It was a college basketball weekend as from 5pm Friday to 5pm Sunday, I took in four college basketball games. I saw the following; a three overtime period, a dominant performance by a center, some good officiating (by the CAA would you believe it), a typical terrific Antoine Agudio performance, my 2 and a half year old son eat a pretzel and a half with cheese, some really bad officiating (by the Atlantic 10, really scary), a fun place to watch a game (McKinley Center), a really good A10 game, and a nice little Division III team.
As mentioned, in previous blog posting, I was at the Iona Lady Gaels game Friday night vs. the Fairfield Stags (one of the more interesting mascot names in the country). The Lady Gaels came back from a 17 point first half deficit to eventually defeat the Stags 87-78 in triple overtime. Anna McLean dominated the inside with 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting with 16 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Thazina Cook scored 20 points to lead the Gaels and despite having 8 of Iona’s 39 turnovers, Lauren DeFalco added 17 points on 8 of 8 from the foul line. The Gaels led 4-2 early in the game before the Stags went on a 30-11 run to go up 32-15 with 3:04 left in the first half. The Gaels trailed 36-24 at halftime, then trailed 41-26 early in the second half before they went on a 33-18 capped by a Thazina Cook three pointer tied the game at 59 and forced overtime. The Gaels led by four in the first overtime, 64-60, before the Stags rallied to force double overtime on a shot by Baendu Lowenthal. In the double overtime period, Thazina Cook again tied the game at 73 on a layup with four seconds left to force triple overtime. In the third overtime, Iona finally pulled away as McLean, Cook and DeFalco combined to score the first nine points in that period to seal the win...finally. Sabra Wrice led the Stags and all scorers with 21 points.
Then yesterday afternoon, I took my son Matt (who again got a good nap in at the game - wife was happy with that) to see Hofstra (8-15, 5-8 CAA) play host to Georgia State (6-17, 3-10 CAA). Hofstra had lost at William and Mary early in the week while Georgia State lost another heartbreaking loss at home to VCU 65-60 (Georgia State has lost five games in conference by five points or less). It looked like it would be a struggle for the Pride as Georgia State went out to a quick 7-0 lead. Hofstra, behind Antoine Agudio’s 25 points, would slowly chip away at the Panther lead, eventually going on a mini 7-0 run to go ahead 21-14. Eventually, they would be by three at the half, 25-22. Early in the second half, the Pride went on a 15-2 run to put the game away at 48-31 with 10:27 left. It seemed during and especially after that run that Georgia State gave up. They literally gave up. Leonard Mendez, who scored 11 points in the first half for the Panthers, had one point in the second half. One point. It was a terrible effort by the Panthers who shot only 34 percent from the field and only shot 55 percent from the foul line (11 of 20). Hofstra would go up by as many as 21 at 57-36 with 3:43 left before coach Tom Pecora emptied his bench.
Hofstra shot well from the field, going 22 of 42 for 52. Agudio was magnificent, going 10 of 15 from the field including 5 of 8 from the three point arc. But again, two categories that Hofstra has struggled with all year, turnovers to assists ratio and free throw shooting showed their ugly head. The Pride had 16 assists, double as many as they had against William and Mary on Wednesday, but also had 18 turnovers, as they continue to be last in turnover margin and last in turnover to assist ratio in the CAA. The Pride also shot an unseemly 7 of 15 from the free throw line. If Hofstra wants to play deep into the CAA tournament in March, they must improve in both categories.
So now with two legs of the college basketball weekend done, I went out to McKinley Center on the campus of Fordham University in Rosedale to watch the battle of the Rams as Fordham hosted Rhode Island, in a battle of the Rams (both teams' mascots are the Rams). I bought these tickets weeks in advance to see how good Rhode Island was. First, I want to say I love Fordham’s McKinley Center. Its not an arena, but not really a gym, sort of an old fashioned field house, with lots of brick and windows at the top. Its also really cool to hear the Fordham Ramblers, the Rams’ singing group sing the national anthem capella then go into the Fordham fight song. Very cool.
Before I get into the game, here are some interesting facts about how good the Atlantic 10 is this year.
1) At least three teams this year were in the Top 25 at one time or another (Xavier, Rhode Island, and Dayton)
2) At least five Atlantic 10 teams; Xavier, Rhode Island, Dayton, St Joseph’s and Massachusetts have been mentioned as possible NCAA teams. Xavier and Rhode Island have 20 wins already.
