MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

Two SUNYAC teams in action on Saturday.


Cortland State  at  SUNYIT        2:00 PM

Revenge should be first and foremost on the minds of the Red Dragons as they travel to Utica to take on the  SUNYIT Wildcats. Last year Cortland blew a late 6 point lead and let the Wildcats catch them and send the game into overtime. Given a fresh chance, the Wildcats outscored the Red Dragons 19-11 in the extra session and walked out of Corey Gym with an 87-79 win. It was also the last Cortland game before the Christmas break, just as this one is today. When the Red Dragons returned to action last year after the loss to SUNYIT, they promptly proceeded to lose another close game, this time in Utica, to the Pioneers of Utica College by a score of 71-67. Cortland has already gained a measure of redemption against the Pioneers as they beat Utica College by a 73-54 margin to open the season this year. Today they need to take care of Revenge Part II. Both of those losses last year to the Utica teams were not good losses for Cortland. They were favored to win both games but didn't play well on each occasion. They did put together a 5 game winning streak after those two losses, against better teams than the Utica clubs were. This year they have a little more riding on the outcome of the game. They are putting their unblemished record on the line and the Wildcats are ranked lower than they were last year when this game took place. A loss here would really look bad on the resume.

SUNYIT is sporting a 2-4 record and lost to Utica College by a 93-88 score. That is the only common opponent these 2 teams share. Three of the Wildcats 4 losses have been by double digits.

The point spread favors the Red Dragons by a 12 point margin. That's close to my crystal ball which shows Cortland winning by a 77-64 final score.     

   
St. John Fisher     at  Buffalo State   7:00 PM

This game is a tossup between 2 teams looking to find the right chemistry on the court. Buffalo State has struggled to a 1-3 beginning compounded by the cancellation of 2 games and a lost weekend of conference play. Fisher dropped a game to Medaille that they probably should have won as they come into this contest with a 3-2 record and a 3rd place finish in the Wendy's College Classic last week. I'd like to pick the Bengals to win this game but the Cardinals' early season win over Oneonta and the maturation of Fisher's big man, Keegan Ryan, give me plenty of reason to think otherwise. The oddsmakers have made Fisher a slim 2 point favorite. I think the Cardinals will come away with an 81-74 win in Buffalo. Hope the Bengals make me eat those words though as I'd love to be wrong about this one.   

[magicman]

Cortland State defeats SUNYIT 75-49

I had this as a 77-64 Cortland win. Just missed the Cortland total but the Wildcats didn't put up much of a fight.

Cortland grabbed the early lead and managed to stay in front by a 2 possession margin for most of the first 8 minutes of play. Up 18-13 with 12:28 left in the half the Red Dragons went on a 12-4 spurt that boosted their advantage to a double digit 30-17 edge. They maintained that lead and settled for a 34-22 halftime score.

The Wildcats' Blake Haga hit a 3 pointer 9 seconds into the 2nd half to cut the deficit back to single digits. It would be the last time that the Wildcats would get that close. Cortland was in front 40-27 with 2 minutes gone in the period when they once again opened up the offense with a 4 minute, 15-3 burst, that put them in control 55-30. The lead ballooned to 32 points at 71-39 with 4:41 remaining. Cortland emptied their bench and coasted home. It was sweet revenge for the Red Dragons as they completed the turnaround of 2 losses last year to the Utica teams.

Blair Estafa came off the bench to lead Cortland with 16 points. James Morales had 14, and Lamard Herron added 10 points with a team high 6 rebounds.

Cortland remains unbeaten at 7-0 and will be off until Saturday, January 3rd, when they host the Medaille Mavericks at 2:00 PM.     

[magicman]

Well, I was getting ready to watch the Buff State-St John Fisher game that D3hoops told me was coming on at 7:00 PM. Pulled up the webcast and could only get the Bengal women playing RIT. That was a rebroadcast of a women's game that was played at 4 PM. Went to the Buff State website and discovered that the Men played St.John Fisher at 2:00 PM and that the game was already in the books. So much for that.

It wasn't D3hoops fault as the Bengals changed the time of the game which had been originally scheduled for 7:00 PM but changed to the 2 PM start back on 11-25...according to the Bengals website. Unfortunately, they failed to notify the magicman of this schedule change. I get no respect these days.    

