MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[jdex]

Potsdam with 70-65 lead over Buffalo State with 9' left

Oswego crushes Cortland 84-65 as six Lakers hit double figures led by C. Burridge 18 pts(6x11fg), 6 rebs. H. Ward 12 pts, 11 rebs; S. Michele 12 pts(4x5 3s), 5 assts; C. Monaghan 11 pts;R. Sheridan 10 pts; C. Gilkes 10 pts. OSt 29x56fg, 11x18 3s, leads by as many as 33 at Cortland. RDragons 24x69fg, 8x18 3s. B. Manning 11 pts

Geneseo sinks Oneonta 67-57. Final score the widest separation. Gens R. Riefenhauser 15 pts(6x7fg), 6 rebs; C. Fedge 13 pts, 7 rebs; M. Curry 12 pts, 4 rebs; Mike Hoy 11 pts. Gens with 36-25 board advantage. Oneonta's N. Sarchioto 21 pts(9x12fg, 4pf

[jdex]

Last look in had Buffalo St. up by a point

Brockport takes out New Paltz 94-78. K. Green 25 pts(9x15fg), 10 rebs; J. Ivy 14 pts, 5 rebs; L. Legister 18 pts(8x12ft); S. Sisson 12 pts. Eagles 28x56fg, 6x15 3s, 32x42ft. NP M. Devine 35 pts(12x19fg, 1x5 3s, 10x13ft), 7 rebs, 5pf in 36'

[jdex]

Last we saw Buffalo State 84, Potsdam 79 in closing seconds. Live stats went down. Potsdam by five in second half. Bengals pulled even and went ahead 76-75 on pair of N. McLean free throws at 4:35. A. Homer with layup at 4:12 but Bear Z. Adams countered to bring Pdam within 78-77. McLean trey at 3:25 opened up four point lead. N. Simmons added a hoop and foul shot by hike margin to seven. J. Mitchell 21 pts(9x14fg), 8 rebs the last we saw. J. Simmons 18 pts(7x18fg, 4x8 3s), 7 rebs; McLean 14 pts. R. Duquette a huge Bear force with 24 pts(10x14fg). Again, the last we saw ....

And Plattsburgh with a slim edge on Fredonia heading for the wire

[jdex]

Final: Buffalo St. 88, Potsdam 79

With 2:48 left .....Plattsburgh 54, Fredonia 52

[jdex]

Who new?? It twas a barnburner .............Fredonia edges Plattsburgh 63-60.  Tight throughout with the Burgh have it just a bit better and by six in the final period. L. Smith comes up big at the stripe for the Freds. Ties it from the line at 52 at 3:15 left. J. Perez bucket gives Cards the lead. Smith two FTs get 56-55 reversal. Squared at 57 on S. Fields hoop at 1:05. A. Billups triple boosts Fredonia int 60-57 lead at 0:39 and a FT hikes the margin to four. J. Bruno trey lifts Cards spirits at 0:13. But Smith FTs at 0:08 make it a three point game. Fields misses tying attempt in closing ticks.
J. Bryant 25 pts(13x18ft, 6x8fg) for Devils. Smith 14 pts. J. Perez 14 pts for Pburgh; Bruno 10 pts. Am sure Magic will check in ......

[Bengalsrule]

Final: Buffalo St. 88, Potsdam 79

Tougher win than expected today. Potsdam brought it for sure. Big difference for BSC was turnovers. 14 in the  first half and only 3 in the 22nd half. Senior Day at Potsdam is 1 day visitors should avoind at all costs. Toughest 4-17 in D3 if you ask me.

Justin Mitchell finally is beginning to look like the Justin of old. 23 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks! Jake Simmons was...well Jake Simmons. 45 points for the weekend - 20 today. 16 of 31  from the field (with a 11 of 19 from the beyond the arc0 weekend to boot!

Highlight of the weekend for me was hanging with magicman (the undisputed ALL SUNYAC host) Friday and then finally meeting Bear Fan Saturday (he's alright magicman..trust me). I gotta have Bear Fan burn some c.d's for me. He knows good music!!

Next weekend Geneseo and Brockport at home. Those 2 teams represent the lowest weekend, in over a year, for my beloved BENGALS. My hope is that next weekend the BENGALS can right some wrongs!

17-3 record, 2nd place in the Yac and the first NCAA rankings are coming out WEDS. I LOVE this time of year!

