MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[bearnation]

Oswego vs. Buffalo State  #1 vs. #2, A key game for the conference.  Why is it being played on December 10?  When did the first semester of a season have such an important game for the conference?  Isn't the first semester suppose to be for getting your team ready for the second semester conference schedule.  Besides its on a Saturday afternoon, attendance should be great.  Its been a long time since I was in school but this time of the year was for getting ready for finals and getting home for Christmas not the Albany State game.  Jerry Welsh would go crazy if he had to play Albany State on Saturday afternoon in December. He made sure to play  at Albany State on Friday or Saturday (at night) during February break to make sure every student or alumni within 100 miles was in attendance.  Do you think Duke plays North Carolina in December, how about closer to home Syracuse playing UCONN, how about D3 rivals Hope and Calvin do you think they would play each other in December.  Someone needs to take a real close look at this conference its broken and the world knows it.

[Bengalsrule]

I'm not 1 to defend the SUNYAC schedulers in anyway but 3 things that I thought I would at least mention with regards to scheduling this year as opposed to years gone by.
1 -This is the first season (since 2007) that Sunyac teams have played more than 2 games prior to the 1st of the year. Traditionally (since 07) there have been games in the first week of Dec. and then thats it until 1/1. This year there are Yac contests during the first 2 weeks of Dec and everyone will have played at least 4, and most 5, games by the end of this evening.
2 - Last year Buffalo State played Oswego and Cortland at home on Dec 4th and 5th. 2 week before finals began and  the begoinning of a mass exit of students from campus. And Bearnation is right...a ton of students left Buff State yesterday after they finished thier last class. (since many professors don't give finals anymore, or if they do... it was this week not next!!)
3 - The return match between The BENGALS and the Lakers is scheduled for the last weekend of this season 2/17/12.

[magicman]

Oswego vs. Buffalo State  #1 vs. #2, A key game for the conference.  Why is it being played on December 10?  When did the first semester of a season have such an important game for the conference?  Isn't the first semester suppose to be for getting your team ready for the second semester conference schedule.  Besides its on a Saturday afternoon, attendance should be great.  Its been a long time since I was in school but this time of the year was for getting ready for finals and getting home for Christmas not the Albany State game.  Jerry Welsh would go crazy if he had to play Albany State on Saturday afternoon in December. He made sure to play  at Albany State on Friday or Saturday (at night) during February break to make sure every student or alumni within 100 miles was in attendance.  Do you think Duke plays North Carolina in December, how about closer to home Syracuse playing UCONN, how about D3 rivals Hope and Calvin do you think they would play each other in December.  Someone needs to take a real close look at this conference its broken and the world knows it.

bearnation,
It's not the first time, (and it won't be the last) that there's been an early season meeting between two of the top teams in the YAC. Last year these two teams met on December 4th and had their second meeting on January 28th. Two years ago Oswego and Brockport battled on December 4th when they were both near the top of the standings. It's not like they only face each other once like the NESCAC, and this year due to the luck of the schedule the Bengals and Lakers meet on the final weekend of the regular season in what may very well determine the regular season champ, so that works out better than it did last year. You're right that Christmas vacation might cut into the crowds available for the game however and that's too bad, but hopefully the locals will show up in force to support the nationally ranked Bengals in such an important contest.
When the schedules are made out (usually a year in advance) it's not the schools that determine the game dates. When you have a 10 team conference (instead of eight like so many others) and you play a double round robin that will account for 18 of your 25 contests, there's not a lot of choice regarding the scheduling of first semester games. As it is most YAC schools (and most schools in all divisions) play a large portion (if not all) of their out of conference schedule before conference play starts. Usually some exceptions are if they travel over the holidays to play in a tournament or a crosstown rival that for various reasons isn't scheduled until later in the season. Even doing this still dictates that some years 5 or 6 conference games have to be played in December. That means you will face 5 or 6 of the other nine conference opponents. Some years you won't see the 2 frontrunners meet in December, due to the luck of the draw, but other years you will. SUNYAC officials can't predict that far ahead of time who the top teams will be. The magicman can, but not the YAC men and they don't call me for my opinion. Hope that explains it. 

[jdex]

And this IS Division III, isn't it?

[magicman]

Pressed for time today so I'll have to make this quick pick Saturday.

Here's the slate:

Oswego St at Buffalo St.  4 PM

Lets get right to the big game. Both teams playing well and hard to pick the winner of this one. Oddsmakers have the Bengals favored by 8 pts but I think they were drinking the same orange kool-aid that Bengalsrule was chugging. I've waffled with this pick all week long and I'm picking the Lakers because the Bengals have to prove to me that they can beat this Laker team.  They haven't done so in the past three meetings and the Lakers have won in their last two trips to Buffalo. Plus Bengalsrule can say I told you so if I'm wrong. Lakers win 78-74.
 