Anyway Buffalo State lost to Fisher by an 87-74 final score. I was fairly close with my prediction as I had the Cardinals winning this one 81-74. I thought that Keegan Ryan would be tough for the Bengals to handle and Fisher's big man poured in 26 points on 12x17 shooting. Eleven times the box score read "Keegan Ryan makes layup" so he had his way inside. He did make a jump shot to go with those 11 layups. If Ryan wasn't scoring from in close then Charles McVay and Optimystik Kinard were, as they also had a number of points in the paint. McVay ended up with a double-double of 15 points and a game high 10 rebounds, while Kinard had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Ryan had 6 rebounds to go with his game high scoring honors. Chaz Lott subbed in and scored 12 points with 7 assists.

The Bengals were led by Lovell Smith who had 19 points and 6 boards off the bench. Chris Thompson was next with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Rod Epps chipped in with 10 points.

Buffalo State falls to 1-4 and will return to action after Christmas when they travel to Montclair State to participate in a 4 team tournament. They will play the Penn State Mont Alto Nittany Lions on Saturday December 22nd at 3:00 PM in the 2nd game of the day. Penn State Mont Alto is a non D3 team that is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) The host team Montclair State will face off against John Jay College at 1:00 PM. The 2 winners will meet in the Championship game at 3:00 PM on Sunday right after the consolation game at 1:00 PM.

St John Fisher improves to 4-2 and 2-1 against SUNYAC teams (a win against Oneonta, a loss to Geneseo). They will travel to Bethany West Virginia to take on Bethany College on Wednesday Dec. 17th at 7:00 PM.       

[dcahill44]

Cortland off to a great 7-0 start with some good wins including Trinity. SUNYAC looks to have another really good year. Lots of quality teams. Hopefully Oswego can get fully healthy for the start of January and February. Watched Geneseo twice last week and looked really good. Gordon Lyons is a great offensively efficient player.

[magicman]

New D3hoops Top 25 came out on Monday and Cortland State continues to be the sole representative from the East Region. The unbeaten Red Dragons, currently 7-0 increased their point total from 10 to 15. They moved from a 3 way tie for the 41st spot to the 36th spot.

According to the NCAA D3 National statistics in games through December 14th the following SUNYAC players make the Top 50 in their respective categories..

Rebounds Per Game: #1 in the nation is Gordon Lyons Geneseo State with 13.7 rpg.    #4 Rashawn Powell Oswego State 12.4 rpg.      #40 Taylor Sowah New Paltz State 9.9 rpg

Points Per Game:  #10 in the nation is Gordon Lyons Geneseo State with 24.1 ppg.

Double-Doubles: #2 in the nation is Gordon Lyons Geneseo State with 7 in 7 games. The guy in 1st place has 8 in 9 games. I'm betting Gordon would have 9 in 9 games, making him #1 there as well.

Assists:  #10 in the nation is Mike Mitchell Plattsburgh State with 6.2 apg.    #37  Frankie Kelly Oneonta State 5.1 apg

Assist Turnover Ratio: #17 in the nation is Joe Estramonte  Potsdam State.  Joe has 20 assists with only 6 turnovers in5 games, for a 3.33 A/TO ratio.  #23 in the nation is Mike Mitchell with 37 assists to 12 turnovers in 7 games, for a 3.08 A/TO ratio.

Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: #3 in the nation is Blair Estafa Cortland State 22x37  59.5%.   Not on the NCAA list because he's only played in 3 games and you have to have played in 75% of your teams games to qualify is Brockport State's Patrick Modzelewski.  Patrick has made 20x29 3 pointers for a 69% rate. The guy is 1st place has made 19x36 in 7 games for a 73.1% rate. the 2nd place player is 21x32 in 7 games for a 65.6%, so Patrick is really in 2nd place.

Free Throw Percentage: #4 in the nation is Zach Mager with 39x40 for a 97.5%. Zach has shot more than twice as many free throws as the 3 guys in front of him. They are all at 100% but have only attempted 18, 15, and 15. I'll take Zach's 39 of 40 over those 3 guys. Lets see where they stand after they have all had 40 attempts.

