MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

The SUNYAC All Conference awards have been released for the 2018-19 season. The following info is from the SUNYAC website

Player of the Year   Jonathan Patron, Plattsburgh

Senior forward Jonathan Patron has been chosen as the Men's Basketball Player of the Year for the second year in a row. Patron averaged a double-double this season with 23.7 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game. The senior is the conference leader in total points (615) and in total rebounds (277). Notable games throughout the season were his 32 points/20 rebound game against Oswego, 34 points/14 rebound game against Brockport, and his 41 points - matching his career high - and 10 rebound performance against Buffalo State. Patron's offensive prowess enabled him to etch himself into the Plattsburgh record books by breaking the career points record. He was selected to the 2019 SUNYAC Men's Basketball All-Conference First Team for the second year in a row as well.

Rookie of the Year   Danny Ashley, Brockport

A graduate of Uniondale High School, where he earned Nassau County Player of the Year, Brockport freshman guard Danny Ashley averaged 8.1 points per game as well as 3.6 assists per game overall. Ashley in total dished out 100 assists over the course of the Golden Eagles season. Although only starting in 15 of Brockport's total 28 games, Ashley was able to make notable impacts in those games. He notched an 18 point game against Geneseo, a 23 point game against Oneonta, and was able to drop 34 points in Brockport's SUNYAC quarterfinal matchup against Potsdam.

Coach of the Year   Jason Leone, Oswego

In his 8th season as the Oswego men's basketball head coach, Jason Leone led the Lakers to a 22-5 overall record thus far (15-3 in the conference) and a victory in the 2019 SUNYAC Men's Basketball championship. The Lakers were able to hold off Oneonta in a thrilling 73-69 double overtime game in the SUNYAC semifinals and then go on to beat Brockport 55-50 in the championship. Leone led Oswego to their eighth overall SUNYAC championship this year, their second in the last three years. Jason Leone and the Oswego Lakers will look to continue their success in the NCAA tournament this year.

First Team           
Name   School   Year   Hometown
Justin Summers   Brockport   Jr.   Brooklyn, N.Y.
Justin Cooper   Cortland   Sr.   Pine Plains, N.Y.
Tyler Pierre   Oswego   Sr.   Deer Park, N.Y.
Liam Sanborn   Oswego   So.   Staten Island, N.Y.
Jonathan Patron   Plattsburgh   Sr.   Huntington, N.Y.

Second Team           
Name   School   Year   Hometown
Nicky Bonura   Cortland   Sr.   Mount Kisco, N.Y.
Joseph Bull   Oneonta   So.   Bronx, N.Y.
Kevin Mackin   Oneonta   Jr.   Nanuet, N.Y.
Chris Middleton   Plattsburgh   Sr.   New York, N.Y.
Dante Langley   Potsdam   Sr.   Schuylerville, N.Y.

Third Team           
Name   School   Year   Hometown
Devante Hagins   Brockport   So.   Rochester, N.Y.
Dom Grayer   Buffalo State   Jr.   Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tristan Wissemann   New Paltz   Jr.   Shelter Island, N.Y.
Brandan Gartland   Oswego   Jr.   Webster, N.Y.
Brandon Johnson   Plattsburgh   Sr.    Greenburgh, N.Y.

Congratulations to all of the recipients who received All Conference honors. Excellence on and off the court by so many. I will miss all the graduating seniors that I've had the pleasure of watching for the last 4 years. May life be good to you!   

[jdex]

Magic,
  just saw Plattsburgh(baseball) on Pardon the Interruption - they had tying run on 2nd when a muffed pickoff attempt let him come all the way home sliding by the plate; throw went by the catcher but rebounded in time to tag the runner just before he stretched for the plate. National coverage!

It was featured on MLB.com as well.  Missing in this explanation is that the runner completely missed home plate with his slide.  He was trying to get back to the plate when the tag occured...

spwood.
Thanks for the additional info.  ronk and I are involved in a fantasy draft on another board and it was mentioned there, as well, that the runner slid by home plate without touching it.  ronk's post filled in some of the gaps for me and I was pretty sure of what happened. Your post confirmed it.  Crazy way to lose. One thing though, didn't the ball hit the backstop when it went by the catcher and bounce right back to him and that was why he could tag the runner so quickly?

