CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- New Hampshire's and Hartford's men's basketball teams are both surging having racked up four straight wins apiece, and two key factors to that recent success are this week's America East award winners. Ferg Myrick led the Wildcats to two wins last week and is the Player of the Week while the Hawks' Mark Nwakamma paced his team to two wins and is the Rookie of the Week. The honors for the week ending Feb. 19 were announced Monday afternoon.
Myrick (Philadelphia, Pa.) earned his first career Player of the Week honor by averaging 17.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in leading New Hampshire to a pair of wins last week. The Wildcats have now won four in a row for the first time since January of the 2005-06 season.
The sophomore, who's averaging 8.3 points per game this season, began his week by scoring 15 points and adding three rebounds in a key 56-54 win at Boston University on Thursday, UNH's first against the Terriers in Boston since 1994. Myrick scored 13 of those points in the second half, including 10 out of the Wildcats' 12 points in a stretch when they went from down two to up six and never lost that lead.
On Saturday, Mryick scored a team-high tying 19 points, which also equaled his season high in a 72-58, win over Towson. He excelled on the defensive end adding six rebounds, two steals and two blocks and helping UNH hold the Tigers to just 33 percent shooting on the day.
Nwakamma (Leander, Texas) had his best week of the season, averaging 16.0 points and shooting 82 percent (14-of-17) from the field in two Hartford wins en route to earning his first Rookie of the Week honor of the year. He is the third different Hawks to receive the award this season, joining Wes Cole and Nate Sikma.
The freshman forward started his week by scoring 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go with four rebounds and three assists in a 64-50 win over Maine. He then had a career-high tying 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting in a 67-51 win at St. Peter's Saturday. That win was the Hawks' fourth straight, which is their longest streak since the 2007-08 season.
Nwakamma, who ranks second on Hartford averaging 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, is contributing 12.3 ppg over his last seven outings.
Conference Notes
The Honor Roll
Several other America East players had top performances last week:
• Albany's Mike Black averaged 19.5 points per game last week capped by a 23-point effort in a win over Rider on Saturday.
• Ben Dickinson averaged a double-double for Binghamton last week, contributing 11.0 points and 10.5 boards per game.
• Darryl Partin, America East's second-leading scorer, averaged 18.5 points in two games last week.
• UMBC's Chase Plummer stayed hot, averaging 19.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games. That included a 24-point, 14-board showing at Canisius on Saturday.
• Dave Coley tied his career high by scoring 20 points to lead Stony Brook back from a nine-point second half deficit in a win at Northeastern on Saturday.
Success in Bracketbusters
With all nine America East teams participating in BracketBusters for the first time, the league went 5-4 in the event over the weekend. It's the third time in the last five years that the league has produced a winning BracketBusters record. Albany, Hartford, New Hampshire, Stony Brook and Vermont won its games while Binghamton, Boston U., Maine and UMBC fell. The group went 2-0 against the Colonial Athletic Association, improving the league's record to 7-4 against the CAA this year, 3-3 against the MAAC and 0-1 vs. the Big South.
One Week to Get to No. 1
Only one week remains in the regular season and the raced for coveted No. 1 seed for the America East Championship is a dead heat between two Vermont (12-2) and Stony Brook (12-2), which are currently tied atop the conference standings. The Catamounts, who have won 10 straight and 13 of 14, finish with Binghamton and UMBC, while the Seawolves, who have won 14 of their last 16, finish at Hartford and vs. Maine. Should the two teams finish tied, Vermont would hold the tiebreaker due to its season sweep of Boston U., which is locked into the No. 3 seed.
Being First Matters
While the team that wins the conference tournament gets crowned league champion and receives the league's automatic birth, earning one of the top seeds is crucial. Only twice in America East's 32 year history has a team finished outside the top two and gone on to win the league title. Furthermore, the top seed has won 19 of the 32 tournaments while the home team has won 25 of the previous 28 title games played at school site.
Other Seeds on the Line
The middle seeds for the conference championship are still up in the air with just one and a half games separating fourth and sixth place. Albany (8-7) will earn the No. 4 seed for the second straight year with a win over Binghamton on Thursday. Hartford (7-7) and New Hampshire (6-8) have both put together four-game win streaks and as a result can finish as high as fourth. The Hawks close their season with Stony Brook at home on Wednesday and Boston U. on the road Saturday. The Wildcats finish by visiting Maine Wednesday and hosting Binghamton Saturday. Albany would hold the tiebreaker over Hartford because of its season sweep, while UNH would edge the Great Danes due to its win over Vermont. The Hartford-UNH tiebreak is yet to be decided. Maine (5-9) can finish either sixth or seventh and would gain the tiebreak edge over the Wildcats with a win Wednesday. UMBC (3-11) and Binghamton (0-13) will be seeded eighth and ninth, respectively.
Catamounts Cooking with Gas
Already assured of extending its conference-best streak of winning seasons to six, Vermont continues to rack up wins. The Catamounts, who beat Albany and Niagara last week, have now won 10 in a row with an average margin of victory during of 14.5 points, and 13 of their last 14. UVM's offense has clicked in the second half, averaging nearly 75 points per game during the streak. The Cats' defense has excelled all season and ranks second in America East in scoring defense (61.9 ppg) and first in FG percentage defense (.416).
