CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Boston University's Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass./Newton North) took home Player of the Week honors for the second straight week after pouring in a career-high 35 points in the Terriers' 76-67 win over Yale on Tuesday. Albany's Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y./Our Savior New American School) earned Rookie of the Week accolades leading Albany to come-from-behind victory on Saturday. Click here for full PDF release.
Lowe, a sophomore guard, hit seven 3-pointers, the second-most made in a game team history. He hit fi ve of those treys in the fi rst half and shot 6-of-8 in the frame overall. For the game, Lowe shot 13-of-20 from the fi eld and also grabbed four rebounds.
Ambrose, a redshirt-freshman, scored 17 points, all in the second half and triggered a 15-0 run to lead the Great Danes to a 68-53 victory over St. Francis (N.Y.) on Saturday. Ambrose, who played just 16 minutes off the bench, shot 4-of-6 from the fi eld and got to the free throw line nine times, making eight of those attempts. He also tallied three steals.
Conference Notebook:
NOTABLES
Several America East student-athletes had standout performances last week. Stony Brook senior Ricky Lucas averaged 18.7 points and 6.3 rebounds to lead the Seawolves to a pair of wins last week. Lucas scored 18 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting performance from the floor in a win over Hofstra on Wednesday. He also has 12 points in a win over New Jersey Tech on Monday and scored a career-high 25 points including 20 in the second half as the Seawolves rallied from a 13-point second half but fell late to FDU 74-71 on Saturday... Maine's Junior Bernal single handily gave the Black Bears a chance against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday. He had 17 points, seven rebound and seven assists in a losing effort... Vermont's Mike Trimboli, a unanimous All-America East Preseason choice, scored 23 points and
dished out five assists to help the Catamounts defeat Harvard, 73-68, on Saturday.
WHERE THEY RANK
The second Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) ratings were released on Monday by RPIratings. com. UMBC is the highest rated America East team (93) after getting off to a 7-2 start and posting a combined 4-1 mark against teams rated 51-200. The next highest team is Hartford at 196, followed by Vermont (199), Albany
(216), Boston University (258), New Hampshire (269), Maine (297), Stony Brook (304) and Binghamton (311).
DYNAMIC DUOS
America East teams present diffi cult matchups for opposing defenses as several teams have multiple scoring threats. Vermont's tandem of Mike Trimboli and Marqus Blakely combine for 40.0 points per game and rank one and two in the league, respectively. Trimboli averages a league-best 20.6 points, while Blakely adds 19.4 per contest... UMBC's Brian Hodges ranks fourth in the league with 18.2 points per game. Teammate Ray Barbosa contributes 16.0 per outing, good for sixth best in the league. Additionally, the Retriever's have two others in the top 13 scoring leaders. Darryl Proctor is 12th (14.0 ppg) and Cavell Johnson is tied for 13th (143.8)... Boston University's Corey Lowe and Carlos Strong rank third among teammates, averaging 34.4 points per contest.
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 November 20. 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. Albany's Brent Wilson is just 23 points shy of the milstone and would become the 28th player in school history to reach the mark, while teammate Jon Iati is within 45 points of the milestone.
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 two-time defending national champion Florida and UMBC traveling to runnerup 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 POLL
Boston University, winner of a conference-best fi ve America East Championships, was the preseason choice of the coaches to win the league title in 2007-08. The Terriers received fi ve of a possible eight fi rst-place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their team) and 61 points to outdistance back-to-back champion Albany, which had four fi rst-place votes and 55 points. Vermont, which earned the America East regular- season title last year en route to its fi rst 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 fi fth place. Stony Brook (19) was seventh while Maine and New Hampshire tied for eighth place with 15 points.