MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Bengalsrule]

Congrats to the Buffalo St Bengals for their tournament championship this weekend!!!  Hopefully Buffalo St  gets some D3Hoops top 25 love next week

Definitely good wins by Buffalo State over NCC and Carthage.  As I posted on the CCIW board though...

Keep in mind though, Bengals, that Carthage and North Central are probably projected to be the 4th and 5th teams (in no particular order) in the 2014 CCIW race -- Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana, and Wheaton seem to be the contenders for the top 3 spots heading into league play.  I think Elmhurst could even finish higher than one of these teams.  If one of these CCIW teams finishes 6th it won't be a huge surprise.

Buffalo State was 13-11 last year, 8-10 in the SUYNAC.  They came to Orlando with losses to Ohio Northern, John Carroll, and Hobart.  I think the "OK" tag by bopol was pretty fair for your Bengals...just as its fair for both Carthage and NCC. 


I don't think either of these wins is enough to get Buffalo State (with losses to Ohio Northern, John Carroll, and Hobart) Top 25 votes.

Thanks for the feedback Titan!

[Bengalsrule]

Whew. Back home in Buffalo. 86 degrees when I left Orlando and 36 when I land in Buffalo . I've had a chance to wrap up the weekends events and I must say...I feel pretty good about them there BENGALS heading into 2014!

Chris Thompson, who missed 3 of the first 5 games (including losses to Ohio Northern and John Carroll) stepped up big time this weekend and showed by the BENGAL faithful have a lot of hope for this guy. Chris averaged a double-double for the weekend (13.5 pts and 10.5 boards) in the 2 victories vs the CCIW "middle of the pack" teams - Carthage and North Central.  Throw in "MR. All World" Justin Mitchell  who did  what....Justin does. He averaged 21pts  for the weekend and 8.5 boards.  Equally impressive was how these 2 big men matched up against the bigs of Carthage and North Central. Mitchell/Thompson combined for 38 points and 22 rebounds vs. the tandem of Marlon Senior and Mike kastel who had 21 pts and 13 boards. Even better was their effort vs Pre-season All American and 3 time 1 st teamer Landon Gamble and 6' 7 Jack Burchett with the good guys (BENGALS) putting in 31 pts and 16 boards vs Gamble /Burchett who had 22 and 10 boards.

Junior Rod Epps averaged 18 pts for the weekend (12 and 22) and Freshman Jordan Glover averaged 8.5 (not to mention his clutch 3 pointer vs Carthage with 1:11 left in the game, which tied it up at 63). Add a little Bradley Doyley, who nearly averaged double digits in assists (9 per game) and you have the mix for a decent weekend. Starting forward Maurice miles had to sit both games out and Chris Castren , who was injured in game 1 also sat out all of game 2. 12 people played in both games and everyone contributed in what was clearly a team effort!!

Expected more from the bench (3 pts game 1). However they did put up 15 in game 2 , led by soph Chris Boyd. What most don't know is how they, the bench, were extremely helpful in stopping Carthage in the 2nd half of their victory on Friday night. You may remember how Coach Ansari took out all the starters at the 15:14 mark of the 2nd period and went with 4 freshman and junior Legree Kirkland. What I failed to tell you was that over the next 6 mins that crew (along with Chris Boyd ) held Carthage to 4 field goals- 2 by Marlon Senior, 1 by Cameron Van Wyk and 1 by Mike Kastel. Van Wyks' field goal came at 10:25. What many did not know was that Carthage would not score another field goal for the rest of the game! That's right from the 10:25 mark of the 2nd half all they, Carthage, could only muster 13 free throws, not a single field goal. Hot damn (even as I'm writing this I'm getting excited!!!) That is probably the most impressive stat that this BENGAL supporter has seen from this team in quite some time. The starters gradually worked there way in by the 8 minute mark...kept the pressure up that the young "scrap dogs" had begun, and the rest was history.

