CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Vermont's Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke's) was named America East Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Catamounts to their first two victories of the season last week. Albany's Josh Martin (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) was named Rookie of Week for the week ending November 25, after compiling back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts. Click here for the complete report in PDF format.
Trimboli, a junior guard averaged 22.0 points and shot 67 percent from the field to lead the Catamounts to their first two victories of the season. Trimboli, a preseason America East all-conference selection, scored a game-high 22 points, including the 1,000th of his career as UVM downed New Jersey Tech, 91-71, for its first win of the season on Tuesday. He connected on 9-of-10 shots and also dished out six assists. In a 59-57 win over Towson, Trimboli scored 22 points for the second straight outing. He also grabbed five rebounds and hit half of his 14 shots.
Martin, a freshman guard, averaged 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds to help the Great Danes get off to their best start since the 1996-97 campaign. Martin scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 78-66 win over Lehigh on Wednesday. He followed up that performance with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists in a 75-57 victory over Sacred Heart on Sunday.
Conference Notebook
Notables
Several America East student-athletes had standout performances last week. UMBC's Brian Hodges (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) scored 27 points and hit a career-best seven three pointers to lead the Retrievers past George Washington, 89-79, on Saturday... Binghamton's Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Secondary Railway) averaged a double-double last week, posting 17 points and a career-best 15 rebounds in a loss to Akron on Saturday. Earlier in the week, he had 17 points and 13 boards in an overtime loss to Central Connecticut... Hartford's Jaret Von Rosenberg (Mission, Texas/Sharyland/Collin Country) poured in an America East season-high 31 points in the Hawk's 80-72 overtime win over South Carolina St. at the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational on Saturday... Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine/Bangor) scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 64-59 win over Quinnipiac on Tuesday.
The Week That Was
Albany, UMBC and New Hampshire continued to impress last week and are off to strong starts. Albany posted convincing wins over Lehigh and Sacred Heart, the Northeast Conference preseason favorite. The Great Danes have won four straight since dropping their season opener and are off to their best start since 1996... UMBC, which is off to its best start since 2000, earned one of it's most impressive victories in program history, downing George Washington 89-79 on Saturday. The Colonials have made three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament... New Hampshire won its third in a row with a 77-70 win over Quinnipiac on Sunday. The Wildcats have rebounded nicely after dropping their opener at unbeaten Boston College.
1,000-Point Club
Vermont's Mike Trimboli became the second player in America East to score his 1,000th point this season, when he surpassed the milestone on Tuesday. Trimboli, who now has 1,028 points for his career, scored 22 points to lead the Catamount to their first win of the season. Stony Brook's Mitchell Beauford scored his 1,000th career point just last week, while UMBC's Brian Hodges hit the mark on February 15, 2007 and has 1,172 points for his career.
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.
Terriers Top 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 (4-1, America East 0-0) extended its winning streak to four in a row following home victories against Lehigh (78-66) and Sacred Heart (75-57)... The Great Danes have won 19 of their last 21 games at SEFCU Arena... UAlbany shot 50.9% against Lehigh and was above the 50-percent mark for the first time since Jan. 31, 2007... The Great Danes also made 10 or more three-point field goals for 35th time at the Division I level... After losing to Sacred Heart the last two years, UAlbany came from behind in the second half to upend the Pioneers... Brian Lillis (Urbandale, Iowa / West Des Moines Catholic) and Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J. / Camden Catholic) scored 12 points apiece, as the Great Danes held SHU to 28-percent shooting in the final period... Lillis, who has scored in twin figures in four of five games this season, moved into a tie for eighth on the school’s career steals list (133)... Jerel Hastings (Dallas, Texas / South Oak Cliff) added a career-high nine points and five rebounds... Brent Wilson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Prairie) had 15 points, his third straight game in double figures, against Lehigh... Wilson canned five 3-pointers, one off his career-best, and is fifth on the all-time list with 176... Josh Martin (Philadelphia, Pa. / Simon Gratz) averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in last week’s two victories... Martin, a freshman guard, scored a career-high 10 against both Lehigh and Sacred Heart... UAlbany has recorded double-digit win margins in three consecutive games, the third time the feat has been accomplished since the program moved to Division I in 1999-2000.
Binghamton (1-4, America East 0-0) dropped a pair of games during the week. The Bearcats fell short in an overtime affair with Central Connecticut State in front of 3,281 at the Events Center. Then Binghamton was overmatched in a 20-point road loss to Akron... Sophomore forward Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Secondary Railway) averaged 17.0 points and 14.0 rebounds in the pair of games. Trifunovic registered back-to-back double-doubles and now has three this season... Senior guard Richard Forbes (Far Rockaway, N.Y./Far Rockaway/Howard JC) was unstoppable against CCSU, netting a game-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Forbes, who leads the Bearcats with a 16.6 scoring average, hit 3-of-6 three-pointers, including one with 37 seconds left in regulation another with 43 seconds left in overtime to tie the score at 65-65... Freshman guard Devon McBride (Richmond, Va./Phoenixville) scored a collegiate-best nine points in the second half at Akron.