Exactly ..... caught my attention as well on the PTI (one of ESPN's best) closing segment. Interesting that some video was available. Wasn't for general consumption that we knew, though Live Stats were. Posted general roundup of DH on baseball board shortly upon conclusion. But as you said the wild finish didn't appear that way on the play-by-play.

[magicman]

March 1st  NCAA Tournament Time

Plattsburgh State (20-6) vs  Gwynedd Mercy (19-8)    5:30 PM   at Williams

The Cardinals meet the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins, winners of the AEC (Atlantic East Conference), a new Division III conference of 7 colleges located in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia. The conference was formed when 5 schools left the Colonial States Athletic Conference and 2 schools left the Capital Athletic Conference to form the new AEC conference. Since this is a new conference they don't receive an automatic bid but instead go into Pool B where one at large bid is awarded to one of 16 teams in that pool. It consists of the seven schools from this conference, 6 schools from another new conference, the ACAA (American Collegiate Athletic Association), plus 3 other independent schools that have no conference affiliation. For the next few years the Pool B bid most likely will go to the winner of this conference or the winner of the ACAA. The Griffins were the winners of the AEC with a 9-3 conference record and also won their conference tournament. The NCAA awarded the Griffins the Pool B bid this year based on their body of work and criteria involved.

Plattsburgh has never played the Griffins in basketball so this will be a first time matchup. The Cardinals finished as the #2 seed in the  SUNYAC and lost to Brockport on a last second basket in the semifinals of the conference tournament. They ended up as the 3rd ranked team in the East Region behind SUNYAC champion Oswego State and #2 Rochester who was the runner-up in the UAA conference. The Cardinals received their NCAA invitation as a Pool C at large selection, one of only 20 invitations available to the 400 plus Division III schools in the country. It is the 9th time in the past 14 years that the Cardinals have been in the NCAA tournament and 5th time in the last 7 years. Three times they have made it to the Sweet 16.

The Griffins will try and use their quickness to beat Plattsburgh as they often start 4 guards that are no taller than 6"1" and another guard that is 6'4". Sometimes they go slightly taller and start another one of their 3 bigs, that are in their rotation of 10 players, instead of a 4th guard. Their top scorers are 3 guards led by Jr. Rich Dunham a 6'1" guard who averages 16.9 ppg and 4.3 rpg. He is their best 3 point shooter with 45 triples and connects 44.6% of the time from downtown. Sr. Courtney Cubbage another 6'1" guard also averages 16.9 ppg and grabs 5.1 rpg. Sr. Clayton Wolfe, the third guard averaging double digits with 13.9 ppg, is the shortest guy on the team at 5'10", but he is the leading rebounder on the team with 7.0 rpg. He also leads the team in assists with 105. Their best big man is 6'4"  Sr. guard, Jeff Seigafuse  who averages 8.8 ppg and 4.0 rpg. He has started more games, 15, than any other player except the aforementioned 3 guards. Matt Sommers is a 6'1" Sr. guard who is the 5th starter more often than not with 14 starts. He averages 6.5 ppg, 2,4 rpg and is 2nd on the team with 35 made three pointers. The Griffins have a rotation of 10 players that receive double digit minutes. Eight of those are guards and two are forwards. The 5 players 6'4" and taller all get between 11 and 14 minutes a game, except for Seigafuse who gets 22 minutes per game.

The Griffins score 77.7 ppg and give up 72.7 ppg. They shoot 45.2% from the field and 34.4% from long distance (182x529) with 6 players having double digit three pointers. They knock down their free throws at a rate of 71.7%. They average 35.3 rpg to the opponents 33.7.

