MBB: Great Northeast Athletic Conference

[goldenpipes]

Emerson 82-79 over Emmanuel - Lions tie for 1st in the GNAC and hold the tiebreak for the #1 seed in the GNAC tournament with their win over Lasell in early January.

[The Den Dweller]

I was wondering for us people over here in LA if someone could give us an in depth recap of the Emerson vs. Emmanuel game, we heard it was crazy

[broke_ya_ankles]

the GNAC is still a crazy mess in terms of figuring out seedings some scores from tonite...

St. Joe's 79  Mount Ida 70
Lasell 78 Daniel Webster 60
Emerson 82  Emmanuel 79
Johnson & Wales 90 Rivier 82
Suffolk 93 Norwich 85

pretty strait forward once again for the most part, Emerson/Emmanuel was a toss up, not surprised Emerson won esp if they are at full strength now. 

HOW DID SUFFOLK BEAT NORWICH???  suffolk was 2-21 coming into the game and norwich has beatin Emerson, Emmanuel, Johnson & Wales, St. Joes and they LOSE to Suffolk and Daniel Webster??  talk about up and down my gosh...

[ILive4This]

I watched Suffolk get absolutely blown out by Brandeis earlier this season, however I also saw a few other things. They has some size both height and physicalness. Also they had a couple decent shooters. If all of that comes together on a night then there is a chance for a win, especially in a conference like the GNAC which no offense to anyone is not exactly the toughest of conferences.

[goldenpipes]

I think you could say that holds true for the conference as a whole - the teams in the lower half of the conference are not strong and are certainly not as strong as the bottom teams in the elite conferences of New England - however, I think there are teams in the GNAC as well as the NAC or CCC that can hang with the NESCAC's etc.

Look at the bottom two team in the NE Poster's poll - Emerson and Elms for proof - Emerson beat three NEWMAC's by 10+ and Elms lost to Amherst by 6 and Brandeis by 1 in OT.

Suffolk's win isn't that surprising - an 11 beating the 7th place team in any conference is not that unusual, especially when the underdog shoots 13-25 from 3-pt land. I think that can happen in any conference - look at the number of times it's happened in conference tournaments over the years in D-1, 2, or 3.  It's not as if Suffolk beat one of the top 3 teams in the GNAC.

I watched Suffolk get absolutely blown out by Brandeis earlier this season, however I also saw a few other things. They has some size both height and physicalness. Also they had a couple decent shooters. If all of that comes together on a night then there is a chance for a win, especially in a conference like the GNAC which no offense to anyone is not exactly the toughest of conferences.

[jamiejohn]

Norwich is a tough place to play anytime you win there its a good win, they beat Emerson and Emmanuel up there this year.

[newenglandball]

Miracle Overtime Buzzer-Beater Sends Newbury Past Eagles 

Nashua – Two seconds can seem like a lifetime. Unfortunately for the Eagles men's basketball team, they found that out the hardest way imaginable Thursday night.

Two seconds away from forcing a second overtime after Eagle freshman Chris Hanson (Salem, Mass.) sank two pressure-packed free throws to tie the game at 97, Newbury guard Steve Morris (Somerville, Mass.) answered with a 75-foot miracle that hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded giving the visiting Nighthawks a stunning 100-97 victory in a wild matchup of future New England Collegiate rivals at a raucous Vagge Gymnasium.

Morris, who had initially forced overtime knocking down a three pointer with 21 seconds to play in regulation, took the inbounds pass from Javon Mathis (Plainville, Conn.) and heaved the ball from the far right corner knocking down the longest shot recorded in Vagge Gymnasium history in a regular season game.

The win was the eighth straight for the Nighthawks (17-7), while the Eagles (7-17) dropped their fourth straight.

Kevin Cleveland (Lynn, Mass.) led all scorers for Newbury pouring in 28 points, going 13 of 16 from the field and added 12 rebounds. Arch Mitchell (Framingham, Mass.) knocked down 21, while Mathis chipped in with 18. Morris finished with 14.

Hanson led Daniel Webster with 19 points including five three-pointers, while Adam Landry (Vernon, Conn.) knocked down five more from outside on the way to 18 points. Tim Jackson (West Henrietta, N.Y.) added 11 while Steve Savage (Salem, N.H.) chipped in with 10.

Senior Eagle captain Ryan Middlemiss (Methuen, Mass.), playing in his final home game and honored in a pregame ceremony, dished out a game and career best nine assists and added eight rebounds and five points.

Newbury led by six (44-39) at the half and by as many as 13 in the second before a pair of wild swings led to overtime.

Trailing by 11 at 74-63 with 9:09 to go in regulation, the Eagles mounted a furious comeback with an 18-5 run consuming 4:24 to take the lead. Hanson knocked down a three with 6:34 left for a 77-74 Newbury lead, followed with another with 5:11 to go to cut it to one, and Landry added another for an 81-79 lead with 4:45 left.

After building the lead to 88-81 with 2:18 to after a Hanson jumper, Newbury responded with a wild finish to force overtime. After Cleveland buried two free throws, he followed with a lay up with 1:21 left setting up Morris's first heroics.

Newbury opened the extra session with the first six points thanks to a dunk and layup from Cleveland.

Trailing by five (97-92) with 51 seconds left, Jackson knocked down a three with 40 seconds to go and Middlemiss followed with a steal of Morris with 16 seconds left.

Hanson was then fouled outside the arc and sank both freebies with 2.1 seconds to go, setting up the Morris miracle.

The Eagles, who still own the eighth and final playoff spot for the upcoming GNAC tournament, close their regular season Saturday at Rivier beginning at 1:00 p.m. The Eagles hold a one-game lead over Mount Ida for the final spot. Mount Ida travels to Lasell for a 1:00 p.m. matchup. The Eagles can clinch a tournament spot with a victory or a Mount Ida loss.