With 14 non league games left the 'Yac is 33-24 (or something close to that). Here's hoping that we can finish 2013 14-0, which would put the 'Yac at 47-24 (almost 2 to 1 victories over defeats).

Ps Glad to hear that Magicman and thebear survived the big ice storm that hit the North country!

Happy Holidays to ALL !

[NYHOOPS8]

The 2 wins from Buffalo State this past weekend is more impressive for the SUNY conference than  it is for the Buff St. Strenght of Schedule.

[Bengalsrule]

Eihther 1 works for us, NYHoops8. Thanks!

Massey's current S.O.S. rankings for SUNYAC - Brockport @ 91, Plattsburgh 95, Buffalo State 101, Oneonta 142, New Paltz 182, Potsdam 232, Oswego 256, Cortland 257, Geneseo 284 and Fredonia 374.   Not what makes that go up or down (but I know a guy at the "Music Shop" in Plattsburgh that would know). I'll be sure to keep and eye on it if he says it's a worthwhile activity!

and....

Magicman... could you let Mr. Massey know about Saturdays results? He doesn't seem to realize that we beat NCC!

[magicman]

Merry Christmas to all the posters that frequent this board. Plus K to all.

[thebear]

Just back in the 'dam, avoided the Ice Storm by visiting our son in NYC.  It was actually 70 degrees in the big apple the day of the storm.

Didn't totally avoid the storm as wifey got the family car hung on a 2 foot high ice bank trying to get into the garage, so I guess a front end loader will be my grownup christmas wish.

Nice rep of the 'yac by the Bengals, and hoping Rob Duquette will be back soon for the bears, Merchant Marine's widebodies took a toll on the bears in a winnable game on Long Island.

[magicman]

After 8 days of inactivity the SUNYAC has a game on tap today.

Millikin University vs Plattsburgh State at Daytona Beach, Florida 6:00 PM

The SUNYAC is looking to go 3-0 vs the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. After Buffalo State won 2 games last weekend against CCIW teams, Carthage and North Central, it's the Cardinals turn to hopefully put up a couple of wins against some of the top ranked conferences in the country. Plattsburgh hasn't been in action since December 7th when they won a close game over Cortland. Millikin has had 3 games during the time that the Cardinals were idle and most importantly they played yesterday against Univ. of Wisconsin-Stout, the 26th ranked team in the country. The Big Blue defeated UW-Stout in that contest by a score of 68-56 a 12 point MOV and they were a 12 point underdog entering the game. That's a 24 point swing in favor of the Big Blue. Plattsburgh will take on UW-Stout on Monday and that was supposed to be the tougher of the 2 Florida games, but after Millikins victory over Stout that logic is certainly in question. I'm a little apprehensive about Plattsburgh's chances of coming away with a win since the Cardinals don't have a very good track record of winning after a long layoff. In fact they haven't won coming off the holiday break in the past 7 years. In fairness to the Cardinals the teams they have faced in those 7 years have been some of the top teams in the country with 5 of those teams having 20 or more wins, in the season they beat Plattsburgh and at least 3 of them were NCAA teams. Cardinals have only had 2 practices to get ready for these teams and both of them will have had a chance to shake the rust off. Millikin is an up and coming team that starts 5 sophomores. Those 5 all started last year as freshman. In fact their first 10 players in the rotation are 8 sophomores and 2 freshmen. The starting 5 has played 35 games together and will continue to improve as evidenced by their win yesterday over UW-Stout.

The oddsmakers have made Plattsburgh an 11 point favorite, but I think that's too many. Millikin, with a 6-4 record, hasn't lost a game by double digits this year. I'm taking the Cardinals and I think it might be something like 77-72.               

[magicman]

Plattsburgh leads Millikin 39-28 at the half.

Cardinals had the early lead but Millikin hit a 3 pointer to go in front 12-10 with 13 minutes to play, for their only lead in the period. Plattsburgh then had an 11-0 run to take the lead and stretched it to as many as 13 at 36-23 with 3:27 left. Cards could have a bigger lead but shooting only 57% from the line 13x23.