[magicman]

jdex was right, it was a barnburner in Memorial Hall as neither team had much of an advantage throughout the entire game. Typical Fredonia contest, always working the shot clock and pounding the ball inside. Teams struggled from the field in the 1st half and combined on a 1x12 effort from beyond the arc with Cards Josh Bruno hitting the only long ball. Fred's Julius Bryant was a load inside all game long. Had 4 of Blue Devils 7 1st half field goals. At one point in the 2nd period when score was tied at 34, Bryant had half of Fredonia's point total. Zebras kept their whistles in their pockets during 1st half only calling 14 total fouls. More than made up for it in the 2nd when it seemed the whistles were never ending. 33 total fouls in 2nd period along with numerous violations that created a very uneven flow in the entire period. Largest lead of the first half was Cards by 6 at 19-13 with 4:15 to go. A Bryant hoop and harm followed by a Bruno layup left the Cards in front 21-16 with 3:26 left but Card's wouldn't score again and Bryant got 2 inside buckets to make it a 21-20 Card edge at the break.

Blue Devils would grab their 1st lead of the game on a 3 pointer by Amir Billups shortly after the start of the 2nd half. 3 ties and another lead change would follow, when tied at 32, Plattsburgh would slowly build a 6 point advantage at 45-39 with 7:40 remaining. The largest lead of the game came shortly after when Shamoy McIntosh buried a triple, to make it 49-42. Fredonia's Jon Herrera,would counter with a 3 ball of his own and Fred's made 3 trips to the line in the next 37 seconds hitting 6 of 8 from the stripe to tie it back up at 50 apiece with 4:22 left. Another visit to the line by Bryant gave them the lead at 51-50 but John Perez made two free throws for the Cards to regain the lead. Free throw parade would continue..Fred's Leonard Smith 1 of 2, Perez again, 1 of 2, Card's Shavar Fields, 1 of 2, an actual honest to goodness field goal by Fred's Dalton Kashmer, Smith again 2 of 2, Bryant again 1 0f 2 and the score stood at 57-55 in favor of the Blue Devils with 1:24 to go. Card's Field's connected for the equalizer, but Amir Billups comes down and buries a three for the biggest bucket of the game with 39 ticks left. Card's miss a threeball and foul Bryant who makes 1 of 2 with 22 seconds remaining and Josh Bruno nails a three to make it a 1 point game with 10 seconds left. Card's foul Smith who calmly makes both shots and Field's three point attempt for overtime comes up short. Final score 63-60. I had predicted a 63-59 final. Just got it backwards.

Once again the Card's let one slip away and this one could be costly as they wind up their conference schedule with 4 straight road games. The loss today pretty much relagates them to a 7th or 8th place finish in the standings and that's not even a certainty as a loss next Friday at Potsdam could give the Bears some hope. Potsdam needs to win 3 of their final 4 games and hope the Cards go 0-4. If that happens then the Bears would win a tiebreaker over the Cards if Geneseo finishes higher than Brockport does in the standings.

Julius Bryant was too much for the Card's to handle this afternoon as he finished with 25 points. Amir Billups with 13 points and some timely 3 pointers, none bigger than his last one. Leonard Smith with 14 points, was huge at the stripe going px10.

Plattsburgh's John Perez with another solid outing with 14 points. Stat sheet shows him with 5 rebounds but I think they missed a few as I had him down for 9. Senior Josh Bruno came off the bench and had a fine all around game on Senior Night, with 10 points (4x6 fg, 2x3 3's), 4 rebounds, an assist, and a steal in 17 minutes of action.

Fredonia improves to 12-7 overall and 7-6 in the conference. They remain tied with Brockport in 5th place, a game behind Geneseo. The Blue Devils can improve their lot considerably next weekend when they host Brockport on Friday night and Geneseo the next afternoon.

Plattsburgh falls to 7-14 overall and 5-9 in the Yac. They are off until next Friday when they travel to Potsdam for a chance to clinch a playoff berth.       

[magicman]

I didn't get a chance to comment about yesterday's Buffalo State-Plattsburgh game but it's never too late, so here goes.

I was invited to the Buffalo State shoot around Friday afternoon by Bengalsrule and got a chance to meet the coaching staff and some of the Bengal players. Head Coach Ansari and assistant coaches, Kevin Glover and Arthur Eve are 3 of the nicest people I've had the pleasure to meet in D3 circles. We had a fun conversation at their hotel after the game discussing YAC basketball past and present, among other things. I did manage to keep them up quite late (especially the assistants) and I figure that's why the Bears almost pulled off the upset this afternoon. I also met Jake Simmons and Justin Mitchell who were fantasy players of mine in last year's D3 hoops NCAA fantasy league. Jake was my secret pick as I didn't think anyone would draft him in the early rounds and I was correct in that assumption. He was the 33rd player selected and no one that only played in 3 games had more fantasy points than Jake (total of 91). He ended up the 13th overall best pick, and if they could have gotten by St Mary's and into the Great 8 he would have probably ended up in the top 5. Justin was close behind him with a fantasy total of 86 points, and he wasn't even drafted but ended up being selected by me, as a free agent pick. So it was a pleasure meeting the two players who gave me so much pleasure with their great play last year in the NCAA tournament. I ended up in 2nd place overall (missing the title by a mere 10 points). Both young men were great to talk to yesterday, and I look forward to meeting them, and the coaches, again next year when they return to the Burgh for their annual visit.

