MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

Slight correction again Walzy.  Wesleyan won 73-58. A foul just before the final buzzer and Wesleyan's Jason Mendall makes 2 free thows to up the tally.

[Bucket]

Tufts plays Middlebury tough, but Panthers pull away for an 82-69 win.

Another classic Sharry game: 22 pts, 7 boards, 3 blocks...though it seemed that everyone in Pepin was holding their collective breath when he goes down grabbing his ankle a few minutes into the second half. Impressively, the Panthers increased its lead from 7 to 13 with Sharry out, and he would return to a standing O a handful of minutes later. Lynch does the dirty work, banging underneath, finishes with 16 pts (7-9 shooting) and 8 boards.

Kizel (16 pts) and Wolfin (14 pts, 6 assists) were really tough down the stretch, aggressively taking the ball to the basket, dishing to open men, and then draining a dagger three (Kizel) that killed any Jumbo hope with a few minutes left.

Dylan Sinnickson continues to be the human microwave, an explosive offensive force off the bench, 10 pts (on 5-6 shooting) in just 13 minutes (he picked up his 4th foul early in the second).

And perhaps the best non-game news for any Panther fan: Nolan Thompson should be back on the court when the Panthers return to action next week.

Was really impressed with Tufts: no quit in the Jumbos, aggressive, confident, shot the ball really well for stretches at a time. L

Love the intensity of conference play.

[Old Guy]

Bucket nailed it. Middlebury played very well and had to. Tufts is for real. They can shoot. Midd was up six at the half, 39-33, and Tufts hung around the whole second half. The Panthers were terrific in the last five minutes. Sharry hit a fallaway baseline jumper with the shot clock at one second, and Kizell hit a 22' three pointer that was a dagger. He and Wolfin pushed the ball and protected it at the same time, made only good decisions with the ball. They looked like they were having a ball in the game's final crucial minutes. Good guards are fun to watch.

Well-played game overall. Middlebury shot 62% for the game; Tufts shot 58% from three (7-12). Tufts' beefy center Anderson popped out and hit three rainbow threes (19 points overall). Tufts is young - point guard CJ Moss is a frosh and 2 guard, Firempong, a shooter (16 points), is a soph. The Panthers bottled up Ben Ferriss, who had 23 in 18 minutes against the Ephs,  but didn't have a field goal today (0-3; 4-4 from the line). The Panthers had read his notices. Ferriss was Mister Basketball in Vermont at Essex High last year: the whole Essex team came to tonight's game and cheered hard for their guy. Big crowd in the Pantherdome, despite the fact school is not in session. Great atmosphere. Good hoop.

[amh63]

Bucket had the perfect "word" to describe conference games......INTENSITY!  Watching, critical games that this weekend proved to be battles on the floor also proved to be emotional battles to watchers like me.  Ever shot taken is big, every mistake is a critical one at the time.  Even after a win, I  often over think the game and do not give enough credit to the efforts of the losers....forgetting that the players are just YOUNG students that are still learning both on the floor and in the class.  I forget that this is Div3 and not big time Div1.
Anyway, has anyone notice that there is a game between Colby and Hamilton on Sunday.  Has the league made an exception for travel to Hamilton....avoiding back to back games?

[ECSUalum]

Amh63.

Watched my first NESCAC confernce, (Wesleyan/Amherst), game Saturday night of the University stream.  Nice job by the boys holding Sasha Brown to 11 points,  I believe 8 points below his season average.  The students doing the game were actually pretty good and sometimes funny with their commentary.  BTW, the facility Amherst plays in is interesting in that it has what looks to be all wood interior panelling.  Must make for some real noise when the fans get going.  Finally, excuse my ignorance, but has NESCAC basketball always played conference game back to back on weekends?  Can understand why due to acedemic schedule.  Does it cause any physical (injury) problems for the players?

[7express]

ECSUalum, there's actually a lot of conferences that do back to back games on weekends: NESCAC, Empire 8, Liberty League, Landmark, NEAC, NWC are the ones I know of, there maybe some more as well. 

[ECSUalum]

ECSUalum, there's actually a lot of conferences that do back to back games on weekends: NESCAC, Empire 8, Liberty League, Landmark, NEAC, NWC are the ones I know of, there maybe some more as well.

7,

Thanks, did not know that!!

[amh63]

ECSUAlum....Glad to have you enjoy the "wealth" of NESCAC competition.  As you gather, the Amherst/Wes. game was much to close for me and I blame it all on the moon conditions and the refs....just kidding.  To answer your questions the best I can.
I believe that the back to back scheduling of conference games helps the players in their time away from classes overall.  As 7Express points out, other conferences also have that to minimize time away from classes.  Th UAA conference has an unique situation due to the breadth of their conference....St. Louis, Chicago, Rochester, Atlanta, Boston....etc.....which require Sunday games and a day break between weekend games.  As to the impact on players, the length of travel can be a drag...but the coaches must plan for back to back games....in the rotation of players and depth of squads.  Injured players have less time to recover between games, etc.  In the game you watched, Aaron Toomey had less than 30 minutes on the floor in the nip and tuck game.  I believe it was to save him for the game on Saturday against Conn. College where he was the only player with all 40 minutes.  Amherst is fortunate that Kalema, a soph. guard from Va. has developed well enough to share and replace Toomey as pg.  Aaron last year was worn down by the end of the regular season.  This year he is the focus of the opponents' defense in most of the games to date.  He is bumped outside and pressed all over the court, etc.  Other team coaches know that he is the engine that runs Amherst's offense.
As to the question of the LeFrak facility....yes it has wood paneling and the hardwood floors were an update in the last decade....making for a loud place when it is filled when teams from Midd. and Williams are in town.  When Amherst host conf. tournaments and NCAA games, the side with the purple and white curtain is more open and addition seats are added.  More people, more noise but it is dampened a bit by the opened end.  The original facility burned down and when it was replaced, it was lengthen so that it can hold 2 BB floors.  When you have one of the biggest builders in the NorthEast providing the money, it helps.
With respect to the student broadcasters and camera person, it could be better...it was on Sat. when the camera followed the action better.  Eric Bunker, the lead announcer, was the top football runner in the conference.  His younger brother was Trinity's top runner.
In the WBB game, Wes.'s senior guard Emily Lippe has a brother who is a freshman MBB player, Max Lippe.
To continue this "relationship" trival, your college president is married to an Amherst graduate...a classmate of mine.

