CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A pair of players from two of the hottest men's basketball teams in America East have earned the final weekly awards of the 2010-11 season. Albany's Mike Black (Chicago, Ill./Oak Park Fenwick) and Boston University's D.J. Irving (Chester, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) are this week's Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. The awards for the week ending Feb. 27 were announced Monday afternoon.
Black picked up his second Player of the Week honor of the season after averaging 22.0 points and shooting 68 percent from the field in a pair of Albany wins last week. The victories extended the Great Danes' win streak to four and gave them a third-place tie with Maine in the final league standings, their highest finish since the 2006-07 season.
The sophomore guard also averaged 5.0 assists on the week and shot 15-of-22 from the floor. He contributed 18 points and five assists on perfect 6-of-6 shooting in an 83-67 win over UMBC on Thursday. Black then had a career day at Maine Sunday, scoring a career-high 26 points in an 81-77 overtime win. He led the Albany charge from 12 down in the second half, scoring 11 of those points in the game's final nine minutes.Black, who also earned Player of the Week on Dec. 20, ranks 14th among league leaders averaging 12.4 points per game.
Irving earned his third Rookie of the Week award of the season by averaging 16 points and helping the Terriers extend their win streak to eight games with two wins last week.
The freshman point guard Irving stepped up in the absence of the league's leading scorer John Holland, who went down with an injury at Binghamton Thursday and did not play at Vermont Sunday. Irving scored a team-high 14 points and hit the game-winning free throw with 47 seconds left in Thursday's 53-51 win at Binghamton. The victory gave the Terriers the No. 2 seed for the America East Championship, their highest finish since the 2003-04 season.
Irving, who also earned rookie accolades on Jan. 10 and 24, followed that performance with a career-high 18 points in a 66-64 overtime win at Vermont Sunday to give Boston U. a season-series sweep of the Catamounts. Irving shot 6-of-9 from the floor in the win and also added four assists against zero turnovers. The native of Chester, Pa. is averaging 7.9 points and 3.8 assists this season.
Conference Notes
The Honor Roll
Several other America East players had top performances last week:
• Albany's Luke Devlin (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in a pair of Albany wins last week.
• Boston University's Darryl Partin (Seattle, Wash./La Salle) scored 23 points to lead his team to a season sweep of Vermont with a win Sunday
• Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) averaged 23 points in two games last week and is just one shy of 2,000 for his career.
• Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif./Worcester Academy) poured in 26 points to help Maine snap its six-game losing skid Tuesday.
• UMBC's Chris De La Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y./All Hallows/Siena) scored 25 points to close out his regular season at Albany Wednesday.
• Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) averaged 16 points in a pair of Stony Brook wins last week.
• Sandro Carissimo (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y./Iona Prep) scored a career-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting in Vermont's loss to Boston U. Sunday.
It's Tourney Time
The 2011 America East Men's & Women's Basketball presented by Newman's Own begins this week and will take place March 3-6 at University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena. No. 9 Binghamton and No. 8 UMBC will start things off with the first round game on Thursday at 8:15 p.m. The winner of that contest will face top-seeded Vermont in the quarterfinals Saturday at 2:15 p.m. Prior to that No. 4 Albany, winner of four straight, and No. 5 Stony Brook, which won four of its last five conference games, will kick off the day at 12:05 p.m. No. 2 Boston U., winner of eight in a row, will face No. 7 New Hampshire at 6:05 p.m. and the host No. 6 Hartford will close out the day's action at 8:15 against No. 3 Maine. The four quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round on Sunday, March 6. The Albany-Stony Brook winner will face the winner of the Vermont-first round game winner matchup at 5:04 p.m. while the Boston U.-New Hampshire winner will take on the Maine-Hartford winner at 7:34 p.m. America East Television will produce both of Sunday's semifinals, which will also be available on ESPN3, as part of the ESPN Full Court package and for free on AmericaEast.com. The championship game will be held Saturday, March 12 on the campus of the highest remaining seed and tip at 12:02 p.m. on ESPN2.
'Cats Champs Again
For the fifth time in the last 10 years, Vermont is the America East regular-season champions. The Catamounts, whose RPI is a league-high 86, clinched the title outright with its win at Maine Feb. 16. The crown gives UVM the top seed for upcoming America East championship and a berth in the NIT should it not make the NCAA tournament. It's the fourth time in the last 10 years Vermont will be the tournament's No. 1 seed. Vermont, which has won 10 of its last 12 games, has also secured its eighth 20-win season in the last 10 after totaling none in its first 87 seasons of basketball.