Boston University (4-1, America East 0-0) is in the midst of a four-game losing streak after opening 2008 with a 68-57 win over St. Bonaventure on Nov. 9... Since then the Terriers have dropped contests to George Washington, Saint Joseph’s, Northeastern and, most recently, Marshall... The Huskies out-rebounded BU 42-35, including 18 offensive boards which they converted to 14 second-chance points, on the way to a 65-58 win over Boston U on Monday, Nov. 18 in the nightcap of a doubleheader of the women’s teams... Sophomores Scott Brittain (Oakville, Ont./Iroquois Ridge), Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass./Newton North), Carlos Strong (Portland, Maine/Deering) and red-shirt junior Matt Wolff (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) all scored in double figures for the Terriers. Lowe and Wolff totaled 12 points apiece, while Strong and Brittain each scored 10...The Terriers came out of the break and earned their first tie of the game, 25-25, on a 3-pointer from Wolff at 19:22. Wolff tied the game again at 27 after hitting a driving jumper in the lane at 17:39. Northeastern moved out to an eight-point lead, 35-27, on a mid-range jumper by Nkem Ojougboh at 14:05, but Boston U kept fighting - producing a 6-0 run that pulled the Terriers to within two, 37-35 at 10:28, on a pair of free throws by Lowe after he was fouled hard attempting a put-back. The Huskies stayed just in front of the Terriers, out-rebounding Boston U 8-4 on the way to extending their advantage to double-digits at 4:20... In the loss to Marshall, the Terriers had problems with turnovers, committing 19 and giving up 22 points off those turnovers as the Herd claimed a 70-47 win in the first-ever meeting between the two teams... Brittain led BU with 13 points followed by freshman guard/forward John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict’s Prep) with 10 points... The Herd's strong defense was on display early, as Marshall forced 14 first-half turnovers, grabbed six steals and blocked five shots. MU shot 52.0 percent (13-for-25) during the first frame to negate Boston U's best first-half shooting percentage (40.0; 8-for-20) since the season-opening win over St. Bonaventure. MU finished with six blocks and eight steals and shot 50.0 percent to Boston U’s 38.1 percent... The Terriers look to snap their skid at Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center... The game will be televised on ESPN Regional/FSN.
Hartford (3-4, America East 0-0) went 2-1 last week in the final three games of the 2007 Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational. The Hawks dropped a 97-73 decision at BYU to open the week but bounced back with wins over Jackson State (73-57) and South Carolina State (80-72 in OT) at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV... Junior Jaret Von Rosenberg (Mission, Texas/Sharyland/Collin County) paced the Hawks in the win over SCSU with a career-high 31 points. He scored 16 points in the second half and added another nine in the overtime, including the game's final six points from the foul line. He shot 6-for-9 from three-point range in the contest and made all nine of his free throw attempts. He becomes just the sixth player in the school's Division I history to record a pair of 30-point scoring games (last season he had 30 points against Maine)... Junior Michael Turner (Novato, Calif./Marin Catholic/West Valley) was named to the Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament Team. He averaged 10.0 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds for the week... Freshman Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) scored a career-high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three-point range in the loss at BYU. He also finished in double figures against Jackson State with 10 points and added six points and a career-best six rebounds against SCSU... Hartford will host Army this week before hitting the road again to play at Long Island. The Hawks and Black Knights will meet on Wednesday, November 28 at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion at 7 p.m. Hartford will then visit LIU on Saturday, December 1 at 2 p.m.
Maine (3-3, America East 0-0) continues play on the road this week, playing at Providence, which will begin a challenging month for the Black Bears as they also make road trips to Florida State on Nov. 20, and is thought to be the first time in the history of the program that five starters were from in-state.....Maine’s top three scorers are also all from the state of Maine....The University of Maine was recently presented with its second America East Academic Cup in four years.....The Black Bears continue to be strong on the glass, out-rebounding their opponents for the week by a margin of 74-68...Maine’s home, the Alfond Arena, hosted three basketball games on Saturday, with the men’s team playing Northeastern, the women’s team playing Quinnipiac, and Hofstra and Harvard playing each other as well....The Black Bears have three players averaging at least 12 points and five rebounds per game, two of them being sophomores....All University of Maine teams have been playing with heavy hearts, as Harold Alfond, a university benefactor and great human being recently passed away at the age of 93.
