Category: NEC

Bryant In Sole Possession of First Place In NEC

The wacky NEC keeps on turning. Just one unbeaten remains and no one is winless. We’re four games in and we might know absolutely nothing. It’s going to be a crazy season. Let’s recap all of Saturday’s action. Continue reading “Bryant In Sole Possession of First Place In NEC” →

Convincing Defeats Dominate NEC Thursday

There was plenty of action across the upper east coast tonight for the NEC, so let’s jump right into it!

Robert Morris 88, Fairleigh Dickinson 54
If there was any doubt that the Colonials would respond after their two lackluster losses at home, you quickly got your answer in the early going. After one half, Robert Morris jumped out to a 19 point lead, forcing ten Knight turnovers and holding them to 42.7% shooting. I guess all teams should run the balance a chair between the legs drill! The Colonials sizzled from beyond the arc, hitting 13 of 24 threes. Coron Williams had a game high 27 points, but really everyone played well in this one. Anytime you can force 17 turnovers, dish out 22 assists versus nine turnovers (2.4 A/TO) and make more than half your shots, the head coach will probably smile during the post game. Not bad for a bunch of prima donna players led by a prima donna coach! (sorry I couldn’t help myself)

Guest contributor Ray Floriani had these observations on Thursday:

Robert Morris rang up 88 points en route to a rout of FDU. Forget the offense for a minute. The 88-54 wipe out was courtesy of defense. Close outs, ball pressure, communication etc. The Colonials came in and dominated on the defensive end.

The Colonials finished 8-5 in pre-NEC contests. They squandered a great opportunity for a solid start by losing home contests to Bryant and Central Connecticut.

“I think our guys got a wake up call.” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said following the win at FDU’s Rothman Center.  “We were reminded that in this league there are good teams and you have to be ready and play every night.”

Against FDU they did just that. In non-conference games, Robert Morris showed a 98 defensive efficiency. It fell considerably with a 114 in the recent ‘lost weekend’. Against FDU, the Colonials were outstanding. They limited FDU to an 86 efficiency in a 63 possession contest. On the offensive end, Robert Morris posted an outstanding 140 efficiency. A 21-7 turnover scoring advantage largely contributed as the Colonials forced FDU into a 27% turnover rate. A classic example of defense creating and energizing the offense. And on the offensive end, the Colonials scorched the nets with a 67 effective field goal percentage mark made possible in part by a gaudy 14% turnover rate.

Individually, the Colonials had five players in double figures. Coron Williams led the way with 27 points, shooting a torrid 8-10 from beyond the arc.

Melquan Bolding led the way with 17 points for FDU, now 1-2 in conference play. Despite the one sided affair, Toole sees improvement in FDU. “We watched a few of their games on tape,” he said. “They have a few good seniors like Bolding and (Lonnie) Robinson plus they really play well together from what we have seen.”

Next up for Robert Morris on the ‘Garden State’ swing is a visit to Monmouth on Saturday. “It will be tough,” Toole admitted. “They play very hard.”

Central Connecticut 84, Sacred Heart 78
Sacred Heart jumped out to a double digit lead in the first half, but it was mainly because of the Blue Devils’ incompetence on offense, as CCSU missed nine of ten three pointers (several were open looks) in the first half. After Kyle Vinales went scoreless in the first 20 minutes, the sophomore exploded for 15 points, 7 assists, and two rebounds pushing CCSU to their second straight NEC victory. The Pioneers lost the lead midway through the second half, after Shane Gibson exited with four fouls. Brandon Peel had the game of his life (although there will be many more for this freshman) registering a career high 17 points and 17 rebounds. No one down low for Sacred Heart could keep Peel off the boards and it cost them dearly. What also cost the Pioneers dearly was their transition defense, as CCSU outscored SHU 14-4 in fast break points. Shane Gibson and Steve Glowiak – playing in his hometown of New Britain – each had a team high 22 points, although both players needed a combined 40 shots just to get there.

