Category: MAAC

Fairfield Upsets Rider 43-42 in Defensive-Minded Battle

SPRINGFIELD – Coming into the third Quarterfinal at the MassMutual Center, the MAAC was featuring two of its best defensive teams in seventh-seeded Fairfield and second-seeded Rider.

Whenever Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson needed his team to make plays, they managed to get the critical bounces in a 43-42 victory over second-seeded Rider Saturday.

“We played motivated basketball,” Johnson said. ” [Needham, Nickerson] have been a joy to coach and they willed us to a win.”

“Derek was outstanding in terms of literally willing us to a win and Colin’s been remarkable. We just don’t want to go home and we are doing our best to stay in Springfield for as long as possible so it’s pretty fun right now.”

Senior Colin Nickerson inbounded the ball with 6.8 seconds left, in what was likely the last milliseconds he threw one up for his teammate Derek Needham covered by Zedric Sadler.

Sadler’s back hand touched the ball and a scramble ensued but Fairfield found the ball and passed it to Needham where he was fouled with 3.3 seconds left. His two free throws gave the Stags a 43-40 lead.

Rider’s ensuing inbounds Nurideen Lindsey had the ball at half court and was fouled by Coleman Johnson with 1.2 left. Lindsey made the first but accidentally made the second to cut the lead to 43-42.

Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said that they were planning for Lindsey to miss the second free throw but he accidentally made it.

“We were trying to,” Baggett said of planning for a Lindsey miss. “He just made it.”

Needham returned to the line with 0.9 seconds left, missing both and a desperation heave from Anthony Myles was released after the buzzer sounded to give Fairfield the 43-42 victory in the MAAC Quarterfinals.

“The week we had off from the MAAC tournament I was getting up shots up at night,” Needham said. “Our strength coach at the end of shooting [said] do wind sprints, then walk to the free throw line.”

“That’s all I thought about every time I went to the free throw line. Derek you’ve been here before, you’ve done this in your gym, in your own comfort, let’s knock these free throws down.”

Of Needham’s 19 points, 11 were in the final 3:54. The senior added eight of 12 from the line.

Needham had the ball in his hands and drew a foul on Anthony Myles on a drive to the basket. His two free throws gave Fairfield a 39-36 lead with 37.1 seconds left. Myles drove to the basket and his two free throws cut it back to one 39-38 with 21.5 left.

Needham went back to the line after being fouled by Thompson with 18.9 seconds left, he made both and extended the lead back to 41-38.

Fairfield freshman Coleman Johnson made a 15-footer to cut the game to a 34-32 Rider lead with 4:57 left. After a Fairfield timeout, Rider tried to back down with Daniel Stewart but he was called for a charge drawn by Mo Barrow.

The Fairfield seniors willed the team to the semifinals, making big plays during the final four minutes. After Daniel Stewart missed the front end of a one-and-one, Fairfield’s senior Needham nailed a three pointer to give the Stags a 35-34 lead with 3:40 left. Johnson could be seen at the Fairfield bench pound his hands on the floor to pump up his seniors.

“I got a little excited,” Nickerson said. “He’s a very intense coach, he gets us riled up as well as our other teammates so it’s good to have him coaching like that.”

“That was sign language for we need a stop,” Needham said.

After Barrow added two free throws to extend the lead to four, Needham picked off a Anthony Myles pass.

The Stags couldn’t convert on the offensive end but when Rider tried to come back on the ensuing possession, Myles’ putback missed and the ball went out to midcourt. Desmond Wade went to the ground near center court, calling a timeout with 1:55 left.

The game never was outside of a margin of four points throughout. Needham led all scorers with 19 points, Jon Thompson led the Broncs with 12 points.

This game is the second fewest points scored in a MAAC game, second to Marist’s 43-40 victory over Iona in 2009. Fairfield’s 43 to win ties the lowest-scoring point total for a winning team with Marist.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe this, I talked to my wife this morning and I said ‘Honey, I don’t care with we win by one point with the other team making the basket for us as long as we win’,” Johnson said.

“There’s something special about the guts these guys have shown, I’m embracing that not fighting it at all.”

