MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Buffalo State holds off Wesleyan and wins 80-77. Detail will follow.

[magicman]

Final Score Buffalo St. 80 Wesleyan College 77

Buffalo St. hit just enough free throws down the stretch as they were 7x9 inside the final 2 minutes. Key basket by Jake Simmons with 18 seconds left and the Bengals up 78-77 to make it the 3 point final of 80-77. Wesleyan came down and had a wide open 3 point shot with 2 seconds left that hit the back of the rim and the Bengals corralled the rebound for the win.

Wesleyan opened the second half with another triple by Jason Mendall, and after 2 free throws by the Bengals, Cards got back to back buckets to open up their largest lead of the game at 41-33. Bengals closed to within 3 on two Ahmed Nagaya baskets, plus a Norman Simmons jumper and finally a Jake Simmons triple tied the score at 44. Eight more lead changes and two ties would follow before the Bengals would grab the lead for good on a jumper by Ant Hamer at 58-57. Hamer would then nail a 3 pointer to make it 61-57 and Buff St would gradually increase the lead to 71-62 behind 2 Jake Simmons triples for their largest lead of the night. Bengals were still up by 6 when the Cardinals sandwiched a jumper and a 3 pointer around a Bengal trip to the line where Norman Simmons made 1 of 2 and closed the gap to 77-75. Justin Mitchell was fouled and made 1 of 2 to make it a 3 point game and Wesleyan's Sasha Brown came down and scored to make it 78-77. Jake Simmons drive to the basket made it 80-77 and the final attempt by the Cardinals was no good.

Jake Simmons and Nico McLean both scored 18 points to lead the Bengals. Simmons was 7x13 fg, 4x8 threes, with 5 steals. McLean was 7x13 fg, 0x2 threes, 4x8 ft, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Justin Mitchell with a solid all around game added 9 pts (2x6 fg, 5x6 ft) 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Bengals was killed on the boards 43-29 as Wesleyan grabbed 15 of those on the offensive glass. Cardinals had 19  turnovers as Buffalo pressed the entire game and the Cardinals had trouble bringing the ball into the froncourt on numerous occasions. Bengals outshot the Cardinals in all 3 areas. Buffalo State was 30x58 from the field (52%), 7x18 from beyond the arc (39%), and 13x21 from the line (62%). Wesleyan was 27x59 fg (46%), 6x16 3's (38%) and 17x29 ft (59%).

Wesleyan was led by Jason Mendall and Mike Callaghan who both scored 19 points. Mendall was 6x10 from the field, 5x7 from 3 point land and 2x3 from the line with 5 rebounds. Callaghan shot 7x12 fg, 0x1 3's, 5x7 ft, with 9 rebounds. Derick Beresford added 15 points (6x11 fg, 1x3 3's, 2x3 ft) while Shasha Brown had 11 points (4x11 fg, 0x3 3's 3x6 ft) with 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Wesleyan, now 9-2, will take on Massachusetts College (2-9) tomorrow at 2 PM in the consolation game.

#24 Buffalo State now 9-1 will face off against undefeated host #41 Catholic University (11-0) in the Championship game at 4 PM. 

[magicman]

Just now saw the box score for the Plattsburgh State-Manhattanville game. Notable statistic that stands out: Plattsburgh 3 point attempts:  2 for 17. Ouch!!  Manhattanville 3 point attempts 6x12.  Ouch again!!  So we didn't shoot the 3 very well and didn't defend it very well either.     Cards were 21x37 inside the arc.

Cards Shavar Fields was the game's high scorer and rebounder with 18 pts (7x10 fg,4x8 ft) and 7 boards. John Perez was the only other Cardinal in double figures as he had 12 pts (5x10 fg, 0x1 3's, 2x3 ft), 4 rebounds and 3 steals. The game was tied at the half, 34 apiece but don't know what happened down the stretch to make it a 69 -68 final as the box score doesn't give a play by play. Disappointing weekend for the Cardinals (4-7 overall) who will now have 9 days off until their next game, on the road against Oneonta on January 10th. 