Terriers on a Tear
Just like the 2009-10 season, Boston University is playing its best basketball at the right time. After going through a stretch which it dropped three of five games, Boston U. has posted eight straight wins. The streak is similar to last season when the Terriers won their last four games of the regular season and posted two victories in the conference tournament to advance to their first title game since 2003. Boston U., which will be the No. 2 seed for the league tournament, won at Binghamton and at Vermont last week to finish the season 12-4 in conference play, its best record since the 2004-05 season. The No. 2 seed is the Terriers' best since the 2003-04 season.
Hot Teams in Middle of the Pack
Prior to Vermont's matchup with the first-round winner, No. 4 Albany (16-15, 9-7) and No. 5 Stony Brook (13-16, 8-8) will kick off quarterfinal action at 12:05 p.m. A rematch of last year's quarterfinal contest that the Seawolves took 68-59, this season's matchup features two teams playing their best basketball at the right time. The Great Danes, winners of four straight, knocked off Maine, 81-79, in overtime Sunday to finish in a tie for third place with the Black Bears. The Seawolves wrapped up their regular season with a 67-42 win over Binghamton, their fourth victory in their last five league games.
Rising up the Charts
A pair of America East standouts are charging up the league's all-time scoring list and will finish among the all-time greats. Boston University senior John Holland, a two-time first team all-conference selection, became just the 13th player in league history to reach the 2,000-point plateau earlier this season and ranks eighth with 2,130 career points. Hartford's Joe Zeglinski, a two-time all-league choice, is currently 14th on the all-time list with 1,999 career points and is just one point shy of joining the exclusive 2,000-point club.
Team Notes
Albany (16-15, 9-7 AE) has won four in a row after defeating UMBC (83-67) and Maine (81-77, OT) to close out the regular season … the Great Danes last strung together four victories as part of a five-game win streak, from Nov. 19-Dec. 1, 2008 … Albany owns its highest win total since 2006-07 and its most conference victories in three years … the Great Danes have bettered last year’s win total by nine after 31 games … Mike Black (Chicago, Ill./Oak Park Fenwick) scored a career-high 26 points and made two 3-pointers in overtime at Maine … Black, who has scored in double figures 19 times as a sophomore, helped avenge a two-point loss to the Black Bears on Jan. 12th … Albany has played in 13 games decided by four points or less this year … freshman Luke Devlin (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) added his sixth career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds … Ralph Watts (Peekskill, N.Y. / Peekskill) equaled a career-high with 10 points and hit a slam dunk on the right baseline with three seconds remaining to force the extra period … Blake Metcalf (Camby, Ind./Plainfield) grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds … Tim Ambrose (Brentwood, N.Y./Our Savior New American) totaled 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, tying his career-high, on Senior Night against UMBC … Ambrose is fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,558 points and has reached double figures 80 times as a collegian … Albany shot a season-best 54.4 percent from the field … Logan Aronhalt (Zanesville, Ohio/Zanesville) averaged 18.0 points in two wins last week … Albany has reached the 15-win plateau in five of the last six seasons … the Great Danes, who tied for third place in the conference standings, are the No. 4 seed for the upcoming America East Tournament … Albany finished last in league play one year ago.
Binghamton (7-22, 4-12 AE) dropped both games during the week and finished its worst regular season in the program's 10-year America East history ... The Bearcats had never finished below sixth in the conference standings - the lone AE team to show that consistency. The 2010-11 squad has dropped 12 of its last 13 games, though seven of those defeats have come by single digits and five have been by five or fewer points ... Binghamton will play in the play-in game for the first time in its seven-year America East postseason history. The game will be a rematch of the conference championship game just two seasons ago when the Bearcats toppled UMBC, 61-51, to capture the program's first-ever conference crown and NCAA berth. Binghamton is 5-5 all-time in the AE tournament ... Senior forward Mahamoud Jabbi (Serrekunda, Gambia/Alfred E. Smith/SUNY Oswego) grabbed six rebounds in the loss at Stony Brook to set the school's Division I single-season rebounds record (226). The old mark of 223 was set by former all-conference forward Reggie Fuller in 2008-09. Jabbi concluded his final conference season with averages of 11.3 points and 9.6 rebounds. His rebound average was tops in the conference ... Senior forward Greer Wright (Boynton Beach, Fla./Boca Raton Prep/City College of San Francisco) averaged 14.5 points in the two games.
