CAMBRIDGE, Mass - Stony Brook's Muhammad El-Amin (Lansing, Mich./Holt/Lansing CC) and University of New Hampshire's Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass/Boys to Men Academy) split this week's America East Player of the Week award after both proved vital to their teams' victories. Additionally, Stony Brook's Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch-Plains Fanwood)has earned his first America East Player of the Week honor by leading his team to a pair of road wins last week and the program's best start in 15 seasons.
A transfer from Lansing Community College, El-Amin poured in 20 points and tied a season high with six rebounds in the Seawolves' 67-64 win at Air Force, a member of the highly competitive Mountain West Conference, on Tuesday. On Saturday, El-Amin had 19 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:40 to go to lead SBU to a 69-61 win at UMBC, who hadn't lost in eight previous home contests against conference foes.
El-Amin, a junior guard, has averaged 22 points and is shooting 56 percent from the floor during his team's current win streak. He also ranks ninth in the league and lead and leads his team with 13.2 points per game this season.
Abreu shared the honor as took it upon himself to help his team snap out of a four-game losing skid. A sophomore guard, Abreu tallied a career-high 28 points in the Wildcats' 58-54 victory over West Coast Conference-power Santa Clara on Sunday. Abreu was perfect from 3-point land, setting a school record for most 3's in a game without a miss by going 7-for-7 from deep. Overall, Abreu shot 8-of-14 from the floor and made 5-of-6 free throw attempts.
Abreu, an America East all-rookie selection a year ago, is tied for seventh in the league and leads UNH with 13.3 points per game.
Dougher has garnered America East Rookie of the Week recognition for the second time this season after averaging 20.5 points last week.A freshman guard, Dougher paced Stony Brook to two road wins and the program's best start in 15 years with 15 of his 22 points in the second half on way to a win at Air Force and 19 to lead the Seawolves to victory at defending champion UMBC on Saturday. For the week, Dougher nailed 9-of-15 three-pointers and committed just two turnovers while handling the balls for most of his 74 minutes on the court.
Dougher, who ranks second on Stony Brook with 12.3 points per game, also received Rookie of the Week honors on
Weekly Conference Notebook
The Rest of the Best
Albany's Will Harris recorded his first double-double in a Great Dane uniform with 17 points and 10 rebounds in a loss at Hartford on Sunday... Binghamton's D.J. Rivera continued his torrid stretch with 22 points in a win over Marist on Tuesday and 24 in a victory over Maine on Saturday... Bearcat Reggie Fuller had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, which tied a school record, against the Red Foxes Tuesday... Morgan Sabia tallied 14 of his 16 points in the second half to lead Hartford a 64-54 win over Albany on Saturday... UMBC's Darryl Proctor had two monster games last week scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds at Saint Louis Wednesday and scoring 29 points against Stony Brook Saturday... Vermont's Mike Trimboli continued his strong play with 24 points against Big XII foe Colorado at University of Hawaii's Rainbow Classic on Tuesday.
What a Difference a Year Makes
America East is slotted 16th out of 31 conferences in the latest RPI, which was released by Collegiate Basketball News on Monday. The ranking is an 11-spot improvement from last season, when the league finished 27th and just three spots lower than the league's best-ever ranking of 13, which came in 1997. Vermont (106) is the top-ranked team, followed by Albany (111) and Binghamton (118).
Non-Conference Roundup
America East teams have compiled an impressive resume in non-conference play this season. The nine conference members are...
? Teams have combined for 55 wins in 110 non-league games (.500) after winning just 43 in 117 contests last season (.367)
? 51-31 (.622) 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)
SUNY Style
Entering America East play all three New York schools - Albany, Binghamton and Stony Brook - have either matched or exceeded the best starts in their school's Division I history. Albany, now 8-6, entered league play at 8-5, a record only matched by the 2006-07 Great Danes, which won their second-straight America East Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Binghamton has won four staight and seven of nine to improve to 8-4, its best start as a Division I program. The Bearcats, who boast wins over Rutgers and Tulane, have one remaining non-conference game at Utah Valley State on January 10. Stony Brook has won three straight and seven of nine, including a 67-64 win at Air Force on New Year's Eve, and is 8-4, the best start in the Seawolves' Division I history. Stony Brook added a win over UMBC in their conference opener Saturday, the Seawolves' first win in a league opener since joining America East prior to the 2001-02 season.
Vermont on Top
Heading into league play, Vermont stands atop the league standings at 9-4. The Catamounts, who have won 8 of their last 10, went 2-1 at the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii with wins over George Washing and Colorado and a loss to Colorado State.
