CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Maine's Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine/Bangor) is this week's Player of the Week after averaging 24.5 points and 8.0 rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from the field in a pair of games last week. Additionally, Boston University's John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict's Prep)
and Hartford's Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) shared Rookie of the Week for the week ending February 10. Click here for the complete Weekly Release in PDF format.
A sophomore guard, Socoby scored 20 points, pulled down six rebounds and had three steals in Maine's two-point loss at Hartford on Wednesday. He knocked down 50 percent of his field goal attempts, shooting 7-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-10 from three-point range. Socoby followed that performance by tying his career high with 29 points in the Black Bears' overtime win at New Hampshire on Saturday. Socoby, who had 21 of those points in the first half, also grabbed 10 boards for his fourth double-double of the season. He hit 9-of-18 from the field and 4-of-10 from deep.
Socoby is averaging 17.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game in league play, good for third and ninth among conference leaders, respectively. Overall, Socoby is providing 14.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game for the Black Bears.
Holland, who is receiving Rookie Honors for the second straight week, recorded his second career double-double with 15 points and a career-best 14 rebounds in the Terriers' 64-60 win over Stony Brook on Saturday. The effort propelled Boston U. to its third straight win and .500 in league play with a 5-5 mark. Holland, who is scoring just over eight points a game, is averaging 12.3 points and is fifth in America East with 7.3 rebounds per contest in 10 conference games.
Sabia, a freshman forward, has recieved the award three of the past five week. He averaged 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game last week to help the Hawks extend their winning streak to three games. Sabia scored 15 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining against Maine on Wednesday. He shot 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from long range against Maine and also added a game-high eight rebounds.
Sabia finished with 10 points in a Hartford's first win at Albany since the 2002-03 campaign and helped seal the outcome with three free throws down the stretch.
Sabia, who is averaging 12.1 points against league foes, leads the America East shooting 44.1 percent from three-point range.
Conference Notebook
Honorable Mention
Several America East players had highlight performances last week. Albany's Brian Lillis (Urbandale, Iowa/West Des Moines Dowling) scored 19 points and hit 8-of-9 field goal attempts against Hartford on Saturday... Binghamton's Reggie Fuller (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower/Angelina College) scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season... Boston University's Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass./Newton North) scored a career-high 21 and canned five three-pointers in a win over Stony Brook on Saturday... Hartford's Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half in a win at Albany on Saturday... UMBC's Ray Barbosa (Allentown, Pa./Allen/James Madison) scored 25 points and came within one of his own school record with seven three-pointers... Marqus Blakely (Metchuen, N.J./Metchuen) recorded his fifth straight double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in a win at Binghamton on Wednesday.
Setting the Scene
With three weeks to go in the regular season, UMBC sits alone in first place in the America East standings with a 9-2 record. The Retrievers also had the tiebreaker over second-place Vermont, which is 8-3, by virtue of their season sweep of the Catamounts. Hartford moved into third place by its lonesome at 7-4 with its win over Albany on Saturday. The Great Danes, the two-time defending champion, are currently tied for fourth with Binghamton at 6-5. Boston University has evened its record at .500 and is alone in sixth place. New Hampshire (4-7), Maine (3-7) and Stony Brook (1-10) round out the standings.
Looking Ahead
America East TV will produce a trio of games this week. On Monday, Albany will travel to Vermont for a 7:30 p.m. contest, in a rematch of the past two America East Championship title games. The game will be aired on Comcast Sports Net in New England and Fox Sports New York throughout the Empire State. The Catamounts will be televised on NESN on Wednesday when they battle Boston University at 8 p.m. The Terriers concluded the week's broadcasts by traveling to Baltimore to take on first-place UMBC at 4 p.m. The game will be shown on MASN in the Mid-Atlantic Region and on WSBK in the Boston area. All three games will also be available on ESPN's Full Court Package and be streamed online in the America East Zone at AmericaEast.com.
Going Streaking
Three America East teams are in the midst of multiple-game win streaks. UMBC has won five in-a-row, the program's longest run since a six-gamer in the 2001-02 campaign. Hartford has reeled off three in a row, including the program's first win over the Great Danes in their last nine tries. At 7-4, the Hawks are third in the league standings with five games to play. Since losing 4-of-5 and 8-of-10, Boston University has won three straight to even its conference record at 5-5.
Rare Company
Albany's Brian Lillis is one of nine players in the country to lead his team in scoring (163 ppg), rebounding (6.3 pg) and assists (3.2 pg). Lillis leads America East averaging 19.5 points against league foes.
