MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[pjunito]

GNACplayer - You must know your basketball. I couldn't agree more! O'Brien can shoot from the outside and was able to get to the rim often. He missed a few open 3's that allowed Albertus to pull away at the end. But, he dishes, moves the ball to the open shooter, can rebound, and is money from the line... He is one of those players that scare you as a fan of the other team.

The playoffs will be interesting because I think Anna Maria creates match-up problems to both JWU and ST. Joes.

[pjunito]

Albertus moves up to 15 in the country.. They have a 24-1 record; they still are 10th in region.. but, they have a weak schedule right?

[pjunito]

GNAC awards 2012

Here is my personal opinion on the awards:

First Team
Askew - Albertus
Thomas - JWU
O'Brien - St. Joe's
Click - Anna Maria
Watson - Albertus

Second Team
Bertanza - Lasell
Pepdjonovic - Suffolk
Williams - Lasell
Robinson - Emmanuel
Jackson - Albertus

Player of the Year
Askew - Albertus

Rookie of the Year
Abrams - Emerson

Defensive Player of the Year
Pepdjonovic

Head Coach of the Year
Mitch Oliver - Albertus

[pjunito]

Anna Maria beats JWU 64-63... Lamonte Thomas misses a running in the lane at the buzzer. The ball rimmed out as the buzzer sounded. Very good back and forth game. Anna Maria drained 2 FTs with 7 seconds left. The call was questionable; There was contact, however, the anna maria player left his feet and had no where to go with the ball and dipped his shoulder into the JWU player. JWU had taken the lead 20 seconds earlier on a free throw; but could not convert on the second attempt opening the door for Anna Maria to escape with the 1 point lead.

St. Joe's wins easy at home over Mt. Ida...

Albertus wins over Emerson at home

Lasell in a very good game, beats Emmanuel 80-73 at home.

Thursday games

#4 Lasell vs #1 Albertus in New Haven, CT
#6 Anna Maria vs #2 St. Joe's of Maine, Maine

Write up tomorrow on games.

[pjunito]

Anna Maria @ St. Joe's Maine
Anna Maria has swept the season series. They are long and that gives St. Joe's a problem. I think it will be closer than what many people looking at the records would think. However, St. Joe's is led by the most complete player in the conference, O'Brien. They are well coached. They don't hurt themselves, can shoot the 3 well, are always in the right position to rebound and defend, and hit their free throws. They are not a team that comes from behind well; so if they fall behind early, they could be in trouble. I expect St. Joe's and Anna Maria to be in a tight game with 5 minutes left. St. Joe's leaders will take over and they will win by 6-8 points.

Lasell @ Albertus
Lasell gave Albertus the biggest scare during the regular season (In conference). They had a 16 point lead with 14 minutes left to play. Albertus had one of the best games ever in their history from Askew (he had 52 points, 25 in the second half, and 18 in last 10 minutes). Lasell lives and dies by the three ball. They have one of the most talented forward in the league in Williams. He opens up his shooters. Lasell has to bury their 3's to win this game. Albertus is healhty and hungry. Coach Oliver understands that he cannot leave it to the committee to vote his team in. He will have his team ready to go. The game will be tight at the half, but look for Albertus to pull away in the second half; led by their defense (forcing turnovers and easy points). Albertus wins by 14.

St. Joe's and Albertus are the best two teams in the GNAC. It would only be fitting if they play for the right to go to the NCAA.

[pjunito]

Anna Maria did not agree with my last post.. As they shock the second seeded Monks of St. Joe's in Maine. Anthony Click hits a running lay-up with 2.3 seconds left to lift the AMCats to a 60-59 win. This game was back and forth. St. Joe's had the ball with 48 seconds left and forced up a bad shot with the shot clock running down. Anna Maria grabbed the rebound and called a time-out to with 14 seconds left to set-up the final play. St. Joe's had a foul to give and used it with 7 seconds left. The ball was inbounded to Click at the top of the key; he crossed over to his right and drove hard down the lane to hit the uncontested lay-up. St. Joe's did have a good look at a three; however, the shot was no good.  Anna Maria will play in the GNAC championship in its first year.

