The road was a tough place to be for most of the local teams on Sunday. Hopefully Feast Week can give every team some much needed home cooking.
Most Notable Game:
Lehigh 76, Princeton 67
The margin wasn’t pretty, but this isn’t a bad loss. The Tigers went to a fringe top 100 team (111 in KenPom currently and the Patriot League favorite) and lost by nine. Of course if Princeton is supposed to be a tournament team this probably shouldn’t happen. Mitch Henderson’s team scored only 0.96 points per possession, led by Henry Caruso’s 18. Steven Cook added 15, but no other Tiger scored in double-figures. Once again Princeton failed to get to the free throw line. The Tigers attempted only 13 free throws in the entire game. Lehigh also didn’t go to the line much, but the Mountain Hawks shot 10-16 (63%) from three. Tim Kempton, a 6-foot-10 senior center who is a Patriot League Player of the Year candidate, led Lehigh with 24 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds, and four assists and three blocks.
New York Games:
Fordham 85, Lipscomb 69
The Rams improved to 4-1 with a 16-point victory over Lipscomb to take the title of the Johny Bach Classic. Fordham swept the three-game set on its home court. Sophomore guard Joseph Chartouny has been on fire after a rough outing against ETSU in the season opener. He had his best game of the season against Lipscomb, scoring 22 points. He also had five rebounds, five assists and five steals in 24 minutes. Christian Sengfelder actually led Fordham with 23 points. Garrison Matthews scored 22 points for the Bisons. He was the only Lipscomb player in double figures.
Nevada 91, Iona 76
Iona led by 10 at halftime and Jordan Washington scored a game-high 29 points, but the Gaels couldn’t stop the Wolfpack in the second half. Nevada scored 57 second half points to pull out the victory. Cameron Oliver (22 points), Elijah Foster (21 points) and Marcus Marshall (20 points) all scored at least 20 points for Nevada, while Jordan Caroline added 15 points and 13 rebounds. Sam Cassell Jr. struggled for Iona. He scored four points on 1-12 shooting, including 0-6 from three. Iona was just 6-29 (21%) from 3 for the game. The Gaels scored right around 1 point per possession, but going 24-34 from the line helped the Wolfpack score 1.20 points per possession. Iona now continues its trip out West with the start of the Great Alaska Shootout against Drake on Thursday.
Temple 88, Manhattan 67
Zavier Turner scored a career-high 28 points, but it wasn’t enought o carry Manhattan to a road victory in Philadelphia. Zane Waterman added 17 points and Aaron Walker had 12 for the Jaspers. Daniel Dingle scored 22 points to lead the Owls. He was 9-10 from the free throw line. Temple went to the line 22 times and hit 19 of them (86%). Manhattan grabbed 18 offensive rebounds (46%), but wasn’t able to cover efficiently on offense. Twenty-two turnovers meant that the Jaspers scored only 0.89 points per possession.
Boston University 86, LIU Brooklyn 69
LIU suffered its first loss of the season with a 17-point defeat at Boston University in the second game of the Steve Wright Classic. The Blackbirds finish the multi-team event tomorrow against Maine. Freshman Jashaun Agosto led the Blackbirds with 15 points, but it took him 13 shots and he committeed three turnovers. Jerome Frink added 14 points, but he only had 3 rebounds in 24 minutes. Jack Perri couldn’t be happy with the Blackbirds allowing BU to grab 15 offensive rebounds (42%), considering he wants to keep teams below a 30% offensive rebounding percentage this season. LIU didn’t foul (BU only took 12 free throws), but the Terriers went 13-30 (43%) from 3.
Boston College 82, Stony Brook 75
Tyrell Sturdivant scored 26 points, but SBU’s comeback fell just short. Boston College scored 1.09 points per possession by banging the ball inside and going to the free throw line. BC only took nine threes during the entire game. If the Eagles had shot better than 64% from the line the game wouldn’t have been nearly as close. Stony Brook shot 65% from the line and just 6-26 from three.
