MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[magicman]

New Paltz defeats Eastern by a final score of 76-62.



Cortland leads Medaille at the half 35-26.

Lamard Herron with a big 1st half for the Red Dragons as he dropped in 15 points.

Ryan Grandits led Medaille with 9.

[magicman]

New Paltz defeats Eastern by a 76-62 final score.  With 1:30 to go the score was 70-59 but New Paltz had 3 steals in a 30 second span that resulted in 5 quick points. My prediction of 72-69 would have been a little closer without those Eastern turnovers. Glad to see the Hawks come away with a win here.

New Paltz jumped out to quick leads of 6-0 and 13-4 but eventually allowed the Eagles to catch them and take the lead 25-24 on 2 free throws with 4:46 remaining in the first half. New Paltz, fueled by 8 straight points by Eric Regenbogan  went on a 10-2 run to end the half however and took a 34-27 lead into the break.

The Hawks opened up a double digit lead early in the 2nd half on another 3 pointer by Regenbogan to make it 42-31 but the Eagles, after falling further behind at 51-37, slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled to within a single point at 53-52 with 7:33 remaining.  The Hawks R.J.Rosa scored on a layup and then Regenbogan hit another 3 point bomb to build the lead back to 6. The Hawks then scored on 5 consecutive possessions, all on layups, to build the lead back to 68-57 and they coasted home with the win.

Regenbogan led all scorers with 22 points (8x12 fg, 4x7 3's, 2x3 ft) and added 4 steals with 2 assists. Taylor Sowah posted a great stat line of 15 points (5x9 fg, 0x1 3's, 5x5 ft) 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and a block. A nice day at the office. Kevin Roach had 12 points (6x9 fg), 8 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. R.J. Rosa also had double figures with 10 points (4x9 fg, 2x4 3's, 0x1 ft).

Eastern was led by Shaquan Turk with 12 points and Tarek Hamzeh with 10.

Hawks outshot and outrebounded the Eagles 45-31, but committed 27 turnovers to 21 for Eastern.

The shooting stats were:

New Paltz: Field goals 31-59 52.5%  3 pointers  6-16 37.5%   Free throws  8-12 66.7%

Eastern:    Field Goals 19-62 30.6%  3 pointers  8-32 25.0%   Free throws 16-22 72.7%

New Paltz improves to 3-6 (1-1 YAC) and will return to action Tuesday Jan. 6th when they travel to Cortland to face the undefeated Red Dragons.   

[magicman]

Cortland defeats Medaille rather easily 76-48. I had this as a Cortland win by a 78-71 final. Almost hit the Cortland score right on the button missing by a single basket but expected the Mavericks to put up more of a fight.

The Red Dragons broke loose from a closely contested affair near the end of the first half of play. Cortland led for most of the 1st period but Medaille hung with them and finally went ahead 21-20 on a layup by Jammal Coleman with 5:47 left in the half. Cortland didn't waste any time getting the lead back and this time it would last. Lamard Herron got a steal and a layin to put the Red Dragons back in front 23-21 and Cortland ended the half on a 15-5 run to grab the lead at the break 35-26.

The Red Dragons put this game away at the very beginning of the 2nd half. Herron opened the period with a long distance basket, followed by a steal and layup by Shayne Martinez. James Morales followed with another layup, and Martinez tipped in a Red Dragon miss and the lead was 18 with only 3:15 gone by. The Mavericks never got closer than 12 points after that and the lead ballooned to the final margin of 28 points.

12 Cortland players broke into the scoring column led by Lamard Herron with 18 points (6x14 fg, 4x7 3's, 2x3 ft), 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. T.J. Hefele came off the bench to score 14 points ( 4x8 fg, 3x5 3's 3x5 ft), with 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Medaille was Led by Ryan Grandits with 15 points and Jammal Coleman with 10 points.

Cortland won the statistical  battle in nearly every category. They outshot  the Mavericks, had the edge in rebounding 49 to 34. They committed 16 turnovers to 26 for Medaille.

The shooting stats were:

Cortland State    Field goals 28-72  38.9%   3 pointers 10-31 32.3%   Free throws  10-15 66.7%

Medaille             Field goals 16-48  33.3%    3 pointers 2-16 12.5%    Free throws  14-19 73.7%

Cortland ups their record to 8-0 (2-0 YAC) and continues to lead the East Region. It is the 2nd best start in school history. They will host New Paltz on Tuesday Jan. 6th at 2:00 PM in an attempt to equal their best start ever, which was 9-0 by the 1952-53 team.

