MBB: NESCAC

magicman · March 09, 2013, 04:55:16 PM

Amherst with a big 44 to 18 lead over Plattsburgh with 5 minutes left in the first half but the cardinals fight back and outscore the Lord Jeffs 19-6 from that point to close the deficit to 50-37 at the break. Plattsburgh's Kalik Parker hit a big three pointer at the buzzer to give the cards a little momentum heading into the locker room. Amherst looking like a Final Four team as they were firing on all cylinders in the first 15 minutes of the half. Allen Williamson with 12 points and Aaron Toomey with 11 lead the Lord Jeffs.

Credit the Cardinals for not folding as they have cut the lead in half and are still in this game despite a double digit deficit at the break.
Jordan Moody and Shavar Fields lead Plattsburgh with 9 points each.

Pat Coleman · March 09, 2013, 05:14:49 PM

Quote from: Matt Letourneau on March 09, 2013, 04:50:16 PM
I'm only getting "this text will be replaced." When and how does that happen?

Did you get in?

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 09, 2013, 05:21:32 PM

I have the feed working.

Also, Amherst fans - what happened to Big Pete?

JustAFan · March 09, 2013, 05:24:57 PM

Hopefully the Amherst video folks can post a replay of Kalema's Jordanesque second half dunk later tonight. It's the kind of play you don't see very often in a DIII gym....wow!

nescac1 · March 09, 2013, 05:31:58 PM

Williams finally pulled away, up 13 with less than a minute left. Tons of credit to Catholic who played not only without Holmes, but then Kearney went down with an injury in the second half. Limberiou shot the lights out from deep to keep Catholic in the game. When Kearney went down the game was even but Catholic just didn't have enough horses without their two big guns. Mayer could not be stopped inside, huge game for him, but Daniel Wohl gets the game ball for his clutch shooting and great all around play during the Ephs' big late-game run. Congrats to Williams on making the Sweet 16! Hoping for a NESCAC-flavored Elite 8 round in Salem, but the road gets much tougher for Williams from now ...

walzy31 · March 09, 2013, 05:43:41 PM

Amherst 89 - Plattsburgh 72

Toomey with 25, 7, and 4.
Williamson with 16 and 11.
Workman with 11, 9, 5, 3 and 2.

maineman · March 09, 2013, 05:46:18 PM

The announcers in the Cortland-Midd game kept complaining about the officiating. Listening on audio, I had no idea one way or the other. Can anyone who saw the game comment?

JustAFan · March 09, 2013, 05:47:56 PM

I am not sure that Williams would have fared as well against a Catholic squad at full strength but a win is a win. Kearney was very impressive and Catholic is definitely a top 10 team that got dealt a bad hand today on the injury front. Dan Wohl continues to develop into the team's most complete player and an aggressive offensive force. Let's home there is still some home court magic left in Chandler tonight for the Lady Ephs!

nescac1 · March 09, 2013, 05:54:36 PM

Kalema from last year to this year is probably the most improved perimeter player, on a single-year basis, that I've ever seen in NESCAC. I'm used to big guys making big leaps, but Kalema, while always quick and athletic, now has the entire package ... his three point shooting is radically improved, and now he plays more under control, using his speed advantage without the excessive turnovers that used to plague him. He also is a major, major defensive pest. I'm very curious to see the dunk that was mentioned, I'm used to Williamson's crazy dunks but didn't know Kalema at his size had that in his game. If he keeps improving, he might go from (if I'm not mistaken) a walk-on barely used frosh to an all-NESCAC caliber player as a senior. Impressive.

The Ephs were very very good on offense all game. Even when the big guy was in there, the Ephs moved the ball effectively, and when he went out Catholic simply had no way to stop them. The only negatives were that, until late in the game, Klemm was a bit off, and the Ephs continued to make a handful of ill-advised very difficult passes leading to turnovers, just not needed when the offense is humming so efficiently. But Williams had great look after great look, tons of open threes, stellar moves leading to easy lay-ins by Mayer, and lay-ups from cutter, rarely did the Ephs take anything but a high-quality shot and they could have scored even more points had the shooters gotten on track earlier in the game. Wohl in particular really looked confident shooting it out there.

ON defense, Williams still has room to improve, especially considering that Catholic was down two big guns. Catholic did hit a lot of tough, deep threes, not much you can do about that, but Williams was surprised at times by the tough, quick, undersized Catholic guards barreling into the lane at breakneck speed before Williams could get into its defensive sets. Virginia Wesleyan (the anticipated next opponent) likewise features very dynamic, athletic perimeter players, only they are much bigger to boot. Williams will need to bottle them up a bit better and hope that on the other end they can dominate the interior with its size advantage.