Bryant 103, Quinnipiac 95
This is not a typo, I repeat this is not a typo. Bryant dropped 103 points on Quinnipiac, as the Bulldogs continue their torrid display of offensive basketball. I didn’t see much of the game, but here are the wonderful statistics: Bryant shot 60.7% from the floor, made 12 of 19 three-pointers, had 24 assists against ten turnovers, and scored 1.38 points per possession! Wow. Every Bulldog starter scored at least 14 points with Frankie Dobbs leading the way. The fifth year senior netted 20 points (his 10th game of the season in double figures), 6 assists, and 2 rebounds. Despite their defensive ineptness, Quinnipiac actually hung around in this one, but a Bulldog 14-4 run midway through the 2nd half essentially sealed the deal. Now winners of five straight, Bryant is 3-0 in the conference for the first time ever, while Quinnipiac drops to 1-2.

Monmouth 65, St. Francis (PA) 60
It was another mediocre offensive performance by the Hawks, but these days King Rice will take any victory he can get. The Hawks only shot 40.7% from the field, but forced 18 Red Flash turnovers to earn their first NEC win. Monmouth did convert nine of their 20 three-point attempts on the night, including perhaps a slump busting performance by Jesse Steele. The senior did take 15 shots to register 17 points, yet he drained five of eight from downtown. The youthful Red Flash were only trailing by three points with less than five minutes remaining (I’m sure the MAC crowd was loving that), but missed seven of their final eight shots in the closing minutes. Earl Brown continued his mastery on the boards, registering his four straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Not bad for a kid who only had eight points and ten rebounds in the first five games of the season!

St. Francis 70, Mount St. Mary’s 55
Ben Mockford had a season high 19 points, including five threes, as St. Francis (NY) earned their second NEC victory of the season over Jamion Christian’s squad. Once again, the Mountaineers awful perimeter defense came back to haunt them, with the Terriers sinking more than half (51.0%) of their field goals attempts, while draining seven of 15 from behind the arc. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 25-17 lead, but were outscored 53-30 the rest of the way. Jalen Cannon had perhaps his worst game of the season, only scoring seven points to go along with three rebounds. St. Francis did cough the ball up 16 times, but still had two less turnovers than the Mountaineers, who have now lost five of their last seven games.

Wagner 86, LIU Brooklyn 75
In a surprising development, it was the Seahawks offense (1.18 points per possession) that snapped the Blackbirds 27 game winning streak at the WRAC tonight. Mario Moody, Kenneth Ortiz, and Latif Rivers combined for 59 points and led an surprisingly efficient Seahawk attack even without their star wing Jonathan Williams (hip). LIU sinks to 0-3 in the NEC and has a really important game versus the Mount coming up. John has a complete game recap here.

Ryan Peters covers Northeast Conference men’s basketball for Big Apple Buckets and Pioneer Pride. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride

Is Kelvin Parker Back in Mount St. Mary’s Rotation?

Unless you’re a Mountaineers fan, NEC employee, or someone like me who lives close by, you probably haven’t paid much attention to the first two Mount St. Mary’s games of the conference season. If you had, however, you would have noticed the return of a familiar face to the Mount’s lineup – the former walk-on Kelvin Parker. Continue reading “Is Kelvin Parker Back in Mount St. Mary’s Rotation?” →

NEC Opening Week: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

With NEC conference play finally opening up this past week, we have plenty to discuss in this week’s version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Let’s jump right into it, beginning with perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the country.