The Rest of Division I:
UNC Asheville 92, Siena 80
UNC Asheville torched the Saints for 1.23 points per possession thanks to 56% (9-16) shooting from 3 and 58% (25-43) shooting on twos. Siena’s defensive performance in Asheville, NC was nearly as bad as the one they had at Kansas. The offense was ok, scoring 1.07 points per possession, but unless the defense improves it just won’t matter. “We need to find someone to play defense,” said Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos after the game. “I’ve always said defense is an emotional thing. When you get emotional, you’re pretty good defensively. We’ve got to work on that.”
Javion Ogunyemi and Khalil Richard tied for the team lead with 16 points, but Ogunyemi’s came with five turnovers. Marquis Wright had 14 points and seven assists. The Saints host Arkansas-Pine Bluff (one of the worst teams in Division I) on Wednesday. Hopefully that will cure the defensive ills before the city showdown at Albany on Sunday.
Albany 80, Brown 76
Marqueese Grayson hit a big three near the end of regulation and scored a career-high 21 points as Albany came back to beat Brown. The Great Danes scored 50 points in the second half in the victory. Joe Cremo scored 18 points, including a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line as he helped to ice the game. Brown was led by Steven Spieth, who continued his outstanding start to the season with 25 points 6-10 shooting from the field and 10-10 shooting from the line.
Grand Canyon 84, Marist 72
Brian Parker scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting, but Marist fell to GCU in its final game in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun. Marist allowed 1.24 points per possession, but part of that was that Grand Canyon shot 7-14 from three. Joshua Braun went 5-9 from deep and scored 25 points to lead the Antelopes. The Red Foxes now have almost an entire week off before they play at Dartmouth on Saturday. Ray Curren wrote about Khalid Hart, who scored 17 points for the Red Foxes.
Saint Peter’s 84, Fairleigh Dickinson 58
Every starter scored in double figures for the Peacocks as they scored 1.45 points per possession. SPU had 18 offensive rebounds and just five turnovers. FDU was playing without Tyrone O’Garro, and he’s certainly a key piece defensively, but SPU grabbed 53% of its misses. Trevis Wyche led the Peacocks with 17 points. Quadir Welton had 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Darian Anderson led FDU with 16 points.
Cornell 82, Lafayette 75
Donovan Wright—who was playing quite close to home—scored 26 points thanks to 8-10 shooting from 3 and Cornell pulled out a road victory over the Leopards. Wright only shot 1-7 inside the arc, otherwise he could’ve had an even more impressive day offensively. The win was Brian Earl’s first as a head coach. Matt Klinewski scored 23 points and Nick Lindner added 19 for the Leopards who didn’t have problems scoring, but couldn’t shut down the Big Red. One early season trend to watch for Cornell? The Big Red are forcing turnovers on only 14.2% of their defensive possessions (327th nationally), down from 19.8% a season ago (69th). Has Brian Earl established a less risky defensive identity?
Virginia 62, Yale 38
UVA is amazing defensively. Yale only scored 0.68 points per possession. The Bulldogs shot 12-33 (36%) on two-point attempts and only managed to take four free throws. Yale was still playing without super freshman Jordan Bruner. Things should get a little easier for Yale at Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Rutgers 78, Niagara 65
Steve Pikiell and Rutgers are 4-0. Of course, the Scarlet Knights have beaten Molloy, Drexel, DePaul and Niagara. So congrats to Pikiell on scheduling easier than Eddie Jordan. Ken Pomeroy’s ratings have Rutgers ranked 152nd. That would certainly be a step up. Considering RU still has a bunch of easy games left on the schedule 10 wins in non-conference is certainly possible. Nigel Johnson scored 20 points off the bench to carry Rutgers in this one. The Scarlet Knights also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds (49%). CJ Gettys scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Matt Scott scored 30 points for Niagara.
Richmond 81, Robert Morris 69
TJ Cline scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and passed out five assists as the Spiders easily handled RMU. The Colonials committed 18 turnovers and scored 0.93 points per possession. On the plus side RMU grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, including four by 6-foot-11 freshman Branden Burke. Isaiah Still scored 20 points. Still shot 3-5 from three, but the rest of the Colonials shot 2-11 from deep.
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