MBB: NESCAC

walzy31 · January 13, 2007, 04:36:54 PM

Amherst 70
Bates 59

1:20 left Amherst with ball.

Ralph Turner · January 13, 2007, 04:41:19 PM

Great weekend by Amherst !!! Congratulations to the Lord Jeffs.

David Collinge · January 13, 2007, 04:48:11 PM

Can someone please post a final score? Thanks.

UPDATE: Never mind. Scoreboard page is updated; Amherst wins 79-64.

thunder32 · January 13, 2007, 04:57:59 PM

any word on Tufts?

The Franchise · January 13, 2007, 04:58:44 PM

Midd took care of business as they easily handled Bowdoin 81-58. The combination of solid half court D and an inept Bowdoin offense led to easy transition buckets for Midd in the first half and a 20 point lead. The second half was more of the same as Andrew Harris led a balanced offensive attack against a team that really didn't have a go-to guy. It really wasn't even as close as the final score suggests as the Polar Bears were able to close the gap during garbage time. In the end this was a solid win that will hopefully build some momentum for the Amherst/Trinity weekend.

JeffRookie2 · January 13, 2007, 05:07:24 PM

79-64 Jeffs.

TUrighty14 · January 13, 2007, 05:08:35 PM

Tufts beat Trinity today 102-85. Weitzen, Shepherd, O'keefe, Pierce, and Kumf were all in double figures im sure (although i havent seen a box score yet). Trinity's Kino Clarke was unreal today, but Trin couldnt defend Tufts at all.
Trinity coach was T'ed up in second half, which kind of took the air out of the ball for the Bants.

TU should be proud of the way the played this weekend. Although they came out 1-1, they made a statement to the league they are still for real. No one on this board gave them a chance friday, and many had them losing saturday to Trinity, who IMO, wasnt nearly as good as Tufts today.

JeffRookie2 · January 13, 2007, 05:14:14 PM

Wesleyan ekes out a one point victory over Conn, 62-61. No word from the Williams-Colby game.

TUrighty14 · January 13, 2007, 05:24:50 PM

62-55 Williams...

Williams, Amherst, Middlebury 2-0 after first weekend.

thunder32 · January 13, 2007, 05:29:39 PM

Well that is good to hear about Tufts. Tufts has nothing to hang their head about they had an emotional loss to Amherst and came out and played well against a good team. I think that they are starting to be the team that everyone expected them to be at the begining of the season. So I would look for them to play more like this and get on a roll. There is a good chance that they could win out from here on. The only team that I see on the schedule that I think they will get a run from in Bates.

nescac1 · January 13, 2007, 05:40:59 PM

Nice to see Williams start out 2-0. The Ephs had a big lead but struggled from 3 in the second half, going 1-10, but timely defense and good free throw shooting allowed them to hang on. Frosh Schultz and Geoghegan continue to make big contributions on both defense and offense, and Rose and Nelson continue to struggle from the field. If Rose, Nelson, and Snyder can get going from the outside, the Ephs could be a dangerous offensive team now that they are finally getting some inside production from the likes of Meyer and Geoghegan, and getting to the foul line. Still, Bowdoin and Colby at home are a lot different from Trinity and Amherst on the road, for both Middlebury and Williams. The Ephs' starters (other than Shalvoy who has been effective) simply have to start shooting better for them to have a chance on the road against Trinity. On the road against Amherst would take an absolute miracle.

After the first weekend, Amherst is firmly in control, it seems highly unlikely that anyone will have much of a shot until the final game at Trinity, and even then the Jeffs will be a huge favorite. Tufts looks like they've gotten back on track and are a clear number 2, followed by Trinity, Bates, and a surprsingly potent Middlebury team and a slowly improving Williams. Colby, Wesleyan, Conn, Bowdoin all seem to be about even, it will be quite a battle for the right to go down to Amherst and Tufts in the first round of the playoffs ...

The question for Tufts is, do they have too many losses already to get an NCAA bid w/out a NESCAC tourney victory? They'll probably have to run the table until the tourney to have a shot -- something they are very capable of doing.