The third quarterfinal in MAAC play featured more turnovers (35) than made field goals (27). However it was the second seeded Broncs who were doomed with no assists, 21 turnovers and making 61.5% of their free throws for the night.

“21 turnovers, no assists and you’re 16 for 26 from the free throw line especially the big ones coming down the stretch when we needed to make them,” Baggett said. “Daniel Stewart steps up in a one-and-one, it’s a crucial time in the game, those guys made theirs. They’re going to cost you a game. Free throws cost you games it’s not just our players it’s nationwide, I don’t think kids understand how important free throws are.”

Johnson said he is not a believer in fouling when ahead but his bench said the gamble would pay off.

“I haven’t really ever coached my teams to foul down the strech but I just had a feeling,” Johnson said. “They’re a good three-point shooting team and they’ve got big guards. There was not a lot of time left so we rolled the dice.”

“In terms of the free throw assistant coaches were right on it, you miss a free throw that came from the bench and I just let these guys know you miss that free throw. There’s nothing really no opportunity for them to make a hail mary or touchdown pass so I thought that was excellent with our assistant coaches. The intentional foul was just a whim that I had that seemed to pay off.”

Fairfield freshman Marcus Gilbert exited the floor with 7:23 left with what looked to be a finger injury. Johnson said he’s not sure to what extent the injury.

“He hit his finger pretty hard,” Johnson said. “The kid’s as tough as they come, he’s not as vocal or as boisterous as other guys but he has some hardness to him but we’ll see.” “He had it taped up at the end. If [Gilbert] can play he’s definitely playing, he should stay in everybody’s scouting report. We’ll see, right now it’s too early to know exactly how bad it is, if it is bad.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Momo, Armand Lead Way in Iona’s 89-85 Victory Over Canisius

SPRINGFIELD – The two of the most dynamic scoring teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference did not disappoint, as the Iona Gaels beat Canisius 89-85 in the second MAAC Quarterfinal game. Continue reading “Momo, Armand Lead Way in Iona’s 89-85 Victory Over Canisius” →

Niagara Survives Siena 74-62 in MAAC Quarterfinals

SPRINGFIELD – The Niagara Purple Eagles, the top seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, prevailed over Siena 74-62 in a game whose intensity was only matched by its loosely called physicality.

Sophomore Antoine Mason led the Purple Eagles with a game-high 21 points, his teammate Juan’ya Green iced the game with a three from the wing to give the Purple Eagles a 70-61 lead. Green scored 15 points on the day.

Siena’s Evan Hymes and Rob Poole led the way with 14 points each. Senior O.D. Ansoike scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his final career double-double as a Saint.

Niagara challenged Siena’s Anosike early on and the senior couldn’t answer. Senior Devon White defended him in the early part of the game, getting physical with the Siena captain on the low block, but drew two fouls in a manner of a nine second sequence and was forced to sit the rest of the first half on the bench.

“We were just trying to throw the kitchen sink at him,” Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich said. “I thought that if we had an unsung hero today it would have been Joe Thomas. He came in and had couple buckets and banged it around a little bit. [Anosike is] a load, he’s a tough guy to guard.”

The Purple Eagles continued to hurt Anosike, who didn’t get his first basket of the game until a putback off an Evan Hymes miss with 9:28 left in the first half. Niagara responded by taking their largest lead of the game as Juan’ya Green drove the lane and dished it to Joe Thomas for an easy layup.

Sophomore Ameen Tanskley drove to the basket with 6:25 left, drawing a foul on Imoh Silas. The late whistle did not go over well with the Siena crowd, neither did sophmore Rahkeem Brookins like it and his words to the officials drew a technical foul.

Green made one of two tehcnical free throws, Ameen Tanksley made both of his off Silas’ foul. Following a Siena turnover on the other end, Niagara took their largest lead on a T.J. Cline layup over Silas and Anosike underneath the basket to make it 28-19. However, Siena responded with a 7-0 run capped by a Hymes three pointer to cut the lead to two. Hymes’ next three pointer with four seconds left cut the lead to one, 32-31 at halftime.

Mason said that they just needed to get out and play, lose the jitters of playing in their first game, in the locker room at halftime.

