America East Conference Notebook
by Adam Reich
Dogfight in New York
In Albany, the Huskies outlasted the Great Danes 89-80 in a thrilling
overtime battle Sunday. The first half was a shooting clinic as Northeastern
shot 52 percent from the floor (16-31) and Albany connected on 57 percent of
their field goal attempts (13-23). The game remained close after halftime,
as neither team held a lead bigger than four points. And with only 26
seconds remaining and the Great Danes nursing a 74-71 lead, Antione Johnson
stepped to the line for a one-and-one. He missed the front end, and the
Huskies raced down the court. The ball landed in the hands of freshman point
guard Jose Juan Barea, who calmly drained a three-point bomb to tie the
game. Albany’s last chance to win in regulation, a fade away jumper by
Johnson, was off the mark.
The overtime was all Northeastern. The Huskies scored the first six points
of the extra session and hit nine-of-twelve free throws to ice the game. The
Great Danes, who shot 49 percent for the game, managed only one field goal
in overtime, and missed their last six shots down the stretch.
Javorie Wilson matched a career-high with 25 points and Cornellius Wright
had a career-high 24 points to lead Northeastern (12-10, 5-4). Wilson and
Wright were also stellar on the boards, notching ten rebounds a piece. Barea
had a tough shooting day, three-for-fourteen, but he did tally eight assists
to go along with his clutch three-pointer in the closing minute of
regulation.
Johnson led Albany (5-14, 1-7) with 23 points on eight-for-fourteen
shooting. Jamar Wilson netted twenty and center Levi Levine posted another
double-double with sixteen points and twelve boards.
The best of the rest
Northeastern held off a late Hartford comeback to win 51-50 at home Friday
night. Hartford (10-10, 5-4) rallied from a ten-point deficit with eight
minutes remaining to tie the score at 50-50 on a three-pointer by junior
Ryan Stys with just twelve ticks left on the clock. On the ensuing
possession, the Huskies’ Javorie Wilson corralled a loose ball and was
fouled as he went up for a shot with seven-tenths of a second remaining.
With the Solomon Court faithful silent, Wilson calmly nailed the first
free-throw to give the NU the win. Sylbrin Robinson had a game-high sixteen
points and twelve rebounds for the Huskies before leaving the game with an
elbow injury. Jerell Parker had thirteen points and sixteen rebounds for the
Hawks.
The Binghamton Bears made a statement by defeating Vermont 61-50 at West Gym
Sunday. The game was close in the first half with both teams shooting poorly
from the floor. However, the Bears caught fire after intermission while the
Catamounts remained cold as ice. UVM (12-9, 6-3) shot a season-low 27
percent for the game and watched Binghamton knock down eleven-of-22 attempts
in the second stanza. Despite out-rebounding the Bears and committing fewer
turnovers, the Catamounts’ poor shooting was too much to overcome. Anthony
Green had a game-high 21 points for Binghamton (11-8, 6-3), while sophomore
center Nick Billings had a Herculean second-half with thirteen points,
eleven boards and five blocks after intermission. Taylor Coppenrath led
Vermont with sixteen points and reserve guard Corey Sullivan contributed
eleven.
Boston University outscored Maine 44-26 in the second half en route to a
63-53 comeback road victory Wednesday night. The Black Bears (9-12, 4-5)
jumped out to a 10-0 advantage, and held an eight point halftime lead before
the Terriers found the range. In the second half, BU shot 50 percent from
the floor and nailed seven threes. With less than a minute to go, Justin
Rowe missed a jam that would have cut the BU lead to two, but instead the
Terriers ended up at the line where they iced the game. Paul Seymour led the
Terriers (12-7, 7-1) with 14 points, making 4-of-6 from behind the
three-point line. For Maine, Rowe had a double-double with eleven points and
eleven rebounds. He also had a game-high six blocked shots.
Stony Brook extended its current win streak to five games with a 77-71
victory at New Hampshire Sunday. The Seawolves (10-9, 4-4) displayed
excellent marksmanship from three-point range, hitting 50 percent (8 of 16)
of its attempts. D.J. Munir hit five treys en route to a game-high 23
points. UNH, on the other hand struggled, hitting 24 percent (5 of 21) from
long-range. In addition, the Wildcats (3-17, 1-8) only shot 65 percent (20
of 31) from the charity stripe. For UNH, freshman Ronnie Dennis had a
career-high 21 points, while Shejdie Childs and Griffin Walker were also in
double figures.
Player of the week
Taylor Coppenrath, Vermont
In a pair of games last week, the sophomore forward averaged 27 points and
7.5 rebounds. Coppenrath scored a career-high 38 points against New
Hampshire last Wednesday.
Game to watch
Boston University at Binghamton, Sunday February 9th at 2 p.m.
This is a match-up of the conference’s top two teams. BU won the first
meeting 70-65 in overtime.