UMBC (4-1, America East 0-0) produced one of the top victories in program history as they defeated George Washington, 89-79 before a holiday crowd of 2,312 at the RAC Arena... Senior guard Brian Hodges (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara), named America East Player of the Game, hit a career-best seven 3-pt. field goals and led all scorers with 27 points... The Retrievers improved to 4-1, its best start since a 5-0 beginning to the 2000-01 season...George Washington has made three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament... Hodges led four Retrievers in double figures, as the Retrievers surpassed the 70-point for the fifth straight game... he drilled six of seven from behind the arc in the second half as UMBC built a one-point lead at intermission to as many as 18 in the second half ...his seven 3-pt. field goals was one shy of tying a school record and UMBC’s 12 successes behind the arc was also one off knotting a school mark... the Retrievers hit nine of 15 from behind the arc in the second half and were 12/25 for the game... senior guard Ray Barbosa (Allentown, Pa./Allen/James Madison) added 21 points, while junior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md./Paul IV/Coppin State) and senior forward Cavell Johnson (Fort Washington, Md./Notre Dame Acad./James Madison) tallied 17 each... Proctor added a game-high 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, as UMBC outrebounded the larger Colonials, 42-32. Junior guard Jay Greene (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) contributed 10 assists for his second double-figure assist contest of the season...Hodges moved into 11th place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list with 1,172 points, surpassing Kareem Washington (1,145 points)... UMBC completed a season sweep of Atlantic 10 rivals, with previous road wins at La Salle and Richmond... the Retrievers suffered an 87-84 overtime loss at Lafayette on Tuesday... UMBC led by 13 points early in the second half and never trailed until the overtime period... Barbosa was brilliant, with a 26-point effort as he returned to his hometown area, and Johnson added 22 points... the Retrievers face an improving Morgan State squad at the RAC Arena on Tuesday and travel to the Washington, D.C.-area to take on American on Saturday... the Bears’ (3-2) two losses have been by four points each to Connecticut and Miami (Fla.).
New Hampshire (3-1, America East 0-0) went 1-0 last week, beating Quinnipiac University at home, 77-70, to record their third consecutive win ... Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill./Lewis & Clark) netted 20 points to lead the Wildcats in scoring ... senior forward Mike Christensen (Reston, Va./Flint Hill) helped out with 17 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals ... freshman guard Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men) added 14 points for the ?Cats and grabbed four rebounds ... sophomore Radar Onguetou (Yaounde, Cameroon/New Hampton School) pulled down seven rebounds in 19 minutes of play.
Stony Brook (0-5, 0-0 America East) was led by junior Nick Carter's team-high 13 points but Columbia used a 16-0 run to end the first half and begin the second, leading the Lions to a 66-46 victory over the Stony Brook men’s basketball team in the Seawolves only game of the week on Saturday afternoon at Stony Brook Arena. Senior Mitchell Beauford (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) tied the game at 30 with 3:20 left in the first half but that would be the last point the Seawolves would score for over six and half minutes as the Lions went a 7-0 run to end the first half and then a 9-0 run to begin the second half to take a 46-30 lead with 17:17 left in the game. Stony Brook has struggled from the field since the opener against Villanova when it shot 51.2 percent from the field and knocked down nine three-pointers. Over their last four contests the Seawolves have shot just 33 percent (75-227) from the floor and just 14-for-69 (20.3 percent) from three. The Seawolves have struggled coming out of the break so far this season. Stony Brook has been outscored by just 11 in the first half, shooting almost 40 percent from the field. But the second half has been a different story as the Seawolves have been outscored by 40, shot just 32 percent from the field and let opponents shoot a robust 46.3 percent from the field.
Vermont (2-3, America East 0-0) went 2-0 on the week, including earning its first victory of the season at New Jersey Tech on Tuesday, 91-71 ... Junior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) scored a game-high 22 points including the 1,000th of his career against NJIT, while sophomore Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) just missed out on a triple-double with 14 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists ... Vermont stormed out of the gates in the opening half, taking a 26-3 lead and never looked back ... Trimboli entered the game only 16 points shy of 1,000 for his career and with 2:54 before the half he became the 27th Catamount in school history to reach the milestone ... Every Catamount to dress played in the opening 8:19 of the game and 10 of the 12 scored in the half ... Senior Kyle Cieplicki (Shelburne, Vt./Rice) added 16, while junior Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon) had his second straight game with double figures as he added 12 ... On Saturday McIntosh hit a three-pointer with 5.4 seconds remaining to break a tie and give the Cats a 59-57 win over Towson ... Trimboli added a game-high 22 points for the second straight contest ... Junior Ryan Shields (Wilton, Conn./St. Luke’s) scored six and added a career-high nine rebounds ... Vermont is back on the road for four straight starting on Tuesday at Dartmouth (7 p.m.) ... The Catamounts will then travel south to face the two-time defending NCAA National Champion Florida Gators in Tampa on Friday at 7:30pm. 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 teams ... 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.