3) Here’s the most interesting stat. Fordham last year went 10-6 (18-12 overall) in the Atlantic 10, which was good for fourth place. The Rams entire starting lineup from last year of Bryant Dunston, Marcus Stout, Brenton Butler, Sebastian Greene and Michael Binns returned for this season. So what’s the conference record of the Fordham Rams this year. Well its now 2-6 in conference (and 8-13 overall) after a very tough 65-63 loss to Rhode Island.
So why is Fordham 2-6 in conference? Statistically, the Rams are very similar to the team that finished fourth in the A10 last year. They are averaging the same number of points per game this year as they did last year, though their field goal percentage is slightly down from 43.6 percent last year to 42.5 percent this year, not that much of a difference though. Their three point field goal percentage is down from .357 to .323 this year, but other than that, the turnovers to assists ratio, rebounds etc are all basically the same as last year.
Also as you watch the Rams, you can see that the Rams offensively move the ball around very well. Dunston is a very solid post presence, Stout is a solid shooting guard with long range ability, and Greene is shooting 53 percent from the field. So again, why is Fordham 2-6 conference?
I really honestly believe the league has improved leaps and bounds from last year. The teams are so much better now. I already mentioned Xavier (20-4), Rhode Island (20-4), Dayton (16-6), St Joseph’s (15-7) and UMass (14-8). There are also solid teams such as Duquesne (15-7) and Charlotte (14-8). Temple (12-10) and Richmond(12-10) are over .500 in conference at the moment and have winning records. Even St Louis has a winning record at 13-10. Thus Fordham, who was fourth in conference last year, is eleventh this year with the same group of starters back. That’s scary. Also, coach Derek Wittenburg had a very telling statement after today’s game talking about Rhode Island’s seniors compared to his, "Their seniors have stepped up and ours have been inconsistent and that's the difference,"
As for the game, Fordham went out and played very well early, going up by as many as 15, 23-8 with 8:38 left in the first half, as the Fordham had balanced scoring from their starters. They suffocated star Rhode Island guard Jimmy Baron in the first half, and the Rhode Island Rams' second leading scorer was held scoreless until he hit a three pointer with 10:10 left in the second half. Fordham went into a scoring funk as they tried too hard to get it inside to Dunston, who was constantly double teamed after the early Fordham run. Rhode Island cut the Fordham lead at halftime to 29-25.
In the second half, Fordham went out on a 7-2 run and jumped out to a 36-27 lead, then maintained the nine point advantage at 42-33 with 10:10 left. Then Rhode Island made their run as they got Baron going with that first aforementioned three pointer and scored the next 10 points to go ahead 43-42, capped by a Kahiem Seawright layup with 7:13 left. Bryant Dunston would tie the game at 47 all with a layup with 5:22 left. Rhode Island would retake the lead until 2:42 left when Brenton Butler hit a three pointer to put Fordham up 54-53.
But Wil Daniels, who led Rhode Island with 18 points, put Rhode Island up to stay, 55-54 with 2:20 left. Rhode Island’s lead would extend to 63-56 with 37 seconds left. However, Marcus Stout hit a three pointer, then Dunston stole the inbounds pass and hit a layup to cut the lead to 63-61. After two Baron free throws, Stout hit a layup to make it 65-63 with 6 seconds left.
Rhode Island called timeout to setup the inbounds play. Inexplicably, coach Jim Baron had his son Jimmy, the best free throw shooter and perhaps best ball handler, but short at 6 foot 2 (and I think that’s generous) inbound the ball. Baron tried to lob the ball in and the Fordham defender grabbed the ball but was taken down by a Rhode Island player. It was clearly a foul (and it was verified on my friend Mal’s Tivo replay), but as per most of the game, no foul was called. The officiating at the game was very very inconsistent and a lot of hard chippy play was allowed during the game. Dunston did get the loose ball but missed a shot at the end.
Stout led all scorers with 19 and Dunston added 17 for Fordham. Baron had 13 for Rhode Island.
Finally, my 48 hour basketball tour ended in Patchogue, New York as I watched the Division III St Joseph’s Golden Eagles defeat Yeshiva 69-59. I got there in time for the second half as I was there because I will be interviewing St Joseph’s coach John Mateyko for this blog in the next few days. St Joseph’s is 16-5 overall and 12-2 in the Skyline conference, which is good for second place, one game in back of first place Farmingdale. The Golden Eagles feature two of the top 10 scorers in the Skyline conference, guards David Acree and Phil Lipari. Acree (14 points), Lipari (17 points) and Brandon Freeman (18 points) combined for 49 points on 18 of 37 shooting from the field (including 7 of 12 from three). I was really impressed with their ball movement and how they did not force things. They took what Yeshiva gave them offensively. Acree and Lipari combined for 10 assists and only 3 turnovers. Look for my interview later this week.
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