[ECSUalum]

Amherst63,

Thanks for the detailed explanations, +k.  I actually found myself chuckling at times wrt some of the comments by Bunker et al.
LeFrak facility 

I have met Richard Freeland, a VERY nice, knowledgable, well versed gentleman. Past President of Northeastern U I believe

[magicman]

Hamilton leads Colby 34-33 at the break. Back and forth action the entire half. Largest leads of the half were 5 points by Colby and 3 points by Hamilton, I believe. Video feed up and running but live stats frozen on the game against Bowdoin from 2 days ago.

[magicman]

Hamilton takes down Colby 70-62 for their 1st NESCAC win since returning to the league. The Continentals opened up a little breathing room coming out of the break with a 15-6 run in the first 4:15 of the 2nd half.  After Colby cut it to 3 at 49-46, Hamilton had a 10-0 burst to open up their largest lead of the game at 59-46. The White Mules fought back, to close within 4 points at 63-59 with 2:10 to go but Hamilton hit 4 of 6 from the line and a key steal for an easy layup by Greg Newton sealed the victory for the Continentals.

Newton led all scorers with 25 points (10x12 fg, 1x2 3's, 4x4 ft) 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 6 steals. Pat Sullivan also in double figures with 13 points (5x13 fg, 0x3 3's, 3x6 ft) and 4 boards. Hamilton shot 26x57 fg (45.6%), 6x21 3's (28.6%), 12x16 ft (75%). They were outrebounded, 31x27, but only had 10 turnovers to 21 for Colby.

Colby was led by Kyle Donovan with 19 points (6x6 fg, 3x3 3's, 4x4 ft). Ben Foreman added 16 (5x19 fg, 4x9 3's, 2x2 ft) and Eric Beaulieu had 10 (3x5 fg, 4x4 ft). Beaulieu was the game's leading rebounder with 6 boards. The White Mules shot 20x45 fg (44.4%), 8x22 3's (36.4%) and 14x16 ft (87.5%) Their failure to take care of the ball in the 2nd half was the key element of the game. Every time they got within striking range they would commit several turnovers in succession allowing Hamilton to extend the lead. Colby only had 6 TO's in the first but a whopping 15 in the 2nd.

Hamilton improves to 11-4 (1-1 conf.) and is off until next Friday the 13th (oh-oh) when they travel to Amherst to take on the Lord Jeffs at 8 PM.

Colby falls to 4-8 (0-1 conf) and and will travel to Bates next Friday for an 8 PM tipoff.

[Old Guy]

Regarding LeFrak (Amherst). It's a beautiful gym, but I have a hard time with the gym's architecture, its physical orientation - that is, the end of the floor near the entrance is sometimes sectioned off with a big curtain of sorts, sometimes not. The last two times Midd has been there, it has been open. Lots and lots of room behind the hoop at that end, and it's very light. It strikes me that shooting into that background (when the curtain is open) is really disorienting, and a significant disadvantage to visiting team (which doesn't have the advantage of practicing there and becoming accustomed to it). Why isn't the curtain, a nice dark background, drawn at every game? Am I guilty of cynicism to think it is gamesmanship?

[OchoLoko41]

Slight correction again Walzy.  Trinity won 73-58. A foul just before the final buzzer and Trinity's Jason Mendall makes 2 free thows to up the tally.

You need to get your Conneticut CAC schools straight Magicman.  Wesleyan got the win this past Saturday behind nice performances from Mendell (again a WES player), Brown, and Callaghan.  Brown posted one of the most well rounded stat lines i've seen in a while form him (21 pts, 9 assists, 6 rebs, 5 steals) while the freshman point guard Bryan Galvin went perfect from the field for 10 points.

Wesleyan faces the two headed beast of Williams and Middlebury next weekend.  I'll say it again, this team is poised to break out and I would not be surprised if one of these games acts as that moment. 

[Old Guy]

Wesleyan faces the two headed beast of Williams and Middlebury next weekend.

AT Wesleyan. Could be great hoop.

[magicman]

Slight correction again Walzy.  Trinity won 73-58. A foul just before the final buzzer and Trinity's Jason Mendall makes 2 free thows to up the tally.

You need to get your Conneticut CAC schools straight Magicman.  Wesleyan got the win this past Saturday behind nice performances from Mendell (again a WES player)

Thanks for the correction. I knew that, just typed the wrong team name by mistake. (Was posting on 3 different league boards at the same time. )  I watched that entire game, as well as another Wesleyan game on Dec 31st against #21Buffalo State. They had a chance to send that game into overtime but came up short on a three point attempt at the buzzer and lost 80-77. In addition to Brown, Mendall, and Callaghan, they got a solid effort in that game from Derick Beresford with 15 pts, 4 steals, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds. Wesleyan has a balanced team that could give the big three trouble. Plenty of ways they can hurt you.