Ugly, But Effective for Northeastern (Recap of William and Mary vs. Northeastern CAA Tournament Quarterfinal)

In the First Round of the CAA Tournament, often you get games that are not aesthically pleasing and are often downright rockfights. Such was the case in the first game of the Friday evening session between #10 seeded William and Mary and #7 seeded Northeastern.

In the first five minutes, the Huskies went out to an 11-4 lead.  The The Tribe had hit their first shot, a three pointer by Brandon Britt, which gave them their only lead of the game at 3-2.  But then William and Mary proceeded to miss their next six shots and turn the ball over three times. Meanwhile, Quincy Ford was showing the crowd why he was named to the CAA All Rookie team, scoring six of the first eleven Northeastern points.

Northeastern then extended the lead to ten, 20-10 with about six and half minutes left.  But after only hitting on four of their first seventeen shots, William and Mary hit on five of their next eight shots while Northeastern went cold from the field, as they only hit one of their nine three point attempts.  The score at the half was 25-22.  It looked like the first team to fifty would win the game.

A year ago, I watched from the Richmond Coliseum stands as Quinn McDowell set an all time CAA Tournament record for point scored in a game with thirty five.  McDowell led his team to an upset of sixth seeded James Madison in the last game of the evening session. It was one of the greatest individual performances I had ever seen in a college basketball game. It was not the first time though that I had witnessed McDowell have a great night.  A few weeks earlier, McDowell had twenty eight points in a classic overtime game vs. Hofstra.

A year later and McDowell has been a shell of himself.  Coming into the game, McDowell was averaging three points less than last season.  His shooting percentage has been way down; 39.9 percent as opposed to 47.5 percent the year before. His three point shooting is significantly down as well; 34.3 percent as opposed to 45.5 percent last season.  Finally, his free throw shooting is also way down; 77 percent as opposed 86.6 percent last season.  He's taking the same number of shots and playing the same number of minutes as last season.

And I could see this from my seat on press row on the court of the Richmond Coliseum.  Though he was passing well (he had five assists), his shot was way off.  He missed four of his first five shots on the night.  And the man I saw last year drain free throw after free throw at the Mack Center and here on this court, missed all three free throws on the night.  It was as if I was watching a completely different player.

That was probably also the difference in the game.  As well as Tim Rusthoven and Marcus Thornton played, they were the only two players for the Tribe to score in double figures.  McDowell, a year removed from scoring thirty five points on this court, scored a total of six points on the night.

Meanwhile, Northeastern had more than enough to win the game.  They went out to a 14-5 run to start the second half to go up 39-27.  William and Mary would only get as close as three points, 46-43 ironically on a layup by McDowell, his last points on the night.

Ford led three Huskies' players in double figures with eighteen points, while Jonathan Lee had eleven points and Joel Smith had ten points. What makes Northeastern impressive is that their lone senior only played three minutes on the evening.  The Huskies would hit fourteen second half free throws and go on to win the game 57-49.

As I said, the first one to fifty won the game.  For Northeastern it was ugly, but effective.

Effort and Heart Are Not Enough for Towson (Recap of Towson vs. Delaware CAA First Round Game)

In the second game of the afternoon session of the CAA Tournament,  Delaware took on Towson.  The game seemed like a foregone conclusion as the Tigers had one win all season.  But they had played the Blue Hens close in both of their games.

When Defiantly Dutch and I came back from the UNCW - James Madison post game conference, Delaware was only up 7-5.  Six minutes later it was 18-9.  Four minutes later it was 30-13. As expected, the Blue Hens were pulling away from the Tigers.

In the scariest moment of the day, during the first half, there was a battle for a rebound and a Towson player fell with all his weight on Delaware's Hakim McCullar, who was slammed to the floor with a loud sickening noise.  The Richmond Coliseum crowd went completely silent for several minutes as McCullar lied motionless for a few minutes. Then he sat up for a few minutes, then the Delaware staff helped him walk off the court.  He ended up having concussion like symptoms, but thankfully was okay otherwise.

Towson was able to cut the deficit to eleven at the half.  That's because they played with a lot of effort.  They just couldnt put the ball in the basket in the first half as they shot seven of thirty three from the field.

No one exemplified the above statement than Tigers senior forward Robert Nwankwo.  For forty minutes, he got offensive rebound after offensive rebound.  But either he missed the followup shot or he was fouled. Nwankwo was eight of twenty two from the field on the day. However, he was eleven of fifteen from the line.

Towson continued to chip away in the second half as they started finally hitting their shots.  With about seven and a half minutes remaining, the unthinkable occurred.  The Tigers' Deon Jones hit a jumper and Towson had come all the way back to tie the score at fifty three.  Delaware's Devon Saddler responded by burying a three pointer.  The Tigers had a chance to tie a few minutes later. But Nwanko missed a jumper and that was their last opportunity to tie the game.

Delaware was too strong from the foul line as they hit twenty seven of thirty eight free throw attempts.  In the end, Delaware had a 72-65 win.  Saddler led all scorers with 28 points and was four of nine from beyond the arc.  Jarvis Threatt, who reminds me so much of Loren Stokes, who used to play for Hofstra, added fifteen points, nine of which came from the line.  Josh Brinkley added fourteen points.

The Tigers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Blue Hens 51-33.  Towson had twenty four offensive rebounds, twelve came from Nwankwo.   Nwankwo's final stat line was twenty seven points and twenty rebounds.   It was the first twenty twenty stat line in the history of the CAA Tournament and the twenty rebounds tied the CAA Tournament record which is also held by Larry Sanders in the 2009 CAA Championship game.