Plattsburgh should be able to counter the speed of the Griffins. Brandon Johnson, Ian Howard, Nick DeAngelis and Travis Cox are no slouches when it comes to speed. The Griffins will have a hard time with SUNYAC Player of the Year Jon Patron. They should expect a steady diet of Patron down low and If they collapse on him then a kick out to Chris Middleton, Johnson or DeAngelis.  Plattsburgh won't mind a fast paced game either. That suits their fancy. The battle of the boards should be a big plus in Plattsburgh's favor. Patron and Howard are two of the best rebounders in the SUNYAC and even if the Griffins come at the Cardinals with a bigger than usual lineup I don't see them winning the rebounding game. Three point shooting could be a Griffin advantage. If they get hot, and it looks like they have a number of guys that can score from beyond the arc, and Plattsburgh comes up with a game like we did down at Brockport where we were 1x24 from long range then it could be a long day. The 2nd game against Oneonta was another bad outing when the Cardinals were 0x12 from deep. Plattsburgh needs to play this game, much like the game they had last year in the first round, when we defeated Nichols College 103-86. They had a similar type lineup with small quick guards that loved to fire up three pointers. We got out on those guards and defended the three point line quite well, and made our share of trifectas.  We'll need more of that tonight. I expect Plattsburgh to use a rotation of 8 players in this game, as big man Isaiah Hill should be back in action. 

The oddsmakers have made Plattsburgh a 7 point favorite in this one. I think the Cardinals are the stronger team here and we've had success against teams like the Griffins. We've also been burned by teams with quick guards that drive and shoot a lot of threes....can you say Brockport? I hope the Cardinals are focused on tonight's game and not thinking about a match up with Williams tomorrow. One game at a time. These teams are all good...we just need to be better. I'll take Plattsburgh to win this one 94-83.                     


   
Salem State  @  Oswego State         7:30 PM

The Lakers are dancing again after not getting a date last March. It marks the 4th time in the last 5 years and 6th time in the last 9  that Oswego is in the NCAA Tournament. Four of those appearances were automatic entries as they were the SUNYAC Champs. Two other entries were Pool C at large bids. The Lakers made the Sweet 16 a few years ago and missed an appearance in the Elite Eight suffering a 1 point loss to Wooster on a disputed call at the buzzer. This year they would like to erase the taste of that loss and the taste of their most recent trip to the NCAA tournament when they dropped a first round game that they should have won to Scranton. The Lakers blew a 19 point 2nd half lead and the game went into overtime. The Lakers came up short and that one hurt.

It's funny how history can repeat itself. Or at least how some things are interconnected. Three years ago when Oswego made the Sweet 16, the team they had to play in the 2nd round to get into the Sweet 16 was none other than Plattsburgh State's opponent tonight, Gwynedd Mercy. That game went to overtime and the Lakers prevailed 78-77. The game took place in Marietta, Ohio and the Lakers probably should have been playing the host school, the Marietta Pioneers, but the underdog Griffins from Gwynedd Mercy upset the Pioneers by a single point, only to lose the next night to Oswego by a single point in overtime. The following weekend the Lakers lost to Wooster by that same single point, which hurt, because it was a lousy call with just a couple of ticks on the clock. It sent Wooster's star player to the foul line where he made both free throws to give the Scots a 66-65 win.

So now the Lakers get to host a pod of 4 teams and their first round game is against Salem State the winner of the automatic bid from the MASCAC conference. In 2016 Plattsburgh State also went to the NCAA tournament and they hosted a pod of 4 teams. Their first round opponent was Fitchburg State from the same conference as Salem State. Plattsburgh was favored and they were expected to win and face Trinity College from the mighty NESCAC conference the next day to see who would make the Sweet 16. Both Trinity and Plattsburgh lost their first round games and watched the other two teams play the next day for the right to advance. So in just a few years we've come full circle...kinda....as the Lakers will take on the MASCAC conference that Plattsburgh played in 2016 and Plattsburgh will take on Gwynedd Mercy the team Oswego beat in 2016. One other historical tidbit....Plattsburgh is playing tonight at Williamstown which is the site of the Oswego-Scranton game of two years ago that found the Lakers on the short end of the score when they had that big lead.

So a few old ghosts can get erased tonight if things go well. Let's all hope that they do.

