Mid Major Hoops

Miscellaneous Goings On in College Basketball

Lets take a quick look at goings on in the last two weeks in college basketball.

I got to see a NCAA tournament quality game tonight as Memphis downed Gonzaga 83-72.  The game was much closer than the final score indicated.  Adam Morrison had another terrific night for the Bulldogs with 34 points and JP Batista added 15 , but it was not enough as Rodney Carney and Darius Washington combined for 46 points while the Tigers shot 49 percent from the field as opposed to the Bulldogs 34 percent.  Gonzaga was up 67-66 with 5:13 left before Memphis went on a 17-5 run to end the game.

The Lady Gaels of Iona finally broke their losing streak with an impressive 67-58 road win over Wagner last week.  Das Wunderkind Martina Weber led the way with 17 points as the Lady Gaels never trailed.  Iona plays in the Hawk Classic at St Joseph's vs 7-2 St Joseph's.

In CAA basketball; Last Thursday I predicted that if Adrian Uter stayed out of foul trouble, Hofstra would easily defeat St Francis of Brooklyn.  Not only did Uter stay out of foul trouble, Uter had a career high 21 points leading the Pride to an easy 73-57 victory over the Terriers.  Hofstra was up as many as 27 in the second half. 

Old Dominion continues to struggle as they lost twice last week.  Last Tuesday, they lost at Richmond to the Spiders 61-58 in OT.  Alex Loughton and Isiah Hunter combined 43 of the 58 points scored by the Monarchs.  The Monarchs were a perfect 22 for 22 from the free throw line but only shot 29.6 percent for the game.  Then last Thursday, the Monarchs were routed by the Blazers at UAB 85-57.  Against UAB, the Monarchs were down 48-22 at halftime.  Isiah Hunter led the Monarchs with 18.  In an ironic twist, UAB lost to DePaul earlier in the season by four.  Old Dominion defeated DePaul by 40 a few weeks back.  Hmmm.

Northeastern has struggled as well.  Last week, the Huskies were routed by Providence 92-70 as Randall Hanke scored a career high 34 points.  The Huskies led by three at the half then went scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Friars scored 23 unanswered points.  Providence shot 50 percent from the field, held Northeastern to 34 percent from the field and outrebounded the Huskies 46-31.  Northeastern then lost to Wright State tonight 72-65 for their second straight loss.

UNC Wilmington lost at home tonight to the College of Charleston 81-77.  The Seahawks easily defeated UNC Asheville last week 68-50 as Todd Hendley led four players in double figures.

George Mason continues to look impressive.  Tonight they absolutely hammered a decent Holy Cross team 71-38 as Lamar Butler had 26 and Tony Skinn 21.  George Mason shot 55 percent from the field and held the Crusaders to 28 percent from the field.  George Mason defeated Hampton last week 79-66 as all five Patriot starters scored in double figures. 

Drexel snuck by Ball State last week 56-51 in a low scoring affair.  Dominick Mejia led 4 Dragons players in double figures with 14 points. 

VCU won twice last week, once in conference play with a 67-54 win over Georgia State, then a 91-80 non conference win over Longwood.  Against Georgia State, Jesse Pellot-Rosa led 4 VCU players in double figures with 17 points.  VCU came back from a nine point half time deficit.  Boyd Copeland led the Panthers with 10 points.  In the win over Longwood, BA Walker led five VCU players in double figures with 22 points.

Towson was crushed tonight by Syracuse 86-52.  Last week the Tigers lost to VMI 80-78.

Delaware defeated UNC Greensboro last week 89-77 as Harding Nana had 24 points and 11 rebounds.

William and Mary also defeated UNC Greensboro 83-73 as Nathan Mann and Calvin Baker combined for 38 points. 

James Madison lost to Youngstown State last week 72-65.

The week that was in the CAA

Lets look back at a team by team basis for the past week in the CAA

Old Dominion - The Monarchs destroyed DePaul 83-43.  DePaul had just come off an upset of #16 Wake Forest at Wake Forest on Thursday.  Isiah Hunter and Arnaud Dahi led Old Dominion with 18 each.  Old Dominion shot 57 percent from the field, including 12-23 from the three point line.  The Monarchs outscored the Blue Demons 58-21 in the second half.