Vandy74 · March 09, 2013, 05:58:03 PM

It's funny. At a game I can sit and watch the closest nail biters but if it's a video stream I become a pacer. Radio is even worse I just discovered. What a game and a great win for Middlebury. You have to tip your cap to Cortland State. Down by 9 at the half and able to take an 8 point lead of their own before the slugfest began in earnest. Unless they play for the team that wins the championship all seniors walk off the court for the last time on the losing end, but it's a bit sad to see/hear McMahon play such a great game in a losing effort his last time out. At least the Cortland fans were able to watch it. It was also good to see James Jensen rise to the occasion once again. 13 points and 11 boards. And what can you say about Keezel? But it was truly a great team effort all around. Superb perimeter defense. Only Winter among the feared outside arsenal scored in double digits and he managed only 12. The Panthers made their free throws and they stayed out of foul trouble. And I take back my crack about the Cortland radio team. After the opening minutes it turned out that the primary announcer was very good. The other guy had a problem pronouncing a certain player's name but that's a trivial issue after the fact.

It looks like it was a good day all around for the NESCAC! Congratulations to Amherst and Williams. On to the Sweet 16!

WPI89 · March 09, 2013, 06:25:34 PM

Congrats NESCAC - holy Saturday afternoon!

FranElia · March 09, 2013, 06:28:46 PM

Our apologies from Cortland for the technical difficulties that kept us from providing video today on the Cortland-Middlebury game. Not sure what went wrong - things worked well last week (our first try at video), but for some reason we couldn't get things to go today. We're sorry for any inconvenience this caused.

Fran Elia
Cortland SID

magicman · March 09, 2013, 06:44:28 PM

Congratulation to Amherst on their win over Plattsburgh. They certainly had all their talents on display today. Very impressed with how they had an answer every time the Cardinals would try and make a game of it. Toomy was outstanding but then so was Williamson, Kalema, and Workman. All 4 of those guys filled up the stat sheets. Wish my Cards would have had their best player available today but I still don't think we would have won. We wouldn't have gotten beat so badly off the glass and I don't think we would have dug ourselves such a deep hole in the first period, which would have made for a much closer game. The Lord Jeffs certainly look like a Final Four team.

Congratulations also to the Middlebury Panthers. Their game with Cortland was all that I thought it would be. The Panthers did play some great defense on the Cortland guards which was the key to their win. Wish I could have watched the game to see how it played out. Unreal that all 3 NESCAC games had video issues. The basketball gods must have been angry that all 3 teams advanced to the 2nd round or something.
Vandy74, glad you realized that the Cortland radio announcer was pretty good. The primary guy was Bobby Comstock and he's been doing a number of Cortland sports broadcasts for quite some time. It's not a college radio station but a local station that does a lot of broadcats of Cortland's athletic teams.

Williams also moves into the Sweet Sixteen giving the NESCAC 3 teams that could possibly reach the Final Four. Nice comeback by the Ephs to go from 5 down to 6 up in a 4 minute span to take control of the game against a solid Catholic University squad.

Mr. Ypsi · March 09, 2013, 06:50:57 PM

Quote from: magicman on March 09, 2013, 06:44:28 PM
Congratulation to Amherst on their win over Plattsburgh. They certainly had all their talents on display today. Very impressed with how they had an answer every time the Cardinals would try and make a game of it. Toomy was outstanding but then so was Williamson, Kalema, and Workman. All 4 of those guys filled up the stat sheets. Wish my Cards would have had their best player available today but I still don't think we would have won. We wouldn't have gotten beat so badly off the glass and I don't think we would have dug ourselves such a deep hole in the first period, which would have made for a much closer game. The Lord Jeffs certainly look like a Final Four team.

Congratulations also to the Middlebury Panthers. Their game with Cortland was all that I thought it would be. The Panthers did play some great defense on the Cortland guards which was the key to their win. Wish I could have watched the game to see how it played out. Unreal that all 3 NESCAC games had video issues. The basketball gods must have been angry that all 3 teams advanced to the 2nd round or something.
Vandy74, glad you realized that the Cortland radio announcer was pretty good. The primary guy was Bobby Comstock and he's been doing a number of Cortland sports broadcasts for quite some time. It's not a college radio station but a local station that does a lot of broadcats of Cortland's athletic teams.

Williams also moves into the Sweet Sixteen giving the NESCAC 3 teams that could possibly reach the Final Four. Nice comeback by the Ephs to go from 5 down to 6 up in a 4 minute span to take control of the game against a solid Catholic University squad.

Nah - it's the football gods exacting delayed vengeance for their refusal to participate in that tourney!

magicman · March 09, 2013, 07:00:31 PM

Quote from: franelia on March 09, 2013, 06:28:46 PM
Our apologies from Cortland for the technical difficulties that kept us from providing video today on the Cortland-Middlebury game. Not sure what went wrong - things worked well last week (our first try at video), but for some reason we couldn't get things to go today. We're sorry for any inconvenience this caused.

Fran Elia
Cortland SID

I know you did your best Fran and if it helps ease your mind at all (and I'm sure it won't) you weren't the only school having problems today. Both the Williams-Catholic game and the Amherst-Plattsburgh game went long stretches in the first half where they had no video either. As I reminded all the guys here on the board, some of whom were complaining quite loudly when they couldn't get the Cortland- Midd broadcast, (and before they knew that they weren't going to have a smooth ride with the NESCAC video broadcasts) that even the SuperBowl had problems and that sometimes things just don't work out.

Classy of you to come on and apologize to the NESCAC faithful.