One-Bid Wonders

The Great Danes rushed the court in hostile Patrick Gymnasium to celebrate their shocking 53-49 upset of the Vermont Catamounts to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Burlington, VT) – A tidal wave of purple cascaded down over the wooden the bleachers of Patrick Gymnasium, burst through the green and gold floodgates and crashed onto the hardwood floor.

Amidst the sea of purple and gold chaos, first-year Albany assistant coach Jon Iati –who had helped lead the Great Danes to their first two NCAA Tournaments as a player – assistant coach Jeremy Friel – who had first competed against Iati at rival New Hampshire before coaching him as a member of the staff at Albany – and associate head coach Chad O’Donnell bear-hugged at center court; leaping and shouting in celebration – grown men turned kids again by the magic of the moment.

Iati’s younger brother Jacob, a fifth-year senior shooting guard who followed his brother to Albany initially as a walk-on transfer, fought frantically through the fray, searching for his teammate and best friend Mike Black. The diminutive-duo had stood tall as pillars of the program over the grind of the season, and in the biggest game of their lives Saturday, the pint-sized playmakers towered over the court, combining for 22 points.

When Iati finally found his back-court mate, tears were pouring from Black’s eyes and streaming down his face. Now, amidst the uproar, they shared an embrace.

Great Danes head coach Will Brown, wearing a sedated smile, quietly ducked out of the spotlight to find his family: kissing his wife Jamie and embracing his son Jackson.

The final buzzer had sounded. The clock read “0:00,” but it still hadn’t struck midnight on the Great Danes and their fairytale season.

Albany had run the gauntlet through the America East Tournament, exorcising demons and slaying dragons every step of the way. And now, the scoreboard read “Albany 53, Vermont 49” and the Great Danes were the America East Champions. (more…)

Albany head coach Will Brown and the Great Danes left it all on the court Sunday, and lived to fight (and coach) another day (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Albany, New York) – Three minutes into the first half of the second semifinal of the America East Tournament, Stony Brook enforcer Tommy Brenton – the America East Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and all-around baddest-mother-shut-your-mouth – lowered his shoulder into Albany forward Sam Rowley, sending the 6’6” 240 pound Australian sprawling to the hardwood.

“Sam! He’s not Tougher than you! There’s no way he’s tougher than you!” boomed Albany head coach Will Brown, his voice rising over the deafening din of the capacity crowd. “He is not out-toughing you! He is not tougher than you – not tonight!” Brown commanded, his voice raising another decibel level.

10 Months earlier, Brown was a lame duck coach playing out the string on the end of his career – in the eyes of most, at least – after his top two scorers, Gerardo Suero, a slashing wing and once in a decade athletic talent, and Logan Aronhalt, a big time shooter, unexpectedly abandoned the program (losing Aronhalt to Maryland and Suero on an ill-advised attempt to start a pro career). A month earlier, Brown was being torn to shreds, his accomplishments (among them the massive overhaul of the Great Danes during his tenure, capped by back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths) thrown on the scrapheap by the local media. And minutes earlier, before the opening tip, Albany was already all but declared the loser and Stony Brook anointed the league champion.

Two and a half hours later, Brown, the man with a quote – response, retort, witticism, joke, jibe, and hilarious comeback – for any and every scenario, was speechless, struggling to find the words after the Great Danes shocked the mighty Seawolves 61-59, to punch their ticket to the championship game.

The silence spoke volumes.

“That was a gutsy win; I have tough, tough kids,” said Brown, composing himself after coming to the brink of tears following the Great Danes win.

With 7.3 seconds remaining, and the score tied at 59, senior point guard Mike Black had stood at the top of the key, staring down highly-touted Seawolves freshman Carson Puriefoy. It seemed to be the tailor-made situation for a symbolic changing of the guard – from Black to Puriefoy as premier America East point guard and Albany to Stony Brook as the premier SUNY program.

Except it didn’t play out like that.

Just as he had almost exactly four months earlier in the Great Danes upset over Washington – the programs first ever win over a true-BCS school and arguably the biggest regular season win in program history – Black blew by his man off a crossover dribble, drove right through the lane, and finished in traffic at the rim, kissing the final of his 16 points off the glass for the win. (more…)

Stony Brook forward Tommy Brenton drives the lane in the first half of the Seawolves 71-55 win over Boston University. Brenton finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to lead Stony Brook to the America East regular-season title (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Boston, Mass.) – The stage was set under the bright lights of the Agganis Arena for Boston University to end its final ride through the America East Conference in a victory lap.

