MBB: State University of New York Athletic Conference

[Bengalsrule]

Damn.  This 1 hurt bad. I mean hurts REALLY bad!!   My BENGALS snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Early this morning, around 12;56 a.m.,  I stated that Buff State has to do certain things IF they had a chance to win.   Now that I take a look at that post I can see that we didnt get it done....

"Ugly forecasts"?  Ooowwee, don't want anymore of those!. You are putting some pressure on my beloved Bengals Magic 1!!!. However I do feel that if the Bengals keep their turnovers under 10 (WE FAILED AT THAT - 13 TURNOVERS), assists over 20 (WE HAD 16 - FAILED ON THAT), keep Esterfaa off the 3 pt line (ESTERFAA MADE 5 BASKETS...ALL 3'S - FAILED MISERABLY ON THAT), Lydon and Joseph off the glass (LYDON DIDNT PLAY, JOSEPH 4 BOARDS, BUT RED DRAGONS OUT REBOUND BENGALS 48-47) and prevent Carter and Morales from quarterbacking the Red Dragons offense ( 4 ASSISTS BETWEEN THEM - SUCCESS...I GUESS )and my Bengals stay out of foul trouble (LEADING REBOUNDER AND SCORER, MIKE HENRY FOULS OUT)......then Buff State may have a chance!

My goodness, I'm getting as bad as you. Almost 1 a.m. and I'm up posting on D3hoops.  I gotta stop hanging with you dude.  You are a bad influence........and I can't wait for 7:30!!!!

Go Bengals!!!

After all was said and done, we just didn't get the job done. I gotta admit, having a birds-eye view of Reagan's  game winner (2 for 2 from beyond the arc), I had that sinking feeling when the ball left his hands. I was hoping that it was just nerves...it wasn't.

I am encouraged by the fact that after being outscored by 5 in the first half we returned the favor in the 2nd half. Knowing that shooting 9/17 from the free throw line is unacceptable, especially had we made just 1 more, gives these boys some renewed hope. 10/17 and we are in double o/t. 11/17 and I'm writing a different story. Down by 7 with 2:29 left, my BENGALS could have mailed it in. But  they didn't. And that is probably 1 of the more encouraging things of the day. Reigning SUNYAC - POW Kevin Marmelejos had 3 molars pulled Weds. and just wasn't the same tonight, going 1/4 and 0/3 from beyond the arc (I understand). he'll be better tomorrow. But at the end, wqhen all was said and done,  Cortland was the better team tonight...plain and simple. Kudos to CSU.

The beautiful thing about all of this is that in less than 17 hours we get a shot at the #$25 ranked team in the nation,, Oswego. Nothing can replace the sick feeling that many BENGAL faithful had tonight (over 1,200 in attendance...including my wife ). I gotta believe in my heart of hearts...tomorrow the sun will rise, and my BENGALS get another chance to prove that they belong in the upper tier of the 'Yac (thanks magicman for that #2 projection). Gonna take the wife out now, to Walmart buy a t.v. that she wants. Got to do something to get this taste out of my mouth. And I dont drink.

This s--t hurts . Better days are ahead!!

GO BENGALS

[magicman]

Final scores of all the day's action in one post. What a day it was. I'm exhausted from just watching.

Roberts Wesleyan 85   Geneseo State 82          I picked the Knight to win by a 77-71 score. If you're up by 9 points with 3:20 to go you should win the game. No excuses, but I should be putting this one in my win column.

Brockport State 67  St. John Fischer 50  I had the Golden Eagles winning by a 73-70 score. Port was close to my prediction but Fisher would still need to be playing to hit their projected score. Never expected the Beast from the East (Region that is) to be so underwhelming.

Plattsburgh State 81 New Paltz State 71   I almost nailed this one missing by a single point with my 82-71 forecast. Just glad my best prediction was for my favorite team.

Cortland State 84  Buffalo State 83    Sorry to see someone lose this game. Struggles throughout the game by both teams...not 1 but 2 exciting finishes. I picked the Bengals to win in their house, by an 87-80 final score. Did anybody notice that my total was exactly the total of the final score. 167 big ones. Yeah, I know, I needed overtime to get it...so what! 