“I told everybody especially like T.J. [Cline] just relax and it’s going to come to you,” Mason said. “We just have to execute on defense is what started it.”

Niagara struggled from outside in the first half, making just two of 13 three pointers but heated up offensively the second half. The Purple Eagles went on a 10-0 run to start the half, starting with a Marvin Jordan three pointer next to the Niagara bench and ending with an Antoine Mason traditional three point play in transition off an Anosike turnover. Siena cut into the lead with a Rob Poole three pointer but Tanksley drove the baseline and made a nifty behind the back pass to Thomas who threw down a two handed dunk to keep the lead at ten, 44-34.

Siena responded with an 8-0 run featuring two baskets from Anosike in the post, a transition layup by Trenity Burdine and two Hymes free throws to cut the lead to four. However, T.J. Cline responded with a deep three to extend the lead back to five.

Cline led the bench with nine points for a team that got 27 of their 74 points from the bench.

“T.J. [Cline] was the rookie of the year,” Mihalich said after the game. “He put his team in first place. He made plays, he had the best stats and he made his team win. I don’t know how you judge it, but he was the rookie of the year.”

The game appeared to reach a breaking point on the physical play when Anosike posted up on Cline and drew a foul with 8:45 left. After the whistle, Anosike fell to the ground inadvertently and the referees reviewed and decided against any technical fouls.

“It was chippy but we all brought it together and said we can’t lose our cool,” Mason said. “We don’t need no flagrant fouls, nothing to lose the game. We just have to play our game.”

When play resumed Niagara took over the next three minutes, taking a 10-point lead on a Cline layup with 5:23 left, forcing a Siena timeout. The Saints came back with baskets from Brookins and Anosike but minutes later Burdine traveled in the lane to squander an opportunity to cut the lead to five with 3:38.

Burdine’s travel was Siena’s 19th turnover of the game. The Saints turned the ball over 20 times on the day.

“The turnovers have been a problem all year,” Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro said. “You can’t turn the ball over against a team like Niagara.”

Freshman Tajere McCall went down with just over 15 minutes left in the first half, falling on a drive to the basket. McCall winced in pain with a left leg injury and was helped off the court by a trainer and teammate.

Mihalich said that McCall was on crutches after the game and that he is not sure whether or not he will play in tomorrow’s semifinal game.

“If anybody can do it he will, but it don’t look good,” Mihalich said.

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Marist’s Price Career Ends at Hands of Siena

SPRINGFIELD – Friday night marked the end of the career of Marist senior Devin Price.

When Siena senior O.D. Anosike threw down a dunk to send Siena to a 70-64 win, Marist inbounded the ball and Price was standing near midcourt when Chavaughn Lewis’ final shot at the basket missed as time expired.

A career that saw him almost transfer out of Marist after a 1-29 sophomore season, reach 1,000 points in his senior year, endure through an ankle injury that cost him part of the year ended on a 70-64 loss to Siena in the first round of the MAAC Tournament.

“It’s just an unreal feeling,” Price said. “You look up and you were a freshman and you lost this game your freshman year. It didn’t feel like this because you knew you had so many more games left to play but here.”

“I am a senior and it was it, I’ll never play for Marist again.”

Marist head coach Chuck Martin said he thanked the seniors Price and Dorvell Carter in the locker room following the loss.

Price finished his final game as Red Fox with three points. He finishes 12th on the all-time scoring list in Marist history with 1,244 points. Of those points 777 of them came in his final two seasons.

The biggest thing Price said he will take away from a four year career at Marist is to not run away from a challenge.

“Never give up and when there’s a challenge don’t run from it and you’ll be better for it,” Price said. “Whether or not you obtain most of the things that you set out to do you’ll always be better for it.”

“I take my hat off to Siena,” Price said. “They were the team that ended my career.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Needham Wills Fairfield to 54-47 Win over St. Peter’s

SPRINGFIELD – Fairfield senior Derek Needham did not want Friday night to be his final game as a Stag.

The senior put his team on his back at times, helping rally them down by as many as seven in the second half, scoring a game-high 24 points in Fairfield’s 54-47 victory over St. Peter’s.

“I thought they show a ton of heart,” Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson said of his seniors. “We’ve had our backs up against the wall the last few games where we’ve come up short but they played inspired.”