Bates still needs to prove they can win a big game -- two years in a row going 0-2 against Trinity and Amherst won't convince anyone that Bates is legit. I'm surprised they didn't take at least one of those games, or at least play Amherst closer after the Jeffs had a brutally hard win at Tufts followed by a long road trip. Bates better turn things around fast, as this is the Bobcats' last shot for that fantastic senior class to make some noise in the conference tourney / NCAA's ...

JeffRookie2 · January 13, 2007, 05:57:53 PM

I know this is really early, but after weekend 1, who do you see winning the POY in the NESCAC? I think it will come down to these players:

Olson
Cohen
Ray
Stockwell

With olson and cohen being a little ahead of the Bates guys because they steal each other's thunder. I think in the end Cohen will win because he's a senior and will have fantastic numbers, even though Colby looks to be one of the bottom two seeds in the NESCAC tourny at best.

Red1 · January 13, 2007, 06:00:10 PM

The final score from Lewiston is Amherst 79-Bates 64. The game was closer than the score as Amherst got quite a few points of free throws late.

McGlaughlin was on fire most of the night, so much so that this game looked a lot like the McGlaughlin show. I was not overly impressed with Olson. He is quick, but he didn't burn Bates very much. Ray definitely burned Amherst more. I also think that Olson gets away with a lot the way he fends and pushes with his free arm. If he gets an officiating crew that desides to call a pickier style than they did tonight he could get into foul trouble quickly if he can't learn to put that free arm down.

I try to avoid being sour grapes, but this afternoon's game was stripes gift to purple. The game was handed to 'Herst gift wrapped and everything. There were two completely different officiating styles on each end of the floor. Every time Bates had a hint of momentum the officials stopped it with a foul call, and mostly on Stockwell or Wholey, two of Bates' 3 key players. It bothers me how often Bates would get called for something, then Amherst would do the exact same thing on the other end, and not get called for it. It was like this all afternoon.

I realize that Amherst had more total fouls than Bates, but they didn't get a lot of them until the Ref's suddenly started making a ton of foul calls against Amherst out of nowhere in the last 2 minutes when they didn't really matter as the game was already out of reach. Had the same calls been made throughout the game we'd be looking at a very different score and possibly a different outcome.

I'm not sure that McGloughlin was really deserving of the intentional foul he received with 2 and half minutes to go in the game, but he should certainly feel ashamed. With Amherst holding a double digit lead Ray knocks the ball away from Olson. In his attempt to keep Ray from getting the ball McGloughlin grabs Ray's Jersey from behind and hangs on for the ride. That anyone would committ such a foul with such a lead and so little time on the clock is just laughable.

Amherst is a great team. They were probably the best team on the court tonight, but I can't know for sure because they didn't get the opportunity to win it on their own. And I do believe the could and would have done so. Is Amherst the best team in NESCAC absolutely. Are they the best in the New England and East regions? Most probably. Are they the best in the country? I sincerely doubt it.

Olson didn't impress me, and Ray is yet to step it up. POY is between Stockwell and Cohen, and they're too close for me to pick between them.

Cheers,
Red1

met_fan · January 13, 2007, 06:43:57 PM

That certainly sounds like sour grapes. And 15 points is a pretty big spread for the ref's to have given the game away.

La Verdad · January 13, 2007, 07:02:15 PM

Either met fan is right or I don't understand what sour grapes means. . And I'm not sure how Ray (8 pts. on 2-11 shooting, 6assts and 4 TOs) burned Amherst more than Olson (11 pts on 3-5 shoting, 7 assts and 3 TOs) burned Bates. If anything it sounds like a push, but since I wasn't there I'll just take your word for it. I doubt you'll see any Amherst players up for POY honors, they are too deep. Stockwell (who is a hell of a player) needs to put up 18 and 8 every game, if not the bobcats probably lose. Amherst doesn't seem to have that problem; they have 4 or 5 guys who can take over a game. Congrats to the Jeffs on two big road wins. I suspect they will be makin waves in the Pond tonight.