For the second year in a row, the Tigers played a very close #5-#12 game, but again came up short.  But as Coach Monte Ross said about Towson, "You wouldn't know their record by the way they play."  Nwanko, a senior, talked about how the young players needed to have listened to Coach Ross sooner in the season about the effort necessary to win.  If you were at the press conference, one could see that he really cared about his team's play and the development of the younger players.
 
You wished Nwankwo could play another season so that he could be a part of the development of Towson. However, he will have to watch them from afar next season, even if it seems like his heart will always be with them.

Link to James Madison - UNCW - CAA Tournament First Round Recap

I wrote a recap of the CAA Quarterfinal between James Madison and UNCW.  You can find it here on the Mid Maiority Site. Enjoy.

As Usual, Havoc Prevails (Recap of Northeastern vs. VCU CAA Quarterfinal)

Coach Bill Coen had a huge task before him on Saturday evening.  His Northeastern team was playing VCU in the Richmond Coliseum in a "neutral" site game.  But as most people who follow the CAA know, that's about as neutral as Rush Limbaugh being a moderator in a Planned Parenthood debate. Still, the man who's suit jacket started a Twitter account would have his team ready, especially after a tough first round win over William and Mary.

The Richmond Coliseum was a sea of yellow as the Evening Session was sold out.  An announced crowd of 11,200 roared as Shaka Smart walked on the court.  The inventor of "Havoc" has a rock star following with Rams' fans, not unlike Anthony Grant did when he was the previous coach.  The difference is the VCU administration made a huge investment after last season's Final Four run to keep Smart here hopefully for the forseeable future.

The Rams started out strong, quickly jumping out to an 11-3 lead as they forced three quick turnovers on the Huskies.  Coen called timeout as he needed to find some way to calm his team down and quiet the raucous, but "neutral" Coliseum crowd.

Much to their credit, Northeastern hung around, due in their large part to their defense.  VCU continued to force a lot of turnovers on the Huskies, but couldn't  cash in.  Over the last seven minutes and forty two seconds of the first half, the Rams scored a total of three points.   As a result, what was a nine point lead slowly whittled away.   Jonathan Lee buried a three pointer to tie the game at twenty six at the half.

The great thing about the CAA Tournament is all the wonderful bands.   ODU, Drexel, JMU and Towson all have good bands.  George Mason is probably a step above them and VCU is right there with Doc Nix and the boys.

At the start of the second, VCU went out to a lead but Northeastern kept within striking distance.  When the Huskies weren't turning the ball over, they had success scoring against the Rams.  Northeastern shot nearly fifty four percent in the second half and fifty one percent for the game. The score was only 40-34 with fourteen and a half minutes remaining.

But then the walls came crashing down as VCU turned up "Havoc".  The Rams forced five Huskies' turnovers in the span of eight minutes.  This time, the Rams cashed in on those opportunities as their bench spurred them on.  Rob Brandenberg and Treveon Graham combined for twenty two points in a 24-9 run, which included five three pointers.   Brandenberg nailed three shots from beyond the arc and the score was 64-43 with about seven and a half minutes left.

Northeastern did not quit and actually cut the lead to eight, 71-63 with a little over a minute left.  But the hole was too big for the Huskies to climb out from and the Rams went onto win 75-65.   Brandenberg had nineteen points and Graham added eighteen to lead the way for VCU.  The Rams forced twenty five turnovers and their bench outscored the Huskies Bench 46-4 on the night.

Northeastern gave a spirited effort.  Lee, Joel Smith and Quincy Ford, all who are coming back next season, combined for fifty points on 17 of 35 shooting.  Coen has a terrific nucleus to work from next season.

But in this game, that nucleus just wasn't enough in the end.  Havoc and a three point shooting frenzy was just too much for the Huskies.

Missed Free Throws and Heartbreak in Richmond (Recap of Georgia State vs. George Mason CAA Quarterfinal)

In the last game of the first round on Friday night, Georgia State absolutely hammered Hofstra in the largest margin of victory ever in the CAA Tournament.  Having witnessed the carnage in person, I honestly thought the Panthers were just at the beginning of making a serious statement in the CAA Tournament.

During the season, Georgia State had struggled from the free throw line.  But in their first round game vs. Hofstra, they shot twenty of twenty four from the charity stripe, which was much better than their season average of sixty five percent.  Even during the first round post game press conference, Coach Ron Hunter joked about how well they shot their free throws Friday night.

So when they took the court for their quarterfinal game against #3 seed George Mason,  Georgia State was looking to take it to the Patriots, a team they barely lost to in Fairfax, Virginia.  With the large contingent of Mason fans at the Richmond Coliseum, it probably seemed to the Panthers like they were playing in Fairfax again.

The teams played evenly for the first few minutes.  Then Georgia State's half court trap defense started forcing turnovers on George Mason.  The Panthers went on a 13-2 run and went up 22-11 with about nine and half minutes left in the first half.  Georgia State was playing as well as they did against Hofstra.

But Mason would respond.  They chipped away at the lead, scoring in the paint, while holding the Panthers to one of ten from the field over a seven minute span.   After Ryan Pearson hit a layup, the Patriots were only down three 28-25.  But Georgia State hit a tip in and the Panthers went up 30-25 at the half.



One of the best things about watching a tournament game involving George Mason is their absolutely terrific pep band.  Their band leader, the energetic and very cool looking Doc Nix leads them in some terrific numbers.  "Kashmir" is played with a violin lead that Jimmy Page would be proud to hear.  And as much as I am not a Bonjovi fan, the band's version of "Living on a Prayer" is awesome.

