MBB: NESCAC

[magicman]

Bowdoin and Babson going down to the wire as the Polar Bears only trail 73-72 with 1:50 to go in the game.

Flannery makes a 3 pointer with 1:33 to go to put Babson up by 4 points.

Bowdoin's Liam Farley hits 2 free throws and the score is  76-74 with 22 seconds left to play.

Polar Bears take a time out and fouls Babson'e Nelson quickly and he goes to the line but misses the front end of a 1&1.

Bowdoin grabs a rebounds off a Babson miss and is fouled but they miss the front end of a 1-1.

Bowdoin gets the rebound and misses a 3 pointer. They foul again with 6 seconds left and Babson once again misses the front end of another 1&1 but Babson gets the offensive rebound and the Polar Bears have to foul once again with 3 ticks left. This time (the 3rd time's a charm) Babson's Nick Comenale makes both foul shots to make it a 4 point game.

Bowdoin comes down and throws up a three but this one is over, 78-74.

Good effort by the Polar Bears against the #3 ranked team in the country.

Jack Simonds with 28 points for the Polar Bears tied for scoring honors. He added 4 rebounds and a steal. Liam Farley had 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block. Hugh O'Neil tied for the game high with 10 rebounds to go with his 4 points and 2 assists..

Babson's big gun, Joey Flannery had 28 points to lead the Beavers. he added 7 boards. NIck Commenale had 22 points and 7 boards while Bradley Jacks had 11 points and 6 boards. Isaiah Nelson led the team with 10 boards to go with his 8 points.

[magicman]

Oswego State leads Hamilton at the break by a 45-37 score.

Back and forth in the early part of the period until Oswego trailing 19-16 at the 12:41 mark, went on a 14-4 run to open up a 30-23 advantage. Hamilton clawed back to tie it at 33 with 5 minutes to go, but the Lakers ended the half on another 12-4 burst.

Oswego's preseason All American, Brian Sortino with 12 points leads all scorers. Ian Schupp wth 11 and 6'10" Mykelle Krecko with 9 points and 4 rebounds.

Peter Hoffman with 9 and Michael Grassey with 8 were high men for Hamilton

[magicman]

Hamilton has come back to take the lead against the Lakers on a 3 pointer to go up 52-51, with 12:39 to go.

Now with 9:54 to go Hamilton still clinging to a 1 point 56-55 lead.

Hamilton opens up their largest lead of the game at 62-55 on back to back 3 pointers by Michael Grassey with 7:52 left in the game.

Oswego now down by 10 points at 70-60 with 3:35 remaining minutes to go.

Oswego cuts the lead to 5 points but now are not looking good as they miss on two straight trips down the floor and Hamilton builds the lead back to 9.

The Lakers not playing well in crunch time and Hamilton comes away with the win, 78-70.

Brian Sortino leads all scorers with 26 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

Ian Schupp has 18 points and Mykelle Krecko has 10.

Oswego falls to 4-2 and will be back in action on Saturday December 3rd when they host Cortland at 2:00 PM. to open SUNYAC play.

Hamilton's Peter Hoffman was the MVP of the tournament and finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

Michael Grassey had 18 points and 5 rebounds for the Continentals.

Jack Dwyer finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 assists. He also had 6 rebounds.

The Continentals improve to 4-1 as Coach Adam Stockwell gains some bragging rights by defeating the two schools he previously coached, before his move to Hamilton.

Hamilton will be off until Saturday December 3rd when they travel to St. David's, Pennslyvania to take on the Eastern University Eagles at 3:00 PM.

[jumpshot]

Ephs allow their 18-point lead to be cut in half by Union at the half due to 8 turnovers, 10 fouls, and some missed one and one chances.

Is it just I, or, as a general statement, are today's players less skilled in fundamentals and attention to detail than "back in the day" when turnovers, fouling, and missed free throws were considered sinful? Also, defense and rebounding were key to winning in what is now NESCAC (as well as throughout the country).

[P'bearfan]

Bowdoin loses a heart-breaker to Babson 74-78 in a game that was even tighter than the final score suggests.

Bowdoin came out shooting very well in the first half - especially from long range and they controlled most of the first half with Babson cutting the lead to 1 just before the half.  Babson, who did not shoot the trey well in the first stanza, came out of the break on fire seemingly unable to miss a three and they quickly gained the lead.  Much to their credit, the young Polar Bear team kept their composure and just kept chipping away at Babson's lead. 

magicman's description of the final few minutes of the game were spot on.  Bowdoin had they look they wanted and Farley's trey to tie the game was half way down before bouncing out.

No moral victories but Bowdoin should take great confidence from the fact that they were highly competitive with one of the better teams in the country today.

Also - congrats to Joey Flannery for breaking the 2,000 career point barrier.  That's quite an achievement.

GoUBears!!

