CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- UMBC's Cavell Johnson (Fort Washington, Md./Norte Dame Academy/James Madison) led his team to a pair of victories to earn America East Player of the Week honors on Monday. Hartford's leading scorer last week, Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake), was named Rookie of the Week for the week ending November 18. Click here for the complete report in PDF format.
Johnson, a senior forward, led the Retrievers to road wins over LaSalle and Richmond last week. He averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds, while shooting 55 percent (17-of-31) from the floor.Johnson scored 15 of his 17 points and grabbed all nine of his rebounds in the second half against the Explorers to help UMBC overcome a four-point halftime deficit and earn a 76-69 victory. Against the Spiders, Johnson recorded double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points and ripping down 10 boards. With his team trailing late, Johnson hit a game-tying baseline jumper with 29 seconds left. He then delivered the game-winning slam dunk with 3.2 second remaing to give the Retrievers a 70-68 win and their first 3-0 start since 2002.
Sabia led the Hawks in scoring last week with 12.5 points per game. He also averaged 5.0 rebounds per contest and shot 56 percent from the field. He scored a career-best 14 points to lead Hartford to its first win of the season, a 70-55 victory over Sacred Heart on Wednesday. Sabia then added 11 points and four rebounds at sixth-ranked Louisville on Saturday.C
Conference Notebook
Banner Day
Albany recognized the 2006-07 America East championship squad prior to their home opener against Columbia on Saturday by raising the title banner to the rafters. The Great Danes impressed in the game as well, defeating Columbia 70-38. The 32-point margin of victory is Albany's highest at the Division I level.
Retrievers Start 3-0
UMBC is off to its first 3-0 start since 2002 after posting a pair of road wins against Atlantic 10 schools last week. The Retrievers defeated LaSalle on Wednesday and rallied in the final minute to knock off Richmond, 70-68, on Saturday. It is the program's best beginning to a season since starting 5-0 in the 2000-01 season.
1,000-Point Club
Stony Brook's Mitchell Beauford scored his 1,000th career point on Tuesday night. Beauford, who has 1,002 points for his career, is only the second active America East player to reach the milestone. UMBC's Brian Hodges hit the mark on February 15, 2007 and has 1,133 points for his career. Vermont's Mike Trimboli is just 16 points shy of the milestone.
Nothing Like Home Cooking
America East teams have taken advantage of early-season home games, combining for an 8-2 record through the first 10 games. Albany blew out Columbia, 70-38, in its home opener... Hartford won its first game at Chase Arena this season on Wednesday, defeating Sacred Heart, 70-55... Maine overcame a 10-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining to force overtime against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Saturday. The Black Bears beat the Terriers 85-82 in overtime on Saturday... Binghamton had its second-highest scoring output at the Events Center in a 88-75 win over Quinnipiac on Wednesday.
Scheduling Tough
As a result of the scheduling standards that were passed prior to last season, America East teams have continued to schedule quality non-conference opponent to prepare them for league play. This season, America East teams will play 22 combined non-league games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, including Vermont taking on national champion Florida and UMBC traveling to runner-up Ohio State. Additionally, America East teams will play seven combined games against teams ranked in the preseason AP Poll, including Hartford at No. 6 Louisville, Albany at No. 13 Duke and Stony Brook at No. 20 Kentucky.
TerriersTop Coaches' Poll
Boston University, winner of a conference-best five America East Championships, was the preseason choice of the coaches to win the league title in 2007-08. The Terriers received five of a possible eight first-place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their team) and 61 points to outdistance back-to-back champion Albany, which had four first-place votes and 55 points.
Vermont, which earned the America East regular-season title last year en route to its first NIT berth, was chosen third with 50 points. Binghamton, with rookie head coach Kevin Broadus, was picked fourth with 45 points. UMBC (33 points) edged Hartford (31) for fifth place. Stony Brook (19) was seventh while Maine and New Hampshire tied for eighth place with 15 points.
Preseason All-Conference Squad
Senior Brian Hodges of UMBC and junior Mike Trimboli of Vermont were unanimous selections to the 2007-08 America East Preseason All-Conference team in voting conducted by the conference’s head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.
That duo is joined by seniors Brent Wilson of Albany and Mike Gordon of Binghamton, and sophomore Tyler Morris of Boston University. All five preseason picks come from the teams finished in the top five of America East.
Back to Binghamton
The America East Men's Basketball Championship returns to Binghamton University’s Events Center on March 7-9, with the title game to be played on March 15 at the higher remaining seed. It is the second time in three years the Events Center has hosted the tournament. It played host to the Women's Championship last season. Reserve your All Session Tournament Pass for the 2008 America East Men’s Basketball Tournament. For more information please call 607-777-3741.