At the start of the second half, Georgia State had multiple chances to extend their lead.  But they couldn't take advantage of the free throw line.  In the first ten minutes, Josh Micheaux missed three free throws.  Eric Buckner and James Fields also each missed a free throw during this time.  Their old "achilles heel" as Ron Hunter would later say in the post game news conference had come back to haunt them.

As a result, George Mason inched their way back into the game.  They tied the game at forty. Then, they took the lead, 44-43, for the first time since six minutes into the first half.  The Patriots would eventually extend the lead to six, 52-46 on a resounding dunk by Sherrod Wright with a little less than seven and a half minutes remaining.

But there were storm clouds for the Patriots.   Pearson, the CAA Player of the Year, picked up his fourth foul and Morrison shortly thereafter picked up his fourth.   As a result, Georgia State chipped away and had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with a little under three and a half minutes left.  But Buckner again missed a free throw and the Panthers were still down one, 56-55.

After Andre Cornelius buried a three to extend Mason's lead to four, Buckner again had a chance to cut the lead.  But he missed the first attempt on an one and the bonus free throw attempt.  The lead was still 59-55.
However, Mason's luck was about to change.  Pearson picked up his fifth foul and shortly thereafter, so did Morrison.  The Patriots were without their two starting big men.  All that was left was for Georgia State to capitalize.

The Panthers did, scoring the next four points off of turnovers.  James Fields' steal off of the Patriots' Paris Bennett tied the game at fifty nine with thirty three seconds left.  Mason would get the ball with the shot clock turned off.

Paul Hewitt called timeout with eighteen seconds left in the game.  The ball was inbounded to Byron Allen, a sophomore point guard.  He dribbled around then drove the lane.  Buckner, the best shot blocker in the CAA went to block  Allen's shot.  But Allen went underneath the hoop and Buckner avoided him, trying not to pick up the foul.   Allen put up a reverse layup attempt and the ball bounced high off the glass and in.

Cue crowd eruption.  For some reason, I decided to record the last play and I posted the above video. There was 3.4 seconds left on the clock and in Georgia State's season.

After two timeouts, the Panthers desperation three missed and George Mason had a thrilling 61-59 win.  The Patriots made a perfect sweep for the higher quarterfinal seeds on the day for the CAA Tournament for the second year in a row.

During the post game conference, Coach Hunter could barely speak, tears welled in his eyes.  He was so proud of his team's effort.  He spoke about the missed free throws, their "achilles heel".  The Panthers had eighteen more free throw attempts than the Patriots, but only hit on ten more free throws.

Coach Hunter spoke so intensely about his team's heart, how he never saw a more hungry team in his years of coaching.   He wanted to have his team play one more game, since six of his players are seniors.   You could tell that the Georgia State players and their coach left their heart on the court.

Afterwards, my friend Jerry Beach, aka Defiantly Dutch and I went over and shook hands with Coach Hunter.   He hoped his team would make the CBI or CIT because with twenty one wins they deserved that opportunity.   Coach Hunter was very cordial and even got a laugh when we reminded him about his former IUPUI team beating up on Hofstra in the CBI in 2010.  He said "You remember that?' as if no one would probably remember a game where 953 people showed up.

He said "Thank you for the support", and went off.  After watching his team the last two days and the post game conferences in which he spoke so honestly and passionately, I have a very profound respect for Coach Hunter.  I could see why his team bought into him in his first season of coaching the Panthers.

Part of me wishes his team had one more game to play today.

Bryon Allen's Game Winning Reverse Layup vs. Georgia State

I was fortunate enough to record the video of the game winning reverse layup by Bryon Allen of George Mason vs. Georgia State last night. It was a great ending to a great game.  Both teams left their heart on the court.  Enjoy.

Panthers Make a Statement at the Expense of the Pride (Recap of Hofstra vs. Georgia State)

I always love this time of year.  March Madness has been embedded in my soul for easily over twenty five years.  My favorite part of March Madness is going to a conference tournament.  In my younger college days and mid twenties, I went to the Big East Tournament.  Now, it's the CAA Tournament that is near and dear to me.  With the exception of 2009, I have been attending the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament since 2003.

At about 2:00 AM yesterday morning, my good friend Jerry Beach, aka Defiantly Dutch, and I made the familiar drive down to Richmond, Virginia for what would be my ninth CAA Tournament.  The reason we left at 2:00 AM, is based on my experience, you want to avoid getting caught in the Washington D.C. traffic.

Dutch and I talked about music, Hofstra basketball and life in general.  I am glad he was able to go to the CAA Tournament as well.  I was especially grateful that he was John Candy to my Steve Martin. His good natured company and his sense of humor kept me awake on the early morning drive.  We made really great time and outside of a brief stop for cheap Jersey gas, we got to the outskirts of Richmond by 8:00 AM.  Dutch and I stopped at an Aunt Sarah's Pancake House for breakfast.

After breakfast, I dropped off Dutch in downtown Richmond at the Hilton Garden Inn as he was staying with a friend.  Afterwards, I took a nap in the hotel lobby, then made my way back to my car.  Then I took a short drive to a parking garage across the street from the Richmond Coliseum.

This year's CAA Tournament was going to be special for me.  It was the first time that I would have ever have media credentials for the tournament.  For the previous six years, I had covered the CAA Tournament from sitting in my seats in the Richmond Coliseum, taking the perspective of a fan.  This time I decided to sit on press row and thanks to the good folks at CAA Sports, who follow my blog and follow me on Twitter, I received media credentials.

