MAAC Tournament Notes
by Ray Floriani
ALBANY, N.Y. – Saturday’s session at the MAAC tournament is always special. There are six games, perfect for the bona fide basketball fanatic. Whether you prefer the men’s or women’s game, the MAAC Saturday should be attended at least once, if not more.
Women’s Semifinals:
Iona 74, Fairfield 69
Marist 78, St. Peter’s 67
Men’s Quarterfinals:
Loyola 64, Fairfield 59
Siena 66, Manhattan 58
Rider 75, Canisius 71
Marist 66, Niagara 62
Game of the day: While it wasn’t the most artistic, the Loyola-Fairfield contest in the men’s quarterfinals gets the choice. Actually, at one point it had the makings of a yawner. Early in the second half Loyola had an 18-point lead and appeared completely in command. Fairfield got back into by finding the range from beyond the arc and getting defensive stops. The Stags got it to a one possession game in the stretch but were never able to draw even. Loyola kept them at bay and protected the lead in crunch time for a hard fought win.
“You can’t spot a team like Loyola a lead like that,” Fairfield coach Ed Cooley said. “You can’t play a twenty minute game. I give our kids credit for gutting it out and I also give credit to Loyola for executing their game plan.”
Fairfield finished the stretch of the MAAC season strong and Cooley sees a positive future. “Beat us now,” he said, “because we are only going to get better.”
Game we had to see: An early morning was not even an option. I had to get to Albany for the women’s semifinals, especially the Marist-St. Peter’s matchup. The teams met twice in the past two weeks, with Marist sweeping both hard-fought contests. The defending MAAC champions entered the semifinal with a completely unblemished record in conference play while St. Peter’s continued its run as a surprise team by edging Manhattan in a quarterfinal thriller the day before.
St. Peter’s kept pace but could not unseat the Red Foxes. Fouls played a big part of this one. St. Peter’s outscored Marist 23-19 in field goals but the Red Foxes were 34 of 44 from the line contrasted to St. Peter’s’ 16 for 23. Marist penetrated and got in the lane and utilized their size to get to the line. On the other end, Marist had foul trouble in their frontcourt and received a huge boost off the bench.
Sarah Smrdel, a 6-2 senior, came in and logged 27 minutes en route to a 10-point, 5-rebound, 5-block outing. St. Peter’s had a succession of good looks but failed to convert, something you can’t afford to do against a club like Marist. Lauma Reke led the Peahens with 16 points, while Alena Ali came off the bench to provide a spark with 13 points. Marist, though, had too many answers.
“We played hard and left it all on the court,” said St. Peter’s coach Stephanie DeWolfe. “They (Marist) have been there, plus they have so many options. You just can’t key on one player.”
Notes
- Phil Martelli, Jr. took in the afternoon sessions on a scouting mission. The Niagara assistant also spoke about the ten o’clock tip off his Purple Eagles had with Marist. “That’s a tough time to play,” Martelli said. “The kids are ready to go and almost don’t know what to do all day. Our pre game meal is even at six.” To break up the day, while he was scouting with another assistant, head coach Joe Mihalich took the club to a local sports club for an afternoon shoot around.
- Siena just had too much inside strength for Manhattan. The Saints’ Alex Franklin led the way with 26 points and 9 rebounds and was tough for Manhattan to handle in the paint. Devon Austin led the way with 17 points for Manhattan, but for a good part of the game he was virtually the Jaspers’ only source of offensive production.
- Fran McCaffery took time after the quarterfinals to commend Manhattan and coach Barry Rohrssen. “Barry’s done a great job bringing them along,” McCaffery said of the Manhattan mentor. “He’s developed the personnel and they are difficult to prepare for. They have Austin, one of the better scorers in our league, but they have a few others players that can score as well.”
McCaffery the coach of top-seeded Siena, needed no motivational tools or speeches to get his club going for their quarterfinal matchup. “We lost at Manhattan ten days ago,” McCaffery said, “so our kids were ready to play.” McCaffery also lauded the play of lead guard Ronald Moore. The 6-0 sophomore had a very versatile 11-point, 7-rebound, 10-assist outing for the Saints. - Rider defeated Canisius by 51 earlier in the year but survived a huge scare to edge the Griffs in the first evening contest. Jason Thompson led the way with 18 points and 11 boards for the Broncs. Rider enjoyed a 15-point lead in the first half before Canisius, behind Greg Logins (20 pts) and Frank Turner (19 pts 7 rebounds 7 assists), stormed back. The game was tied with five minutes to go before Rider pulled away in the stretch and survived a huge scare.
- In a game with 12 ties and 17 lead changes, Marist rallied in the stretch for the victory. The game ended the career of Niagara’s Charron Fisher, who had 23 points. Fisher struggled from the floor, shooting 9 of 26, including one of 4 beyond the arc. Fisher did add a career-high 16 rebounds.
- If you build it: Given their programs are now running on firm ground it’s hard to remember the magnitude of rebuilding jobs taken on by Tony Bozzella of Iona and Jimmy Patsos of Loyola.
Bozzella took over a women’s program at Iona that, in his words, “had no history of winning. We had very little talent.” Bozzella went on to explain he had to get players who were talented and tough physically as well mentally. The first year (2002-03) he won one game. Gradually improvement came and last year the Lady Gaels won a school record 21 games and got to round two of the WNIT after dropping a heartbreaker in the conference final to Marist.
Patsos arrived three years ago to inherit a program which had won one game the season before. By his second year, Patsos guided the Greyhounds to a 15-13 ledger, their first winning mark in a decade. Patsos has followed that up with two straight trips to the MAAC semis.
“I have to give credit to Gerald Brown,” Patsos said of his outstanding senior guard after the win over Fairfield. “He could have gone to a lot of places and he picked us. He wouldn’t let us lose.” - No longer in New York City: Parking a block from the Times Union Center, in a garage no less, was $5 – for the day. The attendant couldn’t believe that in New York City we pay about $35 to park (outside) two blocks from the Garden.
- Brian Giorgis had a problem. Not a serious one, but how could his Marist women’s team top last year with 29 wins? Easy: get 30, and that one came against St. Peter’s in the semis. “The last seven years we are the only team to top its win total each year,” said Giorgis, who runs a program respected and admired by fans and foes alike.
A few awards
- Best fans – On a numbers rating, it’s Siena. The more you have the louder you are. On a level of passion, Marist is right there, though the Marist devotion for the women’s program is exemplary.
One negative with Siena was their booing of the Manhattan cheerleaders. Never boo the cheerleaders! - Spirit citations – To the Fairfield and Marist cheerleaders, who cheered the women’s teams on Saturday morning and were back at it for the men’s contest later in the day.
Special mention goes to Canisius Dance Team for best uniforms. - Best Band – Marist. That’s an easy one.
- Best pass: A behind-the-back no-look beauty by Siena’s Josh Duell. The 6-7 forward threaded the needle with that beauty, but got no assist. The recipient dropped the ball out of bounds.
- Most “wired” coach: Not even close. It’s Jimmy Patsos of Loyola, who almost lives and dies with each possession, good or bad.