“Our seniors, they were just outstanding. They played inspired basketball so it willed us to win.”

The Fairfield senior class collected 31 of the team’s 54 points on the night, 24 of those coming from 8 of 21 field goals from Needham.

Needham said he was not ready to end his four year career as a Stag.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Needham said.

St. Peter’s held their largest lead of the game early in the second half at seven at 44-37 after a Desi Washington three pointer. Needham responded making a deep two followed by a drive to the basket old fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to two.

Minutes later junior Mo Barrow collected his own miss underneath the basket and laid it in to tie the game at 44.

After falling behind on a Chris Burke two pointer off the glass, Needham drove in transition off a Yvon Raymond miss and got a shot to go off the window to tie the game at 46.

MAAC co-rookie of the year Amadou Sidibe received the ball on a rotation late, getting fouled by Darius Conley on an open look. Sidibe’s free throws put Fairfield ahead 48-46. The next offensive possession the Stags’ Needham missed a three pointer but Colin Nickerson grabbed the rebound underneath the hoop. Nickerson missed the tip in but Sidibe tipped it in to give the Stags a four-point lead.

Sidibe finished with a game high 13 rebounds to go with six crucial points. Freshman Coleman Johnson blocked two critical shots on drives by Raymond to the basket to help shut down the Peacocks offense.

“We tried to tell them keep going it’s a long game,” Needham said of the play of the freshmen. “It’s a MAAC tournament game, these are the hardest games for you to win in your career. We just told our freshmen keep going we’re going to need you down the stretch.”

The Stags defense worked over the Peacocks in the second half, holding them to just one point over the final 4:55.

“The guys are just committed to it,” Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson said. “They work tremendously hard in practice.”

“Derek knows this, he’s been a joy to coach, the seniors have been a joy to coach and really they just work so hard so it’s just fun to be around. I think what you saw tonight is their practice habits that came out and they stayed true to the scouting report and we made enough plays to win.”

The Peacocks managed just one field goal over the final 11 minutes of the game.

“They don’t let you get to the rim and they take away your strengths,” St. Peter’s head coach John Dunne said. “They’re very well coached with their defensive game plan.”

“Clearly I would like to get Desi [Washington] more shots, especially from behind the arc but they do a great job sticking it to him, trailing him, bumping him on cuts but other guys have to make drives. I did think we had some layups there, [Yvon] Raymond had two to three drives where he’s good at driving right and finishing, they just didn’t go down. They didn’t go down for him.”

Fairfield was held without a field goal for over seven minutes for a part of the first half as they watched a their lead as large as 10 evaporate.

II think our energy went down,” Needham said. “In the MAAC tournament if your energy goes down a team can make a run at you and they put us in a hole.”

Needham gave Fairfield a 27-26 halftime lead on a three pointer with 1:29 left. Neehdam picked up his third foul early in the second half the Peacocks capitalized. St. Peter’s stormed out of the half, taking a game that was tied at 30 and expanding their lead as large as seven at 41-35.

The Stags advance to play the second-seeded Rider Broncs, who they beat twice during the regular season by 10 points or more.

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.

Siena Advances with 70-64 Win Over Marist

SPRINGFIELD – Siena held on to a 70-64 victory in the first game of the MAAC Tournament at the MassMutual Center, scoring the game’s final six points in a minute capped by an emphatic dunk from senior O.D. Anosike.

Anosike led Siena with 24 points on 9-21 from the floor and a game-high 12 rebounds.

“This is definitely the epitome of a team effort,” Anosike said. “I’m a senior and I don’t want to go home.”

“They understood that if we didn’t play with a sense of urgency, we were going home. I’m real proud of these guys.”

Marist Sophomore Chavaughn Lewis also tied Anosike’s game-high 24 points but could not convert when he had the ball in his hands with the chance to go ahead and just over a minute left.

The Red Foxes ran two-man action through the sophomore at the top of the key but, Lewis lost the handle after getting double-teamed. On the ensuing loose ball Lewis managed to gave up his fourth foul with just over a minute left.

Head coach Chuck Martin was out beyond the coaching box to distress his unhappiness with the loose ball foul on Lewis.

