New York’s three NEC teams – Long Island Brooklyn, Wagner and St. Francis (NY) all scored wins in NEC play on Saturday. The Blackbirds are now tied with Central Connecticut State in first place at 4-0 and the Seahawks and Terriers are right behind at 3-1. All of the wins on Saturday were important, but there were some interesting statistical oddities in each of the games.
Long Island 79, Quinnipiac 75 — This was a 76-possession game and it’s absolutely incredible that LIU held the Bobcats under a point per possession. Why? Quinnipiac grabbed 24 offensive rebounds. Yes, the Bobcats missed 47 shots, but they got more than half of them back! (I didn’t believe it, so I went to Quinnipiac’s site. Yup, it happened.) The craziest part? They only scored 18 second-chance points, just four more than the Blackbirds. What LIU did well was only turn the ball over eight times. That 10.5% turnover percentage was the best of the season for Long Island and consistent with a recent downward trend. Jason Brickman had 12 points, 10 assists and just on turnover in 37 minutes.
Wagner 89, Monmouth 79 — This was both the Seahawks’ second best offensive and fourth worst defensive performance of the season. Wagner shot 21-30 (70%) on two-point attempts in the game and attempted 38 free throws (making 29). Latif Rivers led the way with 28 points on 14 shots. Jonathon Williams did even better with 16 points on four shots. Dan Hurley’s team needed that offense though because while Monmouth came in averaging 0.901 points per possession, the Hawks scored 1.082 against Wagner. It could’ve been even worse if Monmouth didn’t shoot 14-24 (58.3%) from the foul line. Craziest stat from this game? Marcus Burton, all 6’0″ of him, blocked three shots.
St. Francis (NY) 99, Sacred Heart 84 — This was the Terriers’ best game on offense by a lot. SFC hadn’t scored more than 1.09 points per possession (against NJIT) all season. Against the Pioneers it was an astounding 1.34. The Terriers shot 58.2% from the field, but that discounts how awesome they shot from three (15-27). Their effective field goal percentage was 71.8%. To put that in perspective, SFC hadn’t had an effective field goal percentage above the 58.2% they should regularly from the field on Saturday. This was an awesome shooting night. Ben Mockford led the way going 8-13 from three and scoring 28 points. Stefan Perunicic shot 4-6 from three and scored 21 points. The defense was pretty bad (1.13 points per possession), but in line with some other efforts. It won’t cut it against the elite teams in the NEC.
NYC Buckets Archive 