CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Boston University's John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict's Prep) put up one of the most dominant halves of the season to help earn his second straight Player of the Week honor, while .Stony Brook University's Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) continued his solid play to pick up his third Rookie of the Week honor of the season. The awards for the week ending January 18 were announced on Monday, Jan. 19., Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
A sophomore forward, Holland scored 19 of his season-high 28 points in Boston University's 81-64 win at Binghamton Saturday. He drained five consecutive 3-pointers to start the second half to help the Terriers, losers in six of seven coming in, stretch their advantage from 4 at the half to 24 with 7:15 to go. He also contributed 19 points, six rebounds and four steals against Vermont on Wednesday. For the week, Holland averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and shot 51 percent from the floor.
A 6-foot-5, 190 pound combo guard, Holland ranks fourth in America East with 16.8 points per game and third with 1.9 steals per game. The 2008 Rookie of the Year, Holland leads the league with 24.3 points per game in conference play.
Dougher averaged 12.5 points and converted 5-of-10 three-point tries in a pair of games to garner top rookie accolades. A freshman point guard, Dougher scored 13 points in a win at Dartmouth Monday, SBU's sixth road win of the season, which is the program's most since the 1991-92 season. Against the Big Green, he made 3-of-5 three-point attempts and added three assists and a steal in 37 minutes. Dougher followed that performance with 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals in a loss at home to Vermont Saturday.
He leads all America East rookies with 11.8 points per game and is fifth among all players averaging almost 35 minutes per game.
Weekly Conference Notebook
The Best of the Rest
Will Harris had a solid week with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Albany's win over Binghamton Wednesday and added a game-high 20 points and eight boards in a loss at Maine Sunday... Hartford's Jaret von Rosenberg poured in 26 points and handed out eight assistsagainst Maine Wednesday... Malachi Peay contributed a career-best 17 points in a loss at Hartford Wednesday... Sean McNally posted a double-double of 10 points and 13 boards to help Maine snap a nine-game home court losing streak vs league opponents Saturday vs Albany... Jay Greene recorded his 600th career assist at UNH Wednesday and led his squad to a 69-60 win at home against Hartford Saturday with 17 points... Tyrece Gibbs tied his career high with 22 points and canned five 3-pointers in UNH's win over UMBC Wednesday... Darryl Proctor tallied a monster game 14 points and 14 boards in the win over Hartford... Marqus Blakely had 15 and 19 points, respectively in two games last week, including the 1,000th of his career... Colin McIntosh scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half to lead Vermont to a 70-56 victory over Boston U. on Wednesday.
No Place Like Home
Home teams have posted 12 wins in 19 conference games to date, good for a .632 winning percentage. That clip is up from the .527 win rate the nine teams accumulated last season and the highest since the league went a combined 58-32 (.644) in league playing during the 2004-05 season. As a whole, America East teams are 40-35 (.615) at home this season.
? Albany hasn't lost at SEFCU Arena (7-0) since Feb. 20, 2008
? Binghamton is 39-29 all-time at Events Center vs AE foes
? Boston U. is 15-5 over last 3 seasons at Case Gym
? Hartford is 7-3 in its last 10 games at Chase Arena
? Maine earned its first AE win at home in 10 games Saturday
? UNH has won 3 straight and 4-of-5 at Lundholm Gymnasium
? UMBC is 9-1 in its last 10 games against AE foes at RAC Arena
? Stony Brook is averaging over 300 more fans than last season
? Vermont is 13-5 over the last 3 years vs AE opponents at Patrick Gym
Joining the 1,000 Point Ranks
Vermont junior Marqus Blakely surpassed the 1,000 point milestone for his career in his team's win over Stony Brook. Blakely, who needed 19 points to reach the mark, finished the game with 20. After scoring just 187 points in 32 games as a freshman (5.8 ppg), Blakely has put up 814 points over his last 46 contests (17.9 ppg) per game over his last Blakely, the 2008 Player and Defensive Player of the Year, is the 28th player in America East and fourth this season to reach the milestone.
