America East Notebook
Catamounts In Command
With Sunday’s 67-63 win at Albany, Vermont is now in control of the race for the top. The Catamounts, who have won eight straight following Wednesday night’s 90-75 win at Maine, are now 12-1 in America East play and two games up on Albany in the loss column.
There’s more of note with the Catamounts, who have returned to the top of the conference faster than just about anyone could have imagined. After Wednesday night’s win at Maine, the Catamounts are 13-3 on the road and 7-0 away from home in conference play. They lead the conference in scoring, field goal percentage defense and rebounding margin. They have looked like the best team in the conference for much of the season, and now they’ve cleared the way with the win over Albany.
Perhaps most impressive of all is that the Catamounts continued to win without injured forward Joe Trapani, who played six minutes in the win at Maine after missing six games due to injury. The Catamounts won all six games without the conference’s top freshman (out of a deep group of impressive first-year players), so they’ll only be that much better now that he’s back.
BracketBusters Beckons
Albany and Maine will be playing the final non-conference games of the season this weekend as participants in the ESPN BracketBusters event. Albany will be playing a nationally televised game for the second consecutive season on the road at Boise State on Friday night. On Saturday, Maine will travel to Boston to take on former America East rival Northeastern. The teams will get the opponents at home next season as part of the agreement coming into the event.
Terriers Clinch Third
Boston University clinched third place in the conference with its win over Stony Brook on Thursday night. The young Terriers have clearly grown during America East play after non-conference play saw some tough losses and bad showings. They’re playing the kind of defense Dennis Wolff’s teams are known for, and Wolff has been happy with their showings at that end of the floor of late.
While there is some offensive balance, and senior Omari Peterkin and freshman Corey Lowe have led them for much of the season, another freshman, Carlos Strong, has come on of late. Strong scored 30 points last Thursday against Binghamton, going 8-10 on three-pointers and not doing any part of it in a quick spurt, an effort Wolff said was “probably as good a game as a perimeter player has played here since I’ve coached.” Since moving into the starting lineup, Strong has scored in double figures in five straight games and was named the conference’s Rookie of the Week last week. That streak was snapped against New Hampshire, but he came back with 14 in Thursday night’s win against Stony Brook.
Another notable is that the Terriers really seem to get better in the second half of games. They have broken open several games in the second half with their defense and have warmed up shooting the ball. Thusday night was no exception, as the Seawolves tried to rally and made eight of their first 11 shots in the second half before going just 3-19 the rest of the way.
“These kids have a pretty good will to win,” Wolff said after the game. “We let them back in it a little bit, but then we made a lot of good unselfish plays.”
The Terriers’ offensive balance helps make them dangerous, as any of several players are capable of scoring well. The only question is who it will be, as the consistency isn’t there yet. But this is a young team, and that should come.
“We have capable players at every position,” said freshman Tyler Morris, who led the win over Stony Brook with 19 points. “Sometimes guys lose confidence in hitting shots. When we’re all hitting shots and playing confident basketball, it’s very hard to guard us.”
Seawolves Need a Third Option
It’s been a season of growing pains for Stony Brook, which fell to 3-10 with Thursday night’s 68-55 loss at Boston University. Injuries haven’t helped, especially in the frontcourt, as a couple of key players in that unit have had to miss time with injuries. It hasn’t been completely painful, as they have made some gains and beat the Terriers at home about a month earlier.
While the defense has improved and coach Steve Pikiell is satisfied with the improvement, it’s at the offensive end where the Seawolves can get in trouble. Thursday night’s loss showed that they’re vulnerable when leading scorers Ricky Lucas and Mitchell Beauford aren’t on, as they lack a viable third scoring option.
“When Ricky and Mitch play well, we’re in games and we have a chance to win,” said Pikiell. “When they don’t, we really struggle to find that third, fourth, fifth option.”
Freshman point guard Eddie Castellanos has shown promise and might run the team for the next three years, but he’s not a scorer. That’s one thing he’ll need to develop down the line so as to keep defenses honest and keep them from playing like it’s 4-on-5. Classmate Kyle Wright has also had some good contributions and should only get better. They would like to add a shooter to the mix since Lucas and Beauford are more scorers than shooters.
Bearcats Struggle on Defense
After regularly being one of the better defensive teams in America East, Binghamton has struggled at that end of the court this season. Opposing teams are shooting over 44 percent from the field this season, and they have been out-rebounded. They force more turnovers than all but one team, but that hasn’t given them the necessary lift to win some games they have lost.
The Bearcats lost at Boston University despite a gallant effort last Thursday, but rebounded on Sunday to blow out Maine 67-40. Another tough road game awaits on Sunday as they travel to conference leader Vermont.
This will be a team to watch down the line. They have a well-kept secret in junior point guard Mike Gordon and a couple of young big bodies in freshmen Lazar Trifunovic and Miladin Kovacevic (both natives of Belgrade, Serbia) that are only going to get better. The Bearcats have also been bitten by the injury bug, notably sophomore big man Ian Milne, who has missed most of the season after also missing time last season.
Other Notes From Around America East
- New Hampshire has had some struggles, but give Bill Herrion’s team credit for being able to bounce back a couple of times this season. Sunday’s win over Boston University shows that this team won’t be an easy out.
- The storm that hit the northeast on Valentine’s Day affected one game, as the Binghamton/New Hampshire game was postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday, February 20 at 7 P.M. It also affected Stony Brook, who played at Boston University on Thursday and couldn’t get on the bus to Boston until late that morning instead of a day earlier.
- Hartford snapped an eight-game losing streak last week and has now won three straight. They continue to get a fine season from senior Bo Taylor, who had a good week last week and has helped make it easier for the first-year coaching staff.
- Maine is right with Hartford in the battle for fourth place, tied with the Hawks at 6-8, but the Black Bears are at that point from the opposite end as they have lost three straight games. They appear to have a slightly easier road the rest of the way, as they are at UMBC and face Stony Brook at home, while the Hawks still have to go to Binghamton and Vermont.
