MBB: Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Gr8Day2BaBear]

no all-around if you haven't realized it by now 6 times make the tournament as of this year...but good up to date post....by the way bridgewater is still defending their mascac title so we'll see what happens in salem

[All-around]

well i was wrong about that. But dont kill the messenger on BSC.

[ballacutie14]

and Salem takes it  ...just like we all knew they would.

[mattapn02126]

Salem took the last two games of the tourney despite trailing at half of both of them. The Medford representative Eric Downie with 30 and 10 in the championship. SSC ends up at 24-2 for the year. Anyone know if Downie will get any All - America love at 21+,8+ ?

[ballacutie14]

hmm, yes they were trailing at the half at both games, but thats not what decides the game, you should know that. and if you were at the games, you'd know that MOST of the points westfield got were foul shots. the refs were not being fair at all, and most people would agree with me.

[mattapn02126]

goddamn people can get touchy. I made the trip up to SSC for both of those games, and they were trailing at half of both of them. thats a fact not an opinion. and how would it matter that a team's points came from the line?

[ballacutie14]

no kidding its a fact, but like i said before the score at the half does NOT decide the game and it matters when points only come from the line, when the calls are unfair, which there were quite a few unfair calls made.

[MeOak21]

Ballacutie- I think the mention of Salem being down at the half never once was meant to be an indication that Salem should lose the game. Just an observation that Salem is not dominating teams and was in potential danger of being beaten.

If you want to play the unfair reffing card, you won't get much support. In reality, bad reffing usually goes both ways.

What constitutes an unfair call? Where you keeping track of your "unfair calls" for each team?

Who do you think Salem plays next; Keene or Rivier??

[mattapn02126]

Man Keene State is my squad mostly cause of the dude tyler kathan. he fills it up and duke is only a sophomore.  Now I only saw Rivier once this year (in a loss to at Suffolk), but I am aware of the all Greater Boston backcourt of Giardano and McMahon.

I cant see Keene State losing this game.
KSC 84 RIV 71

[MeOak21]

That response is what I wanted to see. I haven't seen or heard anything about Rivier all year so I really have no idea what to think about them besides a look at schedule/results/box scores. I'm primarily an LEC guy and hope to see Keene and RIC represent well this year.

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but have you seen Keene play much? How do you think they match up with Salem? You can't deny the strength and quickness of the bigs inside for Keene. There might be a greater defensive presence inside than Downie is used to.

[mattapn02126]

Ive seen Keene 3 times this year, and I really like them. I saw them beat Endicott and UM Boston, and lose to Tufts in one of the best games of the year. I really like Nate Anderson as a complement to Kathan inside. All through the front line they are quick and pretty athletic, similar to Salem. In reference to Downie, he plays a little more on the perimeter, so I'm not sure whether the Keene bigs will go out and check him, or if KSC will choose to go with a 2 or 3 on him. Dylan Holmes get no love, but he has had a great year in the middle for Salem. I think this game would come down to guard play, and who takes better care of the ball. I really like #41 for Keene who was efficient in each of the games I saw. They had some difficulty against UM-B committing a lot of turnovers.  Salems back court of Marquis Victor and Alex Finn are up and down, and I think they will have to be on point for Salem to win against Keene.

[MeOak21]

Keene has a very quick tall defender with great length in Travon Little. He is 6'7" and seems to me to be the most likely pick to guard Downie on the perimeter. He should be effective as long as he stays out of foul trouble.

Keene is a very deep team with a bunch of offensive weapons that could potentially go off in they are left unchecked.

You are probably right with your statement about the guard play. Keene can get a little out of control on the break and make some unforced turnovers.

I really don't know who is the "favorite" in this one. It seems like a pretty even match.

[diehardfan]

Hey guys, we're collecting previews for each team in the tourney on one of the multiregional boards. If I get them by Friday I may even be able to stick them in one document for people to peruse. A fun little tourney resource of sorts. Would someone here be willing to do one for Salem State? Thanks!

http://www.d3sports.com/post/index.php?topic=5147.0

[mattapn02126]

what a thriller in salem... KSC 76 SSC 75. Salem guard Nick Tokarski with a great look to win it- a layup- but couldnt convert. Dylan Holmes tipped it in, and the Salem fans rushed the court, but it was determined that the tip-in did not beat the buzzer. Great game, lots of ups and downs, both teams played with tremendous heart. Lot of touch fouls called, but that hindered both teams. Sontag and Drouin were huge for Keene, and their star Kathan didnt get a lot of touches late. Marquis Victor was immense for the Vikings, as he had to pick up for a slow start for Eric Downie (1 for his first 9). Downie did have a very strong 2nd half in his college finale.

I see that the Salem State site says that Salem out rebounded Keene by 12, but i think those are inflated numbers. It really seemed that Keene had a lot of 2nd chance buckets.

One final note: Despite the SSC fans booing the refs, I think it was a very well officiated game. It was tight, but they were consistent, and thats all you can ask for. There was a missed goaltending call, but thats a great nights work by the three officials.

[Pat Coleman]

It's hard to inflate rebound numbers in stat crew. You'd have to then create an artificial turnover to get the ball out of Salem's hands in order to allow Keene to take a shot in the stats.