CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- UMBC's Chris De La Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y./All Hallows/Siena) and University New Hampshire's Ferg Myrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) each led their respective teams to key wins last week and have been named the league's final weekly award winners of the 2010 season. The awards for the week ending Feb. 28 were announced Monday afternoon.
De La Rosa, a sophomore point guard, scored 23 points to lead UMBC to a huge win at UNH Wednesday in his lone game of the week. The transfer from Siena tallied 16 of those points in the first half and shot 8-of-12 shooting from the floor overall. He also added seven assists, three rebounds and had just one turnover.
The league leader in assists (5.1 apg), De La Rosa also ranks second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.13) and ranks among the top-20 in scoring (11.8 ppg).
Myrick had his best week as a collegian, averaging 18.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in a pair of games last week. Myrick played a key role in UNH's 22-point win over regular-season champion Stony Brook Sunday, scoring 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and collecting four boards in just 18 minutes off the bench. Earlier in the week, he had 15 points and five caroms in a loss to UMBC.
Myrick, who ranks among the league's rookie leaders with 7.4 points per game, has reached double figures in four of his last six outings.
Team-By-Team Notes
Albany (7-24, AE 2-14) ended the regular season with an 85-79 overtime loss at Hartford on Feb. 28 … the Great Danes finished in ninth place in the America East standings … UAlbany’s No. 9 seeding is its lowest for the conference postseason tournament since 2003-04 … the Great Danes set a school record for single-season losses, breaking the mark that was established by the 2003-04 squad … Will Harris (Queens, N.Y./Brewster Academy) scored a season-high 26, including 19 in the second half, at Hartford … Harris scored 20-plus for the seventh time this year and posted his highest total since Feb. 5, 2009 … Logan Aronhalt (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville) had a career-high 18 points at Hartford, and made a career-best four 3-point field goals … Aronhalt, who tallied 15 points in his previous outing at Maine, is scoring at an 8.8 clip after averaging 3.8 ppg against non-league opponents … Mike Black (Chicago, Ill. / Oak Park Fenwick) totaled 14 points and six assists against Hartford … the freshman guard scored in double digits for the 10th time this season and has handed out four-plus assists on nine occasions … Fran Urli (Zagreb, Croatia / Sportska Gymnasium) had 10 of his 12 points in the first half against Hartford … Urli, who played a career-best 35 minutes, reached twin figures for the fifth time as a junior college transfer … The Great Danes also dropped a 66-53 decision to Maine on Feb. 24 and have lost 11 of their last 12 road games, dating back to Dec. 8th … Brett Gifford (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) is seventh on the program’s career blocked shots list with 75 … Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y./Our Savior New American) is 27th on the all-time scoring chart with 1,044 points … UAlbany tied a season-high with 12 three-pointers at Hartford.
Binghamton (13-18, AE 8-8) split its final two regular season games to finish 8-8. After losing four starters weeks before the season began, the Bearcats far exceeded expectations with their fifth place finish in the standings… Binghamton beat every team in the league at least once with the exception of third-place Maine and its quarterfinal opponent, fourth-seeded Boston. The Bearcats had season-sweeps of UMBC and Albany and split against the other four opponents… Binghamton achieved a .500 or better conference mark for the third straight season and sixth time in nine seasons of America East play. The program has met or exceeded its predicted finish (Coaches Preseason Poll) every single year… Binghamton still owns the third-highest league win percentage (.547) among the nine conference members since 2001, the school’s first season of Division I play. Only Vermont and Boston have more wins during that span… The Bearcats drew 4,791 for the Hartford game to boost the team’s attendance average to 3,669. It is the third-highest season average in school history and gave Binghamton its seventh consecutive America East attendance crown. Binghamton has drawn 40,000 or more fans for the sixth straight season.
Boston University (17-12, AE 11-5) improved its record in the month of February to 6-1 with a 76-56 victory over Maine … The Terriers jumped out to a 11-1 run and never looked back, building the lead to as high as 26 in the second half to earn a split with the Black Bears after an earlier 56-54 loss in Orono … Junior John Holland (Bronx, N.Y./St. Benedict’s Prep (N.J.)) continued his hot play offensively, scoring 23 points in 25 minutes of action … He ends the regular season with 577 points, which currently ranks fifth all-time in the school record book … He is also six rebounds shy of 500 … His streak though of avoiding a fifth foul came to an end, as he fouled out for the first time during his 89th career game … In total, five Terriers scored in double figures for the second time this season, as nine seniors were honored … Sherrod Smith (Milwaukee, Wis./Whitefish Bay) and Valdas Sirutis (Gargzdai, Lithuania/Tidewater Academy (Va.)) both earned starts, and Sirutis made his final game at Case Gym a memorable one with a career-high seven rebounds … Sophomore Jake O’Brien (Weymouth, Mass./BC High) fell two rebounds shy of his seventh double-double with 10 points … The Terriers will enter the America East tournament as the No. 4 seed for just the second time in the program’s history and first since 1982.
Hartford (8-21, AE 6-10) finished the regular season with a momentum-building victory against Albany in overtime on Sunday … according to head coach Dan Leibovitz, the win was sparked by the first starts of the season for seniors David Bookman and Zack Zeglinski … Bookman finished with a season-high five points to go along with three rebounds on his senior day, while Zack Zeglinski added two assists on the team’s first two buckets, both three-pointers … junior Milton Burton reached double figures in each of the Hawks’ games this week, including a career-high 24 points against Albany … Burton knocked down five crucial points in overtime, including a three-pointer with just over 40 seconds to play which essentially sealed the victory … it marked the first time in Burton’s Hartford career that he reached double figures in four consecutive games, dating back to an 11-point performance against Vermont on Feb. 17 … four Hawks scored in double figures against Albany, including junior Joe Zeglinski (19 points), junior Morgan Sabia (19 points) and junior Anthony Minor (11 points) … Minor, who entered the game as a .346 free-throw shooter this season, knocked down two from the charity stripe with nine seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime … his 11 points marked a season high, and his seven rebounds tied a career high … against Binghamton, Joe Zeglinski scored the first 14 points of the game for Hartford as they held an early 16-9 lead, finishing with 22 points and eight rebounds … Hartford finishes the regular season tied for sixth place in the America East with New Hamphire, although they hold the tiebreaker over the Wildcats.