UNC Wilmington -   The Seahawks lost a heartbreaking 54-51 loss to Wisconsin at Wisconsin on Tuesday.  Kammron Taylor hit a buzzer beater to lift the Badgers to the victory.   TJ Carter was the only Seahawk to score in double figures with 19.   UNC Wilmington rebounded from the loss to defeat Coastal Carolina 79-50 at home last night.   Beckam Wyrick led the Seahawks with 19 points as UNC Wilmington shot  54 percent from the field including 10 of 14 from the three point line.

Hofstra -   The Pride won both their games easily this week defeating Stony Brook 73-56 on Wednesday then downing Dartmouth 74-59 yesterday at Madison Square Garden.  In the Stony Brook game, Loren Stokes led Hofstra with 29 points as the Pride jumped out to a 26-6 lead and never looked behind.   In Saturday's contest with Dartmouth, Antoine Agudio scored a career high 24 points as Hofstra never trailed and led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

Drexel - The Dragons held off Fairleigh Dickinson (otherwise known as Mal Galletta would say "Fairleigh Ridiculous" ) 54-49 at FDU yesterday.  Kennell Sanchez led Drexel with 16 points.

VCU - The Rams held off always competitive College of Charleston 76-71 at the Siegel Center yesterday.  Eric Davis led five Rams players in double figures with a career high 18 points.  VCU shot 50 percent from the field including 10 of 21 from the three point arc.

James Madison - The Dukes lost to LaSalle at home 70-58 last Sunday.   James Madison trailed at the half 37-19 and never really got close to the undefeated Explorers.  Daniel Freeman had 21 points to lead the Dukes.

William and Mary - The Tribe lost 64-60 at UMBC yesterday.  Nathan Mann led William and Mary with 19 points including 5 of 8 from the three point line.

Georgia State -  The up and down Panthers were crushed by Alabama 85-58 at Tuscaloosa yesterday.   Boyd Copeland led Georgia State with 14 points.

Towson, Delaware, George Mason and Northeastern did not play this week.

Saturday Recap

This is my first post in about a week.  Its been crazy at work as we are overseeing 800 students taking finals on computer (I am a law school IT administrator).  This was my first real free day of the week so here's a look at what happened today.

My Iona Lady Gaels suffered another heartbreaking loss, its fifh in a row, a 79-78 home defeat to Sacred Heart. Iona was up 18 in the second half only to see Sacred Heart shoot 63 percent in the second half.  Nicole Rubino scored 27, including 19 in the second half for Sacred Heart.  Das Wunderkind Martina Weber had 19 and Jessica Anger had 17 for Iona.  Iona has lost its last 3 games by 2 points, 2 points in overtime and 1 point respectively.  Hopefully the team will keep its morale.  It is a much better team than 2-5.

In men's hoops, Texas suffered its second straight blowout defeat losing to undefeated but unranked Tennessee 95-78.  Chris Lofton and CJ Watson combined for 38 points for Tennessee.  PJ Tucker had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Texas.  Bruce Pearl, the former UW Milwaukee coach, has done an excellent job so far for the Volunteers in his first season.   Using his flex offense, Tennessee was up 48-28 at halftime and never looked back.

Other previously unranked teams weren't so lucky today...

#4 Louisville suffered its first loss, as #23 Kentucky crushed the Cardinals 73-61 at Rupp Arena.  Rajon Rondo led the Wildcats with a career high 25 points.   The Cardinals were held to 35 percent shooting from the floor.

#14 UCLA defeated previously undefeated Michigan 68-61 in Ann Arbor.  Jordan Farmar had 21 points for the Bruins.

In other Top 25 action, #5 Memphis walloped Mississippi 72-49 in Oxford.  #8 Oklahoma defeated Southern 68-54.  #10 Gonzaga got 25 points from Adam Morrison and used a second half comeback to defeat Virginia 80-69.  #15 George Washington easily handled Maryland Eastern Shore 98-72.  Princeton actually doubled its scoring output from its last game against Monmouth but still lost by 19 to #16 Wake Forest, 61-42.   #19 North Carolina avenged last year's loss to Santa Clara by beating them 76-58 in Chapel Hill.  #22 Iowa defeated Arizona State 62-43.  #24 Arizona humilitated Utah in Utah 73-43, and #25 Houston lost to Southern Mississippi 66-62.

In other NCAA men's games, Ohio State came from behind on the road and beat Iowa State 70-67.  Bucknell absolutely pasted Cornell 83-39 and in what had to be the wildest turnaround of the week, DePaul who had beaten #16 Wake Forest at Wake Forest earlier in the week went to Old Dominion and lost to the Monarchs 83-43.   Yes, that's correct.  DePaul lost by 40 points. 