As for the game, well it wasn't what I hoped for. I had no illusions about my young Cardinals winning this game, I just wanted it to be a better contest than the one that took place in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago. And for 20 minutes I got my wish. The Cardinals came out and after a few minutes gained a lead that they would hold throughout much of the 1st half. Down 7-6 with 4 minutes gone by in the period, the Cardinals led by Reggie Wiilliams and John Perez went on a 12-4 run that gave them their largest lead of the game at 19-11, necessitating a Bengal timeout. Buff State increased the defensive intensity and chipped away at the lead eventually drawing even at 24 apiece with 5:35 remaining. Two Ant Hammer free throws followed by Jake Simmons' first points of the game, a 3 pointer (what else) gave the Bengals a 29-24 lead with 4:02 left. Plattsburgh closed to 29-27 but Jake buried another three to bring it back up to 5. Josh Bruno countered with a triple for the Cards but Jake hit another one, but this one only worth 2 points. After a resounding breakaway dunk by the Card's Shavar Fields with 39 seconds left, Buff State's Justin Mitchell snuck one in at the buzzer to give the Bengals a 36-32 haltime edge.

I don't know what was said in the Buffalo state locker room at halftime but whatever Coach Ansari told his troops certainly worked as the Bengals came out in the 2nd half and just tore into the Cards with a vengeance. Rodney Epps started things off with a 3 pointer, and the Cards promptly turned the ball over. Jake Simmons hit another 3 pointer 10 seconds later. Cards did an instant replay and turned it over again, so 13 seconds later Jake did an instant replay and buried another three pointer again. Just like that the game had it's first double digit lead at 45-32 with only 1 minute and 5 seconds gone in the period. Reggie Williams and Shavar Fields hit back to back buckets for the Cards to get it back to single digits but Jake swished another 3 and the lead was back to 12. Four straight points by Plattsburgh's John Perez cut it to 8, but another 10-2 Bengal spurt fueled by 2 more triples by Epps and Jake gave Buff State a 56-40 lead that would only get bigger as the period wore on. The lead grew to 38 points at 88-50 with 7:20 remaining and at that point the Bengal coaching staff emptied the bench and cruised to a 92-74 victory.

Once again Jake Simmons proved to be a Cardinal killer with a game high 25 points. In 2 games against Plattsburgh this year he's scored 62 points and sat out the final portion of both games. He only played 27 minutes in each game and could have probably set a SUNYAC single game record for three pointers in either game had the coach left him in for that reason. He did tie the record of nine 3 's in a game two weeks ago against Plattsburgh before taking a seat with 8 minutes left in the game. It's refreshing to see a coach, who, unlike others in D3 that leave their players in to set scoring records against inferior competion, (can you say Grinnell), that looks at the overall health and welfare of the player and the team. Why risk injury to the player, which would then hurt the team's tournament possibilities, in a game whose outcome has already been decided. Simmons ended up shooting 9x13 from the field with 7 of 11 shots coming from long distance. Several of those 3 pointers were off balance shots with guys right on top of him and they were nothing but net. Three other Bengals had double figures. Rod Epps came off the bench to score 11 points (4x8 fg, 3x6 3's) while Justin Mitchell and Ahmed Nagaya both had 10 points. After shooting only 12 for 31 in the first half the Bengals went 19 for 34 in the 2nd period. They ended up 12x22 from long distance and were 18 for 24 from the line.

Cards were led by Shavar Fields with 17 points (8x12 fg, 1x3 ft). Junghoon Roh, had 11 and Shamoy McIntosh added 10 points with 5 assists. John Perez had 11 points and led the Cards with 6 rebounds. He also added 3 assists and 3 steals. Cardinal had a decent night shooting as they went 28x57 from the field. They were just 7x19 from long distance but fired up many of those ion an attempt to close the large gap. They were 11x15 from the line. They did win the battle of the boards 29 to 27, but the turnovers hurt them as they committed 25 to only 16 for Buff State.                   
         

[magicman]

Magic - I think you posted the ladies score, but men's score not any better, Potsdam 69 Fredonia 73.

Sorry I will miss Bengals tomorrow, as my leg has me basically flat on my back most of the time.