You're On Television
ESPNU will broadcast the first nationally-televised regular-season conference game in America East history when Boston University plays host to Vermont at Agganis Arena on Friday, January 25 at 9 p.m. The game is the marquee match-up in the America East Television schedule, which will include more than 50 games on national or regional sports networks in 2007-08.
The America East Men’s Basketball Championship game will be shown live on March 15 at 12 noon on ESPN2. It marks the 21st straight year the conference championship has been nationally televised.
America East and ESPN Regional Television will produce 20 games for distribution among regional sports networks and local carriers. A total of 14 games involving America East teams will appear on NESN, seven games on Comcast Sports Net, seven games on MASN, four games on CN8, three games on Fox Sports New York, and two games on MSG network.
The America East men’s basketball semifinals will appear on Comcast Sports Net and Time Warner cable while the women’s semifinals and championship are slated for NESN and Time Warner. Eric Frede returns as the play-by-play announcer for America East basketball. Leah Secundo, a veteran of America East television productions, is the color analyst for women’s basketball games. Former Harvard head coach Frank Sullivan will be the men’s basketball color analyst.
Among the out-of-conference highlights are Albany at Duke (ESPN2) on December 17 and Vermont at two-time defending national championFlorida (CN8) on November 30.
Streaming on the Web
For the first time in conference history, America East will produce “enhanced streaming” games, which will be available for free at the AmericaEastZone at AmericaEast.com. Through its partnerships with Pack Network and JumpTV Sports, America East will produce eight women’s basketball games beginning when Hartford visits Boston University on January 5. The package will include two “wildcard” games to be determined by the conference standings in February.
On Campus
America East will also produce five episodes of America East On Campus, a 30-minute magazine show devoted to the conference’s student-athletes. The third-year show, which will air on regional sports networks including NESN beginning in January, is hosted by Frede, who produces the show along with his Cod Rock Media Productions partner, Dan Hannigan.
Team Notebooks
Albany (2-1, America East 0-0) recorded its largest win margin as a Division I program in a 70-38 victory over Columbia on Nov. 17... The Great Danes, who played their home opener before 4,312 fans at SEFCU Arena, previously defeated Army by 27 points on Dec. 6, 2004... UAlbany’s 2006-07 squad was honored in a pre-game ceremony on the occasion of its second consecutive NCAA appearance and America East championship... Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J. / Camden Catholic) paced four players in double figures with a career-high 13 points, as his team held Columbia to 20.4-percent shooting... The Great Danes ended three separate streaks in a 63-60 overtime win at Central Connecticut State on Nov. 14... UAlbany halted a string of eight straight overtime losses and snapped CCSU’s 11-game home winning streak... The Great Danes also broke a 10-game skid in the series that dated back to the 1961-62 campaign... Jon Iati (York, Pa. / York Catholic) netted 15 points off the bench and made a key three-point field goal with 2:08 left in the extra period... redshirt freshman Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y. / Our Savior New American) was impressive in his collegiate debut with 11 points vs. CCSU... Ambrose, who hails from the same high school as former All-American Jamar Wilson, made 5-of-6 from the field and grabbed five rebounds... UAlbany has won eight of its last 10 road games... Brian Lillis (Urbandale, Iowa / West Des Moines Dowling) moved into ninth place on the program’s career steals list with 129... The Great Danes have won six of nine home openers at the Division I level.
Binghamton (1-2, America East 0-0) won its home opener sandwiched between a pair of road losses to open the season... Sophomore forward Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Secondary Railway) averaged 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in the three games. Trifunovic earned his fourth career double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Quinnipiac. The America East Player of the Game scored 10 points in a 2:22 span in the second half to help the Bearcats pull away... Senior guard Richard Forbes (Far Rockaway, N.Y./Far Rockaway/Howard JC) scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Forbes leads the team with a 16.7 scoring average... Senior point guard Mike Gordon (Plainfield, N.J./Plainfield) had a complete game against Quinnipiac with 15 points, eight assists and four steals in 40 minutes... An Events Center crowd of 4,019 was on hand for the home opener... Junior college transfer Milos Klimovic (Sarajevo, Bosnia/Gkimnazija III/Hillsborough CC) hit 6-of-12 three-pointers for a team-high 23 points at St. Bonaventure... Freshman guard Moussa Camara (Paris, France/The Rock School/Stoneridge) hit 4-of-7 threes for 14 points against Quinnipiac... Junior guard Dwayne Jackson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) has hit 7-of-10 from three-point range and is averaging 9.7 points.