Geneseo St. at Potsdam St 4 PM

Thought all week I could pick my alma mater in this game but after watching the Blue Knights dismantle Plattsburgh last night I'm going with them. Posted line has the Bears favored by 4.5 but Geneseo wins this one 70-65.



Cortland St. at Fredonia St. 4 PM

Fredonia and Cortland both coming off losses against YAC elite and looking to rebound. Red Dragons can hold onto 2nd place with a win while Blue Devils hope to get even in the YAC. Posted line is a pick em and so I will. Red Dragons 72-70.

Oneonta St. at New Paltz St  4 PM

Both teams coming off losses to out of conference foes. New Paltz got handled by Montclair St. and Onenota came to a screeching halt against Hartwick. Pointspread favors the Hawks by 4. So do I. New Paltz 73-69.


Brockport St at Plattsburgh St  4 PM

I'd like to pass on this game please. Not sure what to expect. I assume Kyheem Greene is out for Port and not sure if Perez is playing for the Cards. Pointspread has the Cardinals favored by 7.5 but yesterday's point spread had them favored by 13 and we saw what happened there.  Missing  players will also skew the spread. Cards are up and down. Today it's their turn to be up. Plattsburgh wins a nailbiter 67-64.

[jdex]

Oswego hammering away at Buffalo St. Lakers 48-30 at half and by 14 with 15' left

Cortland over Fredonia 31-25 at half and maintaining margin early second half

Plattsburgh and Brockport squared at 30 at half. Pburgh by 5 at 16'

New Paltz 40, Oneonta 37 at half. NP by 22 at 13'

[jdex]

Cortland beats Fredonia 61-57 behind J. Winter 20 points

[jdex]

Oswego blitzes Buffalo St. 85-71. Ward 21 pts, Burridge 19

New Paltz whipes Oneonta 95-74

Potsdam and Geneseo in OT

[magicman]

Plattsburgh downs Brockport 74-67. Details to follow.

[magicman]

Potsdam wins in overtime 66-56 over Geneseo.

[magicman]

Dinah Washington was right after all. What a difference a day makes! One day after their worst performance of the year, the Cardinals played one of their best games of the season. The return of John Perez to the Plattsburgh lineup certainly helped. The 6'3" sophomore forward  scored 17 points (6x16 fg, 1x1 3's, 4x6 ft) and grabbed 13 rebounds in 35 minutes to help lead the Cards to the win. Soph, Shavar Fields was the games high scorer as he dropped in 21 (9x19fg, 0x3 3's, 3x8 ft) with 5 rebounds.

Plattsburgh and Brockport duked it out in a first half that saw 6 ties and 4 lead change with the largest lead a Brockport advantage at 22-15 with 7:23 left to play. Still down 29-23 with 2:55 remaining the Cards ended the half on a 7-1 run to go into the break tied at 30. After a brief 33-32 Port lead, the Cardinals, fueled by Perez and freshman Shamoy Mcintosh  outscored the Eagles 19-3 over the next 8:12 to take their largest lead of the night at 51-36.  It took the Golden Eagles just under 4 minutes to fight back and  close the gap to 55-51 with 6:57 left to play. Plattsburgh continued to hold the advantage however and the lead fluctuated between 4 and 8 points until Brockport got it to 63-60 with 2:26 left on the clock. Fields then hit 2 free throws and Perez nailed a huge 3 with 1:29 left, to boost it back to 69-60 and the ballgame was over. After Port hit a 3 to close within 6 the Eagles called timeout. On the ensuing in bounds play from under the Brockport basket the Cards ran a play drawn up by Coach Curle during the time out and hit Shavar Fields all alone with a touchdown pass for an easy layin. Cards hit 3 of 5 from the line to close out the game.

Senior point guard Ketema Brooks only scored 2 pts in today's game but he racked up 11 assists as he set up some nice baskets in critical moments. McIntosh came off the bench with some quality minutes for the Cards scoring 9 points (3x6 fg, 1x2 3's 2x2 ft), with 4 boards, 2 assists and a steal in 17 minutes. Freshman Mike Mitchell subbed at the point and also had some big plays down the stretch. He finished with 7 pts, (2x2 fg, 3x4 ft), 2 rebounds 2 assists  and a steal. Reggie Williams ended up with 6 pts, 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. Cardinals shot the ball a little better today going 28x64 from the field (43.8%), 4x16 3's (25%) and 14x24 ft (58.3 %). They ended up with 40 boards to 35 for Port with 16 of them on the offensive end. Plattsburgh had 13 turnovers to 14 for the Eagles.