Oneonta State 87  Potsdam State 58   Oneonta continues to have a potent offense as they follow up their 105 point output against Hartwick with 87 points against the Bears. Had a fairly accurate forecast with my 86-62 final.

Oswego State 67  Fredonia State 62     November wasn't  a good month for the Blue Devils but ever since the calendar turned the page they have played like a different team. Maybe Coach Seymour is finally getting through as they get a good win followed by an almost bigger win. Need to change the almosts into reality though. I took Oswego by a 76-59 final score. They couldn't get to 76 even with overtime. I said that the Lakers have a tendency to play down to their opponents. That certainly was the case again tonight. They let St. Lawrence hang around and the Saints played them tough right to the end. Then Morrisville State had a chance to win in regulation but missed a 3 pointer at the buzzer. Fredonia actually had the ball for a final shot in regulation but turned it over and they went to overtime. The depth that I thought Oswego had at the start of the season has found it's way to Oneonta (Ian Shupp 10 points Friday night, 6.5 ppg, ) and Cortland  (Justin Cooper, 8.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 17.4 minutes per game). Lakers living on the edge.

   

[magicman]

Bengalsrule talking about the tough loss tonight by Buffalo State (and I can sympathize with him) brings me to another tough loss on Friday that didn't happen on a basketball court.

The Oneonta State Men's Soccer Team played in the Final Four today against the Amherst Lord Jeffs. It was a game that couldn't be settled after regulation and 2 overtime periods since neither team could get one past the other team's goalkeeper. So to determine a winner of this National Semifinal game they had to resort to penalty kicks and the Red Dragons fell behind when they missed their first 2 attempts while Amherst made their first 2 attempts. Oneonta then made their 3rd shot and so did the Lord Jeffs. The Red Dragons made their 4th shot, Amherst missed and Oneonta made their 5th shot making the score 3-3. Amherst then put their 5th shot in the back of the net to walk off with the win, 4-3 on penalty kicks, and advance to the Championship game.

Tough, tough loss for the Red Dragons who lost for the 3rd time in the semifinals in the past 5 years. I was hoping this year might be their year.     

[magicman]

Updating the SUNYAC non-conference record of all games through December 4th.

SUNYAC record vs Non-Conference opponents 26-20     (includes 3 games against non-DIII teams. Buff State has 1 win and 1 loss against 2 schools that are not members of the NCAA, Geneseo has 1 loss against Roberts Wesleyan that won't count )


SUNYAC record vs Non-Conference NCAA DIII Teams     25-18  (Top 7 schools are 23-4. Bottom 3 schools are 2-14)                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                     

magicman's predictions all games (includes conference games)    38-12 (76.0%)
SUNYAC games         3-1     

[magicman]

Plattsburgh State 81 New Platz 71

Plattsburgh State was the beneficiary of another monstrous night from forward/guard Kyle Richardson who had his 3rd straight double-double this time with 30 points and 15 rebounds. Kyle also had 3 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist in 36 minutes of court time. He was 12x17 from the field, 2x4 from long distance, and 4x7 from the line.

The start of the game against New Paltz was a repetition of every game the Cardinals have played this year. If the Cards were a race horse they'd be dead last going into the first turn. Once again they fell behind by double digits less than 4 minutes into the game as the Hawks jumped out to a 12-2 lead. They slowly began to chip away at the lead, and managed to narrow the gap to 4 points by the break, thanks to 15 points by Richardson.