Tomorrow will be a recap of CAA action from today.

Another Tough Loss for the Lady Gaels

The Iona Lady Gaels suffered their second straight 2 point loss and their fourth straight overall loss with a 68-66 overtime loss at Marist today.  Marist jumped out to a 19-4 lead and led 33-22 at halftime.  The Lady Gaels then fought back and actually went up by one, 58-57 with nine seconds left on a three pointer by Lauren DeFalco.  The Gaels then fouled Fifi Camara with 0.9 seconds left .  Camara missed the second free throw which sent the game into overtime.   The Lady Gaels then jumped to a 66-63 lead with 1:27 left, but did not score again in the game as Marist scored the last five points of the contest.

Iona was led by "Das Wunderkind" Martina Weber who had a career high 26 points and had seven rebounds.  Iona outrebounded Marist 45-34, but had 18 turnovers to only nine for Marist.   Camara had 31 for Marist.

Misreads on Duke, Ohio State and an interesting game in the CAA

I am the first to admit when I am wrong, and I was wrong today.  Two times in particular

I Was Wrong Today Part I.  I thought today was the day that #1 Duke would suffer its first loss when it played #2 Texas.  Texas had played what I thought was a tougher schedule in defeating West Virginia and Iowa, while Duke had defeated Memphis and Virginia Tech.  Well Duke and J.J. Redick proved me wrong with a 97-66 drubbing of the Longhorns.  Redick had 41 points on nine 3 pointers and Sheldon Williams added 23 points.  Duke took advantage of Texas' undisciplined game, scoring 21 points off Texas turnovers.   Texas had cut Duke's large halftime lead to five at 47-42, before Duke responded with a 21-3 run to ice the game.  Texas was led by LaMarcus Aldridge with 21 points.

I Was Wrong Today Part 2.  Ohio State went to St Joseph's today, and I thought that St Joseph's would win due to the following reasons;

1) This was Ohio State's first road game of the year.
2) St Joseph's was coming off an impressive win over a better than you think Kansas team. 
3) Finally, St Joseph's plays awfully well at home with a very loud supportive crowd in a small packed gym. 

Well, Ohio State hits its first seven 3 pointers and jumped out to a 43-25 second half lead before coasting to an 81-74 win.  Je'Kel Foster scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes who improved to 4-0 and proved they are a Top 25 caliber team (they also have a win over Virginia Tech).   Abdulai Jalloh scored a career high 30 for the Hawks, whose leading scorer, Chet Stachitas, was held to one field goal and nine points, which is less than half of his 19.8 season average.

Finally, there was an interesting game in the CAA, which the result of has perhaps given a glimmer of hope to several of the top teams in the CAA.  Defending conference champion, Old Dominion went to Drexel today and was completely outclassed by the Dragons, 61-42, by far Old Dominion's worst loss in two years.   Drexel outscored Old Dominion 31-10 in the first half, with the Monarchs going scoreless for over 13 minutes.  The 10 points were a record for fewest points allowed by Drexel in a half.  It gets even worse for Old Dominion.   Alex Loughton, All CAA Conference Player of the Year, was held scoreless on 0 for 4 shooting.    Dominick Mejia got out of the Dragon doghouse by scoring a career high 27 points on 7-12 shooting from the three point arc.  Kennell Sanchez had 15 points and Bashir Mason had 11 assists for the Dragons.  Arnaud Dahi led Old Dominion with 12 points.  Drexel has now won 2 games in a row after losing 5 straight to now even their record at 5-5. 

Coupled with their last minute buzzer beater over George Mason at home, a game in which George Mason led most of the way, Old Dominion has struggled in its first two CAA games.  Yes, it is early in the season, but for a team that dominated CAA play last year, it is perhaps a sign that the CAA is stronger this year, and that Old Dominion can not simply show up to win their games this year. 

Finally in other CAA action;

Despite 28 points and 19 rebounds by Harding Nana, Delaware lost its sixth game of the year, 89-84 over Rider.  Rider used a 12-6 run in the second half to pull away from Delaware. 

Towson lost to American 74-70.  Lawrence Hamm led the Tigers with 20 points.   The Tigers rallied to cut a 58-41 second half deficit to two points but never could get closer than that. 

George Mason defeated Radford 81-69 behind Jai Lewis' season high 24 points and nine rebounds.  Folarin Campbell added 19 for the Patriots who shot 56 percent from the field.

