CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - With four days until the America East Men's Basketball Championship, University of New Hampshire's Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass./Thayer Academy) and Boston University's Jake O'Brien (Weymouth, Mass/Weymouth) have been named the final weekly award winners of the 2008-09 season.
Gibbs, the Player of the Week, led his team to a pair of hard fought wins which gave the Wildcats the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament, the program's best since the 2001-02 campaign. The senior guard averaged 20.5 points and 7.0 rebounds last week and was clutch when his team needed him most. Gibbs scored 20 points and helped the keyed a second-half comeback in UNH's 64-56 win over Albany Thursday. He proved even more valuable with 21 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in a 58-57 overtime win over Stony Brook on Sunday. Gibbs canned six 3-pointers in the including one with 4 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime and another with 34 seconds left in the extra session to give his the lead for good.
O'Brien, the Rookie of the Week for the third time this season, averaged 15.0 points, 8.0 boards and shot 50 percent (11-of-22) from the field in wins over Maine and Hartford last week. A 6-foot-8 forward, O'Brien came within one rebound of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds in the 76-65 victory over the Black Bears Thursday. He followed up with 12 points and seven boards in a 67-57 overtime win over the Hawks Sunday.
Weekly Notebook
Albany (14-15, 6-10 America East) is seeded seventh for this week’s America East Conference postseason tournament... UAlbany’s SEFCU Arena will host the first three rounds of the championship for the first time since joining the league in 2001-02... The Great Danes, who have won two championships in this decade, come into the tournament with their lowest seeding since 2004...UAlbany meets Vermont in the quarterfinal round... The two programs will square off in tournament play for the fourth time, including championship finals in 2006 and 2007... The Great Danes lost seven of their last eight in league regular-season play after a pair of close road losses to New Hampshire (64-56) and UMBC (68-64) last week...Jerel Hastings (Dallas, Texas / South Oak Cliff) has scored in double figures in three of his last four games and is averaging 12.5 points in that span... Jimmie Covington (Chicago, Ill. / Morgan Park) had eight points, his highest scoring total since Jan. 31, 2007, and grabbed five rebounds vs. New Hampshire... Covington moved into third all-time in career games played (121) and stands behind Jon Iati (129) and Brent Wilson (123)... Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y. / Our Savior New American) had 13 of his 19 points in the second half at UMBC... Ambrose, who has scored in twin figures 20 times this year, is averaging 15.7 points against conference opponents... Will Harris (Corona, N.Y. / Brewster Academy) totaled 11 points and a career-best 11 rebounds vs. UMBC, his fifth double-double of the season... Brian Connelly (Audubon, N.J. / Camden Catholic) has toppled the 400-mark in career rebounds (405)... Brett Gifford (Columbia, Mo. / Rock Bridge) has grabbed six or more rebounds nine times this winter... Anthony Raffa (Strathmere, N.J. / Wildwood Catholic) and Louis Barraza (Phoenix, Ariz. / Trevor Browne) have each missed the last three games with injuries... The Great Danes did not finish among the top four teams in the America East regular-season standings for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign... UAlbany is sixth nationally in rebounding margin at plus-8.4 per game...
Binghamton (20-8 13-3 America East) clinched a share of the America East regular season crown with a 20-point win over UMBC. The title is the program's first of any kind in 63 years of basketball... Binghamton also reached the 20-win mark for just the second time in its history - and the first at the Division I level... The Bearcats will enter the America East tournament as the top seed by virtue of their season-sweep of co-champion Vermont... Binghamton will also carry a school-record eight-game win streak into the postseason. The streak is among the top 10 current streaks in the nation. Binghamton has won 10 of its last 11 games... The team's 13-3 conference mark is its best in eight years of America East play, surpassing the 12-4, second-place finish from the 2005-06 squad... Binghamton is guaranteed either an NCAA or NIT tournament bid, which will be the first in its Division I tenure... The program also wrapped up another America East attendance title. With sellouts in its final two home games, Binghamton pushed its season average to a school-record 3,782. The Bearcats have led the league in attendance six consecutive seasons... Junior guard D.J. Rivera (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti HS/St. Joseph’s Univ.) finished as the league's regular season scoring champion with a 20.4 average. Rivera has school records of points (551), field goals (200) and free throws (110)... Junior guard Emanuel Mayben (Troy, N.Y./Troy/Hudson Valley CC) hit 8-of-12 for 18 points to lead the Bearcats over UMBC. He added six rebounds, five assists and three steals... Senior forward Reggie Fuller (Missouri City, Texas/Hightower/Angelina College) grabbed a school-record 16 rebounds against UMBC and notched his seventh double-double as a Bearcat with 12 points. Fuller also recorded four blocks.