[magicman]

Potsdam State at Hilbert

The Bears finally get to play in the Hilbert Tip Off Tournament albeit a month and a half later than it was supposed to tip off.
Hilbert is quietly putting together a nice campaign as they enter this game with an undefeated 7-0 record. Normally a team from the AMCC conference would be an underdog playing against a team from the SUNYAC unless it happens to be the top team in the AMCC playing one of the bottom teams in the YAC. That's what we have taking place here today. The oddsmakers have made the Hawks a 10 point favorite in this contest. That seems like a big number to me as the Bears, bad as their record may be have been able to play against everyone they've been up against. Their 5 losses have been by a combined 23 points, so they're certainly not getting blown out of the water. I can't pick them to win this game but I think they keep it close. I hope I'm wrong on this one and they manage to pull off the upset, but I see them going down by a 74-67 final score.

[magicman]

Potsdam State falls to Hilbert 90-71.

Hilbert jumped out to an early 7-0 lead but the Bears came back and caught them at 12 each after 6 minutes of play. The Hawks regained the lead and extended it by as much as 6 points, until Potsdam took their first lead of the game on a long ball by Mitch Lamerson to go in front 32-31 with 4:27 remaining in the half. It was the only time the Bears had the lead and it lasted for all of 20 seconds. The Hawks got a pair of free throws on their next possession from Xavier Major to go back in front and that started a 13-4 burst to end the half.  Hilbert followed those 2 foul shots with an old fashioned 3 point play from Jordan Kumro, a tip in by Major and back to back 3 pointers by Trevor Stark to push the lead to double digits at 44-34. The half ended with the Hawks up 44-36.

The Bears got a quick jumper from Joe Estramonte to open the 2nd period and narrow the gap to 6, but that was as close as they got the rest of the game. Hilbert quickly built a 10 point lead and gradually increased it throughout the half. The largest advantage was 22 points occurring with 3:04 remaining and a score of 88-64.

The Bears got 12 points off the bench from Rashawd Hendricks to lead their effort. He added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Zac Adams was the only other Potsdam player with double figures as he tallied 11 points. Connor Engle led the team with 11 rebounds.

Hilbert place 5 players in double figs and scoring honors went to Trevor Stark with 21 points. He also had 6 assists and 3 boards. Sean Weisansal had 17 points, 5 assists, and 6 steals. Ryan Bradt had 14 points with 5 rebounds, Jordan Kumro had 11 points and Malique McCoy had 10. Jerame Owens only had 4 points but grabbed a game high 13 rebounds, had a game high 5 blocks and equaled the game high total of 6 assists.     

Hilbert shot almost 50% and the Bears shot 34.6%. The Hawks made 7 three pointers and the Bears were only 4x26 from long distance. That's the big story of the game. I watched a lot of this game and way too many shots were thrown up from downtown that weren't even close. Both teams had 45 rebounds and they both had 17 turnovers.

Potsdam falls to 1-6 overall (0-2 YAC) and will take on John Carroll in the consolation game on Sunday at 1:00 PM. John Carroll lost to Nazareth by an 85-80 score in a game prior to the Bears game.  Hilbert, now 8-0, will take on Nazareth for the Championship game at 3:00 PM.

The Bears won't get any relief tomorrow when they take the floor against John Carroll. The Blue Streaks are favored to win by a 20 point margin. They are currently 7-3 and just last Tuesday handed D3hoops #18 St Norbert their 1st loss of the season 80-70. I was surprised that Nazareth managed to win this game.  The Blue Streaks are just what their name implies as they streak up and down the court with their fast tempo. The Bears better put their track shoes on and hope they can hang with these guys. I don't think they can and see the outcome as another Potsdam loss. This one will be by a 94-72 final score.

Hope I'm wrong about this one though.   

 

[Bengalsrule]

One game scheduled today involving a SUNYAC team.

New Paltz State at Roanoke College    4:00 PM

I'd like to pick the Hawks to win this game but their 2-5 record doesn't leave me with a whole lot of hope for that to happen. The point spread favors the home team by a double digit 11 point margin. I'm thinking that the Hawks will keep it a little closer than that but will still absorb their 6th loss of the year. Final score will be Roanoke 76 New Paltz 69.

Final score just in:
New Paltz loses to Roanoke College 77-69. As you can see from my above quote my crystal ball predicted this game as a 76-69 win for Roanoke. Missed it by a single point.

Not bad.  You are good at this prediction stuff!

Omg. Don't tell magicman that.  His head won't fit through the Cards gymnasium door!

[magicman]

The noggin is a little bigger today than it was yesterday. But that's because of all the Christmas goodies I been loading up on.

[Bengalsrule]

The noggin is a little bigger today than it was yesterday. But that's because of all the Christmas goodies I been loading up on.

[Bengalsrule]

Reggie Williams is this week SUNYAC player of the week.