America East's Iron Man
Binghamton's senior guard Mike Gordon has started 95 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the league. Gordon, a preseason all-conference selection, leads the league in steals per game (2.45).
Getting Lowe
Boston University's Corey Lowe has scored 20-plus points in consecutive games and five of hislast six overall. Lowe, who has missed five games due to injury, ranks third in the league with 18.4 points per game.
Snapping a Skid
With its 68-61 win at Albany on Saturday, Hartford snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Great Danes. It's the program's first win in SEFCU Arena since the 2002-03 season.
Don't Turn it Over
Coaches always preach, "Don't turn the ball over." UMBC has listened this season. The Retrievers lead the country in fewest turnovers per game with 9.5. They also lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.61). Much of that success can be attributed to junior guard Jay Greene, who ranks among NCAA individual leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.36).
Road Warriors
Maine has won three conference games, all of those victories coming on the road. The Black Bears dealt UMBC its lone home loss of the season on January 12. Maine also knocked off Albany and New Hampshire in their buildings.
One Point Shy of a Milestone
With his next basket, New Hampshire senior Mike Christensen will surpass the 1,000-point mileston for his career. Christensen, who has 999 points, ranks among the Top 20 league leaders with 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Demetrius Draining Shots
Stony Brook's Demetrius Young, a junior foward, has hit an astounding 66 percent of his shots from the floor this season. The transfer from Yuba College in California has shot 72-of-110 from the field this season, the best output in the league.
Marvelous Marqus
Vermont's Marqus Blakely is at or near the top of several statistcal categories. The sophomore forward leads America East in points (19.0), rebounds (9.6) and blocks per game (2.7). He is also ranks third in field goal percentage (.551) and seventh in steals (1.65 pg).
Team-By-Team Notebook
Albany (11-12, America East 6-5) fell to Hartford, 68-63, in a battle for third place in the conference standings on Saturday, Feb. 9 ... The Hawks were the sixth opponent to shoot better than 50 percent this season, all UAlbany losses ... Hartford ended a string of eight consecutive losses in the series, dating back to Jan. 25, 2004 ... The Great Danes set up that showdown with an 80-59 win over New Hampshire on Wednesday, Feb. 6 ... Albany’s 21-point win margin was its largest in league play since Jan. 31, 2007 ... The Great Danes have not risen above the .500 mark since mid-December ... Brian Lillis (Urbandale, Iowa/West Des Moines Dowling) extended his double-figure scoring streak to 21 straight games with 17 points against Hartford ... Lillis, who also netted 19 against New Hampshire, was named to ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District I Team with a 3.23 GPA in business administration ... Brent Wilson (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) moved to No. 19 on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,109 points ... Wilson, who averaged 11.5 points off the bench last week, also climbed to third past Todd Cetnar (1996-00) in career three-point field goals made (216) ... Jon Iati (York, Pa./York Catholic) eclipsed Jamar Wilson’s career games played standard and has made 122 appearances in a UAlbany uniform ... Iati is 26th among the program’s career scorers with 1,047 points ... Josh Martin (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz) has made strides since being sidelined for five games with a knee injury and is averaging 9.0 points in the month of February ... Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y./Our Savior New American) had 12 of his 14 points in the first half vs. New Hampshire, his sixth time in twin figures this season ... UAlbany will travel to Canisius for a non-league contest on February 23 ... The game is a matchup of teams from the BracketBusters’ pool.
Binghamton (10-13, America East 6-5) slipped two spots in the standings with two losses during the week ... The Bearcats have now lost three in a row after winning the previous five ... In a five-point loss to Vermont, Binghamton cut a 19-point second-half deficit to two in the final minute but couldn't seize the win ... Three days later, they dug a 20-point second-half hole at league-leading UMBC before rallying to tie the game in the final two minutes. But the Bearcats missed their final five shots and had to settle for the season split with the Retrievers ... Junior forward Reggie Fuller (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower/Angelina College) produced his second double-double of the season with season-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds ... Fuller is averaging 11.0 ppg. and 9.0 rpg. during the team's current three-game slide ... Junior guard Dwayne Jackson (Akron, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) scored 19 points off the bench against Vermont and has bumped his scoring average up to 8.8 ppg ... Senior guard Mike Gordon (Plainfield, N.J./Plainfield) has started 95 consecutive games in his four-year career and leads the league in steals with 2.35 per game.