So I entered the media entrance for the Richmond Coliseum and picked up my credentials for my site, CollegeHardwood.com.   Rob Washburn, my contact at CAASports, greeted me inside the arena and showed me where my seat was on press row.  Sure enough, my seat was next to Defiantly Dutch's seat.  The CAA knows the #CAAHoops Twitter and blogosphere all too well.

The CAA Tournament consists of four days.  The first round, otherwise known by Chris "VCUPav" Crowley as "Pillow Fight Friday", begins on Friday with four games, where seeds five through twelve play each other.   There is an afternoon session of two games; eight plays nine, then five plays twelve.  In the evening, seven plays ten and six plays eleven.

Hofstra, seeded eleventh, was playing Georgia State, seeded sixth.  It was the second game of the evening session and the last game of the day. Neither Hofstra nor Georgia State brought a lot of fans, but there were enough other fans to make it a decent sized crowd, over 5200, for the last game at 8:30 on a Friday night.
The Pride entered the game with only three wins in conference on the season, but they had won two of their last three games, including a twenty nine point crushing of UNCW.  The ninth seeded Seahawks had earlier won their first round game, defeating the Dukes of James Madison.

Meanwhile, Georgia State, who in the preseason had been picked at the bottom of the CAA, finished sixth in the Colonial with eleven wins.  Ron Hunter, in his first year coaching the Panthers, took a team with the same talent that finished eleventh a season ago and made them a top tier team in the CAA.  Many people, including me, thought Hunter should have been picked Coach of the Year, but Bruiser Flint won the award.

I saw the game the Pride played vs. the Panthers last month at the Mack Center.  Georgia State jumped out a to a 16-5 lead with their aggressive zone defense.  The Panthers controlled most of the game and won handily 59-43.  If Hofstra was going to be successful, they would need to score in transition and not let Georgia State setup their zone defense.

And that was the philsophy of Coach Mo Cassara.  The Pride quickly got out of the gate and took a slim early lead on a couple of layups as they didn't allow the Panthers to setup their zone before they scored.   Hofstra was playing with a lot of energy early on in the game.

But Georgia State was equal to the task.  Eric Buckner, who I believe was snubbed out of the CAA Defensive Player of the Year Award, was dominating offensively.  Buckner had seven quick points.  His emphatic dunk gave the Panthers a 15-13 lead right before the under twelve media timeout.

In the past two years of the CAA Tournament, the sixth seed had lost to the eleventh seed.  Two years ago, James Madison knocked off Drexel.  Last year, I watched Quinn McDowell set a CAA Tournament record with thirty five points as William and Mary stunned James Madison.  After the first eight and half minutes, Hofstra was holding their own against Georgia State.  Could the sixth seed knock off the eleventh seed for the third year in a row?

The Panthers answered that question in the next eleven and a half minutes with a resounding "NO".

Buckner's emphatic dunk started a monstrous 24-4 run over the next eight and a half minutes to take a 39-17 lead.  Georgia State's swarming defense forced eight Hofstra turnovers in that span.  When the Pride didn't turn the ball over, they struggled to get a good shot off, missing six of their seven shots in that period of time.

Meanwhile, the Panthers were scoring at will on the Pride defense.  Georgia State scored forty five first half points, the most Hofstra had given up in the first half of a game during the season.  Georgia State shot sixteen of twenty seven from the field and eleven of twelve from the line.   The score was 45-24 at the half.  With the Panthers' swarming defense, the game was basically over.

All you could hope for if you were a Hofstra fan was that your team would play hard in the second half and make the game respectable.   Early in the second half, they did exactly that.  A Steve Mejia three cut the Georgia State lead to sixteen, 50-34.

But as Hunter said in his post game press conference, Georgia State was playing "with a chip on its shoulder".  They felt as if they had been not given the respect they deserved at the CAA Awards Banquet and they played inspired, even angry.  They weren't going to allow Hofstra to get any closer.

The Panthers responded with a 23-6 run over the next nine minutes.   At the under eight media timeout, Georgia State was up 73-40.  In my nine years of watching/covering the CAA Tournament, I had never seen such a dominant performance.

There was a young boy sitting behind the Hofstra bench with a sign that said "Free Hugs".  The Pride looked like they could use some hugs, because they had just been run over by a tractor trailer truck with a Georgia license plate.   The Panthers would go onto win 85-40.  It was the biggest margin of victory in CAA Tournament history.

Georgia State held Hofstra to thirty four percent shooting, twenty eight percent in the second half.  Meanwhile, the Panthers scorched the Pride, shooting fifty nine percent in the game.  Georgia State outscored Hofstra 48-18 in the paint.

Buckner was responsible for a lot of that damage, scoring twenty one points and grabbing eleven boards, four which came on the offensive end.  He was a perfect seven for seven from the field.  James Fields had fourteen points and Devonta White added thirteen for the Panthers.

Mike Moore, the leading scorer in the CAA had sixteen points for the Pride, but was only five of thirteen from the field.  Mejia had fourteen points, including two of four from beyond the arc.  Nathaniel Lester added eleven points.

Being a Hofstra fan at heart, it wasn't the ending I had envisioned.  Then again, having the Pride endure a 10-22 season was not what I envisioned either.   All you can do as a Hofstra fan is move on and hope for next season.  There is a major influx of talent coming in for next season.   Seasons may end, often in loss.  But hope is always eternal.  Right now, it needs to be.

