University of Albany’s Jamar Wilson (Bronx, N.Y./Our Savior New America School) and Hartford’s Kenny Adeleke (Queens, N.Y./Paul Robeson/Hofstra) share this week’s America East Player of the Week honor, while Hartford’s Paris Carter (Baltimore, Md./Lake Clifton) is the America East Rookie of the Week. The awards were handed out on Monday (February 13).
Wilson scored 20 of his season-high 30 points in the second half as Albany won its sixth straight in an 87-73 victory at Maine. Wilson matched the second-best scoring total of his career and became the first Albany player to reach the 30-point mark since the 2004-05 season opener. Against Hartford, he totaled 13 points, five assists and five rebounds in a 65-63 triumph. Wilson has scored 20-plus points on 11 occasions this season.
Adeleke led the Hawks in scoring and rebounding for the week with 22.0 ppg and 14.5 rpg. He recorded double-doubles in each game. Against New Hampshire, he scored a game-high 23 points and added a season-high 18 rebounds. Adeleke also finished with game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds in a two-point loss to Albany. To date, Adeleke has 19 double-doubles on the season and 54 in his career.
Carter was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer for the week at 16.5 ppg. Carter scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time in his career, posting 15 points against Albany and 18 points against New Hampshire. Carter finished the Albany game shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and finished 4-of-5 against the Wildcats.
America East Notes:
Top Seeds Take Shape:
With a conference-best 11-2 league record, the Albany Great Danes have clinched either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the 2006 America East Men’s Basketball Championship. Binghamton (9-3) currently sits in second in the conference standings with a three-game lead over Boston U., Hartford and Vermont, who are all tied with identical 6-6 league records. With two victories, the Bearcats clinch at least the No. 2 seed for the upcoming conference tournament, which they host at the Events Center on March 3-5. The rest of the standings are a virtual log-jam with just two games separating the third from the eighth team in the America East standings.
Mr. Double Double:
With an impressive 23 points and 18 rebounds in Hartford’s 69-56 win over New Hampshire, Kenny Adeleke (Queens, N.Y./Paul Robeson/Hofstra) moves into a tie for fourth place on the America East all-time double-doubles list with 19. Adeleke trails only Drexel’s Malik Rose who tallied 23 in 1994-95, 22 in 1995-96 and 20 in 1993-94. Adeleke, who has led the Hawks to victories in three of their last four games, tied Dan Callahan’s mark of 19 double-doubles which was set back in 1994-95 while playing for former America East member Northeastern. Earlier this year Adeleke broke Vin Baker’s school record for most double-doubles in a season and the senior forward currently leads the league in scoring (20.6 ppg) and rebounding (12.6 rpg), ranks second in blocks (1.74 bpg) and third in field goal percentage (57.2 percent). If Adeleke maintains his 12.6 rpg, his single-season average will be the third-highest in conference history with only Rose topping his single-season effort (13.2 in 1995-96 and 13.6 rpg in 1994-95).
Great Danes Continue to Roll:
Albany maintained its game and a half lead over Binghamton as the Great Danes took two key conference road games on the week. Albany squeezed out a slim two-point win at Hartford, 65-63, before defeating Maine, 87-73. Two of the three league games remaining on the Great Danes schedule are versus the two conference teams Albany has lost to this season, New Hampshire and Vermont. This week the Great Danes partake in their BracketBusters presented by eBay game at Virginia Commonwealth on Friday, February 17 at 7 p.m. That game can be seen live on ESPNU.
America East TV Games:
The 2005-06 men’s America East TV schedule continues this week with two games. First, Vermont hosts Maine on Wednesday, February 15 at 7 p.m. Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Jack Armstrong (color analyst) will call the game. Binghamton then welcomes Hartford on Saturday, February 18 at 12 noon. Bob Picozzi (play-by-play) and Armstrong (color analyst) will call that action. Both games can be seen live on New England Sports Network (NESN) also live on the internet through America East All Access. A live streaming feed of the game will be posted once made available. Log on to www.AmericaEast.com on Wednesday and Saturday to follow the action.