Boston University (7-14, America East 4-5) went 2-0 last week, with a 56-49 win at Maine and a 67-52 victory at New Hampshire... This marked just the second time this season Boston U has won back-to-back games and the first time the Terriers have claimed two consecutive road wins... Boston U started the game at Maine on a 16-5 run, creating turnovers and forcing Maine into five straight empty possessions as the Black Bears went scoreless for almost five minutes. The Terriers went into the half leading, and despite UM tying the game three times in the second half, Boston University stayed strong for the win... Sophomore forward Scott Brittain (Oakville, Ont./Iroquois Ridge) went 7-for-11 from the floor to score a career-high 20 points. Brittain also went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line and swatted two shots to earn America East Player of the Game honors. Freshman forward John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict’s) tallied 15 points and seven rebounds... In the win at UNH, sophomore guard Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass./Newton North) knocked down five 3-pointers to post a game-high 23 points in his first start since missing three games due to injury to earn America East Player of the Game honors. Brittain turned in his second double-double of the year with 15 points and 13 rebounds. He also had four assists... Despite a slow start to the second half, the Terriers' first-period lead never wavered, increasing to as many as 19 in the waning minutes of the contest. Boston U scored 18 points off 14 UNH turnovers and limited the Wildcats' Alvin Abreu to one field goal and six points, down from his average of 12.5 ppg. The Terriers out-rebounded UNH, 37-23, and held the Wildcats to just two offensive rebounds... Boston University has a bye week before hosting Stony Brook on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. in Case Gym.
Hartford (13-13, America East 7-4) extended its winning streak to three games and climbed back to .500 last week with wins over Maine and Albany ... The Hawks also grabbed sole possession of third place in the conference standings and are only a half game behind Vermont for second ... Hartford fought off Maine in the final minutes to pick up a 69-67 victory last Wednesday ... Freshman Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) hit the game-winning three-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to put the Hawks on top ... Sophomore Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) led all scorers with 20 points ... Hartford swept the regular season series against Maine for the second time in three years ... Zeglinski scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half against Albany on Saturday and hit 5-of-7 from three-point range ... The Hawks snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Great Danes and won at SEFCU Arena for the first time since the 2002-03 season ... Sabia finished with 10 points and made 3-of-4 free throws in the final 17 seconds to seal the win ... Hartford is 7-4 in the conference play for the first time since 2002-03 ... The Hawks finished third that season with a 10-6 mark and reached the semifinals of the America East Championship ... Hartford will next play at Stony Brook on Thursday, February 14 at 7 p.m. The Hawks won the first meeting between the two teams by an 83-81 final on January 24 ... Hartford wraps up the week at home against New Hampshire on Sunday, February 17 at 2 p.m ... The Wildcats handed the Hawks their worst conference loss of the season, 74-59, on January 27.
Maine’s (7-16, America East 3-7) Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine/Bangor) tied his career-high with 29 points against New Hampshire ... Socoby also had 10 rebounds against the Wildcats, giving him his fourth double-double of the season ... The 20 and 29-point efforts marked the third time this season that Socoby has had back-to-back 20-point efforts ... Kaimondre Owes (Brooklyn, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) went a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe against New Hampshire, the second time a Maine player has gone perfect in double-digit free throw attempts, the other being Socoby who went 10-for-10 against Quinnipiac on Nov. 20 ... Owes’ 20 points against UNH was his second 20-point effort of the year, with the other coming against Canisius in his Black Bear debut on New Year’s Eve ... Freshman Sean McNally (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner) also had a career-high effort with 13 points against Hartford ... The Black Bears had five freshmen play against New Hampshire, the first time they have done that in league play this season ... The game against the Wildcats was the second overtime game of the season for Maine and the Black Bears have made all nine of their free throw attempts in the two overtime periods ... Brian Andre (Bingham, Maine/Valley) had his 11th double-digit and at least five-rebound game against UNH ... Maine has now won three out of four games that were decided by three points or less.
With five straight wins, UMBC (17-7, America East 9-2) is in the midst of its longest winning streak since a six-gamer in the 2001-02 season ... The 17 wins is tied for the fourth-most in UMBC’s 22-year Division I history and also ties the best 24-game record with the 1998-99 team ... The Retrievers are now 15-2 in their last 17 home games ... Through 11 home games this season, UMBC is 10-1 and the average attendance of 2,442 is up over 27 percent from last year’s single season record average of 1,920 ... UMBC opened the week with a 75-63 win over a stubborn Stony Brook team ... The Retrievers recorded their first season sweep over the Seawolves after completing a sweep over Vermont ... Senior guard Ray Barbosa (Allentown, Pa./Allen/James Madison) led all scorers with 25 points... Barbosa hit seven three-point field goals, one shy of tying for a share of his own school record ... Junior guard Jay Greene (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) dished out 11 assists, his fifth game this season with 10 or more assists ... He has moved into second place on the school’s all-time list with 428 and needs 10 more assists to become UMBC’s single-season leader ... The Retrievers built a three-point halftime lead to double digits by hitting 15 of 21 shots from the floor in the final 20 minutes ... UMBC had outscored 13 of its last 15 opponents in the second halves, but visiting Binghamton erased all of a 20-point second half deficit and knotted the game at 59-all with 2:04 remaining ... UMBC senior forward Cavell Johnson (Fort Washington, Md./Notre Dame Prep/James Madison) put the Retrievers back on top with a put-back on the next possession, then rejected a Bearcat shot on the other end as the Retrievers prevailed, 63-59 ... Johnson led UMBC with 13 points and is 28 of 42 from the floor (66.7 percent) in the last four games, all in which he has come off the bench ... Junior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md./Paul IV/Coppin State) has scored in double figures in 23 of 24 games this season, 13 in a row and all 11 America East games ... UMBC has a week off before hosting Boston University in a televised (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) game on Sunday.