The Salem State Vikings enters the tournament with an 18-9 overall record that saw them win both the regular season crown and the MASCAC Tournament. They won't be a pushover as they played a tough non-conference schedule and had wins over Mass-Dartmouth, Tufts and Endicott. They also played Top 25 teams such as Williams and MIT, along with 20 win teams like Keene State, winner of the Little East Conference crown and Gordon, runnerup to Nichols in the CCC conference. The Vikings won't be an easy out and are capable of pulling off the upset.

The main man for the Vikings is 6'2" Jr. guard Sean Bryan. As he goes, so goes the Vikings. He's already scored over 1200 points in his college career and he's got 1 more year to go. Averaging 25.4 ppg and 8.0 rpg, he's also their top long distance threat with 63 buckets from behind the arc. He also shares the ball well, averaging a team leading 5.4 assists per game.  Hakeem Animashaun is a 6'7" Jr. forward who leads the team in rebounding with 11.5 per game and averages 21.2 ppg. He has 19 double-doubles this season.     6'4" Sr Bryan Martinez is also a starting forward. He averages 8.6 ppg and 4.2 rpg.  Temitope Bailey another 6'4"  Sr forward has started 29 games this season and is the 3rd leading rebounder on the team with 5.7 rpg and 7.3 ppg.  Alex De La Rosa is the other starting guard who is a 6 foot sophomore that worked his way into a starting role. He began the year as 4th or 5th option off the bench getting 4 to 10 minutes a game but by the end of December was starting and averaging 21 minutes of court time. He averaging 5 points a game.     

The Vikings play at a fast pace and are averaging 87.1 ppg which is the 25th highest total in Division III. They give up 85.0 ppg to their opponents. The shoot 45% from the field, 30.4% from 3 point range and 70.2% from the line. They outrebound their opponents 44.8 to 39.7. They will come to play so the Lakers need to play at a high level right from the start and not dig themselves a hole that they can't get out of.

The Lakers bring a lot of weapons to the table as SUNYAC fans have witnessed this season. 6'6" Sr. forward Tyler Pierre, the SUNYAC tournament's Most Valuable Player and First Team All Conference performer is a force inside whether he's scoring or fighting for a rebound. Averaging nearly a double-double of 13.2 ppg and 8.8 rpg he leads a balanced Oswego team that has 5 players scoring in double digits. 6'0" Sophomore point guard Liam Sanborn averages 12.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg and led the SUNYAC with 5.7 assists per game. He can knock down the three pointer, drive to the hoop to score or find the open man. Many times that open man is 6'3" Jr guard Brandon Gartland, 12.9 ppg and 4.3 rpg with 46 made three pointers. 6'5" Jr. forward Joe Sullivan is another of Sanborn's favorite targets. Sullivan is a workhorse that will beat you a number of ways. He averages 10 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Quinn Carey is a 6'3" Sr guard who averages 11.1 ppg and 2.6 rpg. He is the top 3 point shooter on the team with 86 triples and when he gets hot he can make a deficit disappear in a hurry. He has made at least 3 shots from long distance in 17 games this year and has made 6 or more 4 times. He was struggling last Saturday in the SUNYAC championship game when shot after shot was rimming out. Many guys might have lost confidence but Carey hung with his shot and hit two from downtown right before halftime to narrow the deficit the Lakers were facing from 11 points down to a more manageable 6. He hit another pair in the 2nd half that were big shots as well. Oswego hasn't used much help from their bench with their starters playing 197 minutes out of the 200 in the Brockport game. That could hurt them tonight if the Vikings turn this game into a track meet. Oswego has been playing great defense and somehow I think they will weather the shorthanded bench storm. If they can manage that problem against Brockport and Oneonta as they did last weekend I think they'll be able to bring the defensive intensity and keep this game under control. The Vikings have put up some gaudy numbers in league play but some of the stronger schools they've been up against have shut them down. 

The oddsmakers have made the host Lakers a solid 9 point favorite in this one. I think the defense the Lakers will bring will limit the points that the Vikings put up. I don't think they get that 87 point average. Oswego 82 Salem State 69.


