MBB: Landmark Conference

ronk · January 02, 2009, 01:24:15 PM

NEPA,
I think I heard Dean Corwin say(during the Albright game) that he would be doing the women's games today and 2morrow and the men on Sunday.

NEPAFAN · January 02, 2009, 05:17:22 PM

+1 Ronk, thanks for the information.

saratoga · January 04, 2009, 08:36:46 PM

Scranton had a decent win against SUNY Plattsburgh yesterday and today found out what it takes to beat a nationally ranked program when they took on Stockton St. The good news is they finally brought in some good schools for the Radisson...the bad news, Scranton keeps on losing its own tourney & it becomes painfully clear that they are just a few athletes short of what it takes to win on the national scene.
This is the same Stockton team that gave National Runnerup Amherst a run for their money last year in the NCAA Elite 8 game...ironically held at Plattsburgh. Too many weapons both inside & out...kids that crash the boards, a point who just doesn't turn it over & a smothering non-stop defense. The Royals played hard & had it within 2 with the chance to tie but, missed the front end of a 1+1 & it went downhill in a hurry after that.
If there are between 10/16 teams better than Stockton out there, that should give anyone that knows the Royals an idea of where this team or subsequent teams need to be to get back into serious national contention...one can only hope some relentless recruiting is underway.

NEPAFAN · January 05, 2009, 08:51:40 AM

Nice to see some press. Will post thoughts later..

U of S comeback comes up short in Radisson final

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BY SCOTT WALSH
STAFF WRITER
Published: Monday, January 05, 2009
Updated: Monday, January 5, 2009 4:12 AM EST
When the University of Scranton men's basketball team got close, Richard Stockton College simply kicked things into high gear.

Using their speed and quickness down the stretch, the nationally ranked Ospreys held off the Royals, 77-62, in the championship game of the seventh annual Radisson Invitational on Sunday afternoon at the John Long Center.

Omar Smith had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead Stockton (12-1), which has won nine straight games and is No. 14 in this week's d3hoops.com Top 25 poll. Smith was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Santini Lancioni added 20 points for the Ospreys to join Smith on the all-tournament team.

Luke Hawk led four scorers in double figures for Scranton with 18 points and was named to

the all-tournament team.

Rounding out the squad were Steven Johns of Shenandoah and Errol Daniyan from Plattsburgh State.

Shenandoah won the consolation game over Plattsburgh, 63-39.

Leading at halftime, 40-33, Stockton opened the second half with a 10-2 burst to increase the margin to 15 with 16:53 remaining.

But the Royals clawed their way back. Over the next 6� minutes, they went on a 17-4 run to close to within 54-52 with 10:33 left.

"We attacked, stayed aggressive and were able to get to the foul line and hit some shots," Royals coach Carl Danzig said of his team's rally. "Our pressure forced some turnovers, too."

Zach Ashworth capped the run with a nifty play. Inbounding from underneath the Stockton basket, he threw the ball off Smith's back, caught it, scored, was fouled and completed the three-point play.

Stockton coach Gerry Matthews called timeout and had some harsh words for his team.

"I said, 'How about guarding someone for a change?'�" Matthews said. "It went from 50-35 to 54-52. We were taking quick shots; just take your time and run something.

"We took their shot. We just had to get out poise back."

Actually, the Royals had a chance to tie the game at 54. However, Luke Hawk had the front end of a 1-and-1 rattle in and out.

That's when Stockton turned things up a notch.

With the score 63-58 and 6:24 left, the Ospreys defense limited the Royals to just one point over the next 4� minutes while the offense scored 12.

Smith accounted for five of the 12 points. Michael Darrow hit a 3-pointer — Stockton's 10th of the game — before free throws by Lancioni (1) and Kai Massaquoi (3) finished off the Royals.

"Their team speed and athleticism wore on us," Danzig said. "To their credit, they did a great job of holding us down."

Paul Biagioli added 14 points for the Royals (7-4), which had a three-game winning streak halted. Ashworth and Paul Hawk each finished with 10 points.

Despite the loss, Danzig felt his team could take away some positives as it resumes Landmark Conference play with home games Friday against Susquehanna and Saturday against Juniata.

"We competed and that's always what you're always looking for," Danzig said. "They were the No. 14-ranked team in the country, we went head-to-head with them and had a two-point game with 10 minutes to go. All we were looking to do was give ourselves an opportunity to be in the game at the end and I think we did that."

Matt Letourneau · January 09, 2009, 11:02:21 PM

After winning the CUA Classic last weekend, Catholic kicked off the rest of its Landmark schedule with a 74-43 win on the road at Drew. Jason Banzhaf had 18 for the Cardinals.