[magicman]

Both my picks were fairly close today. I missed the winner in the Plattsburgh State game, but my 71-68 final was only 2 points off the actual 69-68 total. Should of went with my head instead of my heart as Manhattanville had a big win earlier in the year over ranked William Patterson (still Willie Pat's only loss) and looking at that gave me good reason to pick the Valiants. Plus the Cards ran out of gas yesterday and didn't think their was enough time to refill their tank. But I was hoping the Cards would rebound and I can't pick against them and hope they lose to make my prediction come true. Have to bite the bullet with this young team, and it probably won't be the last time I'll pick them when I should know better. Next year though I'll expect a big payback from them.  

My Buffalo State pick  came through for me though and my total of 82-78 was only 3 points off the actual 80-77 final. If not for a couple of missed free throws at the end, it would have been 82-77. Here's hoping the Bengals can hand the Cardinals of Catholic University their first loss tomorrow. 

[magicman]

2 games on tap for SUNYAC teams today.

Oneonta at Greensboro 2 PM

The Red Dragons won't find much relief other than the weather as they travel south to take on the Greensboro Pride. Oddsmakers have installed Greensboro as an 8 point favorite. Hard to pick Oneonta here. Red Dragons could win this game but would need a better effort than they've shown lately. Have to go with the Pride and a score of Greensboro 76 Oneonta 67.

Buffalo State at Catholic University  4 PM

Once again the ranked Bengals have been made an underdog by the oddsmakers.  Once again they're up against a team called the Cardinals. Catholic is listed as a 5 point favorite with half of those odds due to the home court advantage. This is big team with starters that go  6'8", 6'7", 6'4", 6'2" and 5'11". First players off the bench go 6'5", 6'6", 6'4" 6'6" and 6'1". Eleven players average double digit minutes with their 3 top players  averaging 15.7 ppg, 15.7 ppg and 11.0 ppg. If the Bengals are going to win this game they will need to use their speed to attack the basket and get plenty of trips to the free throw line. Shot selection is going to be crucial as well, especially if they are able to get a lead. Would like to see their three point attempts a little more open than in some of the games I've watched them play. Too many times Buffalo State has gained a significant lead and then let the other team back in it by not being selective enough with their shots. Sometimes it's good to use the shot clock and the boys from Buffalo still need to work on that. Bengals were outrebounded badly yesterday, by a much smaller team than Catholic, and with the size these Cardinals have, I doubt that Buff State will have many 2nd chance opportunities. Hope the Bengals still have some gas left in the tank after their hard fought win yesterday. If the scouting report I heard is true, and these Cards are big but slow, then the Forty minutes of Hell that the Bengals bring will be just what the doctor ordered. Buffalo State will need to win the turnover battle and create the steals that Simmons ,Simmons, Hamer and McLean are capable of. It's tough picking a game between 2 teams that really have no common opponents, however in looking over Catholic's 11 victims so far this year, one game gives me a little comparative information.Catholic defeated Dickinson 69-67 on the road. St John Fisher also beat Dickinson 2 days ago 78-70 in Pittsford in a game that really wasn't that close. I'm pretty sure the Bengals are a better club than Fisher this year, so I'm taking that bit of info as a positive.  It's going to be tough to take down an undefeated team in their own house but these Cardinals are due for a fall. Bengals win another close one here 77-73.         

[Bengalsrule]

I'm pretty sure the Bengals are a better club than Fisher this year, so I'm taking that bit of info as a positive.  It's going to be tough to take down an undefeated team in their own house but these Cardinals are due for a fall. Bengals win another close one here 77-73.         

I like your prediction!!!!