The 2nd half opened with the Cards Ed Correa nailing a 3 pointer 15 seconds into the period. Another 3 pointer by Richardson drew the Plattsburgh men even for the first time all night at 43 all, with 16:38 left in the half. Two minutes later a layup by the Cards Jon Patron and a triple by sophomore Eli Bryant gave the Cards their first lead of the night at 48-47. Richardson added a layup and freshman Isaiah Johnson hit a jumper to extend the margin to 5 points. Still up by 5, with 10 minutes to go the Cards misfired on 5 straight possessions while the Hawks hit a pair of bombs to retake the lead at 59-58 with 6:51 remaining. Still down 62-60 with under 5 minutes to play Eli Bryant hit his third 3 pointer to give the Cards the lead once again. Richardson followed with another layup and after the Hawks' Nick Paquette answered with a drive to the hoop, Zach Coleman hit a triple to make it a 4 point Plattsburgh lead. A jumper by the Hawks' Brandon Guest cut the lead in half but Bryant was there once more with another 3 pointer to make it 71-66 with just under 2 minutes left. The Hawks missed on their end and Richardson grabbed the defensive rebound. He then gets an offensive rebound and a tipin to build the margin to 7. When the Hawks missed again the Cards fast break led by a Bryant pass to Richardson was the icing on the cake. The Hawks down by 9 with under a minute started to foul and Plattsburgh would hit 6 of 7 down the stretch. It was that missed free throw by Mr. Coleman that kept me from a perfect prediction and made the final 81-71. He will hear about that in practice this coming week. You can bank on that.

In addition to Kyle Richardson's double-double game honors of 30 points and 18 boards, the Cards got a breakout game from Eli Bryant. Serving as the backup point guard and also as the 2 guard he had his best game in a Cardinal uniform. He was 4x5 from long range and 4x4 from the line to total 16 points. He also had 5 assists and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes. Starting point guard, Zack Coleman, had 9 points (2x3 fg, 1x1 3's, 4x6 ft) 6 assists and 3 rebounds. Freshman Jon Patron came off the bench to provide 9 points and 8 rebounds and another first year player, Isaiah Johnson added 8 points and 2 rebounds in 14 minutes. Still a third newcomer, freshman Brandon Johnson, had 3 steals, 2 assists and a block in just 10 minutes of court time.

Plattsburgh won the rebounding battle 48 to 36 and had 15 turnovers to 16 for the Hawks. The teams were nearly equal with their shooting percentages. The Cards were 28x67 (41.8%) from the field, 8x24 (33.3%) from behind the arc, and 17x25 (68%) from the line. New Paltz was 26x62 (41.9%) from the field, 7x24 (29.2%) from long distance, and 12x22 (54.5%) from the stripe.

New Paltz was led by Keegan Donovan with 22 points (7x14 fg, 1x5 3's, 7x9 ft) 6 assists, 2 steals and a block.
Nick Paquette had 12 points off the bench in 26 minutes. RJ Rosa had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals.

The Hawks fall to 1-5 (0-1 YAC) and will host Potsdam State tomorrow at 4:00 PM

Plattsburgh is now 3-1 (1-0 YAC) and will travel to Oneonta to take on the Red Dragons at 4:00 PM tomorrow.       

[magicman]

You would think that a night's work of 30 points and 18 rebounds along with an earlier game of another double-double might get that player a SUNYAC Player of the Week award. But for Kyle Richardson his big game last night to lead all the SUNYAC players might not be enough. On Tuesday he put up 15 points  and 12 rebounds against St. Lawrence in a 77-65 Cardinal victory and factor that with Friday night's output and that should get you some League recognition. Cards are 2-0 in those 2 games. 

Last week his 36 point, 15 rebound effort against Skidmore failed to gain him Player of the Week honors, when Buff State's Kevin Marmolejos went off for 32 points against Hobart, by nailing a school record, 10 three pointers in 14 attempts. I thought both of those games were award worthy.

This week he'll be up against  Geneseo's Justin Ringen, who has put up back to back games of 30 points on Wednesday and Friday against Nazareth and Roberts Wesleyan. Knights went 1-1 in those 2 games but Justin hit a game winning 3 pointer with a guy right on him to beat Nazareth in the first round of the Wendy's Classic.

Justin's stats: 60 pts, 12 reb, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. 21x37 fg, 9x12 3's, 9x10 ft. 72 minutes out of 80.

Kyle's stat's : 45 pts, 30 reb, 3 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks. 16x30 fg, 2x7 3's, 11x16 ft. 74 minutes out of 80.

Justin has 15 more points than Kyle. Kyle has 18 more rebounds than Justin. Justin leads in assists, while Kyle leads in steals and blocks. Both players have 1 more game  today so that may be the tiebreaker. As  for me, as it stands right now, I vote them as co-players of the week. Both of these outstanding performances deserve recognition.