Planes, Trains and Defiantly Dutch

In less than thirty minutes from now, I will be heading on the Road to Richmond for my ninth CAA Tournament.  Can't believe it is now the ninth time I am heading down the New Jersey Turnpike to I-95.   It's the first time without my dear friend Tony Terentieff, who couldn't make the tournament this year.

But I have a special guest for this road trip, the John Candy of road trips, Defiantly Dutch.  So we are heading down together for a 2:00 AM run.  If it was a Midnight Run, I would be traveling with these two men.  We are here for three days, because I have to get back for Monday for a trip out west on a family matter.

If you are looking for CAA previews, well, the best I can do is to link to others.  Dutch has an interview with Mo Cassara.  The Grand Master of CAA Hoops has his "Coach Speak" preview.  Phog Woodnight, aka Brian Mull, has his preview of the ten best players in the CAA, otherwise known as Colonial X.

As for my prediction of the CAA Tournament, all I can say is the following;  Expect at least two upsets in the CAA Tournament.  I really believe Delaware knocks off Old Dominion in the quarterfinals and George Mason is getting taken out by the winner of Georgia State/Hofstra.  Other than that, as always, figure on a lot of exciting basketball.

Oh, one last thing, I have a surprise for all of you, which I will post on my Twitter feed @gmoore21566 when I get to Richmond.  It's a first for me and for this site.  Again, remember to follow my Twitter feed later this morning for the big surprise.

And, Let's Go Krogering!

Iona Drubs St Peter's Twice (Recap of St Peter's - Iona Doubleheader)

After we watched Stony Brook win the America East Regular Season Championship, my older son Matthew and I exited Pritchard Gym while the players were still hoisting the America East Regular Season Championship trophy.  We made our way to the car and headed out for the long trip to New Rochelle for the last regular season games for the women's and men's teams.  The trip took a little more than a hour, thanks to lighter than usual Sunday traffic and a little bit of a lead foot by yours truly.

Matthew was wise enough to have slept the entire trip. I had to wake him as I parked our car in the Iona garage. After Matthew stretched, we walked to the Hynes Center.  Iona was hosting St Peter's in a Senior Day doubleheader.  The women's game was first and the men's game would follow a hour later.

When we walked into the gym, the women's game was already in the second half with the Gaels up eight, 39-31 with about sixteen minutes left.   But as basketball is a game of runs, the Peahens went on a 11-4 spurt in the next four minutes.  Iona was only up one, 43-42 with about twelve minutes left and Iona Women's Head Coach Tony Bozzella was not too pleased.

But what was going to be a microcosm of the men's game, the Gaels outscored the Peahens 31-7 the rest of the way, which included a game ending 16-0 run.  St Peter's missed their last eight shots and committed two turnovers in that span.  Meanwhile, Iona hit eighteen of their twenty free throw attempts in the second half.   The Gaels' Women's team won the first half of the doubleheader 74-49.

Matthew and I joined Coach Bozzella, his family, my friend Mal and his friend Emilie for the Senior Day Dinner at a reception room in the Hynes Center.  It was a nice event where Coach Bozzella briefly spoke about  how his group of seniors were such helpful mentors to the freshmen and sophomores on the team,  He spoke how this team was a family and he thanked all the parents and people who have supported the team during the season.  It was a nice reception.

We left the reception and headed back into the Hynes Center Gym several minutes after what was supposed to be the start of the game.  Much to my surprise, the Senior Day awards ceremony for the six seniors on the Iona Men's Basketball Team was still taking place.   When we got to our seats, all the way up in the top rows of the general admission side of the gym, Scott Machado was being introduced last to the packed crowd.

After Machado was given a standing ovation by nearly the entire crowd, the six Iona players; Machado, Michael Glover, Randy Dezouvre, Kyle Smyth, Jermel Jenkins and Trinity Fields all raised their framed jerseys while photographers snapped picture after picture.  Then the Iona Bagpipe Band came out, which was a nice treat for this Irishman.   Finally, to top it off, Scott Machado's brother sang a wonderful rendition of the national anthem.

The Gaels spotted the Peahens a 4-0 lead.  A Glover dunk and a Momo Jones three put Iona up to stay 5-4.  But St Peter's kept it close throughout the first half.  The score was only 17-14 when Jenkins hit three consecutive three pointers in a row to give the Gaels a 26-17 lead.  But the Peahens refused to go away in the first half and actually cut the deficit to five, 40-35 at halftime.

As I noted earlier, Matthew and I were in the upper rows of the general admission seating opposite the Iona bench.  One of the perks though of sitting in that section was being directly behind my favorite pep band in New York college hoops, the Iona Pep Band.   The pep band was killing it at halftime playing "Sussudio", "Brickhouse", some Led Zeppelin, then "Frankenstein" and more Led Zeppelin.  Later on, they made my day by playing the theme song to the old TV show "The Wild, Wild West".

The first four plus minutes of the second half saw very little change.  Iona had pulled out to an eleven point lead.  But St Peter's was able to cut the lead back to seven, 50-43 with a little less than sixteen minutes left.  At the under sixteen media timeout,  the pep band played the James Bond theme song.  Perhaps the pep band knew that the Gaels were about to use their "License to Kill" on the Peahens.

It started innocently enough with two Sean Armand free throws.  Then it was a three point play by Machado, followed by layups by Dezouvre and Glover.  Jones followed up with a three point play, then an Armand went back to back with a three pointer followed by an old fashioned three point play.  Before you knew it, Iona was up 68-43.