America East Active Scoring Leaders
Mike Trimboli (Vermont) 1,761
Darryl Proctor (UMBC) 1,604*
Joe Zeglinski (Hartford) 1,099
Tyrece Gibbs (UNH) 1,092
Corey Lowe (Boston U.) 1,089
Marqus Blakely (Vermont) 1,001
Jay Greene (UMBC) 981
Mark Socoby (Maine) 874
*803 points at UMBC, 801 at Coppin State
Ascending up the Scoring List
Vermont senior Mike Trimboli moved into 17th place of the league's all-time scoring list against Boston University Wednesday, surpassing fellow Catamount Tony Orciari, who scored 1,743 points in Burlington from 1997-2001. Trimboli, who has 1,761 points after gathering 15 more at Stony Brook Saturday, trails Colgate great Mike Ferrara '81 for 16th all-time.
America East All-Time Scoring Leaders
14. Joe Linderman (Drexel '01) 1,816
15. Justin Bailey (Hartford '99) 1,786
16. Mike Ferrara (Colgate '81) 1,763
17. Mike Trimboli (Vermont) 1,761
18. Tony Orciari (Vermont '01) 1,743
RPI Report
America East is slotted 17th out of 31 conferences in the latest RPI, which was released by Collegiate Basketball News on Monday. The ranking is an 10-spot improvement from last season, when the league finished 27th and just four spots lower than the league's best-ever ranking of 13, which came in 1997. Albany (108), on the heels of two straight wins, is the top-ranked team, Vermont (139) and Binghamton (171).
Non-Conference Highlights
America East teams have compiled an impressive resume in non-conference play this season. The nine conference members are...
? Teams have combined for 57 wins in 114 non-league games (.500) after winning just 43 in 117 contests last season (.367)
? 51-33 (.607) in games against non-BCS conference (including Atlantic 10) schools
? Seven wins over teams from the Top 13 conferences in the nation according to Collegiet Basketball News.
BIG EAST - Binghamton 66, at Rutgers 56 (12/6/08)
BIG XII - UMBC 66, at Nebraska 64 (12/23/08)
Vermont 84, Colorado 59 (12/30/08)
MOUNTAIN WEST - Stony Brook 67, at Air Force 64 (12/31/08)
ATLANTIC 10 - Vermont 83, George Washington 72 (12/28/08)
WCC - at New Hampshire 58, Santa Clara 54 (1/4/09)
Injury Report
There was some bad news on the injury front for two teams last week. Hartford's Joe Zeglinski was pronounced out for the season with an ankle injury he suffered on Dec. 9 against Brown. A first-team all-conference selection a year ago, Zeglinski was leading the Hawks with 15.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game at the time of his injury. Boston University lost of pair of regular guards for the season. Tyler Morris and Carlos Strong will both miss the remainder of the year with knee injuries.
Team-By-Team Weekly Notebook
Albany (11-7, 3-2 America East) moved into a tie for first place in the conference standings with a 72-66 victory over Binghamton on Jan. 14... The Great Danes then failed to take over sole possession of the top spot in a 72-61 loss at Maine on Jan .17... Despite the loss, UAlbany is tied for second and has equaled its best 18-game record (11-7) as a Division I program... Anthony Raffa (Strathmere, N.J. / Wildwood Catholic) and Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y. / Our Savior New American) became the 15th UAlbany duo at the Division I level to score 20 or more points in the same game against Binghamton... Raffa had 18 of his 21 points in the second half ... Ambrose has rebounded from a two-week scoring drought by averaging 16.5 points over his last four starts... The 6-foot sophomore scored 20-plus for the fourth time in his career with 20 points vs. Binghamton... Will Harris (Corona, N.Y. / Brewster Academy) is averaging 17.8 points and 9.4 rebounds against league opposition... Harris recorded his third double-double in the month of January with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Binghamton... The Virginia transfer added 20 points and eight boards at Maine... Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J. / Camden Catholic) had 11 of his 13 points in the second half vs. Maine, plus registered season-highs in rebounds (9) and minutes (40)... UAlbany had its three-game win streak halted in losing at Maine for the first time since 2004... The Great Danes matched the sub-zero temperatures outside by shooting 29.2 percent in the first half and never recovered... UAlbany has shot less than 40 percent from the field against 10 opponents this season... Scotty McRae (Rosedale, N.Y. / Benjamin Cardozo) had nine points and tied a career-best with eight rebounds against Binghamton, his highest scoring total since Dec. 13th... The Great Danes have won seven in a row at SEFCU Arena and have a 130-70 all-time record in the facility.