[amh63]

Watched the 2nd half of the Bowdoin game....a thriller in Wellesley.  Seems Bowdoin matches up well...size wise..to Babson and today in all the other aspects of basketball. 
With the lost at home by Middlebury in another close game that went back and forth, it seems that the Nescac is going to be very interesting this season, imo.  Endicott only lost this season was to Babson.
Meanwhile, in Clinton, NY, Hamilton takes a hard fought comeback over Oswego State...as Magicman so well "announced" the game.
Note...I had to correct this post since I confused who was playing who in the games. .
Seems the CAC saved a little face today as the Cardinals of Wesleyan won and Conn College is well ahead the last time I looked.  Need Williams to bring it home for the CAC. 

[jumpshot]

Ephs down Union 98-90 in overtime with some clutch shooting toward the end, in spite of making 19 turnovers and committing 24 fouls (Union makes 21 of 22 from the line). As I said previously, better ball handling, improved defensive footwork, and relentless rebounding are several keys to further improvement. Good determination and poise overall, including resilience after Union ties it with a three with 3 seconds in regulation. Swagger and confidence growing ....

[magicman]

Shocker of the day is Middlebury losing at home to Endicott. The Panthers had a 17 point lead early in the 2nd half but the Gulls down 55-38 with 18:22 left to play, went on a 12-0 run in a little less than 3 minutes to pull within 5 points at 55-50. Matt St. Amour put an end to the Panther drought with a 3 pointer to make it an 8 point lead but Endicott reeled off 13 more unanswered points to go in front 63-58 with 12:38 to play. The Panthers could never regain the lead and trailed by as may as 8 points.They pulled within 2 points at 91-89 with 11 seconds left but then had to foul and the Gulls knocked down the free throws to make it a final of 93-89.

St. Amour led the Panthers with 33 points. Jack Daly had 22, Adisa Majors had 16 and Zach Baines had 12.

Endicott also had 4 players in double figures led by Kamahl Walker with 28 points. Daquon Sampson had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Max Montroni had 18 points and Chris Lipscomb tossed in 14.

[toad22]

Williams had a good weekend. Eastern Connecticut was a good, more traditional team. They had good players, and played well. Williams won because our guards started to shoot 3s with a little efficiency, and we have Daniel Aronowitz. Aronowitz takes games over, almost at will. It is a huge advantage for Williams. The game today, against Union was a bit unusual, because Union plays 5 really mobile, but mostly really tough guards and smaller forwards. They are hard to guard. On the reverse side, they had a hard time guarding Williams. That said, Union played Aronowitz really tough. Burgess and McNamara alternated playing him, and really made him work. I know he had 27 points in regulation play, before fouling out, but he really earned them. I'm happy for the Ephs, and I think they learned a lot as a team.

[Bucket]

Shocker of the day is Middlebury losing at home to Endicott. The Panthers had a 17 point lead early in the 2nd half but the Gulls down 55-38 with 18:22 left to play, went on a 12-0 run in a little less than 3 minutes to pull within 5 points at 55-50. Matt St. Amour put an end to the Panther drought with a 3 pointer to make it an 8 point lead but Endicott reeled off 13 more unanswered points to go in front 63-58 with 12:38 to play. The Panthers could never regain the lead and trailed by as may as 8 points.They pulled within 2 points at 91-89 with 11 seconds left but then had to foul and the Gulls knocked down the free throws to make it a final of 93-89.

St. Amour led the Panthers with 33 points. Jack Daly had 22, Adisa Majors had 16 and Zach Baines had 12.

Endicott also had 4 players in double figures led by Kamahl Walker with 28 points. Daquon Sampson had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Max Montroni had 18 points and Chris Lipscomb tossed in 14.

I'm not sure how much of a shocker a 4-point loss is to a very good team. Disappointing for Panther fans, yes. But shocking? Not really.

Endicott is a very good team, head-and-shoulders better than an Eastern Conn team that I thought was pretty good, when Midd beat them down at their place. Middlebury was playing exceptionally well in getting out to that 17-point lead, and then the Gulls played exceptionally well in reversing it. Very evenly played game in just about every statistical category. Middlebury won't see a better guard than Kamahl Walker this year. Daquan Sampson did his damage on the boards and at the free throw line. Midd had too many defensive lapses and gave up too many second-chance points. This type of game is exactly what one wants–aside from outcome, obviously!—early in the season, and I'm confident it will make Middlebury a better team as the season progresses.

[Vandy74]

Shocker of the day is Middlebury losing at home to Endicott. The Panthers had a 17 point lead early in the 2nd half but the Gulls down 55-38 with 18:22 left to play, went on a 12-0 run in a little less than 3 minutes to pull within 5 points at 55-50. Matt St. Amour put an end to the Panther drought with a 3 pointer to make it an 8 point lead but Endicott reeled off 13 more unanswered points to go in front 63-58 with 12:38 to play. The Panthers could never regain the lead and trailed by as may as 8 points.They pulled within 2 points at 91-89 with 11 seconds left but then had to foul and the Gulls knocked down the free throws to make it a final of 93-89.