League Play Underway
America East Conference play began on Saturday with the first three games of the 2008-09 season
? Defending champion UMBC fell at home to Stony Brook 69-61, which snapped the Retrievers' eight-game home win streak against league foes. Muhammad El-Amin and Bryan Dougher each had 19 points for the Seawolves, while Darryl Proctor poured in 29 for UMBC
? Hartford, which stood at just 4-9 entering league play and was without leading scorer Joe Zeglinski for the fourth straight game, upended Albany 64-54. Morgan Sabia had 14 of his 16 in th second half for the Hawks, while Will Harris had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Albany
? Binghamton won its fourth straight overall and its first league opener since the 2002-03 season with a 70-62 victory at Maine. Reggie Fuller, the leading scorer in America East (21.4 ppg) scored 24 points for the Bearcats, while Gerald McLemore scored 16 for Maine.
in the ranks
America East teams have faced seven ranked opponents to date this season, including four of the top five teams in the country.
Weekly Team Notebooks
Albany (8-6, America East 0-1) fell in its conference opener for the second consecutive year in a 64-54 defeat at Hartford on Jan. 3... The Great Danes once again struggled mightily from the field, shooting less than 40 percent for the seventh time in their last eight contests... UAlbany has matched its best 14-game record at the Division I level, as the program was also 8-6 in 2005, 2006 and 2007... UAlbany had its three-game win streak halted at Kansas on Dec. 30... The Great Danes met a defending national champion for the first time and played before the sixth-largest crowd (16,300) in the program’s history... UAlbany finished with its best non-league record (8-5) as a Division I program... Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J. / Camden Catholic) was listed as questionable with a left foot sprain against Hartford, but the senior forward tallied a season-best 14 points and tied season-highs in rebounds (7) and minutes played (37)... Connelly, who takes daily insulin shots to control diabetes, scored in twin figures for the eighth time this winter... Will Harris (Corona, N.Y. / Brewster Academy) recorded the first double-double by a UAlbany player since Brian Lillis accomplished the feat on Feb. 2, 2008... Harris totaled 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the conference opener with Hartford... The Virginia transfer has scored in double digits on nine occasions this season... Billy Allen (Hamilton, Ohio / Hamilton) played a career-best 27 minutes off the bench at Hartford... Allen, a redshirt freshman who missed all of last season following back surgery, had three points, five rebounds and a career-high three steals... freshman Anthony Raffa (Strathmere, N.J. / Wildwood Catholic) was the lone UA player in double figures at Kansas with 11 points... The Great Danes shot 30% from the floor, their lowest percentage since Feb. 9, 2005... Head coach Will Brown seeks his 100th career win against Boston University on Jan. 8 at SEFCU Arena... The Great Danes will play their first home game since Dec. 13.
Binghamton (8-4, America East 1-0) has won four in a row and seven of its last nine. It is the program’s best start in 15 years. It is also the first time the team has been four games over .500 since the end of the 2005-06 season... Last week the Bearcats held on for a two-point win over MAAC foe Marist and then opened conference play with an eight-point victory at Maine. The win over the Black Bears gave Binghamton its first win in an AE opener since the 2002-03 season. The Bearcats had dropped five straight conference openers. Binghamton has now won nine of the last 10 meetings with Maine... Senior forward Reggie Fuller (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower/Angelina College) averaged a double-double in the pair of wins (13.0 ppg., 11.0 rpg.). Fuller was spectacular on the second half against Marist, collecting nine rebounds, seven points, three blocks and two steals in 20 minutes. Despite feeling the ill affects of the flu, Fuller came off the bench to earn America East Player of the Game honors. He recorded two steals in the final 17 seconds to clinch the win... Junior guard D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti HS/St. Joseph’s Univ.), the leading scorer in the America East, continued his stellar play by averaging 23.0 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two games. He has scored 20 or more points in a school-record seven straight games and in 10 of his first 12 games at Binghamton... Junior guard Malik Alvin (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz HS/Chipola College) averaged 10.5 points and converted 11-of-13 free throws to help seal the two victories. Alvin leads the team with a 79% FT average...Senior guard Dwayne Jackson (Akron, O hio/Walsh Jesuit) netted all 12 of his points in the first half against Maine... Junior guard Emanuel Mayben (Troy, N.Y./Troy/Hudson Valley CC) averaged 10.0 points and 5.5 assists for the week.