Binghamton (10-7, 3-2 America East) dropped two games during the week and the team is immersed in a three-game losing skid. Fifteen missed free throws led to a six-point loss at Albany and then the Bearcats surrendered 81 points in a flat home defeat to Boston University... At Albany, Binghamton missed 15 of their first 17 shots, hit just 36% for the game and at one point in the second half, missed 11 consecutive free throws. Even still, the team was within three in the closing minute... Senior guard Dwayne Jackson (Akron, O hio/Walsh Jesuit) nailed 4-of-7 three-pointers for 14 points in 23 minutes of work... Junior guard D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti HS/St. Joseph’s Univ.), the leading scorer in the America East, tallied 16 points. Rivera ranks 19th in the nation with a 20.4 average... Senior forward Reggie Fuller (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower/Angelina College) tied his career-high with 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards... Against Boston, Jackson led the team with 13 points... Sophomore forward Moussa Camara (Paris, France/The Rock School/Stoneridge) drained 3-of-5 three-pointers en route to a season-high 13 points.
Boston University (7-9, 2-2 America East) split two league games last week, defeating Binghamton, 81-64, on Saturday after falling to Vermont, 70-56, on Wednesday ... Sophomore John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict’s Prep), last week’s AE player of the week, was the leading scorer in both contests, scoring 19 against the Catamounts and then adding a season-high 28 against the Bearcats ... Terriers led for most of the first half and part of the second stanza against the Catamounts, including a 46-45 lead with 11:32 to go before Vermont finished the game on a 25-10 run ... Terriers still lead the all-time series, 51-38 ... At Binghamton, the Terriers led at the half, 39-35, and used a 23-6 run that included a career-high five 3-pointers from Holland to push the lead to 24 points before winning the game by 17 ... Terriers now lead the series, 12-4 ... They outrebounded the Bearcats, 40-26, their largest positive margin since outrebounding Hartford, 47-26, last season ... The team held the America East’s No. 1 scorer, D.J. Rivera, to a season-low 11 points ... Freshman Jake O’Brien (Weymouth, Mass./Boston College H.S.) had a career-high nine rebounds, while classmate Jake Pelage (Pompano Beach, Fla./Pine Crest School) tied a career-high in points with nine ... Terriers have three games this week as they host Stony Brook on Monday (Jan. 19) and UMBC on Thursday (Jan. 22) before traveling to Maine on Sunday (Jan. 25) for a 1 p.m. matchup.
Hartford (6-12, 2-2 America East) split a pair of conference games last week. The Hawks improved to 4-2 at home with a 76-71 victory over Maine to start the week. Hartford then dropped a 69-60 decision at UMBC over the weekend in a rematch of last year's title game... Senior Jaret von Rosenberg (Mission, Texas/Sharyland/Collin County) scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Hawks to victory over Maine. It was his second straight game of scoring over 20 points and the ninth of his career. His scoring fell off at UMBC (five points) but he made up for it with a career-high 11 rebounds and a game-high six assists... Sophomore Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) led the Hawks in scoring for the week at 18.5 points per game. He scored a season-high 19 points against Maine and followed that effort with a game-high 18 points at UMBC. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds for the week... Senior Michael Turner (Novato, Calif./Marin Catholic/West Valley) also notched a career-high 11 rebounds at UMBC. He now has 432 boards over his three-year career and needs 68 more to become the 16th player in school history to record 500 points and 500 rebounds. The last players to join the 500/500 club were Josh Odugbela and Pierre Johnson in the 2002-03 season... In the eight games since junior Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) sustained a season-ending ankle injury, von Rosenberg has played 316 of a possible 320 minutes. He has averaged 15.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest during the span... Hartford will play three games this week, beginning at Binghamton on Monday, January 19. The Hawks then host Vermont (NESN) on Thursday, January 22 before wrapping up the week at Stony Brook on Sunday, January 25.
