Brown was on the bench.
First, it was Workman, not Williamson who missed some foul shots in the first half.....Amherst missed 9 foul shots in the first half for about 45%.  However, Workman had a monster game with a double double..11 rebounds.  Workman is the key player for Amherst so far, logging in the most minutes for every game.  Plays with energy/passion.....often underrated.
Glad to see Greg St. Jean back and the Wes. team at full strength.  Greg really worked hard to make the Walzy's All Crazy Team.
After his first or 2nd charge taken, he ran down the Amherst bench and tried to incite the bench. He did it once again later.
Other not often seen fouls.  Twice Workman was given a charge foul....both times it was on the perimeter as he was going laterally.  This year I have seen more players attempt jump blocks on offensive players outside the 3-point line.  It is done with arms raised and with the body.  Most of the time there is no call or a foul on the defensive player. Twice Willie was called for a charge...with Greg St. Jean taken both I believe.
Glad to see Wes. is not just the S. Brown show.  Shasha' third foul was a technical, though the boxscore does not show it.  Aaron missed one of the foul shots.
Return to the foul lane violation by Amherst late in the contest.  Aaron T. was shooting fouls....a 92% foul shooter.  He makes his first.  Why would any Amherst player make a lane violation on the made 2nd shot? 
Wes. often plays with two very quick guards out front. S. Brown being one and Beresford the other, I think.  Both have a nice drop shot at the end of drive to the basket.
The match-up of S. Brown versus A. Toomey is worth the price of a ticket....going against each other on defense. 
The last time Wes. beat Amherst was at Middletown on Jan. 6 '09.  It must be the moon effects that bring out the best in Wes.'s players.

[walzy31]

Saturday January 7th NESCAC Spreads

Wesleyan @ Trinity
Trinity -2.5
O/U: 135.5

Conn College @ Amherst
Amherst -21.0
O/U: 144.5

Tufts @ Middlebury
Middlebury -9.5
O/U: 133.5

Bates @ Williams
Williams -14.0
O/U: 141.5

[OchoLoko41]

definitely taking wesleyan

[walzy31]

HALFTIME SCORES

Amherst 39 - Conn 37
Middlebury 39 - Tufts 33
Bates 31 - Williams 29
Trinity 27 - Wesleyan 23

[magicman]

Halftime scores:  Slight correction Walzy

Middlebury over Tufts 39-33

Amherst over Connecticut College 39-37

Bates over Williams 31-29

Wesleyan over Trinity 32-28

[amh63]

Amherst pulls away in a methodical manner in the second half to win by 12 over the Camels of Conn. College.  It was only 2 at the half as Amherst seemed flat in the first half.  Conn. players played with energy even when Amherst went ahead by around 9.  Conn. started to hit the 3's and it became close.  Still, Amherst could score inside whenever they wanted throughout the game.  Barrise was only 1-7 from outside after taken the first shot of the game and hitting the 3-point shot.  He twisted his ankle after a Camel player stepped on his foot in the 2nd half.  Hope he is o.k.  Amherst turned up the defense in the later part of the 2nd half after CC took a 5-point lead and it soon was an Amherst lead of 5.  Conn.'s outside shots stopped dropping and Amherst was up by 9 with around 4 minutes to go.  Toomey started to score from the foul line or made nice passes to the big men.  Kalema woke up the crowd late in the game with a steal and finished it off with as one-handed dunk.
Conn. played hard and kept it close but there was never a sense that Amherst would not win....partly due to the ease of scoring inside whenever they had the ball.
Anyway, the details will be in the write-up on the website.  It was another "close" one at home.....but another win in the conference.

[walzy31]

Saturday January 7th NESCAC Spreads

Wesleyan @ Trinity
Trinity -2.5
O/U: 135.5

Conn College @ Amherst
Amherst -21.0
O/U: 144.5

Tufts @ Middlebury
Middlebury -9.5
O/U: 133.5

Bates @ Williams
Williams -14.0
O/U: 141.5

Wesleyan 71 @ Trinity 58
Trinity -2.5 (Wesleyan Covers +15.5)
O/U: 135.5 (Under +6.5)

Conn College 62 @ Amherst 74
Amherst -21.0 (Conn College Covers +9.0)
O/U: 144.5 (Under +8.5)

Tufts 69 @ Middlebury 82
Middlebury -9.5 (Middlebury Covers +3.5)
O/U: 133.5 (Over +17.5)

Bates 47 @ Williams 67
Williams -14.0 (Williams Covers +6.0)
O/U: 141.5 (Under +27.5)