Shavar Fields gets a rare start and makes the coaching staff look good as he leads the Cardinals with 13 points. He's also the only Cardinal who is perfect, going 4x4 from the field and 5x5 from the line. Shamoy McIntosh has 7 points, John Perez had 6 points and 4 rebounds, while Ezra Hodgson has a pair of 3 pointers for 6 points.

[magicman]

Final Score        Plattsburgh State 71 Millikin 68 

[Bengalsrule]

Now thats what im talking about!!!!  3-0 vs CCIW (whenever Massey realizes that we beat North Central ). Congratts to the Cardinals!

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 71 Millikin U 68

The Cardinals finally break their  jinx and win after the holiday break for the first time in at least 7 years. After forging a double digit halftime lead the Cardinals, in sunny hot Florida, came out of the locker room to start the 2nd half, as cold as the North Country Winter. Millikin promptly went on a 13-2 run and took the lead at 42-41 with 5 minutes gone in the 2nd half. From that point on it would be a dogfight as the teams were not separated by more than 5 points the rest of the way. Plattsburgh regained the lead on their next possession on a pair of free throws by Shamoy McIntosh and would hang on to the advantage until they were finally caught at 58 on a 3 pointer by Jacob Kueker. The Big Blue would go in front 60-58 with 5:09 to play but John Perez made two free throws to tie it at 60. An offensive rebound by Deavis Johnson, who attempted a layup, missed it, but got the tipin, put Millikin in front once again. Plattsburgh's Coach Curle, not happy with the 2nd chance points given up by the Cardinals called a timeout. Plattsburgh set up 3 point shooter Mike Mitchell and he nailed one from downtown to give the Cardinals a 63-62 edge. Millikin's Johnson scored on another layup to put the Big Blue in front but Plattsburgh's Xavier Thomas  hit a jumper 20 seconds later to give the Cards a lead they wouldn't surrender. Plattsburgh scored again on a layup by Shavar Fields after both teams had missed scoring opportunities to make it 67-64 with 1:19 left. A steal by Shavar Fields after an offensive rebound by Millikin resulted in a Big Blue foul and Fields hit both free throws to make it a 5 point 69-64 Cardinal lead with 41 seconds left. Some strange calls near the end of the game to make it a nail biter right to the end. First, with the Cardinals leading 69-67 after a 3 pointer by Millikin's Tives Gardner with 33 seconds to go, the Cardinals' Ezra Hodgson was called for a foul when he set a screen for Mitchell with 17 seconds remaining. Miilikin now had the ball and a chance to win or tie the game. A three point attempt by Jacob Kueker was off the mark and Mitchell got the rebound for the Cardinals with 4 seconds to go and was fouled. He made the first and after the Cards took a time out he made the 2nd to make it a 2 possession game at 71-67. Millikin threw a pass to half court and called time out with 3 seconds left. They inbounded the ball and Kueker throws up a prayer from well beyond the 3 point line and jumps into a Plattsburgh player as he fires up the shot. The ref calls a foul against Plattsburgh, with 1 second on the clock. Keuker misses the first 2 free throws, makes the third, Plattsburgh inbounds the ball and the game is over.  After watching 8 games in the Sunshine State over the past several weeks, I've had my fill of Florida referees.

Shavar Fields led the Cardinals and tied for scoring honors with 17 points (5x7 fg, 7x7 ft) and 5 rebounds. Shamoy McIntosh had 15 points (4x14, fg, 0x4 3's, 7x10 ft) and a team high 6 rebounds. John Perez had 10 points (3x4 fg, 4x8 ft) and 5 rebounds. Mike Mitchell led the bench troops with 10 points (3x7 fg, 1x4 3's, 3x4 ft), 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Cardinals had a poor night shooting from long distance hitting only 3 x15 and didn't fare well from the line either going 26x40. The team had too many turnovers with 16 and didn't share the ball all that well with only 10 assists for the entire team. We'll need to be better in all those areas if we hope to come away with a win tomorrow over a UW-Stout team that won't want to leave Florida with an 0-2 record.