Boston University (1-2, America East 0-0) dropped a pair of games last week, falling 69-56 to George Washington (2-0) on Nov. 14 and 57-48 to Saint Joseph’s (2-1) on Nov. 17... The Terriers started out of the gate hot from long range at George Washington, making 4-of-5 from the 3-point line to race out to a 16-8 lead five minutes into the game. Sophomore guard Carlos Strong (Portland, Maine/Deering) scored 11 of Boston U’s points during that run, but he and the rest of the Terriers combined to go 1-for-9 for the next six minutes. After Strong’s bucket at 14:00, Boston University didn’t score again until a lay-up by sophomore forward Scott Brittain (Oakville, Ont.) at 8:10. GW came all the way back and took the lead for good, 22-20, on a 3-pointer by Noel Wilmore at 7:59 in the first. Sparked by a Lowe jumper and another Strong three at 3:30, Boston University went on a 12-2 run over the next minute and a half to cut GW’s advantage to nine, 65-56. The rally was snuffed by a Damian Hollis basket that extended George Washington’s lead back to double digits... Lowe led the Terriers with 14 points followed by Strong’s 13 points and five rebounds... The Terriers got off to another quick start versus Saint Joseph’s, taking an 8-4 lead on a pair of foul shots by Strong. Boston U stretched it to seven points, 15-8, after another set of free throws by Brittain at 8:45. But the Hawks went on a 17-5 run to end the first half, kicked off by a dunk from Nivins at 8:29. Boston University trimmed Saint Joseph’s lead to five, 32-27, at the start of the second half on a layup by junior forward Max Gotzler (Weilheim, Germany/Oregon Tech), but St. Joe’s pushed its advantage back to double digits three minutes later. The Terriers didn’t give up, however, and made a late-game run that sliced the Hawk lead to seven, 53-46, with 1:17 to go in the game on a layup by Wolff. Saint Joseph’s answered by going 4-for-8 from the line to close out the game... Brittain led the Terriers with 14 points and nine rebounds... Boston University hosts Northeastern in its third doubleheader in six days on Monday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. in Case Gym.
Hartford (1-3, America East 0-0) split a pair of games last week, earning its first victory of the season against Sacred Heart before falling at sixth-ranked Louisville... The Hawks beat the Pioneers 70-55 in their home opener behind 14 points from both senior Brian Glowiak (New Britain, Conn./New Britain) and freshman Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake). Hartford won its home opener for the seventh time in the past eight years... The Hawks opened the 2007 Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational with a 104-69 loss to the Cardinals, who set a school record with 22 three-pointers and shot 63 percent from beyond the arc. The last time a Hartford team yielded 100 points to an opponent was at Maine on February 5, 2000. Sophomore Joe Zeglinski led the Hawks with 13 points and notched his first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds... Hartford wraps up the Las Vegas Invitational this week with three games, the first of which comes at Brigham Young on Tuesday, November 20. It will be the first meeting between the Hawks and Cougars and the first time that either school has faced a team from the other’s conference. Hartford will then play the final two games of the tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The Hawks will face Jackson State on November 23 and either Iona or South Carolina State the following day.
Maine’s (2-2, America East 0-0) 45 point win over Fisher was its largest margin of victory since it beat the University of Maine-Fort Kent on Nov. 22, 2005, by a score of 86-36.......The Black Bears’ 23 steals against Fisher set a school record. The previous high for steals in one game was 21 against New Hampshire on Jan. 16, 1999...In games against Fisher on 11/13 and St. Francis on 11/17, the Black Bears have had a combined eight players either set or match career-highs...The Black Bears came back from a six-point deficit with less than a minute remaining to send the game into overtime against St. Francis.....The Black Bears also came back from a six-point deficit midway through overtime before going on a 10-to-1 run to close out the game and win by three..... A victory over Quinnipiac on Tuesday would give Maine a three-game winning streak, its longest since a five-game streak from Jan.13-Jan. 27, 2007.