Boston University (18-13, 12-4 AE) continued its stellar play in the month of February with two big road victories to clinch the No. 2 seed for next week's America East tournament, the Terriers' best regular season finish since capturing the regular season title in 2004 ... Terriers claimed a 53-51 win at Binghamton and a 66-64 OT victory at Vermont, Boston U.'s first extra session of the season ... Freshman D.J. Irving (Chester, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) had two stellar performances, posting a team-high 14 points against the Bearcats followed by a season-high 18 points along with four assists at Vermont ... Junior Darryl Partin (Seattle, Wash./La Salle) tallied a game-high 23 points to help the Terriers earn the sweep against the Catamounts ... Freshman Dom Morris (Newark, Del./Friends Central (Pa.)) had 10 rebounds vs. Binghamton and a season-high 11 boards vs. UVM ... Senior John Holland recorded 10 points and six boards against Binghamton before being injured ... His status is day-to-day ... Before the injury, he became the seventh player in America East history to reach 2,000 points and 700 rebounds ... The Terriers will next face New Hampshire on Saturday in the first postseason meeting between the two teams since 2003.
Hartford (10-19, 7-9 AE) earned the sixth seed in the America East Championship when they defeated New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon, 62-54 ... the Hawks earned their 10th win of the season with the victory, the first time since 2007-08 that they reached double-figure victories ... the Hawks were led in both games by senior Joe Zeglinski (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), who scored 24 points against Stony Brook and 22 against New Hampshire to leave him just one point shy of becoming the second Hawk in the Division I history of the program to reach 2,000 career points ... Zeglinski has now scored 20-plus points in three straight games and four of six ... All five of the Hawks' seniors had strong performances on their senior day, led by Zeglinski and Kevin Estes (Richmond, Va./Benedictine), who put up a season-high 11 points and five rebounds ... Estes is now 9-for-9 from the floor over his last three games ... he also had a season-high eight points against Stony Brook before eclipsing that mark on Sunday ... Milton Burton (Birmingham, Ala./Fairfield Prep/Panola CC) had four points, four boards, two assists and a steal against New Hampshire ... Anthony Minor (Philadelphia, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) dished out a team-best five assists ... Morgan Sabia (San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) had four points and a team-best 10 boards, his seventh-career 10-plus rebound game ... the Hawks will now take on third-seeded Maine, which they have already defeated twice this season, in the quarterfinals on Saturday evening, tipping off at approximately 8:15 p.m.
Maine (15-14, 9-7 AE) defeated New Hampshire, 70-53, Thursday before falling to Albany, 81-77, in overtime Sunday to close out the regular season ... In Durham, N.H., Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif./Worcester Academy) scored 26 points, including going a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe to lead Maine to the win...Sean McNally (Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner) added 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds ... Troy Barnies (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists ... In Orono on Sunday, Barnies had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead the way against the Great Danes...McNally had 13 points and five rebounds while Terrance Mitchell (Milton, Fla./Faulkner State Community College) had 14 points and four assists and Andrew Rogers (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) gave out six assists to go with nine points ... The game was Senior Day for Barnies, McNally, Mitchell and Malachi Peay (Brooklyn, N.Y./Campus Magnet) ... McNally is just seven rebounds shy of becoming the 11th player in program history to notch 700 career rebounds ... McLemore's 1,186 points put him 15th in school history ... McLemore could also set the school record for free throw percentage in a season, as he is currently at 87.2 percent, just missing Skip Chappelle's 87.4 percent set during the 1961-62 season ...Barnies finished the season with a team-high 22 double-figure scoring efforts, including 19 out of the last 20 games and had a team-high seven double-doubles ... McLemore was second with 21 double-digit scoring games ... The Black Bears return to action on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. against Hartford in the America East Tournament.
After averaging only 5.3 points per game in his last three outings, UMBC (5-24, 4-12 AE) junior guard Chris De La Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y./All Hallows/Siena) returned to form with a 25-point effort in the regular season finale at Albany... It was his 12th game of the season with 20 or more points scored ... Grad. forward Justin Fry (New Bloomfield, Pa./West Perry) moved into a tie for third place in school history by playing in game no. 118 vs. the Great Danes ... Albany buried 13 of 25 shots from behind the arc vs. UMBC and Retriever league foes hit 149 treys (9.3 per game) compared to 101 by UMBC in 16 league contests ... Red-shirt freshman guard Jamar Wertz (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) averaged 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in his last four outings after a three-game stretch where he did not score and had just one rebound ... The Retrievers will meet Binghamton in the America East Conference first round game on March 3... The two teams' only previous meeting in tournament play was in the 2009 title game ... UMBC has an 8-6 record in seven years of America East Tournament play.