I hope Fran Elia reads this and brings it to the attention of the SUNYAC office. The person or persons who make the decision on who gets these weekly awards, for once, could name a Co-Player of the Week, based on 2 outstanding performances. (maybe it's happened before but I can't recall when) It's tough to have, maybe  the best week of your career, which may be better than half of the weekly winners, throughout the course of the season, and get nothing for it because someone else also had the best week of their career. Just saying. If anyone else cares to comment on this, please do. 

[amh63]

Magicman....when do you get some rest?  I get exhausted just reading your posts!
That's correct....I'm OLDER

[Bengalsrule]

Bengalsrule talking about the tough loss tonight by Buffalo State (and I can sympathize with him) brings me to another tough loss on Friday that didn't happen on a basketball court.

The Oneonta State Men's Soccer Team played in the Final Four today against the Amherst Lord Jeffs. It was a game that couldn't be settled after regulation and 2 overtime periods since neither team could get one past the other team's goalkeeper. So to determine a winner of this National Semifinal game they had to resort to penalty kicks and the Red Dragons fell behind when they missed their first 2 attempts while Amherst made their first 2 attempts. Oneonta then made their 3rd shot and so did the Lord Jeffs. The Red Dragons made their 4th shot, Amherst missed and Oneonta made their 5th shot making the score 3-3. Amherst then put their 5th shot in the back of the net to walk off with the win, 4-3 on penalty kicks, and advance to the Championship game.

Tough, tough loss for the Red Dragons who lost for the 3rd time in the semifinals in the past 5 years. I was hoping this year might be their year.     

Darn who would have thought that I would be cursing "Red Dragons" in 1 moment and praising "Red Dragons" in another. I too want to join Magic in saluting the ONEONTA Red Dragons for a job well done. I remember my BENGALS "Sweet 16" run of 2011. The most exciting time I've ever had  with college ball (any type of college ball). I can only imagine the ride that the Red Dragons and the Oneonta faithful have had over the past 3/4 weeks! 1 game away from the Chip is quite the accomplishment. Kudos to Oneonta. 

All-time" are you catching any of this?

[magicman]

Six games on tap today in the YAC with 4 more conference tilts taking place.

Rochester Tech  vs Geneseo State    3:00 PM   Wendy's College Classic @ University of Rochester

The battle for 3rd place in  the final Wendy's Tournament should probably have been a different matchup. Nobody saw the RIT the 8th seed beating the top seeded St John Fisher Cardinals. And Geneseo should probably have won yesterday's game against Roberts Wesleyan. But that's Division III basketball and this is the matchup we have. RIT has a 3-3 record and has played some decent teams including 2 ranked schools and have gone 1-1 against them (loss to #24 Brooklyn College win over #10 Fisher) The oddsmakers have made Geneseo a 7 point favorite. I think the Knights will win this game by a score of 83-73 and the MOV may be larger than than.     

Brockport State  vs  Hobart                  3:00 Pm  Wendy's  College Classic @ St. John Fisher

The battle for 5th place in Wendy 's tournament should be a pretty good game. Hobart is a young team as they have been starting 2 freshman and with first year players you never know what you're going to get...especially on the defensive end. They also have 2 other freshman in their main 7 man rotation. So 4 of the top 7 players are in their first season of college ball. They have 2 solid wins over Scranton and Rochester yet dropped a 20 point decision to Buff State. Brockport lost to Rochester just the other day so the oddsmakers see that and have made the Statesmen a 6 point favorite. I'm going to buck that trend because I think Brockport is better than Rochester and would beat then more often than not and I like the experience that the Golden Eagles bring to this matchup. Port beat Hobart last year in this tournament and I think last year's Hobart team was better than this year's version. I think this year's Brockport team is better than last years version. I'm taking Brockport here by an 84-76 final score.   
   
Potsdam State  @  New Paltz State        4:00 PM

Potsdam is a double digit underdog in this game and the Hawks can't lose a 2nd game in a row in their house especially to a team that has yet to post a win. The point spread is 12 points and the Bears will be lucky to keep it that close. Bears struggle to put 60 points on the board. Hawks averaging around 72. New Paltz wins 74-60.
   