Boston University (17-12, 11-5 America East) enters the America East tournament on a high note with a three-game win streak after defeating Maine and Hartford ... The 17 regular season wins mark the most since the Terriers earned 20 during the 2004-05 season ... 15th-year head coach Dennis Wolff has finished league play with double-digit wins for the eighth time and a .500 or better record for a 12th time ... Freshman Jeff Pelage (Pompano Beach, Fla./Pine Crest School) recorded his first career double-double against Maine, recording a career-best 10 points and 12 rebounds ... John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)) also had a double-double off 20 points and 10 boards ... Their performance marked the first time since 2000 that two Terriers had a double-double in the same game ... Jake O’Brien (Meymouth, Mass./BC High) came close to a third with 18 points and nine rebounds ... They led the team to the program’s 1,000th victory in 100 seasons played ... The OT win over Hartford is the first time this season that the Terriers trailed at the five-minute mark and came back to win ... Holland hit two free throws with 6.5 seconds left to send the game to an extra session ... He is now t-8th in the school record book for steals in a season with 53 on the year ... Prior to the game, the program recognized seniors Marques Johnson (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan), Sam Tully (Menlo Park, Calif./Suffolk University) and Matt Wolff (Walpole, Mass./Walpole).
Hartford (6-25 , 2-14 America East) wrapped up the regular season with losses to Stony Brook and Boston University last week. The Hawks fell 62-40 to the Seawolves in their home finale before suffering a heartbreaking 67-57 defeat in overtime to the Terriers. Hartford erased a 21-point deficit against BU and led by as many as six in the second half. The Terriers tied the game on a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds remaining in regulation before outscoring the Hawks 11-1 in the extra period... Senior Jaret von Rosenberg led the Hawks in scoring for the week at 14.0 ppg and also added 5.0 rpg, 3.5 apg and 1.5 spg. He needs only 15 more points to become the 22nd player in school history to record 1,000 points in a career... Sophomore Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) busted out of a scoring slump at BU and netted a career-high 20 points. He also hit a season-high five three-p ointers in the contest before fouling out late in regulation... Hartford is the ninth seed in next weekend's America East Championship. The Hawks will face eighth-seeded Maine in the play-in game on Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in Albany, N.Y. The winner of that game will take on top-seeded Binghamton the following day.
Maine (9-20, 4-12 America East) fell at Boston University 76-65 before falling to Vermont 93-81...Against Boston University, the Terriers raced out to a nine-point lead, but Maine closed it to one before the Terriers were able to make a run going into halftime...The teams played each other even in the second half...Maine was led by Troy Barnies (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds...He also added two blocks...Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch/Worcester Academy) had a team-high 16 points...Mark Socoby (Houlton, Maine/Bangor) added 11 points and notched his 1,000th career point, becoming the 27th player in program history to accomplish the feat...Junior Bernal (Manhattan, N.Y./MCI) added nine points and four assists...Maine went 12-for-27 from the field in the first and second half while Boston University went 13-for-31 from the field in the first and second half...Against the Catamounts on Sunday, it was a close game until Vermont was able to make a run with 12 minutes left in the game to grab a lead and held onto it the rest of the way...Maine was led by Sean McNally (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner) who had a career-high 24 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five blocks...Barnies added a a career-high 19 points...Kaimondre Owes (Brooklyn, N.Y./Saint Peter’s) added 18 points and two steals while Bernal had 12 points and six assists...Owes, Phil Tchekane Bofia (Yaounde, Cameroon/Redemption Christian) and Jason Hight (Westbrook, Maine/Westbrook/Bridgton Academy) were all honored before the game in a Senior Day ceremony...Maine returns to action in the America East Tournament in a first round game against Hartford on Friday at 7 p.m.
UMBC (13-16, 7-9 America East) In what was likely their final home appearance, UMBC’s two seniors, guard Jay Greene
(Whitehall, Pa.) and forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md./Paul IV/Coppin State) continued to set school records... In the 68-64 win over Albany, Greene, who scored nine points in the game, played in his 119th career contest, the most in school history... Proctor was held to a season-low tying 13 points, but now has 579 on the season, the most ever in the school’s 23 years of Division I competition... Over 150 family and friend from Whitehall, Pa. made the trip down to see Greene’s final home game... Freshman wing Chauncey Gilliam (Columbia, Md./Brewster Acad.) led UMBC with 19 ... He hit a season high four 3-point field goals and collected a season-best four steals... Gilliam is 11 of his last 18 from behind the arc and has 317 points on the season, the most by a UMBC freshman since the 2001-02 season when Peter Mulligan amassed 450 and the eighth-most in 23 years of Division I competition.... Junior guard Matt Spadafora (Richboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood) was also sharp for UMBC, hitting six of eight shots in a 13-point effort... Proctor (4/4) and Greene (2/2) hit six clutch free throws in the final minute and the Retrievers finished the regular season 80 of 101 (79.2%) from the charity stripe in the last two minutes plus overtime of games... Junior forward Justin Fry (New Bloomfield, Pa./West Perry) returned to the lineup after missing five games with a knee injury, and contributed five points and six rebounds in 28 minutes... UMBC committed a season-low four turnovers in the game... The Retrievers shot just 42.6% from the floor, but had not exceeded 37 percent in their recent three-game losing streak... The 13 wins for UMBC are the second-most (behind last season’s 24) in the last seven seasons... The meeting with Boston University in the America East Tournament will be the first in six years of tournament play... UMBC has won its last four opening round games in the tournament and has an overall America East Tournament record of 6-4.