Brockport had 3 guys in double figures led by Lance Legister who came off the bench to score 14 pts (3x5 fg, 8x10 ft) in 23 minutes. Gerald Williams (3x12 fg, 1x6 3's, 4x4 ft) and Donnell Jackson (4x10 fg, 0x1 3's, 3x3 ft) both added 11 points. Williams also led Brockport with 9 rebounds. Derek Klein (3x6 fg, 3x5 3's) and Jon Ivy(3x7 fg, 1x2 3's, 2x2 ft) both had 9 points. Dorian Hayden had 6 points 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal. Golden Eagles shot 19x54 fg (35.2%), 7x18 3's (38.9%) and 22x27 ft (81.5%)

Cardinals are now off until they head south over the holidays and take on the St Vincent Bearcats (from Latrobe,Pennslyvania), a member of the Presidents Athletic Conference. This game will take place on December 30th in the Miami Classic  tournament. I believe the game will be in Fort Lauderdale. The start time is listed as 5:30 in case there are any alumni snowbirds that wish to take in the action. Plattsburgh improves to 4-5 overall (2-3 conf).

Brockport falls to 2-7 overall (1-2 conf) and will next play after the break on January 3rd when they travel to St Lawrence to take on the Larries. The loss of All Conference Senior forward Kyheem Green and his nearly double double average (15.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.0 bpg) will surely put a crimp in their conference hopes. Hopefully his injury will improve with the time off and he'll rejoin the team before too long. It was bad enough the team got off to a slow start, but losing your best player for any length of time is adversity that is tough to overcome.   

       

[thebear]

Geneseo at Potsdam
In the first half, the teams went back and forth, Potsdam opening a five point lead at 16:40, then the Knights reversing to a five point lead with 5:30 left.  Potsdam clawed back, tying at 3:14 on an improbable 3 ptr by inside stalwart Curtis Pierce, who repeated from the arc with :53 left to give the Bears a 26-25 lead going into the half.

The second half followed a similar pattern, Bears extended to a 5pt lead at 17:39, Knights then reversed the margin and then some with a 20-6 run, giving them a 9 point lead at 45-36 with 9:08.  Coach Dobbs fired up his team with a bench technical at 10:49 that seemed to stop Geneseo's momentum and get the Bears serious about winning this game.

Knights still led by 9 51-42 at 5:43 left in regulation following a layup by Abe Miller, who tormented the Bears all day with his size and bulk in the paint.  Bears then put on an 11-2 burst to end regulation tied at 53 Rob Duquette led the Potsdam comeback with several soft mid range jumpers in the paint, and Brad Drysdale saved the day with an athletic shot block right before the horn ended regulation.

Bears continued their momentum in the extra period, running out to an 11 point margin on a combination of free throws, layups and cold shooting by the visiting Blue Knights.  Andy Drescher finally ended the Geneseo schneid with a trey with :20, but it was too little too late as the Bears dominated the overtime in posting a 66-56 victory.

Curtis Pierce led all scorers with 15 points, including 2 treys, and added 10 rebounds in 44 minutes of action.  Rob Duquette added 14 despite foul trouble in both halves, and Tony Efese tossed in 11 points.  Josh Lambert had 5 assists and some clutch free throws both in regulation and the overtime.

Bears shot 24x53 from the field, 3x12 from the arc, and 15x20 from the stripe.

Miller and James McKenna led Geneseo with 10 each, while Ryan Riefenhauser was the top rebounder with 7.  Knights were 20x51 from the floor, 6x22 from the arc, and only 10x15 from the FT line, including some key misses at the end of regulation.

Bears now 4-5 (2-3 in Conference) begin finals on Monday, and are off until they play Alvernia in the Casa Mia Classic in Central Valley (Allentown area) Pennsylvania.

Geneseo will surprise teams all season, they are much better than their 2-7 record would portend.

[Bengalsrule]

  Just got in from the Sports Arena (after a stop at the buffet)....Tough game.... Lakers outplayed my Beloved BENGALS .......down 18 at half...couldn't close the gap enough in the 2nd to make a game of it.
  Congrats to Oswego..clearly the better team tonight! Would love to be 7-0..guess 6-1 is gonna have to do until the 16th. Getting ready for Keuka!

[magicman]

4-1 with my picks today as only the Potsdam Bears failed to follow my crystal ball. (I love it when my alma mater proves me wrong.)
Stretched my record to 32-7 (82%) for the season.