But the Gaels weren't done yet.  Another three point play by Jones was sandwiched between two Glover layups.  Jenkins once again found his three point shooting touch and buried another two shots from beyond the arc. It was a 31-0 run before Lamin Fulton ended it with a three pointer.  The Gaels were up 81-46 with still eight and a half minutes to go in the game.

It turns out that many fans, knowing that the game was over, actually left at this time.  Matthew and I were able to move down several rows and get a better view of the last few minutes of the game. All that was left was for Iona Coach Tim Cluess to take his seniors out one by one.  Then I just needed the pep band to play "Peg"  to make my night complete.  Sure enough, late in the second half, the band cued up my favorite Steely Dan song.

Iona took its foot off the throttle down the stretch, despite pleas from Matthew for the Gaels to score one hundred points.  Iona just missed, winning handily 98-61.  In a rarely seen nice touch, Cluess let Smyth, a key player and a starter for most of the season, stay on the court and dribble out the last few seconds of the game.

The beat down of St Peter's was perhaps a little payback for the Peahens knocking the Gaels off in the MAAC Championship game last season.  But that was a much better St Peter's team than the 5-25 team I saw Sunday evening.  In the college basketball world, things can turn around quickly in a year.

Jenkins, in his last regular season home game scored a career high twenty one points on seven three pointers. Jones led Iona with twenty four points, while Glover and Armand each had fourteen.  Machado nearly had another double double with nine points and twelve assists.  Darius Conley led three St Peter's players in double figures with twelve points.

As Matthew and I made our way out of the Hynes Center for perhaps the last time this season, I wondered two things.  One, I thought about whether Iona could not only win the MAAC Championship but also make a run to the Sweet Sixteen this season.  Second, I wondered if the Iona Pep Band hires themselves out to play at parties.

Correction to Previous Post on Hofstra Senior Day.

I want to correct a mistake I made on my Hofstra Senior Day post.  As an anonymous viewer pointed out to me, it was Athletic Director Jack Hayes that presented the ball to Charles Jenkins not Coach Mo Cassara.  As my way of saying "I'm sorry", here's also his video of the Jenkins presentation.  Enjoy.  See you in Richmond, Hofstra.

Gaston Runs Amok on the Explorers (Recap of LaSalle vs. Fordham)

 As Day Three of our Four Day Weekend of Hoops started, my older son Matthew and I took the familiar trip over the Whitestone Bridge to the Hutch to Pelham Parkway to head to the campus of Fordham.  Unlike the night before, there were no crazy drivers on the Whitestone looking to start a NASCAR wreck.  So, it was a much calmer ride this time.

As I have written before on this site, going to the Rose Hill Gym is like Saturday Mass to me.  Though I am Protestant and not Catholic (I have my Irish grandfather on my mom's side to thank for that.  Long story),  basketball at Rose Hill on a Jesuit campus is a religious experience to me.

As for my six year old son, it was a chance for another fun basketball game complete with another free T-shirt to add to his collection, since it was "Whiteout Day" at Fordham.  Of course, he had his standard culinary fare of a soft pretzel and a water.  Some things never change.

The game against the Explorers was an important game for the home team Rams.  They needed a win to keep their remote hopes of playing in the Atlantic 10 Tournament alive.  Only the top twelve teams make it to the conference tournament.  It wouldn't be easy for Fordham because LaSalle was entering the game with eighteen wins and was tied for sixth in the conference.

This was the only game that Matthew and I saw this past weekend that was not a Senior Day game.  That's because the A-10 regular season doesn't end until next weekend.  I have always thought that does the A-10 a disservice, because then its tournament is up against all the Power Six conference tournaments. If they would finish their season a week sooner, they might get more national exposure playing their conference tournament the week before all the Power Six conference tournaments.

It was pretty evident from within the first eight and a half minutes of how the two teams would be on offense.  LaSalle showed how balanced they were as five Explorers; Jerrell Wright, Ramon Galloway, Earl Pettis, Sam Mills and Tyreek Duren each scored at least one basket.  Each of those five players averages between 9.5 and 15.2 points on the season.

Meanwhile, Fordham's Chris Gaston, their leading scorer and only one of three Rams' players who averages 9.9 points or more per game, was a one man wrecking crew.  He scored fifteen of Fordham's first twenty points as he literally willed his way to the basket, often going over several LaSalle players.  With eleven and a half minutes to go in the first half it was LaSalle 21 Gaston 15 Rest of  Fordham 5.

The Rams actually took the lead 25-23 on a Bryan Smith three pointer.  But the Explorers responded with a 12-0 run, as again five different LaSalle players scored over the nearly four minute span.  The Explorers were up 35-25 with 6:45 left.

The Explorers could have been up a lot more, but both teams went scoreless for the next several minutes.  Once Gaston cooled off, Fordham struggled to score.  But LaSalle had four turnovers the last few minutes of the half.  The Rams were fortunate to be down only eleven, 42-31 at halftime.  Gaston had nineteen of their thirty one first half points.

During a first half timeout, a member of the New York Giants brought out the Lombardi Trophy onto center court.  Apparently fans could go out into the lobby to pose for photos with the Super Bowl Trophy.  My son was not impressed.  He was there to see basketball and he wanted to see Gaston keep scoring points.

The Explorers maintained their eleven point lead over the first five minutes of the second half.   Pettis and Galloway combined to score LaSalle's first ten points.  Fordham was hanging in there as other players such as Kerwin Bristol and Smith finally scored besides Gaston.    The Explorers led the Rams 52-41 with about fifteen minutes left in the game.