Albertus defeats Lasell 92-70. Lasell had a 26-22 lead with under 10 to play in the first half. But Albertus used a 14-0 run and a 14-3 run to end the half to put this game away. Albertus led by as many as 31 points in the second half. Ray Aksew became the all time leading scorer in Albertus history in the first half. He currently has 2244 points and will look to add to it on Saturday. There were a lot of fouls that slowed the game down early on. However, Albertus used their size and speed to create turnovers and fast break opportunities. Zach Dugas (Jr.) had a very good game. He finished with 20; as watson only played 17 minutes due to foul trouble.

Anna Maria will travel to New Haven to face the #1 seed Falcons at 1pm on Saturday. Anna Maria has won both of its previous playoff games by 1 point on the road. The AMCats fans travel well. They will probably have about 200 fans at the "Nest". This will be a sell-out and a very good game. Both teams are built similiar.

[FormerGNACplayer]

Spot on pjunito! Great job! I don't think Albertus will lose on its home
Floor in the championship! Askew has wills his team to victory and the emergeance of Lora in the playoff put Albertus at a different Plato! But thats why the game is played on the court! 3 yrs ago a very talented team in Emerson was knocked off as 2 seed in the Gnac by Albertus by 20! Gnac games are so unpredictable

[Frank Rossi]

Anna Maria did not agree with my last post.. As they shock the second seeded Monks of St. Joe's in Maine. Anthony Click hits a running lay-up with 2.3 seconds left to lift the AMCats to a 60-59 win. This game was back and forth. St. Joe's had the ball with 48 seconds left and forced up a bad shot with the shot clock running down. Anna Maria grabbed the rebound and called a time-out to with 14 seconds left to set-up the final play. St. Joe's had a foul to give and used it with 7 seconds left. The ball was inbounded to Click at the top of the key; he crossed over to his right and drove hard down the lane to hit the uncontested lay-up. St. Joe's did have a good look at a three; however, the shot was no good.  Anna Maria will play in the GNAC championship in its first year.

Albertus defeats Lasell 92-70. Lasell had a 26-22 lead with under 10 to play in the first half. But Albertus used a 14-0 run and a 14-3 run to end the half to put this game away. Albertus led by as many as 31 points in the second half. Ray Aksew became the all time leading scorer in Albertus history in the first half. He currently has 2244 points and will look to add to it on Saturday. There were a lot of fouls that slowed the game down early on. However, Albertus used their size and speed to create turnovers and fast break opportunities. Zach Dugas (Jr.) had a very good game. He finished with 20; as watson only played 17 minutes due to foul trouble.

Anna Maria will travel to New Haven to face the #1 seed Falcons at 1pm on Saturday. Anna Maria has won both of its previous playoff games by 1 point on the road. The AMCats fans travel well. They will probably have about 200 fans at the "Nest". This will be a sell-out and a very good game. Both teams are built similiar.

We'll be videocasting the game Saturday afternoon (1pm EST Tip/12:45pm EST Pregame) on D3hoops.com via Ustream.TV.  Stay tuned for links and details.

[albertusalum]

Albertus really is on a whole new level right now and i think they can have a legitimate shot at making a run in the tourny with a win on Saturday. A huge key i have seen is Lora. When he plays like he has been the team seems to click much better. If he doesnt let his emotions get the best of him, he will continue to be dominant inside and not pick of stupid fouls. As for Ray, he was double and tripled team last night on many occasions and was finding passes to open teammates for great looks. They even ran a box and 1 at one point but guarded Ray with a much undersized player who barely stood up to Rays waist. I havent seen Anna Maria play yet this season but im sure they wont go down without a fighting chance. Albertus is simply bullying teams at this pont. GO FALCONS!

[Hugenerd]

Albertus really is on a whole new level right now and i think they can have a legitimate shot at making a run in the tourny with a win on Saturday. A huge key i have seen is Lora. When he plays like he has been the team seems to click much better. If he doesnt let his emotions get the best of him, he will continue to be dominant inside and not pick of stupid fouls. As for Ray, he was double and tripled team last night on many occasions and was finding passes to open teammates for great looks. They even ran a box and 1 at one point but guarded Ray with a much undersized player who barely stood up to Rays waist. I havent seen Anna Maria play yet this season but im sure they wont go down without a fighting chance. Albertus is simply bullying teams at this pont. GO FALCONS!