Sophomore guard Chris De La Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y./Siena/All Hallows) scored 16 of high game-high 23 points in the first half as UMBC (4-25, AE 3-13) finished the regular season with a 79-50 rout of host UNH… His seven assists gave him 147 on the season, the tenth-best single season figure in school history… It was his fifth game with 20 or more points on the season … De La Rosa led six Retrievers in double figures,... The Retrievers shot a season-best 55.2 percent from the floor and converted 16 of 24 shots in the first half as they amassed a season-high 44 first-half points… Sophomore wing Chauncey Gilliam (Columbia, Md./Brewster Acad.) scored in double figures for the 12 straight game and posted his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds… Gilliam averaged 17.6 points per game in eight America East road games, where the Retrievers were 3-5 this season… The 29-point road victory was the second largest margin in UMBC’s 24-year Division I history… It was also the largest margin of victory that UMBC enjoyed in seven years and 118 America East contests… UMBC outrebounded UNH, 43-33, enjoying a positive rebound margin for the first time in America East play this season… UMBC is the lone America East team to win at least one game in the past five conference tournaments… After five straight losses at Chase Arena, the Retrievers have two consecutive wins on the 2010 tournament court.
New Hampshire (12-16, AE 6-10) went 1-1 last week, falling to UMBC, 79-50, on Feb. 24 before knocking off regular-season champion Stony Brook, 77-55, on Feb. 28 in the team’s regular-season finale on Senior Day … the Wildcats earned the seventh seed for next weekend’s America East tournament after Hartford’s overtime win against Albany … UNH closed out its home slate at 9-4, the best mark since the 1994-95 season when they were 8-2 … the win against Stony Brook snapped the Seawolves’ 10-game winning streak, which was the sixth longest active streak in Division I coming into the day … the win also ran the Wildcats’ record against Stony Brook to 13-6 all-time as they have won 10 of the last 12 meetings … head coach Bill Herrion recorded his 294th career victory and improved to 9-2 all-time against SBU … freshman Ferg Myrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) posted his best week as a Wildcat as he helped lead his team to the victory against Stony Brook … Myrick poured in a career-high 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 1 of 2 from behind the arc … he also made all six of his free throws and added four rebounds and a block in just 18 minutes off the bench … against UMBC, Myrick netted 15 points to go along with five boards and a block in a career-best 30 minutes … junior Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass./Boys to Men Academy) jumped back on track against the Seawolves, tallying 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals … sophomore point guard Russell Graham (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) came into the day eighth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and tallied five points, six assists and no turnovers in 25 minutes … Abreu finished the week with 1,122 points and moved into 16th on UNH’s all-time scoring list, while classmate Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Worcester Academy) finished with 622 boards and jumped to seventh on theprogram’s all-time rebounding list … the Wildcats return to action Saturday, March 6 at 6:05 p.m. when they take on No. 2 Vermont in the quarterfinal round of the America East tournament.
Stony Brook (21-8, AE 13-3) clinched their first America East regular season title with an 82-78 victory over Vermont on Wednesday before a sold out crowd at Pritchard Gymnasium … SBU then lost its regular season finale at New Hampshire, 77-55 … the loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Stony Brook, which was its longest winning streak since joining Division I … the 10-game winning streak was tied for the sixth longest in Division I … Stony Brook’s 21 overall set a program Division I record … the 13 America East wins were also a program record … senior Muhammad El-Amin scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half against Vermont … he finished the regular season 10 points shy of breaking the Division I program record for points in a season … he is 77 points from 1,000 for his career … Stony Brook shot a season-high 54.7 percent from the field against Vermont … sophomore Dallis Joyner scored a career-best 20 points to go along with eight rebounds against Vermont … the Seawolves had 17 assists against Vermont, their most in a conference game this season … sophomore Tommy Brenton finished the regular season with 279 rebounds, breaking his own Division I program record for rebounds in a season which he set last year with 266 … Stony Brook finished the season 12-1 at home including 8-0 during conference play … Stony Brook shot over 50 percent in four of its final six games.
Vermont (22-9, AE 12-4) went 1-1 on the week, falling at Stony Brook (82-78) in a first-place showdown, and then bounced back to earn a 78-69 victory in the regular season finale vs. Binghamton on Sunday … The Cats trailed by as many as 20 with just over seven minutes left in the second half before mounting a furious comeback attempt, but came up just short at Stony Brook … Junior Evan Fjeld (Durham, N.C./Durham Academy) scored a career-high 24 points, while senior Maurice Joseph (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain-St. Lambert/Michigan State) added 21, including 17 in the second half on five three-pointers … The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for the Cats … Four Cats reached double figures, led by 17 from senior Marqus Blakely (Metuchen, N.J./Metuchen) in the win over Binghamton on Senior Day … Sunday marked the final home regular season contest for Blakely, Joseph and Nick Vier (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Bergen Catholic) … The trio have been part of 87 career wins at Vermont, the second most by a class in school history … The win was also number 100 at Vermont for head coach Mike Lonergan … Vier broke the school record for games played on Sunday, as he made his 127th career appearance.