The big game was a little more one sided than I expected but I didn't know the Bengals were going to catch a case of Turnoveritis. 16 turnovers in the first half alone including 7 in the 1st 7:24. It didn't take the Lakers long to grab a double digit lead. 7 more turnovers and the lead reached 20 at 44-24. Down 48-30 at the break, Buffalo St. needed something good to happen in the intial stages of the 2nd period. Unfortunately the lead quickly ballooned to 22 and the closest they could get was 14 points on several occasions. Largest lead of the game was 76-52 with 8:52 left to play. Bengals finished with 25 turnovers in all. It was however, a highly infectious case of turnoveritis, as the Lakers after being exposed to the disease promptly coughed up the ball 12 times in the second half themselves and finished with 19 in all. Hard to say whose FMOH (forty minutes of hell) was hotter. (Sorry BR,  I couldn't resist.) I'm pretty sure when thses two teams tangle again on the last weekend of the regular season and possibly again in the playoffs the score will be a lot closer. Every team has a bad game and the Bengals have now gotten theirs out of the way. Still think nobody's going to run the table this year and Cortland will have a say in this before it's over.
My fingers are getting tired so just a few notes. Hayden Ward for the 2nd game in a row led the Lakers with 22 pts. Chad Burridge was close behind with 19 pts and a team high 6 rebounds. Chris Gilkes had 18 points, Connor Monaghan had 11 points and Sean Michele added 9 pts, 7 assists and 4 steals. Starters played 158 out of the 200 minutes and scored 78 of the 85 points.

Burridge has put up Team of the Week numbers for his 3 games. 78 pts, 28 rebounds and 15 blocks. The fact that the SUNYAC has had back to back weeks with a player on the D3hoops Team of the Week will probably work against him, but he's certainly deserving and he's on my Team of the Week. So is Ward as he averaged 18.6 per contest for this week's 3 games.

Buff State placed 3 players in double figures as Justin Mitchell, Nico Mclean and Anyar Majak all scored 12 points. Mitchell was the leading rebounder in the game with 11 boards.

Final score of 85-71  was only 4 points off my posted total points but it wasn't as evenly distributed as I guessed.

I had the Cortland-Fredonia game as a 2 pt difference and it was almost as close as the Red Dragons won by 4, 61-57. I was a little on the high side with my over/under though.

New Paltz whipping Oneonta 95-74 was way more points than I figured  and the Hawks MOV was quite a bit larger as well. At least I picked the winner.

Plattsburgh beating the Golden Eagles was probably my toughest pick to make, in part because of the injuries, but also the poor execution and defense I saw from the Cards on Friday night. The return of John Perez brought some life back to this team and Brockport certainly felt the loss of Kyheem Green. My prediction of 67-64 wasn't too far off and I did have 3 of the 4 digits correct in that 74-67 final.

Potsdam beating Geneseo was my only loss but it was a pleasant surprise. Don't think anybody on God's Green Earth would have picked the Bears if they had seen the way the Blue Knights dismantled my Cards last night. Must be the Knights left it all on the floor of Memorial Hall. I don't really mean that because that doesn't do the Bears justice. They have also been struggling lately and this was a good win for them over a Geneseo team that will pull off some more upsets as the season progresses. Poor Blue Knights couldn't buy a basket in overtime as they came up empty on their first eight attempts. Once the Bears got up by 6, 59-53 on a bucket and one by Tony Efese with 1:48 to play, and the Blue Knights missed again on their possession, Geneseo had to start the foul parade with 50 seconds left. The Bears Josh Lambert made 4 free throws in a row and Efese with 1 and Curtis Pierce with 2 more closed the door for good. The Knights hit their only points of the period on a triple by Andy Drescher with 20 seconds left. I guess in OT they caught Oneontaitis.

[jdex]

Cortland never trailed in the opening period but dropped behnd Fredonfgia 37-33. J. Winter fueled 12-0 run with three threes and B. Manning capped the flourish with another trey. Corts pushed their advantage to 10. Late Freds rally drew within four. Winter's 20 points included 4x8 3s. Added seven assts and five rebs. Pivot D. Sternkopf 11 pts, 6 rebs, 4 blks; first time starter N. Sutedjo with five assts. RDragons still to hit offensive stride, 23x58fg, 7x22 3s. Winter quite the floor leader, among league's best IMHO. Does it all. Fine defense as well. Devils K. Mitchell 16 pts, 10 rebs; A. Billups 13 pts; J. Bryant 10 pts; D. Kashmer 11 rebs, 4 assts; J. Herrera 5 assts

New Paltz quickly extends three point halftime lead over Oneonta to win in a walk. M. Devine 36 pts(14x22fg, 6x10 3s) 7rebs in 36'; N. Taldi 16 pts(5x6fg, 2x3 3s) 6 assts; D. Olsen 10 rebs. Hawks 35x71fg. OSt gets 15 pts(6x12fg) from L. Slivinsky; F. Kelly 9 assts, 9 pts. Dragons 31x69

Oswego shoots 31x37 from the stripe, 25x50fg. Burridge with 5 blocks. Buff St's J. and N. Simmons each play 23', former with 8 pts(3x7fg, 0x2 3s), the latter 7 pts