Boston University (5-7, America East 0-0) fell against both Cornell and Holy Cross last week as it begins its conference slate on Thursday at Albany ... In both games, the Terriers did not once have the lead as the losing streak extended to four games ... Once averaging as many as 10 3-pointers a game, in the past three contests, the team has only hit 14-of-67 attempts from beyond the arc, averaging 20.8 percent in the process ... The Terriers have one non-conference game remaining, to be held on Saturday, Feb. 21 as part of the ESPNU Bracketbusters pool ... Best performances of the week belonged to freshmen Jake O’Brien (Weymouth, Mass./Boston College H.S. and Jeff Pelage (Pompano Beach, Fla./Pine Crest School) ... Pelage had a career-high nine points and a team-high five rebounds against Holy Cross after posting a career-high eight boards along with eight points against Cornell ... O’Brien led the Terriers with 16 points against Holy Cross ...Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass./Newton North) currently has 1,047 points and is averaging 17.6 points to lead the Terriers ... He managed four points against Holy Cross, keeping alive his streak of having scored at least three points in every game he’s appeared in ... Following the trip to Albany in a game that will be broadcast by Time Warner New York, the Terriers return to Case Gym to host New Hampshire on Sunday (Jan. 11).
Hartford (5-9, America East 1-0) split games with Stanford and Albany last week. The Hawks hung tough against the Cardinal but fell 69-54 but rebounded in their conference opener to down the Great Danes 64-54... Sophomore Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) led the Hawks in scoring and rebounding for the week. He scored a team-high 16 points?including 14 in the second half? and added six rebounds in the conference opening win over Albany . He made two late three-pointers in the contest that helped the Hawks pull away from the Great Danes. Sabia also netted his 500th career point in the Albany game... Freshman Genesis Maciel (Los Angeles, Calif./Compton Centennial/Worcester Academy) also had a strong week for the Hawks. After scoring 11 points at Stanford, he supplied eight points and three rebounds against Albany; all eight of his points came in the first half to keep the Hawks in the game... The Hawks continued to play without leading scorer Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), who is sidelined with an ankle injury. He is averaging 15.3 points per game on the season. The Hawks are 2-2 since Zeglinski went down with the injury... Hartford will play a pair of road games this week, beginning at New Hampshire on Wednesday, January 7 at 7 p.m. The Hawks wrap up the week with a non-conference tilt at Yale on Saturday, January 10 at 2 p.m.
Maine (5-9, America East 0-1) fell to Canisius by the score of 56-43 before falling to Binghamton in both teams’ America East opener by the score of 70-62...Againt Canisius, Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine/Bangor) led the Black Bears with 14 points and seven rebounds...Sophomore forward Troy Barnies (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) had a solid game game with eight points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal...Sean McNally (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner) had nine points and four rebounds...Maine held Canisius to 20 percent shooting from behind the arc...Against Binghamton, Maine had a 36-33 edge in rebounding, and held a 31-16 edge in points in the paint, but could not quite catch the Bearcats...Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif.) had 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting from behind the arc and sank 4-of-5 free throws...McNally had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists...Junior Bernal (Manhattan, N.Y./Hyde/MCI) had 14 points, nine rebounds, four assist and a block...Socoby had nine points, five rebounds and four assists...Maine had Malachi Peay (Brooklyn, N.Y./Campus Magnet) back for an entire game after he missed seven games and was injured again in the Canisius game and thus saw limited action against the Griffins...Socoby is 176 points shy of becoming the 27th player in program history to notch 1,000 career points...Socoby is also two rebounds shy of notching 300 for his career...Maine continues play on Thursday at Stony Brook at 7 p.m. before going to UMBC on Saturday for another 7 p.m. game.
UMBC (6-7, America East 0-1) senior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md./Paul IV/Coppin State) was a bright spot in a disappointing week for UMBC, as the Retrievers dropped decisions at Saint Louis (81-60) and the America East opener at home vs. Stony Brook (69-61)... For the first time in his career, Proctor scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games, posting his best-ever UMBC total of 29 against the Billikens and going for a game-high 26 points vs. Stony Brook... Proctor added 10 rebounds vs. the Seawolves for his fifth double-double in his last seven games... He hit all 15 free attempts in two games and has made 16 straight overall... In addition, Proctor’s streak of 21 consecutive games in double figures is UMBC Division I record... The Retrievers hit less than 40 percent from the field in both contests this week... In each of the team’s last five losses since Dec. 3, UMBC has trailed by double figures in the first half... UMBC did not hit a three-point field goal vs. Saint Louis, failing to do so for the first time in 162 games, dating back to Jan. 27 of 2003 in a 69-66 win at St. Francis (N.Y.)... The Billikens attempted 40 free throws in that game, the most for a UMBC opponent since st. Francis (N.Y.) attempted 50 on Jan. 6, 2001...The Retrievers went 87:32 of playing time without a three-point field goal until senior guard Jay Greene (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) made UMBC’s lone trifecta of the night vs. Stony Brook in the early moments of the second half... Greene had a streak of 14 games with a three-point field goal which ended at Saint Louis... UMBC hit 14 of 15 free throws vs. the Seawolves, committed only six turnovers and won the battle of the boards, 36-30, but made three less field goals despite 18 more attempts... UMBC fell behind by as many as 14 points midway through the first half and tied the game twice down the stretch, but back-to-back three-pointers with single digits on the shot clock in the final four minutes led to the home loss... The Retrievers are 2-4 in America East home openers... Greene has moved into third place in school history with 3,462 minutes played and needs 38 more assists to enter the America East all-time top five... UMBC does not play again until Saturday when they entertain Maine.