The Good

  • Bulldog Bullying – Never in my wildest dreams did I believe Bryant would still be undefeated after I witnessed their tough loss on the road to Navy last month. But since then, Dobbs has run the offense masterfully (4.0 assists/game, 1.7 A/TO), Dyami Starks is stretching the defense with his outside shooting (17.9 points/game, 38% 3PT%), and Alex Francis is once again dominating in the low post (15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds per game). Through two conference games, Bryant has a sizzling 1.17 points per possession and an effective field goal percentage of 58%. What can stop these emerging Bulldogs now? Well, the lack of depth is certainly an issue moving forward and warrants monitoring. It’s a good problem to have if you’re Tim O’Shea, but he’ll need to be careful of not overusing his starting five, especially when February rolls around. One injury to the big three and this team easily drops a tier or two.
  • The Pioneers Are Back, Baby! – OK, maybe they aren’t really back, but protecting their home court for the first two conference games – after losing seven straight non-conference games – is a nice start. On Thursday night, Louis Montes enjoyed a career performance (35 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and two blocks) in leading SHU past an undermanned LIU Brooklyn club. On Saturday afternoon, it was Shane Gibson’s turn to shine, as the senior poured in 28 efficient points including the final four points to slide past the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers. Justin Swidowski, in effect, saved the game for SHU by scoring 14 points in the second half to spark a run that put the Pioneers back in the game. Looking ahead, the Pioneers embark on a difficult four game road stand which includes CCSU, Quinnipiac, and a pissed off Robert Morris club. More on the Colonials later…
  • Say Goodbye to a Winless Season – A home blowout loss to Bryant aside, kudos goes to head coach Rob Krimmel for earning his first career victory, when his Red Flash surprisingly dispatched CCSU last Thursday, 79-70. In the win, sophomore Earl Brown went off, grabbing 25 rebounds to go along with 16 points. It was the most rebounds a Division I player had ever secured in a game since 2009. In fact, Brown was only eight rebounds shy of out-rebounding the entire Blue Devils team in the game! Overall, it was a nice start to the season for St. Francis, who will surely struggle at times with a young collection of talent. But at the same time, the Red Flash won’t be an easy victory more often than not when teams venture into the wilderness of middle Pennsylvania.
  • Dan Hurley Who? – One team that expectedly took care of business last week was Bashir Mason’s Wagner Seahawks, who held both NEC opponents to a combined 0.80 points per possession. Sophomore Mario Moody, in particular, helped push Wagner to victory as he’s now averaging 12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per contest. Moody and teammate Naofall Folahan’s presence in the interior has made life incredibly difficult for opposing offenses and has certainly made Mason’s job a lot easier in leading this roster since Dan Hurley left for the A10. The Seahawks are the best bet to earn a home playoff game in the NEC postseason, although these days, predicting future NEC results is nearly impossible. Which leads me to my final bullet point for The Good…
  • The Wide Open NEC – I need a show of hands, who had Bryant and Sacred Heart at 2-0 and Robert Morris winless after a week of conference basketball? Anyone? The overused sports cliché of “any team can win on any given night” holds true for this conference with six underdogs winning half of the 12 conference games this past week. For NEC fans, it will make any game a must watch, even if the number of gray hairs increases exponentially over the course of the season. Races will be wide open and that is an absolute win for the conference. That is unless you’re an elitist.

The Bad

  • An Early Hole – The shorthanded LIU Blackbirds performed admirably considering the conditions, but nonetheless dropped two straight road games in Connecticut versus Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac. Jason Brickman was spectacular in the losses and is quietly having the best season of his already excellent career, posting averages of 10.5 points and 8.3 assists per game with a phenomenal 2.6 A/TO. Despite the diminutive point guard’s contributions though, the Blackbirds must regroup with Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner in a hurry when the Seahawks make the trek across the Verrazano Bridge on Thursday evening. After Wagner, the schedule gets a little easier with games against Mount St. Mary’s, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Monmouth. The goal for Jack Perri should be to have his team at 3-3 after six conference games.

The Ugly

  • Panic in Moon Township? – Do yourself a favor and head to Pittsburg Post-Gazette writer Craig Meyer’s Twitter (@craig_a_meyer) timeline for some entertaining post game quotes from Andy Toole after their upset loss to CCSU on Saturday night. Suffice it to say, he wasn’t happy with the team’s effort, which saw the Colonials lose two NEC games in a row to start the season for the first time since … ever! Defense has been the major culprit for the sudden slide, but there’s plenty of time to alleviate these issues. A road trip to NJ to square off against the offensively challenged FDU Knights and Monmouth Hawks may just be what the doctor ordered. Toole’s upcoming practices (I bet he ran one early Sunday morning after the CCSU loss) may also influence his players to once again care on defense. Regardless, it’s weird to see Robert Morris possess the second worst NEC points allowed per possession number at 1.11.
  • Monmouth’s Lid on the Basket – The heart is there, the tenacious defense is there, and even the offense execution is there as well. THe problem is Monmouth is having great difficultly making open shots, as evident by their brutal 42.7% effective field goal percentage. After Saturday night’s loss, King Rice was still upbeat and confident his players would eventually hit those open looks, but the reality is this team will struggle more often than not without the presence of a true playmaking athlete. Without a bevy of turnovers and pristine execution on the offense end, the Hawks must scratch and crawl their way toward every win. So far when the offense isn’t there, Monmouth has fallen short twice. They should pick up their first NEC victory this Thursday over St. Francis (PA), but a tough three game stretch versus Robert Morris (home) and the Brooklyn schools (away) will tell us if this team is ready to get out of their funk. If not, King Rice and company could be staring at a 1-5 conference record in the blink of an eye.