[magicman]

Buffalo State-Catholic University game all set to tip off. Here's the video link: http://video.cua.edu/live2.cfm

[magicman]

Halftime score Catholic 39 Buffalo State 27.

Bengals not shooting well at all. Only 9x30 from the field and 2x9 from the three point line. They're getting killed on the boards 27-18 and Catholic has 9 offensive rebounds. Bengals also with more turnovers 8 to 6. Foul trouble for Bengals big men very early on as Ahmed Nagaya and Justin Mitchell both had 2 fouls in the first 6 minutes of play. Nagaya limited to 9 minutes and Mitchell 12. Seth Runge with 2 quick fouls as well in 2 minutes of play. Bengals 7x12 from the free throw line while the Cardinals are 11x15. Buffalo State, down by 11 at 22-11 with 8:46 to play in the period would get to within 6 on several occasions, the last time at 26-20. Catholic, who missed their first four 3 point attempts then found the range and hit a pair of trifectas along with an old fashioned 3 point play to boost the lead back to double digits. Catholic using their size to get a lot of points in the paint and 2nd chance points as well. Bengals need to come out of the break with some urgency and not let this game get out of hand to have a chance.

[magicman]

Bengals doing what they need to do and have cut the lead to 2 points at 41-39 on a 12-2 run to start  the 2nd half.

Bengals finally catch the Cards at 45 all on a basket by Justin Mitchell.

2 quick baskets by the Cardinals followed by a foul called on Jake Simmons and then a technical called on Simmons give the Cardinals a 51-45 advantage. Bengals come back with a triple by Roderick Epps, followed by another jumper by Epps and then a steal by Epps, who is fouled on another 3 point attempt. He goes to the line and makes all three foul shots and the Bengals have their first lead of the game at 53-51 with 12:34 to play. Go Roderick!!!

Bengals with 2 quick steals for layups and 2 baskets by Jake Simmons take their largest lead of the game at 71-66 with 6 minutes to go.

Bengals still lead 73-70 with a timeout on the floor and 4:19 left to play. Cardinals in the double bonus though and Mitchell and McLean  with 4 fouls.

Ahmed Nagaya has just fouled out for the Bengals as Catholic goes to the line down 75-73 and a chance to tie it up. Cardinal player makes 1 of 2 but Bengals come down and misfire and Catolic is fouled and goes to the line once again. They make them both and now lead 76-75 with 1:32 left to play.

Justin Mitchell is fouled on Bengals next possession and makes both free throws to put the Bengals back in front 77-76 with 1:32 to go.

Catholic is fouled on their next possession and makes both free throws to go back in front 78-77 but Rodererick Epps comes down and nails a three for the Bengals to give them the lead 80-78.

Cardinals come right back and hit a triple to regain the lead 81-80 with 31 seconds left. Bengals take a time out and set up for the  go ahead shot. Roderick Epps (who else) off a nice feed underneath by Justin Mitchell makes a layup to put the Bengals in front 82-81 with 7 seconds left. Catholic comes down without taking a time out and fires up a 3 point attempt at the buzzer that is no good and the Bengals come home with the Bling and the Baubles. Way to go Bengals!!! I'm exhausted after watching that finish!!

[magicman]

What an outstanding performance in the 2nd half by Buffalo State to come back from a double digit halftime deficit and capture the Catholic Tournament with their 82-81 victory. Coach Ansari must have given them one heluva halftime talk because as poorly as they played in the first half, they played twice as inspired in the 2nd period. After shooting only 9x30 from the field and 2x9 threes in the 1st half, they were 21x34 and 5x9 threes, in the 2nd. Also improved at the line going 8x11 after the break. After getting pounded on the boards early they came back in the 2nd period and were only down one rebound, 17-16. For all their size, Catholic only had 3 blocked shots while the Bengals had 7 and the turnover battle swung in the Bengals favor as they only had 6 in the 2nd period to 9 for the Cardinals. Bengal guards turned up the heat and came away with 8 steals to only 4 against them. All this was done with a number of Bengals in serious foul trouble. Ahmed Nagaya and Nico Mclean both ended up fouling out and Justin Mitchell played the last 5 minutes with 4 fouls. Cards were whistled for 27 fouls to only 18 for Catholic. Catholic went to the line 38 times and made 29 while the Bengals were 15x23. That's a 14 point differential that usually doesn't bode well for the team on the short end of that stick. Bengals made up that difference with 6 more field goals and 3 more triples than the Cardinals had. Bengals also had 18 assisted buckets with most of them coming in the 2nd half.

