MBB: NESCAC

AmherstStudent05 · February 06, 2015, 07:15:06 PM

Connor Green seems to have had a second helping of Wheaties this afternoon.

middhoops · February 06, 2015, 07:46:53 PM

Colby, shooting the lights out from distance, lead Middlebury 48-40 at the half. Ryan Jann had 19 points with around 5-7 minutes left in the half.
Matt Daley has dominated under the rim.
If Colby maintains the shooting pace, they win.
Otherwise, Midd could get back in the game by using their post players. A lot.

Bucket · February 06, 2015, 07:47:37 PM

So did Ryan Jann--19 points for Colby in the first half.

Mules 50 percent from three (9-18), with more triples (9) than twos (8), leading the Panthers 48-40 at the half.

I'd like to think that a Jeff Brown team will buckl down in the second stanza. We'll see.

lemonjello · February 06, 2015, 08:05:11 PM

The Camels might want to think about guarding Jeff Racy, he's 7-9 from distance so far.

AmherstStudent05 · February 06, 2015, 08:15:53 PM

So after my post, Connor went on a bit of a prolonged cold spell (though he is back in fine form). Commentator's curse. Lesson learned. Sorry, Connor!

But as LemonJello said, Jeff Racy is on fire. I believe he now has 10 threes, which would break Daoustian's single game record. Unbelievable.

nescac1 · February 06, 2015, 08:48:57 PM

Another close tough loss for the Ephs. Williams, other than the first Amherst win, seem unable to win games that go down to the last few possessions -- Bowdoin, Hamilton, WPI, the second Amherst game, Trinity, all games where the Ephs had their chances, but things just didn't' go their way in the last few minutes. But while I felt that, a few of those games, Williams really should have won, there is no doubt that Bates was the better team tonight, and the only reason the game was that close was Rooke-Ley's ridiculous shooting from deep, hitting a lot of closely contested threes from deep, he had a brilliant game on offense. Wohl, despite shooting a low percentage, was also big on both ends for the Ephs, but he got NO help inside on either end.

Bates really took it to the Ephs on both ends. For the second straight game, the Ephs just got destroyed off the boards, getting outrebounded by 17, including an absolutely crucial offensive board with Bates up 1 and about 20 seconds left. On the other hand, the Delpeche brothers completely disrupted what Williams tried to do on offense -- the Ephs couldn't get any sort of cutting to the basket going off the ball because the long-armed Bates defenders, especially the twins, clogged all the passing lanes. Selmon also made a lot of good plays on defense with his length and long arms. Bates was definitely the toughest defensive team the Ephs have played, as they totally disrupted what Williams tried to do, and were very well prepared. They gave up some threes, but Williams was unable to get any cleans looks on the interior all night. For Williams, it was simply not a good game for anyone besides Wohl or Hayden: when the whole rest of the team combined for 19 points, that isn't going to get it done. Williams really needed more from the other three starters, and the bench, which has been playing much better of late, was a total non-factor today, while Bates' bench made some strong contributions in big moments.

For Bates, Safford was fantastic, hitting clutch shots in big situations all game. Bates got a lot of contributions from role players, which Williams did not do tonight. A well-earned win for Bates and a frustrating loss for the Ephs, who will have to play much tougher on the boards to beat Tufts tomorrow.

amh63 · February 06, 2015, 08:56:18 PM

Where are you seeing the video. First half no announcers.....2nd half the video goes out. Amherst reaches 94 points and beats Conn by more than 30 points.
Williams at Bates.....makes a 3-point shot at the buzzer....but loses to the Bobcats by two!
Trinity pulls out another one...wins by 1 point to Wes in Middletown!
Middlebury ties the game at 79 with less than 45 seconds to go.....seems the Mules are winning it at the foul line...83-80 with barely any time on the clock.
Tufts vs Hamilton is a close....game started about 30 min later than the rest of the CAC games.

AmherstStudent05 · February 06, 2015, 09:05:38 PM

Not too much more to add about the Amherst game. The Jeffs should have won this game handily, and, credit to Hixon & Co., they took care of business in fine style. Amherst built up a 15-point lead in the first four minutes of the game and the lead never got any closer than that.

Obviously, there is a reason the Camels have still yet to win a league game. They seem to play with good grit and hustle, but they simply couldn't match up with us on D (particularly on the perimeter) and they seem to have a strange fondness for taking contested, long range two-point field goals.