Georgia State lost to Georgia 72-61.  D'Andre McGrew led the Panthers with 19 points.  Georgia has now won seven games in a row.  Their only loss...to Old Dominion at Old Dominion.

Finally, in a game that might make Hofstra feel better, VCU held Richmond to one field goal in the final nine minutes and 37 seconds to defeat the Spiders 49-37.  Richmond committed 27 turnovers and their leading scorer, Kevin Steenberge only had 8 points.  Nick George led the Rams with 13 points, as VCU tied a school record for fewest points allowed in a game. 

Hearting Breaking Loss for Lady Gaels

(I had planned to go to last night's game but due to the weather I decided not to, so this report is based off Iona's web site report)

The Iona Lady Gaels coached by my good friend Tony Bozzella lost a heartbreaker 65-63 to Loyola Maryland tonight at Iona.  Iona was up 37-27 and was up by as many as 12, 42-30 with a little over 17 minutes left in the second half.  Loyola then shot 50% from the field in the second half and came back to take the lead 59-57 with a little over four minutes left.  Iona and Loyola battled back and forth until Loyola took the lead for good with  less than 2 minutes left.  Iona got it within 2 at 1:34 left, but neither team would score the rest of the way.  Iona had several chancs to tie, but as listed on the Iona site, Iona had "two (Melissa) Yeagley drives to the basket creating contact but yielding no results."  More on that in a moment.

Iona was led by Tiara Headen's 15 points and 12 rebounds, while "Das Wunderkind" Martina Weber had 16 points and 8 rebounds.  Iona was hurt by 18 turnovers as opposed to Loyola's 11.  Iona also only went to the free throw line three times in the second half, missing all three free throws, which very well might have been the difference in the game.   

This was Loyola's fourth win in a row after starting the year with three losses and is now 1-0 in conference play.  Iona now has lost three in a row after starting the year with two wins and is now 0-1 in conference.

This is also the second home game where there seemed to be questionable non calls by the referees.  I was at the last Iona Lady Gaels home game against Wichita State and the officials were allowing a lot of rough play to go on.  If contact is being created in the lane as the Iona site suggests, the referees need to start calling it before someone gets hurt.  I have seen where rough inside play not called has resulted in serious injury.  Two years ago in a Hofstra-Drexel men's game, there was rough inside play not being called during the game.  Later in the game, Wendell Gibson went up for a rebound and was hammered by a Drexel player as he came down with the rebound.  Gibson fell awkwardly and suffered a torn ACL as a result and missed the rest of that year, plus the first 11 games of the next season.   The referees in the MAAC need to start doing a better job of calling contact in the lane, otherwise someone else will get hurt similarly to Gibson.

A few final thoughts on Hofstra's blowout loss

A few final thoughts on Hofstra's loss last night.   One, Hofstra was 1 of 21 from the three point arc.  1 of 21.  This is from the John Starks' school of outside shooting.  "Just keep shooting. Sooner or later they'll go in."   After going perhaps 1 of 10, somebody should have said "STOP ALREADY!"

I really hope Coach Tom Pecora was downplaying the loss by stating "That's life on the road", as he was quoted by Newsday as saying  yesterday.   No, that shouldn't be Hofstra's life on the road this year.  Hofstra is a veteran team.  Three juniors, two seniors start for the Pride.  They should be above playing like scalded cats with 21 turnovers (VCU only had 8), 1 of 21 shooting from the 3 point arc, and such porous three point defense from a team that prides itself in its field goal percentage defense.   

When Hofstra wins, they play great defense, move the ball around, drive to the basket instead of settling for the three, and rebound like mad.   They only rebounded like mad last night outrebounding VCU 50-28. 

By the way, VCU needs to work on its rebounding.  They have been soundly outrebounded by Hofstra and UNCW in their last two games.  They can't keep expecting to be outrebounded and expect to win.  The next team they play won't go 1 of 21 from the three  point arc. nor will VCU go 14 of 27 again from the three point arc as well.

If Hofstra, VCU or any of the other teams that are not Old Dominion such as George Mason, Northeastern, UNCW or Drexel want to get the at large bid to the NCAA tournament (assuming Old Dominion wins the conference tournament), they have to win on the road against quality opponents.  A twenty three point loss can not be "life on the road".  Not this year. 