GO CARDINALS   


GO LAKERS

[Pat Coleman]

Here's how to follow with us tonight:
Live scoreboard: https://www.d3hoops.com/seasons/men/2018-19/ncaa-tournament
Whiparound: https://www.d3hoops.com/playoffs/whiparound/index

[magicman]

Plattsburgh trailing Gwynedd Mercy at the half 38-32

Brandon Johnson with 11 points and 3 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. Isaiah Hill with 7.
Cards need to get Jon Patron involved.

Gwynedd Mercy made 8 three pointers the first half. Just what I was afraid might happen. The Griffins are led by Rich Dunham with 14 points. Their 4 guards have each made 2 three pointers.

Need to turn this around quickly at the start of the 2nd period.

[magicman]

Gwynedd Mercy defeats Plattsburgh State 73-65.

Not a good night shooting the rock for the Cardinals. The Griffins made 14 three pointers, Plattsburgh made 8. They were 11x14 from the line and Plattsburgh was 11x22. That's pretty much your ballgame. The rest of the stats, were basically even.

Still proud of the Cardinals for making the tournament. Always tough when the season comes to an end but a 20 win season and one of only 64 teams to play in the national tournament  means that it was successful year. Good Job Cardinals

[magicman]

Oswego leads Salem State 28-26 at the half.

Quinn Carey with 8 points to lead the Lakers.
Brandon Gartland with 6 points.
Tyler Pierre with 6 rebounds and 4 points.


Salem State led by Sean Bryan with 14 points and 5 rebounds.

Lakers turned this game into their tempo.

[magicman]

Oswego State defeats Salem State 72-59. Good job Lakers

Earlier I said that Oswego was going to win this game 82-69 for a 13 point win. I knew the Laker defense wasn't going to let the Vikings dictate play and their odds of getting their scoring average of 87 points was slim and none. The Lakers make me look like a genius. Thanks guys... a 13 point win right on the money. You were even better than I predicted, going exactly 10 points below each side of my ciphering. Now if only my Cardinals had listened to me. 1 out of 2 ain't bad though. At least the SUNYAC lives for another day.

Tyler Pierre with another double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds despite fouling out with a questionable call with 5:17 left in the game and the Lakers up by 4 points.

Quinn Carey had another night with 4 three  pointers and finished with 17 points. He added 6 rebounds, 3 steals, a block and 1 assist.

Joe Sullivan had 11 points, 3 rebounds an assist and a steal.

Liam Sanborn had 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists a block and a steal.

Brandon Gartland had 9 points, a rebounds, 2 assists ,2 steals and a block

Lakers got some quality minutes from Allen Durutovic at various points of the game but especially when he replaced Joe Sullivan who got banged up and left with an injury with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

After Tyler fouled out, Joe returned to the game and twenty seconds later Liam Sanborn made a nice drive and scored on a layup to put the Lakers up by 6 points. Fifteen seconds after that, Allen was fouled and made a pair of free throws to increase the lead to 8 points. Twenty seconds later Allen then got a steal, which led to another foul by the Vikings that sent Liam to the line. He made both shots to make it a double digit lead and the Vikings could never recover. Allen had  26 minutes in court time tonight to give the starters some much needed breaks. He scored 6 points, had 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and a block. The guys were hurting  down the stretch.... bumped and bruised pretty good from a very physical game. I don't think Joe Sullivan comes back in that game if Tyler Pierre finishes. Losing Tyler came at a critical point in the game. Every one of the Lakers on the floor from that moment on played their hearts out.  Hope the ride continues tomorrow against Bald Wally.