Cortland State  @  Fredonia State        4:00 PM

Cortland should win this game by a comfortable margin. They should have beaten Utica College by a comfortable margin as well but were playing catch up most of the game and luckily caught them. Utica is 2-4 and the 2 teams they beat have a combined record of 1-10. Fredonia has a better win  over Alfred and their overtime loss to Oswego than anything Utica has done. So the Red Dragons better not get complacent here just because they walked out of the Sports Arena yesterday with a last second win, when it looked like they were goners. The Blue Devils are getting better and they are hungry. Hanging with the Lakers can only build confidence levels for all the players. The oddsmakers have made the Red Dragons an 11 point favorite. Ten days ago that spread would have been 20 points. I'm taking Cortland because they have too much talent for the Blue Devils, but Coach Spanbauer better crack the whip and keep this team focused. Cortland wins this one 82-69.   
   
Oswego State  @  Buffalo State                4:00 PM Co-Featured Game of the Day

The Lakers exhaled deeply as they walked out of the Steele Hall Fieldhouse last night around 9:45 PM. They breathed in that clean Fredonia air and knew that they had escaped a trap game. But they might have been walking from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. Some mighty angry Bengal tigers are waiting for them a short distance down the highway. Normally the past few years, when the Lakers and their travel partner, Cortland, made the trip to Western New York they had the benefit of playing one of the YAC's lightweights, in Fredonia, before or after facing the Bengals. And even then trying to win both of those road games proved to be an arduous task. In fact the Lakers have to go back to the Chad Burridge years to make that a 2-0 road trip and Cortland has only went 2-0 once in the past 9 years. Today the Lakers are coming off a tough overtime game  and even though Buffalo State also had to play an extra session the Bengals got to sleep in their own beds last night and will be looking, more than ever, to protect their house. The oddsmakers have made the Lakers a slim 2 point road favorite but I think Buffalo State will bounce back and knock Oswego from the unbeaten ranks. I see a final score of  Buff State 78 Oswego 74.       
   
Plattsburgh State    @  Oneonta State        4:00 PM Co-Featured Game of the Day

These two teams went at it tooth and nail last year with the Red Dragons beating the Cardinals in Plattsburgh on a Frankie Kelly drive to the basket that broke a 92-92 game with 2 seconds left on the clock. Zach Mager then stole the inbounds pass to close out the Cards. Mager had 31 points and Kelly had 18 points with 10 assists. Then the Cards  returned that favor down in Oneonta when they came from 4 points down with 43 seconds to go and squeezed out a 74-71 win. Both teams lost a lot of talent through graduation, notably Mager, Kelly,and Kareem Williams for Oneonta while the Cardinals graduated 5 players that were starters for all or many games last year. However, both teams had some nice players waiting in the wings for their chance to shine. I have to give the edge to Oneonta here in terms of experienced players as they field a team of starters that all got ample minutes last year. Plattsburgh is relying more on several first year players that are getting big minutes in the rotation. Both teams  come into this contest with identical 3-1 records and both are 1-0 in the conference. The winner will have a leg up on a playoff spot. Statistically the odds of going 2-0 on this road trip, like the 2 trips to the western part of the state, are not favorable for the visitors. Yet the oddsmakers have made the Cardinals a very slim 1 point favorite. I'm putting my heart out there on my sleeve again because my head says that the Red Dragons will win this battle today. They had an easy game yesterday and the entire lineup got a chance to play some meaningful minutes. No starter played more than 25 minutes and most only saw 20 -22 minutes of court time. Usually 4 starters average around 30 minutes or more. Plattsburgh had 3 of their main starters play 32 to 36 minutes yesterday. The one variable that I know nothing about is the absence of Oneonta's Mikey McElroy yesterday against Potsdam. He's an All Conference quality player and if he's missing that would be a blow to the Red Dragons. So despite all the warning signs that tell me to pick the Red Dragons and the cloudiness of my crystal ball that won't reveal the winner, I'm taking the Cardinals to pull out a tight 81-77 road win.               