Millikin was led by Tives Gardner with 17 points, 4 assists and 3 boards. Jacob Kueker had 16 points 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  Cards held TJ Griffin to only 7 points, well below his 20 ppg average.

Cardinals outrebounded the Big Blue 39-32 but this game was won at the line because the Cards had 40 free throw attempts to only 22 for Millikin. We made 26 they made 14. 

Cards improve to 5-2 and will face Stout tomorrow at 6:00 Pm

I had this game 77-72 Cards and if the boys would have hit just a couple more 3 pointers I'd of had my 77 points. I'll attribute it to the rust from the 3 week layoff.

[magicman]

Four games on tap for today.

Dec. 30   

UW-Stout  vs    Plattsburgh State      4:00 PM    @ Daytona Beach, Fla.
   
Brockport State  vs    Hamilton      6:00 PM   @ Medaille College
   
Oneonta State  at    Averett      7:00 PM 
   
Geneseo State  at    Puget Sound      7:00 PM

[Bengalsrule]

Four games on tap for today.

Dec. 30   

UW-Stout  vs    Plattsburgh State      4:00 PM    @ Daytona Beach, Fla.
   
Brockport State  vs    Hamilton      6:00 PM   @ Medaille College
   
Oneonta State  at    Averett      7:00 PM 
   
Geneseo State  at    Puget Sound      7:00 PM

....And your predicitons?

[magicman]

Four games on tap for today.

Dec. 30   

UW-Stout  vs    Plattsburgh State      4:00 PM    @ Daytona Beach, Fla.
   
Brockport State  vs    Hamilton      6:00 PM   @ Medaille College
   
Oneonta State  at    Averett      7:00 PM 
   
Geneseo State  at    Puget Sound      7:00 PM

....And your predicitons?

Coming soon.

[magicman]

Dec. 30   

UW-Stout  vs    Plattsburgh State      4:00 PM    @ Daytona Beach, Fla.

The Cardinals will have to play a better brand of basketball if they hope to leave Florida with a 2-0 record. They will need to cut down on their turnovers, improve their free throw shooting and make a higher percentage of their shots from long range or the Blue Devils from UW-Stout will surely take it to them. Stout had hope to challenge for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship this year against the likes of #1 ranked Stevens Point and #12 Whitewater and in fact, the Blue Devils already own a victory over Whitewater having beaten the Warhawks 74-69, back on December 7th, when Whitewater was ranked #4 in the nation. That victory propelled the Blue Devils into D3hoops Top 25 at the #19 spot. Since then, however, Stout has suffered back to back losses against UW-River Falls on Dec. 11th and on Dec. 28th against Millikin, both games they were expected to win. So they will be hungry for a win this afternoon and I'm expecting them to come at Plattsburgh with everything they got. Three days ago Stout was favored to win this game by a 3 point margin but their loss to Millikin and the Cardinals win over that same team has the oddsmakers changing course and the Cardinals are now a 2 point favorite to come away with the W. I, of course, cannot pick against my hometown  Cardinals, and I've even forked over the $9.95 I had to pay to see the game on a videocast from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical College (where the tournament was held). At least they gave you the entire tournament for the $9.95 so I've already watched 8 games and have 1 more to go. I'm thinking the Cardinals have shaken off the rust but am concerned that we had to play on consectutive days while Stout got a day off in between their two games. Also Plattsburgh was shorthanded yesterday as normal starter Jordan Moody was not even on the bench. Not sure what's going on there but it looks like he may not have made the trip. Despite that I'm picking the Cardinals to come home 2-0 and see them winning this game by a score of 74-70. GO CARDS!