Maine (7-11, 2-3 America East) fell at Hartford 76-71 and defeated Albany at home by the score of 72-61...At Hartford, Maine fell behind early, but battled back to eventually take a lead in the second half, but the Hawks were able to regain the lead and make free throws down the stretch...Maine was led by Sean McNally (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner) who had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds...Malachi Peay (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had his third straight game scoring in double digits with 17 points and four rebounds...Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine) tossed in 12 points and seven rebounds and Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch/Worcester Academy) put in 13 points...Andrew Rogers (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) dished out four assists...Against league=leading Albany on Saturday, the Black Bears went on a 15-to-3 run to close out the half en route to a 32-20 halftime lead that gave the Black Bears a lead they would not relinquish...Kaimondre Owes (Brooklyn, N.Y./Saint Peter’s) had a season-high 20 points to lead Maine to the victory...McNally had 14 points, six rebounds and a career-high four blocks...Peay had his fourth consecutive game scoring in double-figures with 11 points and five rebounds...Socoby added 10 points and six rebounds...Peay has scored in double-figures in four out of six games since coming back from an injury...McNally’s four blocks were the most a Maine player has had this season...McNally has had seven games where he has scored in double figures and grabbed at least five rebounds...The Black Bears return to action on Monday when they host New Hampshire at 7 p.m. and finish up a three-game homestand against Boston University on Sunday at 1 p.m.
UMBC (8-8, 2-2 America East) hit a season-high seven 3-pt. field goals and scored the most points since a 76-point effort vs. Quinnipiac (Nov. 21) in Saturday’s 69-60 win over Hartford at the RAC Arena...Five of the six Retrievers that played scored in double figures, a feat which also occurred for the first time since the Nov. 22 win over the Bobcats... Senior guard Jay Greene (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) led UMBC with 17 points and needs 19 more to become the 15th player in school history to amass 1,000 in a career... Greene hit a season-high five 3-pt. field goals vs. Hawks, the most in a game for a Retriever since Ray Barbosa made seven at Maine on Feb. 28, 2008... He became the first player in school history to hit the 100-assist mark in all four seasons of competition at UMBC... Senior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md.) surpassed the 1,600-point plateau on Jan. 17 vs. Hartford, becoming the fifth player to don a UMBC uniform that has hit the milestone...His double-double (14 pts./14 rebs.) against Hartford on Jan. 17 was his 20th (49 games) as a Retriever and the 36th of his career... He has seven double-doubles this season and has done it six times in his last ten outings... The 14 rebounds was a new season high... Junior wing Matt Spadafora (Richboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood) tied a season high with 15 points vs. Hartford and also tied career highs with seven rebounds and five assists in the game...He became the first Retriever other than Jay Greene to lead UMBC in assists in a game this season...UMBC improved to 6-1 vs. Hartford at the RAC Arena, its most wins vs. any America East team... With only six turnovers vs. the Hawks, UMBC is averaging only 8.3 give-aways per game in four league contests... The 47 points scored in Wednesday’s 65-47 setback at UNH is the fewest by UMBC since a 56-39 loss to Stony Brook on Feb. 3, 2007...UMBC will experience a three-game road swing for just the third time in six America East seasons (Jan. 19-25) and it will mark the first time UMBC has stayed up north for the entire week.