Minutes Per Game:  #7 in the nation is Gordon Lyons Geneseo State with an average of 38.1 mpg.   #46 is Taylor Sowah of New Paltz State with 35.4 mpg.

Steals Per Game:  #11 in the nation is Lamard Herron Cortland State with a 5.0 stpg average.

Blocked Shots Per Game: #40th in the nation is Devon Anderson of Geneseo State with a 2.0 bpg average.

I hope all these guys and maybe a few more continue to put up nationally ranked numbers. Would be nice to see them climb even higher on these lists. Go YAC.

[Bengalsrule]

Great update there Magic. I'm currently on a Norwegian cruise line ship heading to Nassau. My only connection to the outside world is via Internet. I was hoping that you had a Yac update for us!

[Bengalsrule]

Great update there Magic. I'm currently on a Norwegian cruise line ship heading to Nassau. My only connection to the outside world is via Internet. I was hoping that you had a Yac update for us!

[magicman]

Great update there Magic. I'm currently on a Norwegian cruise line ship heading to Nassau. My only connection to the outside world is via Internet. I was hoping that you had a Yac update for us!

You know Champ, some folks usually wait years to go on their 2nd honeymoon. I think Mrs. Bengalsrule and you are the first couple I've ever known, to go on their 2nd honeymoon like 3 months after their first one.   Sounds like it's going to be Christmas in Paradise. (As in Paradise Island.) It sure must be nice.    

[magicman]

Oneonta State travels south to take on The Roanoke College Maroons today in Daytona Beach at 8:00 PM

Roanoke has already played a SUNYAC team having disposed of Brockport State 83-61 in the consolation game of a season opening tip off tournament at Marymount University back on November 16th. The Maroons are currently 5-2 overall and are a member of the highly regarded Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Roanoke is currently 1-1 in conference play having lost on the road to undefeated Hampden-Sydney (7-0, 2-0) 71-67  and beaten visiting  Eastern Mennonite (6-3 1-1) 81-80.

Oneonta is 4-3 entering this game with 2 very good wins over Williams College and Plattsburgh State both of which came on the road. The team I watched defeat Plattsburgh State looked much better than a 4-3 team. If that team shows up today then I think they'll walk off the court with a win. The oddsmakers have made Oneonta a 3 point underdog. Both these teams can put points up on the board so it should be a high scoring game. I think the Red Dragons will put up a few more points than Roanoke and they'll win this game by an 84-80 final score.

[magicman]

Came home after working late in my store to check on the Oneonta State-Roanoke score.The game was played at Daytona Beach, Florida so there was no live stats or webcast available. Pulled up the D3hoops scoreboard and saw that Oneonta had won the game by an 81-69 final score. Also discovered that the game was played at 4:00 PM and not 8:00 PM as I thought it was. I never guessed that it was an afternoon game as it was Friday and usually those are evening games. The holiday tournaments have all kinds of start times different than the usual times and I should have known that but was to busy waiting on customers buying Christmas presents.

So I predicted an Oneonta victory by an 84-80 score about 2 hours after the game was already in the books. At least I got the victory part right. My score wasn't too bad either. Except Roanoke couldn't keep pace with the Red Dragons and lost by a bigger margin that I thought they would. Nice win by Oneonta as they have now claimed a victory over a NESCAC team and an ODAC team...2 of the top 5 conferences in the country. That'll help the YAC's SOS.

Roanoke grabbed the early lead but a 3 point play by Zach Mager gave the Red Dragons their first lead at 6-5. The teams then traded 3 pointers and Roanoke scored an inside bucket to go in front 10-9 with 6 minutes gone by in the half. Another 3 point play by Oneonta's Kareem Williams followed by a steal and layup by the Red Dragon's Jack Dignan gave the good guys a 16-10 advantage. They would stretch that lead to 7 points on 4 separate occasions, before settling for a 5 point halftime edge 32-27.