Thanks to an America East Tournament ban – punishment for deserting the conference for the Patriot League at season’s end – the Terriers were counted out before holding a single practice. After opening the conference slate 0-2 following lackluster effort in back-to-back lethargic losses, the Terriers were down for the count.

Now, facing off against first-place Stony Brook – their heir-apparent as the America East’s Flagship – in their last game of the season, the Terriers hoping to turn their final curtain into a curtain call: One last conference title (with help from Albany on Saturday) in their final America East game after 34 years as a member.

Instead, they quickly found themselves playing for nothing more than pride as the miracle turned into a massacre.

Stony Brook exploded out of the starting blocks, using suffocating defense, sizzling offense, and Boston University’s snowballing shooting-woes, to race out to a 33-5 lead before hanging on to a 71-55 win to clinch their second straight America East regular-season title and third in four years.

“The simple fact is, we did not compete for 40 minutes against a really good team and we paid the price for it, severely,” said Boston University head coach Joe Jones.

“We played great defense in the first half and when we had to in the second half we played our kind of defense,” said Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell.

The Seawolves, who began the night ranked third in the nation in Field Goal Percent Defense, held the BU’s high-octane offense to just 38.2 percent from the floor (21-of-55) and 26.1 percent from behind the arc (6-of-23), blanketing, bodying, and downright beating up, the lightening-fast but drastically undersized Terriers. At the other end, the Seawolves shot a robust 52.2 percent from the floor (24-of-46).

Stony Brook hit just 3-of-16 three-point attempts (18.8 percent), but the Seawolves won comfortably, carried by a complete dominance of the paint. Stony Brook’s bash-brothers duo of senior forward Tommy Brenton and freshman center Jameel Warney combined for 29 points and 20 rebounds and powered the Seawolves to a 40-23 rebounding advantage.

“I loved our first half – didn’t like our second,” said Pikiell. “But we played unselfish [Brenton] was a horse, and Jameel didn’t miss a shot. (more…)

Over the past couple weeks you may have noticed a new “Donate” button pop up on the right sidebar of the website. You may have also noticed the new “Donate” page added to the menu bar at the top of every page. Instead of repeating everything written on that page, I’ll keep it short here: Running One-Bid Wonders for a full season is not cheap (although we try to keep things as inexpensive as possible), and at present we don’t have enough funds to continue beyond the end of this season. If OBW’s coverage is going to continue for the 2013-2014 America East season, we need your help.

To learn more about donating, you can visit the “Donate” page, or if you already know you want to donate you can click the button on the right sidebar. Thank you for your support of One-Bid Wonders.

As a reminder, all records omit games against non-Division-I opponents.

1. Stony Brook Seawolves (6-1, 14-5, W2)
Previous Ranking: 1st
Results: W 67-60 at UMBC, W 79-69 vs. Maine
Next week: Tuesday at Albany, Saturday at New Hampshire
A very solid bounce-back week for the Seawolves. The margins of victory don’t quite approach the demolitions Stony Brook was performing a few weeks ago, and the defense has been merely very good instead of otherworldly, but at the same time it’s hard to complain about two wins when neither of them were squeakers. And after a stretch that left us increasingly convinced the best player wearing red and white may be Jameel Warney, Tommy Brenton re-emerged (not that he was ever really gone) and put forth one of the best performances of the year, a 15/14/11 triple-double. Even 80 percent of that will go a long, long way towards helping Stony Brook avenge its only conference loss against Vermont on February 15. (more…)

Northeastern point guard Jonathan Lee beat the first half buzzer on this jumper to give the Huskies a 34-19 first half lead over William & Mary. The Tribe came storming back in the second half, forcing a fist and subsequent second overtime before finally falling 95-91 (Photo by Sam Perkins).

(Boston, MA) – Sometimes, no matter what the scoreboard says, there are no losers.

On Wednesday night, a surging Northeastern squad and a stumbling William & Mary team took the floor between the steel beams and wrought iron girders of historic Matthews Arena – the oldest sports arena in the world. The Huskies raced out of the tunnel onto their home court riding a six game winning streak and stood atop the Colonial Athletic Association standings at a perfect 6-0. William & Mary stepped onto the hostile hardwood losers of seven in a row and 1-6 in conference play; second to last in the 11 team CAA.

But for 50 minutes of game time, the two squads played as equals, engaging in one of the most epic battles and grittiest, hardest fought and flat out best games you’re likely to see at any level of ball. The game featured break-neck-paced runs and slow, methodical ground based attacks; high-flying dunks and long-bombs from well behind the arc, as well as dirty work battles in the trenches below the hoop; offensive outbursts and suffocating defense; and enough tilt-a-whirl emotion and momentum swings to leave the teams, coaches and fans in attendance staggering.