[AllStar]

[magicman]

NCAA Tournament Round Two  March 2nd Winner Advances to the Sweet Sixteen

Baldwin-Wallace  @  Oswego State   7:00 PM

The Lakers had to grind out a win last night in a physical game that may have some repercussions in today's contest. Tonight's opponent, the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets, advanced to Round Two with a 75-61 win over Salisbury. Bald-Wally grabbed the lead midway through the first half and maintained a comfortable margin for the rest of the game. They were up by 15 points with 12:43 left n the game and coasted to the finish line. Their starting unit didn't have to play the minutes that the Lakers did and that may be a factor in this game. Oswego has used a short bench all year and the team has proven it can handle that work load but regular season games, many times, don't carry the same weight, as two pressure packed back to backs in the NCAA Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets were the winners of the tough Ohio Atlhletic Conference after a 5th place regular season finish with an 11-7 league record, 17-8 overall. Like the SUNYAC it is a 10 team league but the top 8 teams make their conference tournament (like ours used to do, and should still do, but that's another story). As the #5 seed they played the #4 seed, Wilmington, and won that game by a 74-71 score and put them up against the top seed, Capital. They defeated Capital 81-67 and met the #2 seed Mount Union in the Championship game . They defeated the Purple Raiders by a score of 79-78 to win the OAC title and automatic bid to the big dance. The #1 seed Capital Crusaders 20-7, and the #3 seed Marietta Pioneers 20-6,  both got Pool C at large bids to the NCAA tournament, while #2 seed Mount Union 22-6 got to stay home . They can't be too happy about that considering they made it to the Championship game of the OAC and the other two didn't. All three OAC teams won their first round games last night. In addition to Baldwin-Wallace, Capital defeated UW-Platteville 78-76  and Marietta beat Maryville (Tenn) 101-77. The Lakers will have a tough game tonight and they will need to maximize their possessions, limit the turnovers and play great defense. Especially defending the 3 point line.

Baldwin-Wallace seems to live by the three and die by the three. They have made 310 three point field goals this year. They have taken 848 three point shots. That's 46.9% of their shots from the field. Many of their losses were in games with poor numbers from long range, and many of their wins had almost as many made three pointers as regular field goals. The Yellow Jackets are led by 6'2" Jr. Guard Jay Battle, who averages 18.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 3.1 apg.  He is paired in the backcourt with Mike Quiring, a 5'9" Jr. Guard averaging 10.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg and 3.3 apg. Battle as made 85 three pointers and Quiring has made 43. The other 3 starters are two more guards and  6'6" Jr. Forward Tyler Colombo. Colombo averages 9.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg. The team has a solid 9 man rotation so their starters average between 26 to 31 minutes per game.

The Yellow Jackets average 78.7 ppg and give up 71.1 ppg. They shoot 45.5% from the field, 36.6% from long range and 66.1% from the line. They average 37.6 rpg and the opponents get 35.7 rpg.

The oddsmakers have made the Yellow Jackets a 4 point favorite in this game. I think the Lakers will be hard pressed to pull this one out but I'm hoping they can apply enough defensive pressure to turn the tables. I look for a low scoring, close game with Oswego coming out on top by a 71-68 final score.     

[magicman]

Oswego State leads Baldwin Wallace 37-34 ay the half.

Liam Sanborn with 13 points to lead the Lakers. Brandon Gartland with 10 points. Tyler Pierrre with 6 points and 6 boards.

Jat Battle with 10 points to lead the Yellow Jackets.

[magicman]

Oswego State 75  Baldwin Wallace 71 in Overtime

[Caz Bombers]

well done, Lakers

[Smitty Oom]

I think it is pretty crazy the Lakers just play 6 guys and 3 of the starters play all 40 (or 45, in tonights case) minutes. Survive and advance, play your best guys, I like it.

[magicman]

I think it is pretty crazy the Lakers just play 6 guys and 3 of the starters play all 40 (or 45, in tonights case) minutes. Survive and advance, play your best guys, I like it.

This one was a breeze for those guys, Smitty. Last week on Friday night in the SUNYAC semifinals they played a double overtime game against Oneonta and 3 guys played 50 minutes, 1 guy played 45 minutes and the 5th guy "only" played 38 minutes because he was in foul trouble early. The 6th man got 17 minutes. Then on Saturday afternoon they came back and the 5 starters played all but a total of 3 minutes in that game.  Their bench has been pretty short for the last 5 games...all victories.