Obviously winning ROY should have put him on the radar screen of the rest of the league, but I can't say enough about how well he's playing. For CUA semi-old timers, he reminds me a lot of Will Morley--only I dare say that's farther along as a sophomore than Will was. Granted, Will's teams had more scoring depth, but Jason is averaging 19.8 points a game while shooting 58% and grabbing just about 7 and a half boards. Just like Will, he's even got range from 3 although he doesn't look for that shot. He dominated against Husson last weekend (who beat Clark and played Catholic surprisingly tough) despite a relentless double team in the second half.

Cardinals take on Merchant Marine tomorrow.

ronk · January 11, 2009, 01:58:58 AM

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Here are the standings both standard and a new format(Ronk Standings) which stresses the effect of home court losses and road wins in a conference which has an uneven number of home vs road games for each team after each weekend(until the final travel-pair game), since the 1st weekend starts play with only 1 game per team. I think it gives a truer picture.

Standard RS

MMA 3 - 0 Catholic 2 - 0
Scranton 2 - 1 MMA 1 - 0
Catholic 2 - 1 Susque 1 - 0
Susque 2 - 1 Juniata 1 - 0
Juniata 1 - 2 Scranton 0 - 0
Drew 1 - 2 Goucher 0 - 1
Moravian 1 - 2 Moravian 0 - 2
Goucher 0 - 3 Drew 0 - 2

NEPAFAN · January 11, 2009, 11:22:24 AM

Noticed that Juniata went 0 for at the line (0-8). When is the last time that happened?

saratoga · January 11, 2009, 12:18:31 PM

Missing all of your free throws (even if the total is only eight) is hard to believe especially coming from a team that was in the Landmark finals last season. I thought prior to seeing that stat only the Lady Royals were capable of pulling that one off. I guess Juniata lost more than Brian Cannon because they really have struggled this year. However, as we all know, beating them at their place will certainly present a whole new set of challenges.
Next week at Goucher on Friday & Catholic on Sat. I saw Goucher twice last year & thought they had a nice group of kids that were talented...just a little young. Not sure what's going on right now but, they too have yet to find the mark very often in the win column. Catholic will be tough as they always are at home. Last season we swept that road trip...this year it all depends if the Royals dig down & decide to play defense instead of the last team to score wins mentality.
All in all a good weekend...anytime you get two W's I guess it is. Just have yet to see anything that makes me say the Royals are now ready for the Stockton's, Amherst's & Wheaton's of the world...not yet anyway.

NEPAFAN · January 12, 2009, 01:44:06 PM

Quote from: ronk on January 11, 2009, 01:58:58 AM
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Here are the standings both standard and a new format(Ronk Standings) which stresses the effect of home court losses and road wins in a conference which has an uneven number of home vs road games for each team after each weekend(until the final travel-pair game), since the 1st weekend starts play with only 1 game per team. I think it gives a truer picture.

Standard RS

MMA 3 - 0 Catholic 2 - 0
Scranton 2 - 1 MMA 1 - 0
Catholic 2 - 1 Susque 1 - 0
Susque 2 - 1 Juniata 1 - 0
Juniata 1 - 2 Scranton 0 - 0
Drew 1 - 2 Goucher 0 - 1
Moravian 1 - 2 Moravian 0 - 2
Goucher 0 - 3 Drew 0 - 2

Please tell us more about what goes into the Ronk Standings....I think I have it figured out, but was never any good with numbers!

ronk · January 12, 2009, 04:47:30 PM

The left side is the number of road wins; the right side is the number of home losses; for example Catholic has 2 road wins and no home losses.
The idea is that home court is usually such an advantage that you are expected to win at home; if you can get a road win, that is big and hopefully, the RS will show that as the weekends go by. Remember, at the end of each weekend, each team has played an uneven number of home vs road games which isn't reflected in the standard standings.

old ends · January 14, 2009, 09:08:19 PM

Ronk-- I like your standings and would like to use it in the Centennial, of course calling it the Ronk standings.

saratoga · January 14, 2009, 10:38:03 PM

Scranton's web site has them playing PSU-Hazleton tonight in their make-up game... yet no scores posted nor writeup on their "new' & improved" site. Just a figment of their immagination, another mysterious cancelation at the Hazledome or just a real late synopsis from one of the nations better games?

ronk · January 14, 2009, 11:31:50 PM

Saratoga,
Royals victory now up on web site; Fitzpatrick only 12 min of action(no foul trouble); no mention of an injury.

Old ends,
Feel free to use/adapt it for the Centennial.

saratoga · January 15, 2009, 08:06:16 AM

Thanks Ronk. I called it quits after 11:00 & nothing was up. Good catch on Fitz...hope it was just being a little under the weather & nothing serious.
Your index is catching on...when do the predictive features roll out?

NEPAFAN · January 15, 2009, 08:46:34 AM

How about 17 turnovers against Penn State Hazelton? $:-\$

MBB: Landmark Conference

old ends