Its Been a Rough Night

I never like starting off a posting like that, but its true.  I went out this evening for a haircut and before I left, I fixed the electronic snowman I had in the front  yard.  I was out for not even a 1/2 hour when I came back to find my snowman stolen, my inflatable Grinch deflated and one of my lighted snowflake ground markers broken.  My next door neighbor then called me on the phone.  She saw a group of teenagers in my front yard vandalizing my Christmas decorations.  I have a feeling I know who it is.  There is a 15--16 year old kid named Brian down the street who has been on my property before and who I have warned not to be on there.  The first incident was when I moved into the house 3 years ago and I came home to find a scooter in my tree (the kid put another kid's scooter in the tree).  The kid said that my wife gave him permission to do it.  Yeah right.  The lying little twit (actually he is not little, but he is a twit). 

So I called the police and they said they would be around to watch the house and if Iever saw anything suspicious, to call the police.   Don't worry, I have plans for that cretin.  I'll catch him in the act and as I said to the police, I will have him arrested.  If there is one thing I can't stand it is someone who has no respect for other people's property.  He is going to learn the hard way.  Either by arrest or by my fist. I prefer the latter.

Anyway, well my day got worse.  Hofstra took on VCU at VCU's Siegel Center tonite.  Hofstra's House of Horrors.  Hofstra has never won there.  Its the  usual story; bad three point defense, turnovers, foul trouble, and missed opportunities.  I thought tonight might be different.  VCU was coming off a 20 point loss to UNC Wilmington on Sunday where they only scored 40 points. Forty.   Hofstra was coming off an impressive win over Delaware, a nice 3 game winning streak. 

Well the start of the game was promising.  Hofstra jumped to a 16-8 lead, then a 26-19 lead.  Then the roof caved in.  The House of Horrors arose from the ground.  VCU went on a 19-3 run at the end of the half.  Eight Hofstra turnovers in the last 8 minutes of the half.  Adrian Uter on the bench with foul trouble.  B.A. Walker  open and hitting several three pointers.  Hofstra ends up down by nine at half.  It gets worse in the second half.  Hofstra cuts it to no less than eleven points.  With about six minutes or so left and Hofstra down 23, Tom Pecora is so disgusted he puts in his bench.  Jorge Lebron and Ryan Johnson are on the court and things get even worse.  Hofstra is at one point down by 30.  Hofstra ends up losing by 23.  87-64.  VCU scores forty on Sunday.  They more than double their output tonight against the team going in leading the CAA in field goal defense. 

Adrian Uter must keep out of foul trouble.  Once again when he goes to the bench, the team falls apart.  Hofstra outrebounded VCU 50-28.  FIFTY TO TWENTY EIGHT and they lose by 23! They simply couldn't take advantage of second and third offensive rebound opportunities. 

VCU shot 14 of 27 from the three point line (see my previous statement on bad three point defense) B.A. Walker led VCU with 22 points with six 3 pointers.  Nick George had a season high 16 and Jesse Pellot Rosa had a season high 15.   Loren Stokes had 10 points, but no points in the second half.   Carlos Rivera had 12 points and Adrian Uter had 10 points and 15 rebounds

So much for getting over that Siegel Center mental hurdle.

In other CAA action,  Old Dominion 's Drew Williamson hit a 27 foot three pointer at the buzzer to lead the Monarchs to a 54-53 win over George Mason.  For ODU, Alex Loughton had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Isiah Hunter had 11 points.  Jai Lewis had 15 points and 12 rebounds for George Mason who led for most of the game.  ODU only shot 32.2 % from the field, but outrebounded George Mason 39-29 and had only 11 turnovers to George Mason's 15.

Northeastern hammered Towson 89-67.  Jose Juan Barea scored 27 points and had 11 assists and Bobby Kelly added 18 points as Northeastern improved to 6-1. Janon Cole had 14 points and Shawn James had 11 points and eight blocks for Northeastern.  Towson was led by Dennard Abraham who had 16 points while Tim Crossin and Lawrence Hamm had 15 each.   Northeastern shot 52 percent from the field.

Drexel got by a stubborn James Madison team 78-67.  Drexel came back from a 31-27 halftime deficit.

Finally, as promised, a plug for Davidson, another of my favorite mid major teams led by one of the best unknown coaches in the country, Bob McKillop.   Davidson defeated Missouri 82-73 tonight led by Ian Johnson's 23 points and 10 rebounds.  Davidson never trailed in the game getting off to a 10-1 lead, then went up by 16 at halftime.  Davidson outrebounded Missouri 46-35.   Davidson is now  4-2. Two of their other wins are a six point overtime win over St Joseph's and a three point win over UMass.  McKillop's teams are competitive every year and he has led his team to the NCAA tournament in the past.  His team last year won the regular season Southern Conference title before being upset in the conference tournament. 