Buffalo State was led by Justin Mitchell who was the game's high scorer with 27 points (11x18 fg, 5x7 ft). He also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists (none bigger than the nice pass to Epps for the game winner), and 2 blocks. Jake Simmons had 18 points (7x9 fg, 4x5 3's) and hit some huge threes when they were sorely needed. Roderick Epps, though, was the unsung hero of today's game with a total of 13 points (4x7 fg, 2x5 3's, 3x6 ft) all in the final 13 minutes of the 2nd half. In  a 46 second span starting at the 13:20 mark Epps made a 3 pointer, then 13 seconds later nailed a jumper, proceeded to steal the ball 7 seconds after that, and was fouled on another 3 point attempt 24 seconds later. He went to the line and swished all three free throws. His 8-0 run brought the Bengals from a 6 point deficit at 51-45 to their first lead of the game at 53-51. He then scored Buffalo State's final 5 points of the game on a trifecta with 1:18 left to play to put the Bengals back up at 80-78. And of course his final basket to give them the win after Catholic made a three of their own to go back up 81-80. He only played 14 minutes in the game but they were huge. Other notable contibutions came from Anthony Hamer with 9 points (3x7 fg, 1x3 3's, 2x4 ft), 6 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. Nico McLean added 6 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals.

Bengals ended up shooting 47% from the field (30x64), 39% for 3's (7x18) and 65% from the line (15x23). They had 34 rebounds to 44 for Catholic, but won the turnover battle as they had 14, while Catholic ended up with 15.

Catholic in suffering their first loss of the year (now 11-1) was led by Shawn Holmes with 21 pts (5x12 fg, 1x2 3's, 10x11 ft). Darrell Carroll added 18 pts (5x8 fg, 8x11 ft) and 7 rebounds. Steve Limberiou had 9 pts and was the game's leading rebounder with 8.

24th ranked Bengals return to action on Wednesday January 4th with their toughest game of the season at Division I University of Buffalo. No way that Buff State will win that game but sure hope they can keep it respectable.  Hopefully the Bengals two wins against two quaility teams will give them a boost in the ranking this coming Monday. With little action among the teams ranked directly above them I don't see them moving more than a couple of spots. WPI and Marietta should both tumble below the Bengals, but don't think #8 Whitworth, #10 Cabrini, #12 Puget Sound, #13 St Thomas, and #14 Wabash, all with losses since the last poll, will fall that far. Maybe they'll overtake Puget Sound as well, since their loss to Redlands was a bad loss.

Bengals with an unusal weekend playing a team of Cardinals on consecutive days. How often does that happen where you play teams in back to back games that have the same mascot. Somebody should have told all those Cardinals that Big Cats usually devour small birds.
 

[thebear]

Kudos to the Bengals for two quality wins, hopefully their performance will be beneficial to both Oswego and the Bengals.

[magicman]

Oneonta State drops an 82-75 decision to Greensboro down in North Carolina. Red Dragons had a 40-35 lead at the break but were outscored 47-35 in the 2nd period. The Pride were down 45-39 with 16:17 to play in the 2nd period, when they went on a 21-7 streak that gave them a 60-52 advantage with 8:13 to go. Red Dragons could never get it closer than two possessions from that point on.