New Hampshire (12-17, 6-10 AE) closed its season with a pair of losses last week ... The previous week, UNH. went 0-1 last week, dropping its ESPN Sears BracketBusters matchup at Marist, 58-49, on Saturday ... UNH dropped to 1-1 in BracketBuster games ... sophomore Chandler Rhoads (Berryville, Va./Air Force Prep) tallied 16 points, three rebounds and three assists, while senior Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt./Burlington) scored 15 to go along with three assists, two boards and two steals ... Senior Dane DiLiegro (Lexington, Mass./Worcester Academy) posted nine points, eight boards, two blocks, an assist and a steal, while junior Brian Benson (Rochester, N.Y./Greece-Athena) pulled down 10 boards ... the Wildcats have yet to allow 80 or more points in a single game this season, the deepest any UNH team has made it into the schedule without allowing an opponent to reach the 80-point mark ... no UNH team has gone an entire season without allowing 80 or more points in a game since the 1949-50 campaign ... the 'Cats have also not allowed an opponent to break 70 since VCU did so on Dec. 30 ... After turning the ball over more than their opponent in eight consecutive games from Dec. 18-Jan. 11 (-6.3 TO margin), the Wildcats have done so just twice in their last 11 contests (+2.7) ... With 86 blocks on the season, the 2010-11 Wildcats are third on the program's single-season list.
Stony Brook (13-16, 8-8 AE) won both of its games last week to head into the America East Tournament having won six of its last 10 games and four of its last five conference games ... Stony Brook finished 8-8, the third consecutive season the program has had a .500 or better conference mark ... the Seawolves connected on 20 three-pointers in the two games and have now hit at least 10 three-pointers in six of the last 10 games, all victories...Bryan Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J.) hit eight of those 20 three-pointers last week and averaged 16.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in the two games ... he had 17 points at Hartford, including nine consecutive points in overtime to turn a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead...he then had five three-pointers for 15 points in a rout over Binghamton...it was the seventh time this season Dougher had five or more three-pointers in a game...Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) put up a season-high 16 points in the Binghamton game and added eight rebounds and two blocks ... Leonard Hayes (Voorhees, N.J.) hit the game-tying three-pointer to send the Hartford game into overtime as part of a 14-point night ... he then had three three-pointers vs. Binghamton ... freshman Anthony Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) averaged 9.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists off the bench in the two games ... he had a career-high seven assists to go with 10 points in the Hartford win...the Seawolves honored Chris Martin (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) prior to the Binghamton game, and he then had a career-high six assists in the win ... Stony Brook will take on Albany in the America East Championship quarterfinals, a rematch of last year's quarterfinal that Stony Brook won.
Vermont (22-7, 13-3 AE) dropped its only game of the week, falling at home to Boston U 66-64 in overtime on Sunday … Freshman Sandro Carissimo (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y./Iona Prep) led the Catamounts with a career-high 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting, while classmate Brian Voelkel (Pleasantville, N.Y/Iona Prep) added 12 points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists … Prior to Sunday’s game seniors Evan Fjeld (Durham, N.C./Durham Academy), Joey Accaoui (Lincoln, R.I./St. Andrews) and Garrett Kissel (Springfield, Mass./St. Andrews) were honored for playing in their final regular season home game at Patrick Gym … The trio have combined to win 87 career games, which is third-most all-time at UVM and only three behind the seniors from last season who recorded 90 career victories … The loss to Boston U. snapped a 10-game conference win streak for the Cats, as the Terriers were the only league team that Vermont did not defeat this season … Vermont enters the America East Tournament as the top seed for fourth time overall, and fourth since the 2001-02 season … The Catamounts will face the winner of No. 8 UMBC/No. 9 Binghamton on Saturday at 2:15 p.m. in the quarterfinals in West Hartford, Conn. … If they win, they will advance to play in the first semifinal game on Sunday, March 6 starting at 5:04 p.m against either the No. 4 seed Albany or No. 5 seed Stony Brook.