New Hampshire (7-16, America East 4-7) went 0-2 last week, losing on the road to Albany, 80-59, on Feb. 6, and dropping an overtime thriller at home on Saturday, Feb. 9 to Maine, 75-72 ... Junior guard Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass./Thayer Academy) did everything he could to help the ?Cats beat Albany, recording 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks ... Gibbs again led the Wildcats against Maine, knocking down five 3-pointers en route to scoring 20 points ... He also added five rebounds and two assists ... Freshman guard Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men) tallied 13 points and four assists in the losing effort at Albany, and then added 10 points and four rebounds against Maine ... Freshman guard Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) scored 17 points on a career-high four treys to go along with four rebounds at Albany ... Junior guard Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill./Lewis & Clark) tallied 16 points, four rebounds and five assists to garner America East Player of the Game honors against Maine ... Senior forward Mike Christensen (Reston, Va./Flint Hill) netted 11 points against Maine, bringing his career point total to 999 ... The captain also added three rebounds and four assists ... Freshman center Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) chipped in with six points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block against Maine ... The ?Cats return to action Thursday, Feb. 14 when they hit the road to take on Binghamton at 7 p.m.
Stony Brook (4-19, America East 1-10) concluded its three-game road trip with losses to UMBC and Boston University ... SBU dropped its first game of the week, a 75-63 decision to UMBC ... Senior Emanuel Neto tied a season-high with 14 points to go along with eight rebounds for the Seawolves, who shot 46.4 percent from the field in the contest ... The Seawolves scored six straight points to take a 16-14 lead midway through the first half ... Stony Brook trailed by just four with a little over eight minutes to go after three straight scores from Neto but UMBC’s Ray Barbosa once again had an answer, hitting a three from the corner on the ensuing possession out of the timeout and the Seawolves would get no closer than seven the rest of the way ... SBU fell in its final game of the week at Boston University, 64-60, despite 19 points from Ricky Lucas and a career-high 13 points from freshman Chris Martin. The Seawolves hit a season-high 10 three-pointers against the Terriers and Lucas has now scored in double-figures in seven straight games ... The Seawolves led by as many as nine in the first half but seven straight Terriers points to end the stanza gave the Terriers a one-point lead heading into the locker room ... The Seawolves trailed by as many as 10 in the second half but drew within two on a Young alley-oop lay-up off an in-bounds play but Corey Lowe answered with another three to make it 60-55 and the Seawolves did not threaten again.
Vermont (12-10, 7-3 America East) won its only contest of the week, defeating Binghamton 83-78 on the road on Wednesday in a battle of second place teams in the conference standings ... Junior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) led four Cats in double figures with a game-high 22 points to go with nine assists and seven rebounds ... Senior Kyle Cieplicki (Shelburne, Vt./Rice) added a season-high 20 points, while both sophomore Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) and senior Timothy McCrory (Pascagoula, Miss./Moss Point) added double-doubles. Blakely went for 14 and 10 for his fifth straight double-double, while McCrory earned the first of his career with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor ... It was the first time that Vermont had two players record double-doubles in the same game since the America East Championship quarterfinals last season against Hartford (Chris Holm/Colin McIntosh) ... McCrory becomes the first Cat this season other than Blakely to have a double-double ... Vermont is 10-2 over the last 12 games when four players score in double figures ... Mike Trimboli moved into ninth place all-time in scoring at Vermont (1,352 points) and fifth in career assists (438) with his 22 and nine performance ... The Cats have a busy week ahead with three games on tap starting by hosting Albany on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ... Vermont then hosts Boston U. on Thursday (8 p.m.) before wrapping up the week with a road trip to Stony Brook on Sunday (2 p.m.).