The Maroons came out of the break and outscored Oneonta by a 14-5 margin over the first 3:38 of the 2nd half to match their largest lead of the game at 41-37. Nine straight points by the Red Dragon's Dynamic Duo, Mager and Frankie Kelly reversed that short lived lead in a hurry. First Kelly had a dunk off an assist by Dignan and then 10 seconds later Dignan stole the ball and fed Kelly for an easy layup. After a miss, rebound and miss by Roanoke, Mager buried a 3 pointer and followed that up with a layup to make it a 46-41 Oneonta lead with 13:32 remaining. The Red Dragons were never headed from that point on. The Maroons did get to within a single point two more times, the last coming at 48-47, but a 5 minute, 14-4 spurt, ending with back to back 3 pointers by Dignan and Mager, opened up a 62-51 double digit lead, with 6 minutes left to play. Mikey McElroy made back to back layups, Mager buried another triple and McElroy followed with a pair of free throws and the lead had ballooned to 15 points at 73-58. The Red Dragons hit 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch to maintain their double digit lead.

Zach Mager was the game's high scorer with 25 points (7x14 fg, 3x4 3's, 8x9 ft) and tied for the team lead in rebounds with 7. He did miss a free throw tonight () and is now only 47 of 49 from the line for the season. Mikey McElroy had 17 points (5x9 fg, 1x3 3's, 6x7 ft) and also had 7 rebounds. Frankie Kelly scored 13 points (4x11 fg, 0x3 3's, 5x7 ft) with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of steals. Kareem Williams (4xg fg, 2x2 ft) added 10 points and 6 boards in 17 minutes off the bench. Jack Dignan had 8 points (3x6 fg, 2x5 3's), 5 assists and 3 steals with 24 minutes of court time. Lawrence Coleman scored just 2 points but grabbed 7 rebounds in only 12 minutes of action. 

The stats in this game were amazingly even. Both teams were fairly close in their shooting percentages. Oneonta was 26x67 (38.8%) from the field and 6x20 (30.0%) from 3 point land. Roanoke was 26x68 (38.2%) from the field and 5x17 (29.4%) from long range. The rebounding battle failed to produce a winner as each team had 45 boards. And the breakdown for both teams...you guessed it dead even... 29 defensive rebounds and 16 on the offensive glass. Oneonta had 15 turnovers while Roanoke had a total of 16. Oneonta had a team total of 14 assists while Roanoke had 15.

Points off turnovers and the foul line told the story as the Red Dragons had 19 points off TO's to only 12 points for Roanoke. Oneonta went 23x27 (85.2%) from the stripe while the Maroons were 12x18 (66.7%). There's the MOV right there.

Roanoke had 3 players in double figures with Daniel Eacho leading the way with 17. Andy Daniels had 15 and Julian Ramirez added 10 points with 6 assists. Cameron Smith was the leading rebounder in the contest with 9 boards.

The Red Dragons improve to 5-3 (2-0 YAC) and will be back in action Saturday afternoon at 2:00 as they complete their Florida trip with another game against an Old Dominion Athletic Conference team. This time they will match up against the Bridgewater College Eagles.
Sure would be nice to go 2-0 against the ODAC. Go Red Dragons!! 
 
       

           

[magicman]

Didn't get a chance to review the Oneonta State vs Bridgewater College game today as I've been too busy at my shop to even check out any scores. Still no information regarding that game as of 6:15 PM. It was a 2 PM start but neither school has posted anything on their websites and with no live stats or webcast there is no way of knowing any results until one of the schools puts something out there.

Bridgewater comes into this game with a 6-2 record having lost their first two games of the season and then ripping off 6 wins in a row. They are currently in a 3 way tie for 1st place in the ODAC conference with a 2-0 league record. What's interesting is that Bridgewater and Roanoke, the team Oneonta beat yesterday, have 1 common opponent, Ferrum College. Roanoke beat Ferrum 80-65 while Bridgewater lost to Ferrum 73-70. One other game that Bridgewater played that is worth noting....they barely beat a Mount Aloysius team 72-66 back on November 20th. Mount Aloysius just lost to Caltech on Thursday night which gave Caltech their first (and maybe only) win of the season. Yesterday, the oddsmakers had Bridgewater listed as a 2 point favorite in this game. I think Oneonta is the stronger team here, but my only concern is that they had to play on back to back days while Bridgewater hasn't played since last Tuesday. Still I'm taking the Red Dragons to win this game by an 86-77 final score.

Hope to get a score here in the next hour or so.   

[magicman]

Just saw a posted score on Bridgewater's website showing that the Red Dragons lost 73-72.  That sucks. No details as yet.