Newbury travels to Green Mountain Saturday for the four-team Association of Division III Independents Northeast championships. The Nighthawks face future NECC rival Southern Vermont at 5:30 p.m.

[goldenpipes]

Lions roll past Norwich today at the Lions Den 74-48. Emerson grabs the GNAC regular season title and the #1 seed in the conference tournament starting Tuesday.

Lions led 40-21 at the half and turned in a complete fahty minute effort as they held Norwich to a season low 48 points, which was the Lions lowest allowed total as well as the Cadets lowest offensive output of the season.

Once today's action is over the conference tournament seeds/pairings will be officially announced and we'll have Tuesday's quarterfinal match-ups.

[All-around]

With an Emmanuel loss--which is somewhat surprising Lasell gets 2nd in the league...I guess due to a tie-breaker.

Looks like Emmanuel may not recover from  the Emerson loss.

Congrats to Emerson on a great season as well.

[goldenpipes]

Why is it surprising that the Monks beat Emmanuel? St. Joe's lost to Emerson by 10, Lasell by 9 and Wales by 6 so they are playing close games in conference and the opener vs Wales should be a great game in Providence.

Even if Emmanuel won today, Emerson held the tiebreaker over the Saints - Lions beat Lasell, and Lasell beat Emmanuel, so Emerson would be the regular season champ and the #1 seed regardless of the outcome of the Saints-Monks game in Standish. Since the Lions the won and the Saints lost, Emerson wins the regular season title outright.

[34whistle]

It looks like Tuesday's games are going to be exciting one.  I do believe come Saturday it should be Emerson versus Lasell in the finals. St' Joe's and Johnson & Wales just are strong enough to compete with  Emmanuel, Emerson or Lasell. Don't get me wrong they are both good teams but certainly  we wont see them in the final.  Emmanuel  definitely has not recovered since their lost to Lasell a few weeks back. Emerson is back at full strength now, and Lasell has been playing  some of its best basketball of the year these past few weeks. It should be an exciting week.

[crazyecbballfan823]

I agree that it should be an exciting week in the GNAC and I also want to remind people that last year both the #1 and #2 teams got knocked off in the playoffs. The playoffs last year had the #4 and #5 seed going for the title and I think that anything could happen this year as well. Yah Emerson and Lasell are the top two right now, but who's to say that Emmanuel can't spring back?

[goldenpipes]

Not only that, but Wales is solid and St. Joe's could make a run as well....and the 6th seed is Riv who's played everyone tough plus they defend and rebound well. I think the conference play has been very good this year and this is one of the deepest seasons in the twelve years of the GNAC.

As I said before....this has the chance to be a great week.

[UnsungHero11]

I agree this week should be very interesting in the GNAC...hopefully there are some great upsets worth talking about.

[broke_ya_ankles]

As competitive as the GNAC has been this season with lots of the top teams beating up on each other throughout the season and teams like norwich stealing some BIG wins one would think the GNAC tournament would be filled with some interesting games and expect at least 2 or 3 upsets but with the way the playoff games are set up it looks like things are going to be rather predictable.

#1 Emerson hosts #8 Daniel Webster:
Emerson has been the most consistent team in the GNAC this year as evidence by there 22-3 overall record.  They went 11-1 at home this year including a blowout 30 point win versus Daniel Webster about a month ago.  Theres virtually no way Emerson doesnt win this game, its just a matter of picking an over under...might as well set that at around 23.

#4 Johnson and Wales hosts #5 St. Joseph's:
As expected by the seedings this looks like the most interesting game.  St. Joe's is coming off an impressive win vs Emmanuel to cap off the season and J&W finished the season...sloppy to say the least.   Going 2-5 in their final 7 games I dont think any of us saw.   The most interesting of those 7 games in relation to this matchup with St. Joe's came February 9th when they hosted, and beat St. Joe's 98-92, in OT.  Momentum appears to clearly be in St. Joe's favor however J&W has played very well on their home court this season going 9-3 with impressive wins over Lasell and Roger Williams as well as a 3 point loss to the NESCAC's Conn. College.  I truly believe this game will come down to Elbie Murphy and his efficiency, the standout from St. Joe's led the nation in steals last year but found himself in foul trouble a fair amount as well.  If he stays on the floor and is intelligent with his shot selection St. Joe's comes out with a win, if he struggles and winds up shooting 6-19 from the floor St. Joe's has no chance.  My prediction:  St. Joe's wins by 8-10.

#3 Emmanuel hosts #6 Rivier:
Another great matchup.  Emmanuel ends the season on a slide with back to back losses to Emerson and St. Joe's but I cant see Rivier coming into Boston and stealing a win.  It is very difficult to beat a team 3 times in the same season, but Emmanuel went 9-1 at home in conference play this season and is just too good for Rivier, not to say Rivier cant come in and win because they most certainly can, however I just dont see it happening.  Emmanuel wins by double digits.

#2 Lasell hosts #7 Norwich:
Norwich has been a crazy team this year.  They beat Emerson, Emmanuel, Johnson & Wales, St. Joe's, but lost to Mt. Ida, Suffolk, and Daniel Webster??? Regardless no team in the GNAC is as hot as Lasell right now winners of 13 of 14 including their final 9.  Only 1 of those 13 wins was by less than 10 points (won by 9 vs St. Joe's).  The point is they are winning and doing it VERY convincingly.  This has blowout written all over it.  Lasell by 20+

That would make the semis look like this:

#1 Emerson hosts #5 St. Joe's
#2 Lasell hosts #3 Emmanuel

And then we would be looking at some great games...