Both teams were knocked down, and both pulled themselves back up off the mat and continued the frantic fight.

In the end, Northeastern emerged with a 95-91 double-overtime win. William & Mary certainly didn’t lose.

“I said to my players after the game, there’s a real mixture of feelings in me right now: Deep, sincere anger at the way we played the first half of this ballgame and great pride, great pride, in the effort and character they showed in responding to a pretty good challenge at halftime,” said William & Mary head coach Tony Shaver.

“There were a lot of mistakes in the second half, but what a really admired was the mental toughness and togetherness we displayed,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen.

Senior guard Joel Smith led the Huskies, tying a career-high scoring 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Senior point guard Jonathan Lee added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting while playing all 50 minutes of game-time.

“I thought it was the mental toughness of our senior back court, and particularly Joel Smith, who stepped up possession after possession and made huge plays for us,” said Coen.

Freshman guard David Walker missed his first two shots of the night for the Huskies but didn’t miss again, scoring a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Forwards Zach Stahl and Quincy Ford added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Tribe were led by junior forward Tim Rusthoven, who for 38 minutes was the best player on the floor. The 6’9” banger scored 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals. Rusthoven played a huge role in neutralizing the Huskies’ frontcourt of Ford and Reggie Spencer, who shot a combined 4-of-21 from the floor. (more…)

Starting Lineups:
Boston University (0-2 in AE, 6-9, #6 in OBW Power Rankigns)
F – Dom Morris, Jr., 6’6’” 250 (10.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 52.1 FG%)
F – Nate Dieudonne, Fr., 6’7” 210 (4.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 42.4 FG%)
G/F – Travis Robinson, Jr., 6’5” 190 (7.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 45.8 3pt%)
G – D.J. Irving, Jr., 5’10” 165 (14.9 ppg, 3.4 apg, 77.6 FT%)
G – Maurice Watson, Fr., 5’9” 165 (10.5 ppg, 4.7 apg, 48.4 FG%)

Vermont (2-0 in AE, 9-5, #2 in OBW Power Rankings)
F – Ethan O’Day, Fr., 6’9” 205 (5.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.4 bpg)
F – Luke Apfeld, R-Jr., 6’7” 215 (10.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 44.3 FG%)
F – Brian Voelkel, Jr., 6’6” 230 (8.1 rpg, 4.1 apg, 47.1 3pt%)
G – Candon Rusin, R-Jr., 6’4” 190 (8.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 34.8 3pt%)
G – Sandro Carissimo, Jr., 6’2” 170 (9.3 ppg, 2.6 apg, 84.1 FT%)

Preview: This game would appear to be a meeting of two teams heading in polar-opposite directions: The Catamounts hit the ground running in conference play, winning their first two games, and appear to be picking up a full head of steam. The Terriers lost back-to-back games to open the conference slate and appear to be running out of gas. Vermont has size, depth and momentum, the Terriers appear to have none, but have speed in spades and a diverse offensive attack.

But, no matter where they lie in the standings, how many games separate them, or who is having an up or down year, whenever these two longtime rivals and America East conference heavyweights meet, they tend to leave everything they have on the court. In the last meeting on Comm. Ave for the two as inter-conference rivals (with BU leaving for the Patriot League at seasons end), this would appear to have the makings of a great game. (more…)

The game plan is out on stopping the Great Danes dynamic backcourt duo and the Bearcats continue to fight with tremendous heart, but Albany found a way to win thanks to a monster game from a supporting cast member and big contributions from several other role players, knocking off Binghamton in Vestal.

Albany 71, Binghamton 59
With the game plan out on how to game-changing Danes sharpshooter Jacob Iati and slow down dynamic drive-and-dish point man Mike Black, Albany needed someone else to step up.

Sophomore forward Sam Rowley did just that.

The bruising 6’6” combo-forward posted the first double-double of his career, and the first double-double by a Great Dane this season, erupting for 21 points and 13 rebounds while also dishing out four assists – all career highs. The former rugby star in his native Australia shot 8-of-9 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the line.

Albany head coach Will Brown has made a reputation time and time again of drawing up the diagram for how to stop the Vermont Catamounts. But on Saturday, Vermont head coach John Becker flipped the script, and gave the rest of the conference a diagram for how to frustrate and fluster Albany’s high scoring backcourt of Jacob Iati and Mike Black, while leading the Catamounts to a 70-45 embarrassment of the Great Danes.

After Saturday’s 25 point humiliation, the Danes needed to bounce back quickly to remain one of the conference front-runners, and with defenses face-guarding Iati all over the court, and shadowing him without the ball, while bodying Mike Black for 94 feet, Albany would need big contributions from other members of their roster.