New Hampshire (13-15, 8-8 America East) went 2-0 last week with a pair of come-from-behind road wins to sweep the season series from Albany (64-56) and Stony Brook (58-57, OT) ... senior guard Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass./Thayer Academy) stepped and played like the senior captain he is when the Wildcats needed him most ... Gibbs helped erase a seven-point deficit with timely shooting, including 4 of 8 from deep, to lift UNH to a win against Albany with 20 points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks ... Gibbs then played even bigger on Senior Day, erasing a six-point deficit versus Stony Brook with big shot after big shot, including the one that tied it in regulation and won it in overtime, to lead the Wildcats to their fourth win in five games, as well as the No. 4 seed ? their highest since the 2001-02 season ? at next weekend’s America East tournament ... Gibbs matched his career high with six 3-pointers en route to 21 points to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds, two assists and three steals in 44 minutes ... Gibbs, who played in his 114th career game versus Albany to become the Wildcats’ all-time games played leader, now has 1,293 career points and is fifth on UNH’s all-time scoring list ... sophomore forward Rony Tchatchoua (Douala Cameroon/Findlay Prep) scored 12 points on a perfect 5 of 5 shooting, including one of the dunks ever seen inside Lundholm Gymnasium, and 2 of 2 from the line to go along with three rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes off the bench against Albany ... junior forward Radar Onguetou (Yaounde, Cameroon/New Hampton School) also played well against the Great Danes, coming up just shy of a double-double as he scored 12 points and ripped down nine rebounds ... both players chipped in with five points against Stony Brook, with Onguetou adding five rebounds ... sophomore guard Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) added seven points and five boards against Albany and followed it up with 10 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in the clincher versus Stony Brook ... sophomore center Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Worcester Academy) narrowly missed a double-double against the Seawolves with eight points and nine rebounds ... senior guard Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill./Lewis and Clark CC) played well on Senior Day, running the offense with nine points and six assists ... the 13 wins are the most since UNH recorded 19 during the 1994-95 season, while the 8-8 conference record marks just the second .500 conference campaign in seven years and the first since the 2005-06 season when head coach Bill Herrion guided his squad to a 12-17 overall record and an 8-8 mark in the conference ... the Wildcats take on the fifth-seeded Seawolves in the quarterfinal round of the tournament March 7 at 8:30 p.m. at SEFCU Arena.
Stony Brook (16-13, 8-8 America East) split of pair of games in the final week of the regular season, defeating Hartford 62-40 on Thursday night before dropping a 58-57 overtime decision at New Hampshire on Sunday ... the Seawolves are guaranteed of just their second winning season since 1992-93 ... SBU finished the regular season in a tie for fourth place with New Hampshire, its best ever finish in the America East ... the Seawolves finished the season with 16 victories overall, its most wins since joining the America East in 2001-02 ... the 15 victories over Division I opponents are a program record since joining Division I in 1999-00 ... the eight America East conference victories are a program record ... the nine overall road victories and four America East road victories are both Division I program records ... freshman Tommy Brenton set the Seawolves Division I record for rebounds in a season on Thursday at Hartford ... freshman Bryan Dougher set the Seawolves Division I freshman record for points in a season on Thursday at Hartford ... the Seawolves tied a season-high with 17 assists against Hartford ... Hartford’s 40 points are the fewest allowed this season by the Seawolves and are the fewest allowed in any America East conference game since giving up just 39 at UMBC during the 2007 season ... the overtime loss at New Hampshire was the fourth overtime loss of the conference season for the Seawolves, with all of them coming against the top four seeds in next week’s America East tournament (Binghamton, Vermont, BU, New Hampshire).
Vermont (23-7, 13-3 America East) won its only game of the week, topping Maine on the road 93-81 on Sunday ... With the win the Cats clinched a share of the America East Regular Season Championship ... Vermont has won seven straight and 14 of its last 15 ... It marks the third time in the last five years and fourth time overall that UVM has earned at least a share of the regular season title ... Senior Colin McIntosh (Milton, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon) scored 23 points and junior Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) added 19 points and 13 rebounds ... Juniors Nick Vier (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Bergen Catholic) and Maurice Joseph (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain-St. Lambert/Mich. St) each added 16 points apiece ... Vermont has now won six of the last seven against Maine ... By scoring 93 the Cats broke the school record for points in a season as they now have 2,335 this season ... Vermont’s 23 wins are the third-most in program history ... The Cats have now won their last seven road games by an average of 16.6 points per game ... The Cats will be the second seed at the conference championship and play Albany, the seven seed, on Saturday at Albany’s SEFCU Arena, with a 12 p.m. tip-off.