“Something happened there,” Martin said. “Lewis was on the floor so, something happened. It looked like a foul but, the officials said he didn’t see it that way and that’s his call.”

“Chavaughn Lewis is dribbling and then in two seconds he’s on the floor. Something happened. He didn’t trip by himself.”

Lewis said in the locker room after the game he apologized to the seniors for missing out on the opportunity to tie.

“I like to take the blame on myself because I had two big time possessions where I could have put us in the lead or even gave us a good opportunity,” Lewis said. “I apologized to the seniors for that and wish them the best of luck.”

Trenity Burdine went to the line and missed the first and made the second  to give Siena a 65-64 lead.

Lewis had a chance to take the lead with a jumper from the free throw line; however, his shot went in and out.

“Definitely that was the play where I saw how open I was, all I was thinking about was knocking the shot down, but I let it go too hard and I missed.” Lewis said.

“It’s crazy because all week that’s what I’ve been in the gym just shooting and thinking about that moment when I had the opportunity I would knock that shot down. It’s disappointing to know that all that work, I actually missed the shot.”

On the other end Burdine drove to the basket on Lewis and dropped in a layup to give Siena a 67-64 lead.

On the next possession Lewis had a contested three point look but missed the shot with just under 30 seconds left. From there Siena managed to ice the game. Marist missed their final seven shots of the game

The game went back and forth until the final media timeout. Marist went on an 8-0 run early to take an 18-17 lead. Off an Evan Hymes tunrover, Isaiah Morton threw it in transition to Manny Thomas who missed the layup. However, Adam Kemp trailed the play and threw down a dunk, forcing a Siena timeout.

O.D. Anosike dominated early, scoring 12 points in the half. However, Anosike was held without a bakset for the final 8:27 of the half. The senior missed four shots from the field with shots blocked from Manny Thomas and Pieter Prinsloo. Siena led 32-31 at halftime thanks to Trenity Burdine free throw in the final minute.

In the second half, defense dominated early. Silas had a hook shot rejected by Kemp and on ensuing possession Silas blocked Morton’s drive early in the second half. Kemp blocked a Brookins drive to the basket a few feet from the stands from the paint.

T.J. Curry off a Burdine turnover drove to the basket for the layup to give Marist a 49-48 lead, their first since leading 20-17 in the first half. Chavaughn Lewis drove in transition got fouled by Martens and made the basket. His three point play capped a 7-2 Red Fox run to give Marist a 56-52 lead with 5:54 left.

However Rob Poole dialed up a response with a game-tying three pointer from the left baseline with 3:47 left.

Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro said that Poole’s two late three pointers came on the same set play.

“I was just going to try to let the game come to me,” Poole said who had 11 of his 19 points in the second half. “I just kept shooting, and luckily, they went in.”

After a Siena timeout, the Saints went man to man and Lewis drove off a pick from Kemp drawing a foul on Poole. Lewis made one of two free throws to give Marist a 61-60 lead.

Redshirt sophomore Rahkeem Brookins, who last played February 10th against Saint Peter’s, played 20 minutes off the bench scoring four points. Brookins free throws with 2:53 left gave Siena a 62-61 lead, a lead they would hold on for good. On the next possession Kemp drew a charge backing down in the post for his fourth foul with 2:33 left. Poole banked a jumper off the window to add to the cushion and give Siena a 64-61 lead.

The junior Bowie had 14 of his 16 points in the second half to help Marist come back in the game. Kemp finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks but fouled out of the game in the final minute.

Siena has won each of the six tournament meetings against the Red Foxes.

Martin said after the game that this close loss will be motivation to rally the team for next season.

“I think that it is but if there’s anything I could tell my guys it’s that you are who you are and in the critical moments you reveal yourself,” Martin said. “This is who you were all year long, you could fake it and hide it but in the moment of truth you are who you are and hopefully the same lesson for us to commit from day one.”

“Completely commit from day one, everyone, staff, players, managers because if you don’t do it that way in critical moments, you are who you are you reveal yourself and that happened tonight a little bit.”

Ryan Restivo covers the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference for Big Apple Buckets, follow him on twitter @ryanarestivo.