From the 'Yac....
Reggie Williams, Plattsburgh
Yonkers, N.Y. / Gorton HS
Senior Reggie Williams came up with one of the best games of his career to help the Plattsburgh State men's basketball team knock off previously undefeated Keene State 99-94 on the road. The Yonkers, N.Y., product amassed a team-high 22 points and completed his double-double bid by yanking down 10 rebounds. It's the third double-double for Williams this season and his second straight. The final-year man also contributed four blocked shots and a pair of steals to the Cardinals' win.

Congrats to the Cards and Reggie. I must admit that I thought that it would be Chris Cartwright who returned to the BENGALS line up after a nearly 4 year hiatus and took MVP honors at the Montclair State tourney with a 19 pts per game average including a 21 pt 2nd half vs MSU in the Championship game. I was wrong. Clearly Reggie's stats were very impressive and very deserving of this weeks honors. Don't worry Magicman. I will tell him myself this Saturday. In fact does he like the nightlife? I've heard about this little club in Canada that has some wild entertainment on Friday night. Hmmm I'm wondering what he and Mike Mitchell are doing Friday night after the Fredonia game? Maybe I'll drive over to their hotel and  ..............
























Just joking    

[magicman]

Congratulations to Reggie Williams of Plattsburgh State for his selection as this weeks selection as
the  SUNYAC Player of The Week.

Reggie's performance against Keene State was outstanding and I was glad to see that he grabbed POTW honors. I hope he's got a chance for back to back awards because of his play in tomorrow night's game against Middlebury. Another 11 for 18 night from the field would be fine, Big Guy!!!

[magicman]

Sunday's game:  Potsdam 57  John Carroll 93

I was afraid this one could get ugly and it sure did. I said the Bears would lose 94-72 and while I almost hit the Blue Streaks number right on the button Potsdam was quite a ways away from my total of 72. A quick look at the box score shows that John Carroll shot 51.1% from 3 point range and that wasn't a puny 4x7 or 5x9 when you usually see a high percentage from long distance. Nope... the Blue Streaks made 16 three pointers in 31 attempts. That's 48 points scored from behind the arc which is close to what the Bears scored in the entire game. Potsdam on the other hand didn't shoot well from anywhere as they were 21x62 from the field (33.9%) and 5x20 (25%) from 3 point range.

The Bears were only in this game for about 10 minutes and then were down by double digits. The knockout punch was the final 5 minutes of the first half. Potsdam was down 32-20 but instead of narrowing that margin they allowed the Blue Streaks to end the period on a 23-6 outburst that resulted in a 55-26 halftime deficit.

The Bears' brief highlight was the start of the 2nd period when Joe Estramonte hit back to back 3 pointers to open the scoring and cut the lead from 29 to 23. John Carroll then scored 11 of the next 15 points to build the lead back up to 30 and it was just a question of how big the final margin would be. At it largest, the lead was 85-40 with 7:45 remaining.

The Bears were led by Rishawd Hendricks with 12 points and Greg Torchon with 10. Estramonte and Zac Adams both had 8 points while Adams led the team with 7 rebounds. 

The Bears fall to 1-7 (0-2 YAC) and will be off until this coming weekend when they make the long trip to Western NY to take on Buffalo State on Friday at 5:30 PM. After the results of this past weekend's trip to Western NY that's probably the last place the Bears want to return to. On the positive side however is an opportunity to put one in the win column as they get the other struggling YAC team, Fredonia State 1-5 (0-2 YAC), on Saturday. Somebody will end up with a 2nd W on the board.   

[magicman]

Nearly a full slate of action today in the SUNYAC as Potsdam State is the only team not in action. Here's the lineup:

Jan. 6   

New Paltz State  at  Cortland State        2:00 PM   

Geneseo State  at  Fredonia State        5:30 PM

Brockport State  at  Buffalo State        5:30 PM
   
Oneonta State  at  Oswego State        5:30 PM   

Middlebury     at  Plattsburgh State        5:30 PM   

[magicman]

The new D3hoops Top 25 poll was released Monday night and Cortland State has moved up to #30 as they get 39 points in the Others Receiving Votes category. That's an increase of 24 points from the last poll when they were in the #36 spot with 15 points. No other team from the East Region is getting mentioned.

[magicman]

New Paltz State at Cortland State  2:00 PM

The Red Dragons look to keep their unbeaten streak alive as they take on a New Paltz team that has struggled to find any consistency so far this year. Hawks have yet to win 2 games in a row but could do so today as they are coming off a win over Eastern University last Saturday.