Then came the turning point of the game.  LaSalle got careless with the ball and turned it over four times in the span of about three minutes.  This resulted in Fordham going on a 12-0 run.  Branden Frazier came alive with two three pointers and no surprise, Gaston had two layups as well.  Frazier's second three pointer put Fordham up 53-52.

LaSalle would actually regain the lead, 58-57 on a three pointer by Mills.  The teams would trade the lead a couple of times.  The Explorers would take a 62-61 lead on a layup by Galloway with five plus minutes left. But it would be the last points LaSalle would score the rest of the way.  Once again, the Explorers got careless with the ball and committed four turnovers over the last three and a half minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Gaston would score four of the last six points his team would score.  And sure enough, after Pettis missed a three pointer at the end of the game, it was Gaston who rebounded the ball, his sixteenth in the game. Fordham had a 67-62 win.

As much as the Explorers gave them the game, a lot of the credit for the Rams' win belongs to Gaston.  He was a man among boys with thirty five points to go along with his sixteen rebounds.  How dominant was Gaston?  Fifteen of his sixteen rebounds came on the offensive glass, a truly sick statistic. He was downright relentless in the paint.  Frazier was the only other Fordham player in double figures scoring with eleven.

The stat sheet again showed LaSalle's showed their balance as all five starters scored in double figures.  But what killed the Explorers was the seventeen turnovers, many of which came in bunches in the first and second half.    You could also say Gaston equally killed them as well, as Fordham outscored LaSalle in the paint 42-26.

As Matthew and I made our way out of a back exit of Rose Hill Gym, where the video cable feed for the Yes Network was setup, Chris Gaston made a new fan.   My six year old son pointed out "Daddy, Number thirty three had a real good game."

"Yes, Matthew. Yes he did."

Seawolves Get a #1 Seed in America East (Recap of Maine v. Stony Brook)

Day Four of our four day weekend of hoops concluded today with a tripleheader.  First, it was Maine vs. Stony Brook, then a St. Peter's - Iona double feature; the women's game followed by the men's game.  And it was Senior Day for all three home teams.

I picked up my older son Matthew from baseball camp, then dropped off my younger son Jonathan with my in-laws.  Then it was off to Stony Brook for our first game.  We got there about a half hour before game time.  In the confusion of putting my tickets away, I left my wallet on the counter top of the concessions area. Thankfully, the person running the concessions gave it to a security guard. When I realized I had forgot my wallet, the concessions person pointed me to the security guard who gave me my wallet.  Can't thank both of them enough.  Crisis averted.

As we walked into a sold out Pritchard Gym, they were finishing the Senior Day ceremonies.  Dallas Joyner, Bryan Dougher, Al Rapier and Danny Carter were honored on their last regular season home game. The game was being televised on CBS Sports Network.  Don Criqui, who I grew up watching on Saturday afternoon NBC college basketball games, was doing the play by play while Wally Szczerbiak was doing the color.

Feeding off the emotion of Senior Day and the energy of the crowd, the Seawolves came out strong from the start.  After Maine's Gerald McLemore's three pointer cut Stony Brook's lead to 5-4, the Seawolves scored the next ten points. Dougher scored eight of those points, including two three pointers.  Stony Brook was up 15-4 with not even four and a half minutes gone by in the game.

After a classic hustle play by Tommy Brenton resulted in him scoring on a left handed driving layup, the Seawolves' lead had swelled to 26-11. It looked like Wolfie, the Seawolves Mascot, could put away the foul shot distracting Shake Weight away for the day.  Meanwhile, the Stony Brook Pep Band was playing some good tunes, including a good rendition of Santana's "Oye Como Va".

But Stony Brook then suddenly went cold from the field, going two of eleven the rest of half.  The Seawolves also committed six turnovers over the last seven minutes of the half.  This allowed Maine to go on a 13-4 run to end the half and cut the lead to six, 30-24.

At halftime, Matthew was really hungry and wanted two soft pretzels.  Thus we made our way to the concessions while a local CYO team played at halftime.  We got back for the tale end of the CYO game and Matthew was as aggressive eating his first pretzel as Brenton drove the lane on that layup.

The Black Bears picked up right where they left off at the end of the first half.   After he was fouled shooting a three point play, Maine's McLemore hit all three of his foul shots to cut the lead to one, 36-35.  The Black Bears had now outscored the Seawolves 24-10 over two halves.

Maine was still within one 40-39 with a little over nine minutes remaining.  Then Stony Brook finally started inching away.  Dallas Joyner and Al Rapier combined on a 6-0 mini run and the Seawolves went back up  by seven, 46-39 with eight and a half minutes left.

When you watch a Stony Brook game live, you will be treated to the best mascot perhaps in the country, Wolfie Seawolf.  Whether he is part of the dance team's "Greased Lightning" dance set, or when he is putting on the big hairdo and the chains and dancing to LMFAO's Party Rock anthem.  And of course, Wolfie leads the kids in the "Cotton Eye Joe" dance at the under eight media timeout. The dance team brought cardboard cutouts of all the Stony Brook players and Coach Steve Pikiell onto the dance floor and danced with them.  It was a very funny touch to the routine.

Normally a seven point advantage with that much time remaining isn't that much of a cushion.  But when you play defense like Stony Brook does, a seven point deficit seems like a fourteen point deficit.  Thus, try as they did, Maine could not get any closer than three points the rest of the way.  In fact, Maine only shot thirty percent in the second half.  It didn't help the Black Bears any that the Seawolves were eleven of fifteen from the line in the second half.