New Hampshire (7-8, 2-2 America East) went 2-0 last week with a win at home against the defending America East champion UMBC (65-47) and a victory on the road at Dartmouth (68-59) to close out non-conference play ... UNH, which has the second best scoring defense in the conference, has won four of its past five games and has not allowed more than 59 points in any of those four wins ... senior guard Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass./Thayer Academy) matched his career high with 22 points on 7 of 15 shooting and a perfect 5 of 5 from the line against UMBC and added six rebounds and a pair of assists in 38 minutes ... Gibbs then netted 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting at Dartmouth to go along with two boards and a block ... sophomore guard Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) added 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting, five rebounds and an assist against UMBC and led the ?Cats at Dartmouth with 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting, including a career-high five 3-pointers ... sophomore guard Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men Academy) tallied 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals at Dartmouth ... Abreu also chipped in with seven points, four boards, three assists and a steal against UMBC ... sophomore center Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Worcester Academy) recorded seven points and ripped down 13 rebounds ? the second most in his career ? at Dartmouth and chipped in with four points and six rebounds against UMBC ... junior forward Radar Onguetou (Yaounde, Cameroon/New Hampton School) added eight points and four boards at Dartmouth, while freshman guard Russell Graham (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) chipped in with seven points ? including 5 of 6 from the line in the final 2:13 to help seal the win ? three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Stony Brook (9-8, 1-3 America East) went 1-1 on the week, winning at Dartmouth on Tuesday night before falling to the University of Vermont at a sold out Pritchard Gymnasium ... Tuesday’s 64-54 victory over Dartmouth gave the Seawolves its most road victories, six, since the 1991-92 season ... SBU held Dartmouth to 32 percent shooting in the second half ... the Seawolves are 7-1 when holding its opponents to 60 points or fewer ... Stony Brook shot 55.6 percent from the field in Saturday’s 83-72 loss to Vermont, its second highest mark of the season ... Saturday marked the first time in eight games this season that the Seawolves have lost when shooting a higher field goal percentage than their opponents ... sophomore Chris Martin scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half against Vermont, leading four Seawolves in double-figures ... it is the fifth time this season Martin has scored in double-figures ,,, freshman Dallis Joyner tied a season-high with 14 points against UVM, going 7-for-10 from the field ... freshman Tommy Brenton recorded 11 rebounds against Vermont, his fourth straight game with double-digit rebounds ... junior Muhammad El-Amin scored 15 points against the Catamounts after scoring 20 against Dartmouth ... El-Amin has scored 20 or more points five times this season and has now reached double-figures in seven straight game ... the Seawolves made 20 free throws against Vermont, its second highest total of the season ... despite the loss to Vermont on Saturday, the Seawolves have still matched the 2000-01 Stony Brook squad for the programs best start since joining Division I in 1999.
Vermont (11-6, 2-2 America East) went 2-0 on the week as the Cats earned a pair of road victories over Boston University and Stony Brook ... On Wednesday senior Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon) led four Catamounts in double figures with 17 points, 15 of which came in the second half ... The Cats used a decisive second half when they outscored the Terriers 42-24 to come from behind and earn the win ... Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) came off the bench for the first time since his freshman season to score 15 ... Senior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) moved into fourth place in school history in career points as he passed Tony Orciari ’01 and now has 1,761 for his career ... On Saturday Blakely led the Cats with 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting and topped 1,000 points for his career as Vermont defeated Stony Brook 82-73 ... Blakely became the 28th Catamount in the history of the program to surpass the 1,000-point plateau ... Five Cats reached double figures in the game ... Sophomore Joey Accaoui (Lincoln, R.I./St. Andrews) recorded a career-high 15 points off the bench, while junior Maurice Joseph (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain St. Lambert) went 4-for-5 from three for 12 points ... Vermont returns to action with three games this week, starting on Monday when the Cats host UMBC on Comcast Sports Net New England ... The Catamounts will also travel to play at Hartford on NESN on Thursday and host New Hampshire on Sunday.