Bear,
Sorry to hear that the leg still continues to be a problem. I hope that it improves considerably over the next week so that we can get together at the Bears-Cards game. If not I make have to make a house call to check up on you. Is Ted Bence staying with you this weekend while attending the alumni game? Thought I might hear from him as he promised to swing by on his way back home tomorrow. Bears with a valiant effort today. Certainly better than my Cards did yesterday. Bengals are just too tough this year. (And probably next year as well). Get better soon. 

[Bear Fan]

Thanks for the visit Bengals... glad you were able to appreciate the musical selections... so happy some of the old stuff is coming back! Very happy to see the Bears give your team a game they could both learn and mature from.  I think Buff State is deeper than Oswego and, man for man, more talented....but you've been telling us that all year which is why I rarely post because you, magic, jdex and the bear have it covered!  Looking forward to meeting magic this weekend... as a PHS grad myself, we have probably run in some of the same circles from time to time, Gary Butler, Mike Flynn, Paul O'Connell, and the bear likes you so that's good enough for me!  BTW... question for magic... what do you like in your chocolate?  might have time to sneak down to the local shop before the game and get you a little gift box...

[magicman]

New D3hoops Top 25 poll just released and Oswego State moves up from #22 to #18. Their point total increased from 89 to 163. Nice jump upward for the Lakers.

Buffalo State also increased their point total. After barely getting a mention last week with 2 points, the Bengals got 16 points this week in the Others Receiving Votes category. That would put them in the 36th spot.

NYU continues to get solid support and remains the highest ranked East Region team, as they went from #19 to #16, with a total of 206 points. That's a gain of 60 points over last week.

Hartwick saw an increase in their point total, checking in the ORV category with 33 points. That's good enough to slip into a tie for the #30 spot. The Hawks had 19 points last week.

These are the only east teams receiving points in the poll.

[magicman]

Thanks for the visit Bengals... glad you were able to appreciate the musical selections... so happy some of the old stuff is coming back! Very happy to see the Bears give your team a game they could both learn and mature from.  I think Buff State is deeper than Oswego and, man for man, more talented....but you've been telling us that all year which is why I rarely post because you, magic, jdex and the bear have it covered!  Looking forward to meeting magic this weekend... as a PHS grad myself, we have probably run in some of the same circles from time to time, Gary Butler, Mike Flynn, Paul O'Connell, and the bear likes you so that's good enough for me!  BTW... question for magic... what do you like in your chocolate?  might have time to sneak down to the local shop before the game and get you a little gift box...

Bear Fan,
Bengalsrule rule was still talking about your music the next day. I did tire those guys out Friday night so the Bears could have a chance. Darned if they didn't almost pull off the upset of the year in the YAC.

I've played a few rounds of golf with Flynnie, as 20 to 30 of us played in a weekly Sunday golf tournament for about 4 years running. His younger brother is one of my close friends. Crusher and I played softball together for Goobers back in the mid 70's. We were still pounding the hardwood playing Monday night pick-up games until about 10 years ago. And did you say chocolate.   I'm partial to milk chocolate with nuts. Hope to get over early enough on Friday to take in the women's game as well. Weather forecast looks to be great all week. See you on Friday. Hope to see the Bear as well, but may have to make a house call for that to happen.

[magicman]

Fredonia's Julius Bryant is the SUNYAC PLayer of the Week for the week ending 2-4-12. Watching him score 25 against the Cards on Saturday, after torching Potsdam for 24 the day before, I knew it was a foregone conclusion.
Here's the write up from the YAC website:

MEN'S BASKETBALL – Fredonia

Julius Bryant (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech), senior forward

Fredonia senior forward Julius Bryant averaged 24.5 points per game in a 2-0 week for the Blue Devils. He shot 76.2 percent from the floor off 16-of-21 shooting and showed poise at the line, going 17-of-22 (77.3 percent). In addition, he added 5.0 rebounds per game, 2.5 assists per game and 0.5 blocks per game. Bryant kicked off his scoring weekend with a 24-point, six-rebound performance in a 73-69 win over Potsdam. Against Plattsburgh in a 63-60 win on Saturday, he shot 6-of-8 from the floor and knocked down 13-of-18 overall from the line, gathering 25 points. Fredonia improved to 12-7 overall and 7-6 in the SUNYAC winning five of the last six games.

[magicman]

New Paltz taking on NYU tonight and staying within shouting distance of the Violets. Score is 52-45 in favor of NYU with 8 minutes to play. Matt Devine and Harris Wichard have scored 37 of the Hawks 45 points.

[magicman]

Livestats for the New Paltz game froze up with 7:52 to play. Fortunately there was streaming video to watch. NYU opened up an 18 point lead I think, and the Hawks hit some late 3's to make the final 73-61. No  final stats available but I know Devine had at least 23 and Wichard had at least 17.