Seems like Lora's development isn't quite what you'd expect from a former D1 commitment (Central Conn St, if I remember correctly).  From people that have seen him, is he finally starting to come along, or is he still a bit of a disappointment?  Looking at some boxscores, it appears he has been pretty inconsistent and prone to foul trouble.  However, based on how he was rated coming out of high school, he must have tremendous upside.

[pjunito]

Nerd, Lora has been a bit of a disappointment. He is the only recruit who has shrunk from 7 ft to 6'8 in three years. (Inside joke, for any Albertus followers). Lora was out of shape and hurt in his freshmen year (his best game was agaisnt Yale's Center Mangano); he scored 11 and 2 blocks of Mangano while holding him to 7 points and keeping him away from the paint.  Lora also played very well in the first round tournament game against William Patterson; he was solid defensively. Last year, he ws suspended along with 3 other members of the team and did not finish the season with the team. (That may have cost Albertus a return trip to the NCAA; Ray Askew didn't play in the GNAC semi-final either). However, since January, Lora has been playing the best basketball in his college career. He has also become a great team player. He understands that this isn't his team, it's Askew. Lora is in the best shape of his career. He is also playing amazing defense. He is blocking shots, rebounding, and more importantly altering shots. He is capable of scoring 20, but doesn't need to (Askew and Watson can do that). He is asked to guard the big man, rebound, and stop pentration. He has been doing that.  I think next year, you will see him become a much better offensive presence..... as long as he comes back in shape and ready to work.

[7express]

Looks like Albertus won't have to worry about whether their in the field or not come Monday afternoon.  Up 25 and not even at halftime.

[pjunito]

Albertus Men's basketball team wins their 2nd GNAC championship in 3 years. The Falcons completed an undefeated conference season by beating the AMCats of Anna Maria on Saturday by a 88-54 margin. Albertus came out on fire; hitting their first 6 shots, including 2 three's by Darius Watson. Anna Maria stayed in the game during the opening minutes by out hustling Albertus to loose balls and on the offensive glass. But, Albertus' speed and athletic ability took over, highlight by a few dunks by Ray Askew. Albertus led 25-10 and finish the first half on a 29-15 run to lead 54-25 at the half.  Albertus then went on a 14-4 run to start the second half and led by as many as 40 in the second half. Coach Oliver emptied his bench at the 9 minute mark; bringing seniors Matt Maya and Ray Askew back into the game at the 3 minute mark; so that they can get one last standing ovation before the home crowd. Albertus now will wait to see who they will play in the opening round of the NCAA... Selection show will take place on Monday. 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Albertus Men's basketball team wins their 2nd GNAC championship in 3 years. The Falcons completed an undefeated conference season by beating the AMCats of Anna Maria on Saturday by a 88-54 margin. Albertus came out on fire; hitting their first 6 shots, including 2 three's by Darius Watson. Anna Maria stayed in the game during the opening minutes by out hustling Albertus to loose balls and on the offensive glass. But, Albertus' speed and athletic ability took over, highlight by a few dunks by Ray Askew. Albertus led 25-10 and finish the first half on a 29-15 run to lead 54-25 at the half.  Albertus then went on a 14-4 run to start the second half and led by as many as 40 in the second half. Coach Oliver emptied his bench at the 9 minute mark; bringing seniors Matt Maya and Ray Askew back into the game at the 3 minute mark; so that they can get one last standing ovation before the home crowd. Albertus now will wait to see who they will play in the opening round of the NCAA... Selection show will take place on Monday.

Just for future reference its the AMCATs.  The mascot is an acronym for Anna Maria College Athletic Teams.

[pjunito]

Great job by d3hoops today at the Nest... Thanks for not giving me a mic.... lol..

Hoops, thanks. I had no idea. Thanks!