Monmouth Continues to Struggle on Offense, Loses to Mount St. Mary’s

In just two and a half minutes, seven turnovers were already committed. Given Mount St. Mary’s and Monmouth’s ability to force turnovers (each team is in the top ten nationally in that category), this early development wasn’t surprisingly in the least bit.

Unfortunately for Monmouth, another thing that wasn’t surprising was the Hawks’ inability to put the ball in the basket. It wasn’t from a lack of effort, or even execution on the offensive end. The open looks just wouldn’t fall for the struggling Hawks, and it cost them once again as the Mount pulled away in the second half for a 71-59 victory. After the loss, King Rice was surprisingly upbeat, despite his team now in the midst of a seven game losing streak.

“I told my kids after we’re still a work in progress,” said Rice. “I feel so bad for them, because Jesse [Steele] got good looks, Dion [Nesmith] got good looks … and the ball hasn’t fallen for them yet. So I told our guys, we played hard enough today to be able to win. Now we have to execute and make shots and those types of things, but that’s the type of effort I’m looking for.”

To the Mount’s credit, they hit some shots right out of the gate. After settling down from the initial frenetic pace, the Mount sank 13 of their 27 shots in the first half to take a 31-25 lead into halftime. Big man Kristijan Krajina led the attack with nine first half points on five shots, while Sam Prescott looked comfortable hitting three of four three-pointers.

Said Jamion Christian after the game on his suddenly emerging low post scorer, “[Kristijan] has really given us a consistent low-post scorer. Our guys have done a great job getting him the ball in key situations and I expect him to keep playing the way he’s been playing.”

The tenacious Hawks – clearly taking on the identity of their head coach – predictably came out swinging in the second half. Monmouth used a 8-0 run to pull within one point with 10:34 remaining, but that was the closest the Hawks would get. A 20-6 Mount St. Mary’s run to conclude the game ultimately broke the back of Monmouth.

In those final ten minutes, Monmouth missed nine of their final 11 shots and ended the night with a now league worst 0.81 points per possession and 41.3% field goal percentage. Jesse Steele, in particular, still hasn’t found his stroke (shooting 26.8% from the floor for the season), yet Rice isn’t ready to take the ball out of his hands.

“Last year Jesse wasn’t in shape, last year Jesse didn’t try hard all the time, and Jesse had a great year for us last year,” said Rice. “Now Jesse has gotten in great shape, he’s put in more time on his game then he ever has since high school, he’s doing all the right things, he’s trying his best to be our leader, and the ball hasn’t fallen. But I told Jesse over and over and over, keep shooting the ball, son. When you score the way you score, it’s going to start happening at some point.”

Andrew Nicholas led the Hawks with 19 points, although he needed 19 shots to score those points. Despite the losing streak, Rice is still confident enough to believe his team will get through this rough patch and become a factor once again in the NEC.

“I like our team,” said Rice. “I probably messed in scheduling in having the three high major games in a row. We were playing at a high level before the Navy game and we lost our mojo a little bit.”

“They are great kids. If they weren’t buying in then it would be a different story, but our kids are bought in and we need some things to break for us, and I believe they will.”

After what appears to be a brief reprieve with St. Francis (PA) coming to the MAC, Monmouth will then embark on a difficult three game set with Robert Morris, St. Francis Brooklyn, and LIU Brooklyn. Those open looks need to fall soon, or Monmouth will find themselves in a deep, deep hole by late January.