[Bengalsrule]

I hope Fran Elia reads this and brings it to the attention of the SUNYAC office. The person or persons who make the decision on who gets these weekly awards, for once, could name a Co-Player of the Week, based on 2 outstanding performances. (maybe it's happened before but I can't recall when) It's tough to have, maybe  the best week of your career, which may be better than half of the weekly winners, throughout the course of the season, and get nothing for it because someone else also had the best week of their career. Just saying. If anyone else cares to comment on this, please do.

I agree  with the Magicman about Co-P.O.W. in SUNYAC.  With probably 150 + athletes playing week in and week out in the 'Yac, you are bound to have multiple "big game" performances by mulitple "big game performers", week in and week out. With some of the examples that my good friend from the north has already given, I couldn't agree more. Methinks that Fran will get the message out to those who make those decisions. Good point Magicman!!

[Bengalsrule]

Six games on tap today in the YAC with 4 more conference tilts taking place.
   
Oswego State  @  Buffalo State                4:00 PM Co-Featured Game of the Day

The Lakers exhaled deeply as they walked out of the Steele Hall Fieldhouse last night around 9:45 PM. They breathed in that clean Fredonia air and knew that they had escaped a trap game. But they might have been walking from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. Some mighty angry Bengal tigers are waiting for them a short distance down the highway. Normally the past few years, when the Lakers and their travel partner, Cortland, made the trip to Western New York they had the benefit of playing one of the YAC's lightweights, in Fredonia, before or after facing the Bengals. And even then trying to win both of those road games proved to be an arduous task. In fact the Lakers have to go back to the Chad Burridge years to make that a 2-0 road trip and Cortland has only went 2-0 once in the past 9 years. Today the Lakers are coming off a tough overtime game  and even though Buffalo State also had to play an extra session the Bengals got to sleep in their own beds last night and will be looking, more than ever, to protect their house. The oddsmakers have made the Lakers a slim 2 point road favorite but I think Buffalo State will bounce back and knock Oswego from the unbeaten ranks. I see a final score of  Buff State 78 Oswego 74.                  

Magicman....did I ever tell you how much I respect your predictions? .

[All-Time]

I agree with all magicman's predictions this afternoon except the Oneonta Red Dragons will pull this one out at home.
They are battle tested tough and this Senior laden team will pull out the victory. Look out for Lawrence Coleman to have a monster game.
I heard Mike McElroy has a bruised thigh and will sit this one out.
Enjoy the games.

[All-Time]

Bengalsrule and Magicman thanks for the high praise of the Oneonta Red Dragons Soccer Team.
This is Music to mt ears.

[magicman]

All-Time,

Hated to see Oneonta lose that way. I've never been in favor of the penalty kick shootout as the way to determine a winner.

In doing my research of that game I was amazed at how many shutouts those 2 goalies had. I knew if someone scored a goal in that game it was probably going to hold up. The other amazing thing was the goalie for Amherst had only given up 4 goals all year long and had 15 shutouts in 19 games. Never gave up more than 1 goal  in a game all year and ended his 4 year career with an NCAA record for career shutouts, which I think the number was 49.  Now the irony or should I say the kicker....he was a 2nd team All American.  I mean what in hell do you have to do to make first team All American? And I wonder who the First Team All American was and what his credentials were that could be better than the guy from Amherst.

Oneonta's goalie was right there in the same neighborhood as the guy from Amherst. I'm thinking the goalie for Calvin may have been the 1st team AA but his team lost in the semi's and I heard Calvin played a soft schedule. Amherst and Oneonta certainly didn't play a soft schedule. I was thrilled that my Cardinals were one of the few teams that actually beat the Red Dragons this year and at Oneonta as well. Of course our return trip in the SUNYAC playoffs had a different outcome but we were pretty banged up and I knew we probably wouldn't get lucky twice down there. I was happy we got an at large bid and got to play in the NCAA tournament. We lost to Bowdoin 1-0 and their goal came with 15 seconds left in regulation. THAT was a heartbreaker.   

[magicman]

Also glad to hear that Mikey McElroy's injury isn't serious. I thought maybe the coaching staff held him out of the Potsdam game so he could play against us.