Oneonta was led by Kevin Donahue with 19 pts (8x16 fg, 0x3 3's, 3x3 ft). Cameron Boydon had 12 points, Zach Mager had 11, and Nick Sarchioto added 10.

Red Dragons shot 27x61 from the field, 3x10 from behind the arc and 18x24 from the stripe. Oneonta hurt themselves with 21 turnovers to 14 for Greensboro.

Oneonta now gets the added bonus on this trip of taking on #9 Franklin & Marshall (9-0) in Lancaster, PA on their way back home from Greensboro. This will be the 2nd time that the Red Dragons have faced the Diplomats in Lancaster this season as they played in F&M's tip off tournament back in mid November. They were beaten 64-46 back then and will probably face a similar fate the 2nd time around. This game was just scheduled in the past couple of weeks as F&M needed a game and it worked out that the Red Dragons also had room for 1 more contest and could stop by on their way home from Greensboro. Not often you get to play an OOC team twice in a season on their court. (Not that you'd want to. ) It's even worse when they're ranked in the Top Ten and you're sporting a 1-9 log. Good luck Red Dragons. I'm picking Franklin & Marshall to win this one 64-46.    

[Bengalsrule]

Bengals with an unusal weekend playing a team of Cardinals on consecutive days. How often does that happen where you play teams in back to back games that have the same mascot. Somebody should have told all those Cardinals that Big Cats usually devour small birds.

Magicman ...there defiinitly was some excitement this weekend in D. C.! Can't add too much more to your report however I'm glad that the game was shown live so that the BENGAL faithful could see some real home cooking (23 free throws to 38 for CUA) that almost costs us. When the BENGALS went up 71-66 (at the 5:59 mark) they saw, over  the next 4 plus mins, 7 fouls called against them (between the 5:43 mark and the 1:30 mark) to just 1 for CUA. In fact 10 of the next  12 points that CUA scored during that stretch, were via free throws in what most BSC fans called the most lopsided officiating they've ever seen. And Jake Simmons got his first TECH, ever, to boot. It was scary to say the least!

  Don't know if its true or not magicman, but those BENGALS might really be acquiring a taste for Cardinal!

Kudos to the Bengals for two quality wins, hopefully their performance will be beneficial to both Oswego and the Bengals.

Thebear...Kudos are appreciated, for sure! Down at the half of both games, to 2 teams with a combined 19-1 record,  made for 2 "Character" wins! University of Buffalo better watch out Weds.!!

[thebear]

This week both of the conference leaders step up in class to take on D-I opponents.  Lakers travel to the garden spot of Edinburg Texas (garden spot only compared to Oswego in it's current lake effect snow storm) to take on UT-Pan American.  This is a winnable game for the Lakers if the rust from the layoff and the 2,000 mile trip can be overcome.  UT PA doesn't have a signficant size advantage, and the Lakers have a big who can step out and take the three.

Bengals have an easier trip - Elmwood Ave to Millersport Hwy, but a much tougher order.  I suspect that Javon McCrea would be gracing the Carrier Dome in an orange uni if Boeheim wasn't already ridiculously loaded with forward talent, a serious force in the paint.  Backed up by 6-10 human eraser Mitchell Watt, one of the top shot blockers (2.6 blocks/game) in D-I.  Not sure the Bengals long, but willowy front line will have an answer.  Bulls are a Top 100 team in Massey, Coming off competitive games at BYU and Temple & and will prove to be a formidable challenge for the Bengals.

[Bengalsrule]

  Not sure the Bengals long, but willowy front line will have an answer.  Bulls are a Top 100 team in Massey, Coming off competitive games at BYU and Temple & and will prove to be a formidable challenge for the Bengals.

hey bear...I know that Seth Runge is looking forward to this 1! He's ready to bang with their bigs. I really believe that the BENGAL guards may have something to say about this 1! McCrea will get his (he's a beast)! Let's hope that the other Bulls (my Alma Mater) can be kept in check!