Albany red-shirt freshman Peter Hooley, a long and springy combo-guard, scored 10 points and dished out four assists. 6’10” center John Puk scored 13 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the floor and reserve forward Luke Devlin scored 12 points in 16 minutes on 5-of-7 shooting. (more…)

Hartford freshman Taylor Dyson drills a dagger with 4:16 remaining to put the Hawks up 70-62 over Central Connecticut State, as (from left to right) forward Nate Sikma, assistant coach Matt Blue and head coach John Gallagher react. The Hawks would hang on for an 80-77 win (Photograph by Sam Perkins).

(West Hartford, CT) – With 4:25 remaining in the game, and the Hartford Hawks clinging to a 67-62 lead over Central Connecticut State, Blue Devils sophomore Kyle Vinales had the ball in his hands at the top of the key, with only Hartford sophomore Corban Wroe standing between him and another bucket. One of the most explosive scorers in the nation, Vinales ranked third among the national scoring leaders at 25.7 points per game, and was in the midst of a scoring deluge, having poured in 24 or more points in four straight games. Averaging just 16 minutes and a whopping two point per game average, Wroe would seem to be at the losing end of a decided mismatch.

But while Vinales got the better of his defenders for most of the night, pouring in a game and season-high 32 points, in the games biggest moment, it was Wroe who made the biggest play. The 6’2″ Australian-import and one-time Rugby star poked the ball loose into the back court. At an all out sprint, Wroe chased Vinales down from behind. When the star shooting guard slowed to corral the ball, Wroe launched himself like a missile head-first, flying past Vinales, diving on the ball and calling a timeout before he could be tied out.

It was the game in microcosm.

“Today, when clutch plays needed to be made – Corban Wroe’s play – we made the toughness plays, so I can circle that down as why we had the ‘W’ today,” said head coach John Gallagher

Nearly a year ago to the day, the Hawks were annihilated, 92-58, by the Blue Devils, getting out-played, out-hustled, out-toughed, and thoroughly embarrassed in a game which was no where near as close as its lopsided final score. On Saturday afternoon, the Hawks got a measure of revenge and redemption, making all the gut check plays down the stretch to out-fight and out-work the Blue Devils for an 80-77 win.

“We have to realize that those [hustle] plays – that’s the foundation of who we are; those toughness plays,” said Gallagher.

“[Coach Gallagher] had them motivated and they played with more emotion than we did,” said Central Connecticut State head coach Howie Dickenman. “We were well prepared for this… But emotionally we weren’t there; we weren’t mentally tough.”

Sophomore Forward Mark Nwakamma exploded for a career-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, while pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists, adding a block and a steal. Sophomore guard Yolonzo Moore II scored 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from deep. Freshman point guard Evan Cooper scored 10 points in 22 minutes off the bench. But it was Wroe who made the biggest and toughest plays in the deciding moments. (more…)

The America East only registered one win on the night, but the league did itself proud Tuesday.

Albany is rolling down the mountain, picking up speed as it snowballs into a conference contender; the Terriers took a huge stride while nearly registering a huge upset; and UMBC continues to look improved from the debacles of previous seasons. Hartford fell to a larger school from the Atlantic-10, but competed to the very end.

Albany 83, South Carolina State 55
Before tip-off, star point guard Mike Black was a game time decision, hobbled by a bad hip injury. 40 minutes later, the six-foot senior was icing himself down, with another mesmerizing performance under his belt, and the Danes were polishing off their fifth win in their first seven games.

Albany’s offense hit on all cylinders, as the ‘Danes hit 53.4 percent of their shots and buried 51.7 percent of their trey’s, while dishing out 24 assists to 16 turnovers. Albany owned the boards, ripping down 33 rebounds to the Bulldogs 25.

Two days after suffering a bad hip injury and stumbling through his worst game of the season – the only game in which he had not reached double figures — Black exploded for 23 points. Uncontainable off the dribble, Black routinely broke down and blew by his man, before either finishing at the hoop or dropping a dime to an open teammate. Black hit 9-of-11 shots and dished out six assists, while committing just two turnovers.

Jacob Iati continued to shine as the league’s best shooter and most unexpected star. The 5’8” former walk-on and bench warmer reached double-figures for the fifth straight game, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-8 from downtown.

After slumping badly through his first five games, senior small forward Jayson Guerrier broke out, scoring 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Guerrier buried 4-of-8 from deep.

Albany improves to 4-2 and continues to look like a conference contender, picking up steam in the early going while playing better team basketball every game out. (more…)