New Hampshire (4-7, America East 0-0) went 1-0 last week, knocking off West Coast Conference-power Santa Clara at home, 58-54, Jan. 4 ... the win is the Wildcats’ first ever against a WCC team in three tries, previously falling to St. Mary’s (Dec. 22, 1988) and Gonzaga (Dec. 27, 1993) ... sophomore guard Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men Academy) propelled UNH to victory with a career-high 28 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 from the stripe ... Abreu knocked down a career-high seven shots from behind the arc, a place he was perfect from on the day en route to setting a school record for most 3-pointers made in a game without a miss ... after trailing 23-22 at the half, the Wildcats came out of the locker room on a 13-4 run, highlighted by a trio of 3-pointers from Abreu, that pushed UNH’s lead ? its largest of the game ? to 35-27 with 16:29 remaining ... senior guard Tyrece Gibbs, (Brockton, Mass./Thayer Academy) who passed Blagoj Janev for third place on UNH’s all-time 3-point field goals list (173) with his lone trey of the game, finished with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists, including a jumper in the paint with 1:06 to go that gave UNH a three-point lead ... sophomore center Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Worcester Academy), who chipped in with five points and seven rebounds, had a beautiful put-back off a missed jumper that put UNH in the driver’s seat with a four-point advantage with just 16 seconds on the clock ... DiLiegro’s post defense also helped shut down SCU’s John Bryant, who came into the game averaging 18.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game ... Bryant, who has recorded 10 double-doubles this season, including a pair of 20-20 games, posted his lowest point total of the year, finishing with just seven points and eight rebounds.
Stony Brook (8-5, America East 1-0) opened the week with a 67-64 victory at Air Force on Wednesday ... SBU then won at defending conference champion UMBC, 69-61, on Saturday night ... SBU has won three straight and seven of its last nine ... Saturday’s victory over UMBC was its eighth of the season after winning just seven all of last year ... Stony Brook is now 5-2 on the road after winning just two a season ago ... Off to their best start since joining Division I, SBU is three games over .500 for the first time since the 2000-01 season ... the victory over UMBC was the Seawolves first win in a conference opener since joining the America East in the 2001-02 season ... Freshman Bryan Dougher scored 22 points, including 15 in the second half, against Air Force ... He then came back to score 19 at UMBC ... Dougher went 7-for-9 from the field against UMBC, including 5-for-6 from three ... Dougher has hit a three-pointer in the every Seawolves game and has scored in double-figures in nine straight games ... Junior Muhammad El-Amin scored 20 points in the victory over Air Force ... He then came back to score 19, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 3:40 remaining, in the win over UMBC ... El-Amin has scored 66 points on 55.6 percent (25-for-45) shooting over the past three games ... the Seawolves set season-highs in field goal percentage (56.5 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (61.5 percent) against UMBC.
Vermont (9-4, 0-0 America East) went 3-1 on the week and earned a third place finish in the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii ... The Cats dropped an 82-76 decision to Colorado State in the semifinals on Monday, but bounced back to knock off Colorado 84-59 on Tuesday in the third place game ... Vermont then made the long trip home and topped visiting NJIT 73-47 on Saturday ... Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon) was the high scorer for the Cats against CSU with 22 points, while junior Nick Vier (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Bergen Catholic) added 18 ... Against Colorado senior Mike Trimboli (Norwalk, Conn./St. Luke’s) had one of the best games of his career as he matched a season-high with 24 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 from three ... Trimboli also added four rebounds, five assists and did not turn the ball over ... The win over the Buffs was the first-ever for the Catamounts over a Big 12 Conference team ... Trimboli was named to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team ... Junior Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) paced Vermont over NJIT with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks ... All 14 Catamounts saw action in the contest ... Vermont has won its last three home games by an average of 21.3 points per contest ... Vermont returns to action on Thursday when it opens America East action with a road trip to Binghamton for a 7 p.m. tip-off ... The Cats will also host Albany on Sunday at 4 p.m. in a game televised on Comcast Sports Net New England. percentage (56.5 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (61.5 percent) against UMBC.