Cortland fresh off a #3 ranking in the D3hoops Top 25 poll  doesn't want to take a step backward here. They have won 6 0f the past 8 games against the Hawks and the odds makers have made them a healthy 17 point favorite in today's game. I think the Hawks will keep it closer than that but Cortland will prevail by a 72-64 final score.

[magicman]

Middlebury  at  Plattsburgh State        5:30 PM

This is the game of the night and could be the best non-conference matchup of the year in the SUNYAC. Oneonta's games against Williams (a road win 74-68) and Eastern Connecticut (a neutral court loss 101-78) will also rank right up there. The result won't be known until we see how Middlebury, Williams and Eastern Connecticut end up in conference play.

The real possibility exists however, that Plattsburgh and Middlebury could wind up winning their conference's regular season crown, or conference tournament. Certainly both teams have gotten off to a good start and they are considered to be among the top teams in the SUNYAC and NESCAC.

The Panthers come into tonight's contest with a sparkling 8-0 record. Usually when Middlebury sports an unblemished record, and they have done so on a number of occasions in the past 6 years, they find themselves highly ranked in D3hoops Top 25 poll. And by highly ranked I'm talking Top 10 or better. However, this year the Panthers have received very little love and weren't even mentioned in the first 3 rounds of voting. They made their entry in week #3 with 4 points,
and slowly over the next 2 polls gained additional points. They have now accumulated 35 points and the latest D3hoops poll that was released Monday night has moved them up to #31 in the rankings. The SUNYAC's Cortland State, also undefeated at 8-0 is ranked just in front of the Panthers at #30 with a total of 39 points.

Middlebury in a 5 year stretch from the 2008-09 season through the 2012-13 season had an incredible record of 128-18. Their worst season in that span was 24-4 and their best was 28-2. I'm not sure but I don't think there was a team in D3  that had a better record in those 5 years. Last year was a down year when they were "only" 17-9. That down year is part of the reason they aren't higher in the Top 25 poll. They received no love in the Preseason Poll and have had to climb up slowly by remaining perfect. They have been able to do that because of an extremely weak schedule. That's the other reason they aren't ranked any higher in the poll.

None of the teams Middlebury has played, entering tonight's contest, has a winning record. Two of them are at .500 and one of those two, St. Joseph (Vt) isn't even a D3 school. Two of their opponents have won 1 game. One of them has won 2 games, and 2 of them have won 3 games. The overall won lost record of the teams the Panthers have played is 26-55. They have a Strength of Schedule rating right now of 379 out of 416. The Panthers have, for the most part, taken care of business, but a narrow 2 point win at Univ. of New England and a single digit win over RPI raises some questions. Their best win came at home against Skidmore and the miracle of the loaves and fishes had nothing on the wondrous occurrences that took place in Pepin Gym on that Saturday afternoon which enabled the Panthers to walk off the floor with a win.

Plattsburgh enters this game fresh off a win over another undefeated team and would love nothing better than to make it two in a row. It would also give the Cardinals a winning streak over the Panthers, something that hasn't happened in recent memory, if ever. Plattsburgh handed Middlebury one of the worst defeats of their season last year and I'm sure that Coach Jeff Brown hasn't let his team forget that fact. 

On paper this should be an excellent matchup. Both teams have a potent offense with the Panthers averaging 83.6 ppg and the Cardinals 79.8 ppg. The defensive numbers favor the Panthers as well as they allow 64.2 ppg to the 71.8 ppg that the Cards give up.

What doesn't show up in the stats though is the strength of schedule and as was mentioned above the Panthers do not have a very good SOS. Plattsburgh however, has an excellent SOS, ranked #77 in all of D3. The combined won-lost record of the 8 teams the Cardinals have played is 47-33.  That's a .587 winning percentage. The Panthers opponents winning percentage is only .320. So it stands to reason that Middlebury would score more points and give up less than the Cardinals would, as Plattsburgh has been playing a much tougher schedule.           

All that being said, the fact that Middlebury has played a weak schedule doesn't mean they would falter if they had played a stronger one. Tonight's game will certainly be a good test. Plattsburgh has lost 2 games and they were both down to the wire contests. They will want to protect their home court but that could be easier said than done. The Panthers have a 5-2 lead in this series over the past 7 years. They are 2-2 in Middlebury but are 3-0 in Plattsburgh. The friendly confines of Plattsburgh's Memorial Hall have suited them just fine. The teams have one common opponent in Skidmore. They both beat the Thoroughbreds...Plattsburgh 60-57 in overtime at Skidmore.....Middlebury 57-56 at home.   

The oddsmakers have also looked hard at the SOS of these two teams and have concluded that the Cardinals are 6 point favorites. I think it might be just a bit closer and see the Cardinals winning by a 78-74 final score .