Again, Racy was superb, shooting an astonishing 10-14 from 3 (his only shots of the game). Connor Green continued his fine recent form with 24 points on 9-19, 6-13 shooting. As a team, Amherst shot an absolutely ridiculous 20-43 from distance.

Other nice observations. Reid Berman opened the game by taking -- and making -- a triple. A sign of great things to come. Also, fantastic to see our team's lone senior, Alex Levine, get some nice minutes at the end of the game. Better still, he showed off a few pretty sick post moves!

Now on to Wesleyan with an opportunity to guarantee at least a share of the Little III. Let's hope the Jeffs can keep this recent run of fine form going.

Also, was able to catch the tail-end of the Williams game. The atmosphere in Alumni Gymnasium was incredible. Kudos to the Bates student body (with a big assist to the architect, I suppose).

pinseeking1 · February 06, 2015, 09:11:59 PM

Excellent summary of the Williams-Bates game, nescac1. While the Delpeche brothers have been strong inside all year, tonight they were at a different level. They completely controlled the boards at both ends and completely flustered Williams' inside game. They have shown great improvement as the season progresses. Also, Adam Philpott provided a much-needed spark off the bench for the Bobcats in the second half.

Rookie-Ley and Wohl were absolutely fantastic tonight and kept Williams in the game. Unfortunately for the Ephs, they got almost no scoring from their bench. Its very hard to win road games without more contributors than the Big 2...

lumbercat · February 06, 2015, 09:23:11 PM

Wow- I had not seen much of Wiliiams prior to tonight's game. I have read most of the posts on this board and honestly was thinking the Ephs faithful may have been exaggerating a bit..I stand corrected.
2 great shooting strokes- they shot threes like 8 footers.

lumbercat · February 06, 2015, 10:15:20 PM

I was remiss in not pointing out that I was referring to Rooke Ley and Wohl though I'm sure that's a foregone conclusion- a treat to see them in person- best in the league. Where do you get 2 shooters like that.

Bates gym so loud tonight, a lot of fun on the Bates campus. The Garnet community lives for Bates Basketball, great to see the Bates student body support the Bobcats ---no hockey at Bates to the dismay of many......but Bobcat Basketball rules.

Stafford at his best tonight. The Bates venue is unique.

amh63 · February 07, 2015, 09:37:18 AM

Agreed with all the posters wrt to the atmosphere up at Bates. I also caught the last minute of the game. Agreed with Amherst's fans' posts...though for some reason my setup lost most of Racy's record setting shoot-out.
Conn provided the writeup of the game on Amherst's website. Nice job.
Really interesting that other than the Amherst game, all the other match ups were close...even the Tufts game....as Hamilton could not overcome the Jumbo's keep away tatics in the last 3 minutes of the game.
Interesting bit of info today's WSJ......NCAA want's to use a 30 sec shot limit during the NIT...trail balloon. Seems there is a belief that college scores are too low and the game is slowing down.
After last night's CAC games...exciting ones...I wonder if there needs to be a change.
Oh yes...learned the WBB shot clock is 30 sec. presently!

MENESCACFAN · February 07, 2015, 01:23:48 PM

Just catching up here and some excellent insight on the bates v Williams game I agree with. Wohl is a very impressive shooter, surprised at his lack of physical dominance in this game. The delpeche brothers from bates struggled with sabety of tufts, they thoroughly beat wohl to the ball all night in the air. Williams #24 was also a quality player.

Attending bates v hamilton and looking forward to seeing Lin.

Could Williams really miss the tournament?!

Bucket · February 07, 2015, 02:28:01 PM

Quote from: MENESCACFAN on February 07, 2015, 01:23:48 PM
Just catching up here and some excellent insight on the bates v Williams game I agree with. Wohl is a very impressive shooter, surprised at his lack of physical dominance in this game. The delpeche brothers from bates struggled with sabety of tufts, they thoroughly beat wohl to the ball all night in the air. Williams #24 was also a quality player.

Attending bates v hamilton and looking forward to seeing Lin.

Could Williams really miss the tournament?!

Could they? Yes. Do I think they will? No.

Even if Williams falls today, I anticipate a Connecticut sweep next weekend, which would earn the Ephs a road game in the quarters.

AmherstStudent05 · February 07, 2015, 02:37:31 PM

Palleschi has really been putting on a show in the first half against Williams. Displaying the full arsenal: baby hooks, fadeaway, step-back, up-and-under and more. Neat stuff.

Tight game still.