UMBC (3-0, America East 0-0) is off to its first 3-0 start since the 2002-03 season after road wins vs. Atlantic 10 rivals LaSalle (76-69) and Richmond (70-68) this week... the 2000-01 team opened the season at a UMBC Division I-best 5-0... the Retrievers rallied from a seven-point deficit with less than four minutes to play to win at Richmond, 70-68 on Saturday, outscoring the Spiders 13-4 down the stretch... senior forward Cavell Johnson (Fort Washington, Md./Notre Dame Academy/James Madison) hit the game-tying baseline jumper with 29 seconds left, then converted Jay Greene’s (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) steal into a dunk with 3.2 seconds left to give UMBC the road victory... he scored a game-high 20 points in the contest... three other Retrievers scored in double figures, including senior guard Brian Hodges (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) with 17 points, junior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md./Paul IV/Coppin State) with 14 and senior guard Ray Barbosa (Allentown, Pa./William Allen/James Madison) with 11 points and a game high and career-best 10 rebounds... Barbosa recorded his first career double-double just days after Proctor posted the 11th of his career with 23 points and 10 caroms at La Salle... dating back to last season, UMBC has now won seven straight games decided by five points or less... the Retrievers hit all 22 of its free throw attempts in the second half last week and were 35 of 42 (83.3%) overall... Hodges set a school record by hitting all 12 of his attempts at La Salle... he is a perfect 20 of 20 to date this season from the charity stripe... Hodges (17.7 ppg) and Proctor (16.7 ppg) have scored in double figures in all three victories... Hodges drew the starting assignment at La Salle and scored 22 points as Barbosa was limited to eight minutes due to a sore achilles... Barbosa returned to the starting five at Richmond... the last time UMBC scored 70 or more points in three straight games occurred in the final three games of the 2001-02 campaign... the Retrievers complete a three-game road swing at Lafayette on Tuesday before returning home to face their third Atlantic 10 foe of the year as they entertain George Washington on Saturday.
New Hampshire (2-1, America East 0-0) went 2-0 last week, routing Suffolk University, 95-46, at home and downing Central Connecticut State University, 78-70, on the road ... Junior guard Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill./Lewis & Clark) had a career night versus Suffolk, hitting for 25 points while also contributing five assists and seven steals to lead the ?Cats to victory ... Freshman guard Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) was almost equally impressive, scoring 17 points, ripping down nine rebounds and handing out six assists ... Senior forward Mike Christensen (Reston, Va./Flint Hill) added eight points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats, while fellow co-captain, junior guard Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass./Brockton), added seven assists to go with his seven points ... Freshmen Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men) and Rony Tchatchoua (Cameroon/Findlay Prep) chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively ... Freshman forward James Valladares (Kaufman, Texas/Kaufman) tallied nine rebounds off the bench ... Christensen led the ?Cats to victory against CCSU, scoring 23 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, and pulling down seven rebounds ... Gibbs backed up Christensen’s effort with a 13-point, five-rebound, five-assist stat line ... Gilchrese scored 12 points and dished out four assists, while Abreu added 14 points.
Stony Brook (0-4, America East 0-0) dropped three games this week to fall to 0-4 for the second time in three years ... The Seawolves lost a 76-68 overtime decision to Lafayette in their home opener on Monday. Senior guard Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) recorded his 1,000th point in the final seconds of regulation to give Stony Brook a two-point lead at the time. But the Leopards tied it in the final seconds of regulation and then scored the first eight points of overtime on the way to the eight-point victory ... The Seawolves lost another heartbreaker on Thursday night, falling in the final seconds to Maryland-Eastern Shore when Denzel Jackson hit one of two three free throws with six seconds remaining ... Stony Brook then fell to American on Sunday, losing despite a game-high 17 points from senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va./Herndon/George Washington). The Seawolves took a 42-40 lead with 14:56 left in the second half but American then went on a 15-5 run to take control of the game. The Seawolves had a chance to tie in the final minute but a three from freshman Jermol Paul (Palm Beach, Fla./W.T. Dwyer) missed. Paul had the best game of his young career on Sunday against American, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes of action.
Vermont (0-3, America East 0-0) dropped its only contest of the week on the road at Loyola (Md.) 83-79 on Sunday afternoon ... Sophomore Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) tallied a career-high 30 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the floor to lead all scorers ... He also added a career-high five blocks to go with four boards and two steals ... Blakely is now averaging 23.7 points per game this season. Trailing 81-79 with 5.8 seconds to go the Catamounts in-bounded the ball and junior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke's) drove the lane, drawing the defense. He kicked it out to classmate Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon), who had a good look from three, but the ball rimmed out and Loyola's Brett Harvey grabbed the rebound to seal the win ... Trimboli had a solid overall game for Vermont with 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds, while McIntosh chipped in with 13 ... Trimboli is now only 16 points shy of 1,000 for his caree r... Sunday was a meeting of former Catholic University roommates in Vermont coach Mike Lonergan and Loyola coach Jimmy Patso s... Blakely has increased his point total in each game this season after starting with 17 at George Mason and then added 24 at Virginia. Sunday marked the first meeting in men's basketball between the two team ... The contest was televised on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, marking the second of at least 10 times that the Catamounts will play on TV this season ... Eight of Vermont's first nine games this season are on the road ... The Catamounts return to action on Tuesday when they are at New Jersey Tech for a 7 p.m. tip-off.