Davidson faces Syracuse at Syracuse on December 18.  Don't be surprised if they win.  Just ask Quinn Snyder and Phil Martelli.

Various goings on...

The last couple of nights have been interesting college basketball wise.  My friend Tony Bozzella's team, the Women's Iona Gaels were soundly defeated by 17# ranked Georgia 97-60 last night.  Iona had cut the lead to 14 in the beginning of the second half before Georgia went on a run.  In an IM conversation I had with Tony today, Tony described Georgia as "awesome", "athletic"  and "individually talented".  He also thought they were better than the 12th rated Notre Dame team Iona had lost to by 16.  Iona has their first home game Friday night against Loyola Md.  Would love to go but the forecast is for a snowstorm here.  Ugh.

Villanova is for real folks.  #4 Villanova handled the previously unbeaten Bucknell Bison at Bucknell by 19 last night.  Bucknell as you know is one of this author's favorite mid major teams and had defeated Syracuse and DePaul prior on the road.  No shame in losing to the Wildcats though.  Randy Foye had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Villanova.  Bucknell had cut what was once a 26-7 deficit to 44-41 in the second half before Villanova pulled away.

Another upset was performed tonight by Notre Dame as they upset #16 Alabama at Alabama 78-71.  The 10 point underdog Irish were led by Colin Falls 24 points.  Notre Dame shot 46% from the field and 78% from the line.   This was Alabama's second loss at home this year.  Memphis defeated them in the second round of the preseason NIT.

In other games, Duke beat Penn by 13.  Michigan stayed unbeaten with a 20 point win over Delaware State.  West Virginia beat Maryland Baltimore County by 29 , Rutgers beat Maryland Eastern Shore by 42 (a bad night for Maryland teams) and Fordham surprised Virginia at Virginia by 2.

My next posting will be a recap of Wed. night CAA action, plus a little plug for another one of my favorite mid major teams, a team which is winning big tonight over a well known Big 12 school.

CAA Action for weekend of December 3rd

In Weekend CAA action

On Sunday, UNC Wilmington held high scoring VCU in check, downing the Rams 60-40.  VCU was held to under 36 percent from the field and was out rebounded 36-19.  TJ Henley led UNC Wilmington with 14 points, while John Goldsberry chipped in with 10.  Jesse Pellot-Rosa was the only player in double figures for VCU with 11.  UNC Wilmington is now 2-0 in conference and 7-1 overall while VCU falls to 2-2 and loses their first game in conference.

I was at the Hofstra/Delaware game on Saturday at Hofstra.  Hofstra downed Delaware 79-65.  The game was not even as close as the score indicates.  Midway thru the second half, Hofstra was up 69-46 before Coach Tom Pecora called off the dogs and brought in all his subs.  Antoine Agudio led Hofstra with 22 points, Aurimas Kieza had 17, Loren Stokes 16, and Adrian Uter had 9 points and 11 rebounds.  Hofstra shot 50 percent from the field and went 21 of 22 from the free throw line. Harding Nana led Delaware with 20 points, but many of that came during garbage time.  Hofstra is 4-1 and 1-0 in conference while Delaware is now 2-5 and 0-2 in conference.

Also on Saturday, LaSalle handed Drexel their fifth straight loss 62-50 in non-conference action.  Steven Smith led LaSalle with a game high 26 points and a career high 15 rebounds.  Drexel was led by Frank Elegar's 18 points and 13 rebounds.  Elegar also had all of Drexel's free throw attempts; three. Drexel was held to 36 percent from the field and was also outrebounded 37-29.

Northeastern held off James Madison in conference play 86-83.  Northeastern was led by Jose Juan Barea with 22 points.  Northeastern was down three at halftime but pulled ahead and went up by ten with less than 3 minutes to go before a frantic run by the Dukes pulled them within one before fouling with 2 seconds left.  Juwann James led all scorers with 23 points and had 15 rebounds.  Cavell Johnson added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Dukes.

Towson defeated William and Mary in conference play by 30 led by Tim Crossin and Lawrence Hamm.

Old Dominion easily defeated East Carolina and on Friday, George Mason clobbered Georgia State 81-51 in conference play.