[magicman]

Oneonta 72 Bridgewater 73

The Red Dragons probably wish they had a do over for the last 4:30 of this contest. Mikey McElroy hit a jumper for Oneonta to give them a 69-64 lead with 4:46 left on the clock. It would be the last field goal the Red Dragons would make. From that point until the final buzzer Oneonta missed 7 shots, which included 5 layups, had 3 turnovers and committed 4 fouls. Not the kind of stretch run you're looking for in a tight contest. Bridgewater made a basket and hit 3 of 4 free throws to tie the score at 69 with 3 minutes to play. Frankie Kelly hit 1 of 2 from the line to put Oneonta back in front but Bridgewater's go to guy, Ed Reddick, who was just named to the D3hoops Team of the Week, made a jumper to put the Eagles back in front for good. The Red Dragons had 3 chances on their next possession as they missed a layup, got the rebound, missed a 3 pointer, got the rebound and missed another layup. There was still 2:10 remaining and Oneonta got another gift when Bridgewater, after taking a timeout, turned the ball over. The Red Dragons returned the favor 25 seconds later and with 1:04 to go Bridgewater went to the line and hit a pair of free throws to make it a 3 point lead. Zach Mager was fouled and made both freebies to bring them within a point with 55 ticks left. Bridgewater continued to give the Red Dragons extra life as they missed a chance to up their lead and Oneonta got the rebound and had a chance to win it with 25 seconds left. The Oneonta coaching staff decided to let it roll and did not take a timeout. The clock wound down and Mikey McElroy drove for a game winning basket that didn't go down with only 4 seconds on the clock. The Eagles' Matthew Hunter grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2 seconds left. He missed both free throws but Oneonta turned the ball over before getting off a final heave.

Nothing against McElroy as he is a fine player, but I watched that exact same scenario unfold when Plattsburgh played Oneonta 2 weeks ago and Frankie Kelley was the one who had the ball with 17 seconds to go. He drove the lane against our tallest player and best shot blocker...then made as sweet a layup as you'll see. I would of given him a chance for a deja vu moment there against Bridgewater.

McElroy was the game's leading scorer with 26 points (11x21 fg, 4x6 3's). he added 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block to fill up the stat sheet. Zach Mager just missed a double-double as he had 16 points (5x12 fg, 3x7 3's, 3x4 ft) and a team high 9 rebounds. Kareem Williams also was just short of a double-double as he had 11 points (4x11 fg, 3x8 ft) and tied Mager with 9 rebounds. Frankie Kelly scored 9 points, handed out 7 assists and grabbed 6 rebounds.

Bridgewater outshot the Red Dragons in all 3 areas tonight. They were 30x62 from the field (48.4%), 4x7 from behind the arc (57.1%) and 9x14 from the line (64.3%). Oneonta was 27x67 (40.3%) from the field, 9x21 (42.9%) from long range, and only 9x17 from the line (52.9%). Two more made free throws could have been the difference. Oneonta did outrebound the Eagles by a 44-36 margin and they had 12 turnovers to 10 for Bridgewater.

Oneonta falls to 5-4 overall and will return to action after the holidays when they travel to Oswego for a date with the Lakers on January 6th at 5:30 PM.       

[magicman]

Merry Christmas to all the regulars that visit this board. I hope your wishes become reality and that the coming new year is better than the past year.

Peace on Earth would be nice for a change. 

[magicman]

Basketball returns as there is a SUNYAC team in action today.

Buffalo State vs Penn State Mont Alto  at Montclair State University in Montclair new Jersey 3:00 PM

The Bengals playing only their 6th game of the season and they are looking to get back on the winning path. After opening the season with a win over Medaille the Bengals have dropped 4 in a row but all 4 losses have come against teams with decent records. Hobart, Cortland, Oswego and St. John Fisher have a combined record of 21-6. Today's opponent the Lions from Penn State Mont Alto come into this game with a 7-3record with one of those losses against Division I Lehigh. They are currently the #1 ranked team in the country in the USCAA Division 2.  The oddsmakers have made the Bengals a 3 point favorite in this game, despite the Lions lofty ranking in their division. I think the Bengals will win this game as well  and I see a final score of 76-69.