After Justin Edwards missed a three pointer with fourteen seconds left, it was only fitting that the heart and soul of the Seawolves, Tommy Brenton, would grab the rebound and dribble out the clock.  Stony Brook had a hard earned 55-48 win to clinch their second America East Regular Season Championship in the past three seasons.   This gives them the number one seed in the America East Tournament and if they win two games in Hartford, they will have home court advantage in the America East championship.

As the team celebrated by their bench hoisting the America East Regular Season Championship trophy, Coach Pikiell.took a microphone and walked to center court.  He first thanked the band, then the cheerleaders, then the Stony Brook community for all their support.  Pikiell then talked about Stony Brook setting a team record with a 14-2 conference record.  Finally, Pikiell spoke about how great and how classy his seniors were as a whole.   I had never seen a coach do that after a game and it was truly a classy gesture by Pikiell.

As Matthew and I left the Pritchard Gym to head to New Rochelle for our second and third games in our tripleheader of hoops, I talked to my older son about the possibility of being at Pritchard one more time.  That would be for the America East championship on March 10.   All the Seawolves have to do is win two games in Hartford next weekend.

There's no place I'd rather be on March 10 at 11:00 AM than Stony Brook, New York.  Make it happen, Seawolves.

A Senior Day to Remember (Recap of UNCW vs. Hofstra)

After watching Fordham rally to defeat LaSalle, my son Matthew and I were able to quickly make our way out of a back exit of Rose Hill gym.  We made it  to our car in the Fordham parking garage quite quickly before the rest of the Ram and Explorer fans.  Our mission was to make it to Hempstead by 4:00 PM. We made it to Hofstra with time to spare for Senior Day at the Mack Center as Hofstra was hosting UNCW.

Senior starters Mike Moore, Nathaniel Lester and Dwan McMillan were all given a special ceremony by Hofstra University before their last home game as members of the Pride.  All three have been significant contributors this season. Moore, the leading scorer in the CAA,  and Lester, the eighth leading scorer in the CAA,  both scored their 1000th career points for the Pride this season.  McMillan, the CAA leader in assists per game, became the starting point guard after Steve Mejia struggled with injuries.

The three thousand plus fans in attendance gave all three a nice ovation, but nowhere near the ovation that last season's seniors Brad Kelleher, Greg Washington and Charles Jenkins received for Senior Day last season.  Perhaps that might have been because a) the Pride had a sold out Mack Center on Senior Day last season and b) the Pride were 13-4 in conference on Senior Day last season as opposed to 2-15 this season. It just so happened that Washington and Jenkins were in attendance for the day's festivities.

The Pride came out very quickly as they have done on several occasions this season.  Lester scored five quick points and Hofstra went out to a 9-0 lead.  UNCW Head Coach Buzz Peterson was so upset with his team's play, he benched all five starters two minutes into the game.

As has occurred several times this season, the Pride would see their early lead evaporate.  The Seahawks went on a 14-3 run over four minutes.  Tanner Milson's second three pointer put the Seahawks up 14-11 with twelve and a half minutes left.  The Hofstra fans had seen this act before and were afraid of the same result.

However, the Pride responded with a huge run. It started with what must have been forward Moussa Kone's longest jumper of the season, which was a ten foot bank shot.  Then a Moore three pointer and a Lester layup put  Hofstra back up 18-14.  Those three baskets were part of the Pride outscoring the Seahawks 34-11 the rest of the half.  Hofstra hit on nine of their last thirteen shots from the field and only missed two of their thirteen free throw attempts for the entire half.

The Pride led at halftime 45-25 in what was easily their best first half of the season.  The team shot six of ten from beyond the arc, had thirteen assists and outrebounded the Seahawks 21-11 in the first twenty minutes.  Moore and Lester had thirty two combined points.   This didn't seem like the same Hofstra team that had lost to UNCW in Wilmington earlier in the season.

During the game, Jenkins, now of the Golden State Warriors, was honored with a special game ball by Coach Mo Cassara.  It was for being the all time scoring leader in Hofstra history.  The entire crowd gave Jenkins a well deserved standing ovation.  Throughout the entire first half, kids came up to Jenkins for autographs and he more than obliged.  Charles Jenkins is truly a class act.

If anyone thought that the first half was a fluke, they were quickly dissuaded in the first six minutes.  Keith Rendleman tried his best (he had sixteen points and nine rebounds for the game), but the rest of the Seahawks were getting overwhelmed by the Pride.  The lead ballooned to thirty, 60-30, with 14:25 left in the game.  Moore and Lester had nailed two more three pointers and the rout was on.

Late in the second half, Hofstra had a lead of thirty seven points.  Think about this. A team that came into the game with only two wins in conference and nine wins in total  was beating their opponents 90-53 with a little over two minutes left.  Cassara cleared what little he has of a bench (due to injuries, redshirts and dismissals), making sure all his seniors got a standing ovation as they left the court.    The Pride would win their last regular season conference game in impressive fashion 93-64.

The final statistics were bewildering.  Hofstra shot fifty six percent from the field, including twelve of nineteen from beyond the arc.  What might have been more impressive was the Pride having twenty five assists and only eleven turnovers.  Moore had thirty points, including shooting six of nine from beyond the arc.  Lester added twenty points.  Stephen Nwaukoni held his own against Rendleman with a double double, ten points and ten rebounds.  Mejia and Shemiye McLendon each had ten points.  But perhaps the most impressive stat was McMillan with fifteen assists and only four turnovers.

Hofstra ended their regular season on a high note.  Hopefully it will give them momentum for next Friday night's first round game vs. Georgia State.   But at least all three seniors had a truly memorable performance in their last home game for the Pride.