St. Amour led the Panthers with 33 points. Jack Daly had 22, Adisa Majors had 16 and Zach Baines had 12.

Endicott also had 4 players in double figures led by Kamahl Walker with 28 points. Daquon Sampson had 19 points and 14 rebounds. Max Montroni had 18 points and Chris Lipscomb tossed in 14.

I'm not sure how much of a shocker a 4-point loss is to a very good team. Disappointing for Panther fans, yes. But shocking? Not really.

Endicott is a very good team, head-and-shoulders better than an Eastern Conn team that I thought was pretty good, when Midd beat them down at their place. Middlebury was playing exceptionally well in getting out to that 17-point lead, and then the Gulls played exceptionally well in reversing it. Very evenly played game in just about every statistical category. Middlebury won't see a better guard than Kamahl Walker this year. Daquan Sampson did his damage on the boards and at the free throw line. Midd had too many defensive lapses and gave up too many second-chance points. This type of game is exactly what one wants–aside from outcome, obviously!—early in the season, and I'm confident it will make Middlebury a better team as the season progresses.

Agreed.  Having both Brown and Daly playing with 3 fouls early in the 2nd half didn't help matters any but Endicott simply played Middlebury's 1st half game back at them and did it better.  This was the preseason #24 vs the preseason #26 so there really isn't anything shocking about it.  I noticed Max Motroni when I passed him in the locker room hallway as I was leaving and took the opportunity to congratulate him on a great performance.  His trey at :56 which extended the Endicott lead to 6 points was really the game ending dagger.  The Panthers twice narrowed the deficit to two in the final 18 seconds but each time Daquon Sampson answered by sinking a pair from the charity stripe.  Good teams learn from their mistakes.   Middlebury learned a few things tonight.     

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

To me the shocker was Midd giving up a 15 point second half lead.  Endicott is certainly a team capable of runs, but I didn't expect that from the Middlebury defense.  With the size of their guards, I just didn't think EC would be able to get that kind of advantage once down to a good NESCAC squad.

[WPI89]

WPI at Tufts tomorrow.  Any breakdown/thoughts? 

Crickets on the NEWMAC board - so I will "hang out" with you guys this early week.

WPI has a couple of Freshman that are contributing already and has allowed them to start the year strong.  Clearly another big test tomorrow in Medford.  I think WPI will have a hard time defending bigs - they have not really had to yet this year.  Their tough extended man-to man can neutralize good guard play but when teams get set up, I think "we" can get shoved around a bit.

Should be a good game.

[nescac1]

WPI89, I think pace will be important in this game -- WPI seems to be able to grind out tough, physical, defensive-oriented low scoring games.  If the game vs. Tufts gets into the 80s or above, I don't think you guys will have the firepower to stick with Tufts.  A slower-paced more half-court game in the 60s or 70s, on the other hand, WPI will have a shot at winning.  If I was WPI I'd also try to get Palleschi in foul trouble -- easier said than done, given just how adept he is at blocking shots without fouling.  But at the same time, Tufts is a very different team when he sits, especially with Vinny Pace still working his way back from injury. 

The clear top-five players in NESCAC are even clearer after the first few weeks of play, as all have monster stat lines so far.  I think if healthy ALL could be all-Americans -- it really depends on team performance, I imagine.  I don't think team foturnes would change much if you switched out Jack Simonds of Bowdoin for Joey Flannery of Babson, but because Babson is an elite team and Flannery is a senior, he'll almost surely (deservedly) be a first-team all-American, while Simonds will likely have to wait until next year for national accolades.  But look at these early stat lines:

Aronowitz: 23-5-2, plus 1.4 spg and 1 bpg, while shooting 61 percent despite receiving a huge amount of defensive attention.
St. Amour: 21-3-4, plus 2.3 spg, nearly 4 treys per game
Palleschi: 14-9-1, plus nearly 4 bpg.  (I expect his scoring will tick up a bit, and stats don't tell the full story with him)
Ogundeko: 23-13-1, plus 1.3 bpg.  Shooting 76 percent from the field!  Ridiculous numbers so far. 
Simonds: 27-5-3 on 47/40/89 shooting.  Averages more than double the ppg of the next leading scoring on the team ...

As amazing as Lucas Hausman's career was, Simonds is on pace to absolutely shatter his scoring totals.  He has the look of at least a two-time all-American.  The only thing that will hold him back from getting loads of recognition is if Bowdoin doesn't have tremendous team success, but Simonds is going to be asked to do a lot this year and so far is living up to that burden. 

[Bucket]

To me the shocker was Midd giving up a 15 point second half lead.  Endicott is certainly a team capable of runs, but I didn't expect that from the Middlebury defense.  With the size of their guards, I just didn't think EC would be able to get that kind of advantage once down to a good NESCAC squad.

That's a very fair point, and I think a key to their run was Jake Brown having to sit with four fouls and then him having to sit permanently with his 5th. This wasn't the only factor, obviously, but it certainly had a negative impact for the Panthers on both ends of the floor.