Hawks and Wildcats Surging
Two teams that have struggled through much of the year are getting hot at the right time. Hartford and UNH have each reeled off four straight wins. For the Hawks, its their longest run since the 2007-08 campaign while UNH's streak is its best since January of the 2005-06 season. Since starting 0-13, Hartford is 8-6 while UNH is 5-1 since beginning 7-13. Both teams have locked down defensively during their win streaks with Hartford allowing just 57.8 ppg and UNH giving up 59.0 ppg.
Home Sweet Home
Taking care of business at home has been a consistent theme for America East's top teams. Stony Brook and Albany are a combined 21-3 overall at home this year while the top three teams in the league standings (Stony Brook, Vermont, Boston U.) are a combined 19-2 at home in conference play. The Seawolves, who are 12-0 at home this year, have won 13 straight at Pritchard Gym dating back to last season. Vermont is also unbeaten in league play at Patrick Gym and has reeled off eight straight wins there.
Offensive Firepower
America East boasts two of nation's top offensive threats in Albany's Gerardo Suero, who has scored 20-plus points 20 times and leads the league and ranks fifth nationally averaging 22.0 ppg. Boston University's Darryl Partin is second in the conference and ranks 19th nationally (19.8 ppg).
Rising up the Scoring Chart
Three America East standouts continue to charge up the league's all-time scoring list. Maine's Gerald McLemore is the league's active leading scorer with 1,633 career points, which ranks 28th all-time. Falling just behind McLemore is Stony Brook's Bryan Dougher, who has 1,535 points and ranks 36th on the all-time list. He also ranks third all-time in three-point field goals made (322). New Hampshire's Alvin Abreu also eclipsed the 1,500-point mark recently and is 40th all-time with 1,524 career points.
Youth is Served
There is a youth movement in America East. No teams regularly start more than two seniors while Albany and Binghamton are two of nine Division I programs without a senior on its roster and Hartford gets 61% percent of its scoring from freshmen. Additionally, eight of the league's top 20 scorers are freshmen or sophomores, led by UMBC's Chase Plummer, who ranks fourth.
Pair of Coaches Make History
Two America East coaches have made history this season. First, Vermont's John Becker broke a 90-year program mark by winning his 16th game. The Cats added three more to that total, giving Becker 19 so far in his first season in Burlington, establishing a new mark for wins by a first-year head coach. The previous standard of 16 was held by Tom Keady, who won 15 games in the 1921-22 season. UNH coach Bill Herrion also made news increasing his conference win total to 149. That moved him ahead of Tom Brennan (147) and within three of Dennis Wolff (152) for the most in league history all-time.
Students First
Albany's Logan Aronhalt and Maine's Andrew Rogers both earned Academic All-District honors form CoSIDA last week. Aronhalt, a repeat choice, has a 3.78 GPA in human biology and ranks fifth in the league scoring 14.6 points per game. Rogers carries a 3.86 GPA in kinesiology and physical education and ranks sixth in assists (3.5 apg).
Back to Hartford
For the third straight season, University of Hartford will be the host of the America East Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. The tournament, which will be combined for the third straight season, will be held on March 1-4, 2012 at Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion on University of Hartford’s campus. The first, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds for both the men and women will be held at the combined tournament, while the title games will again both be held the following weekend at the site of the highest seeds remaining.
Team Notes
Albany Great Danes (17-13, 8-7 AE)
Albany, even though decimated with injury, was able to go 1-1 this past week ... With only seven players dressed, the Great Danes found a way to defeat MAAC opponent Rider, 70-61, on Saturday ... Playing Without Gerardo Suero and with Logan Aronhalt only playing nine minutes and Luke Devlin going down with an injury before the half, the Danes pushed the Catamounts all the way to the last minute before falling short, 50-47, on Wednesday ... Mike Black (Chicago, Ill./Oak Park Fenwick) the only starter remaining this season to start every game scored 16 against Vermont and 23 versus Rider ... Tallying nine assists this past week, Black now has 281 career assists which puts him 12th all-time at UAlbany ... Jacob Iati (York, Pa./York Catholic) made the most of his two starts this week scoring 29 points, recording a career-high 20 of which came on senior day against Rider, shooting 6-of-13 from behind the arc ... Blake Metcalf (Camby, Ind./Plainfield) grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, seven of which were offensive against Rider ... Albany will finish out its 2012 regular season schedule on the road against Binghamton on Thursday, Feb. 23 on ESPN 3.
Binghamton Bearcats (0-26, 0-13 AE)
Bingahmton is still searching for the team's first win after an 0-2 week. The Bearcats dropped a home game against UMBC by 14 points before suffering a narrow five-point setback at Radford in a Sears BracketBusters pool game ... The Bearcats will play two of their final three regular-season games at home this week before preparing for an America East tournament first-round game on March 1 in Hartford ... Freshman forward Ben Dickinson (Alexandria, Va./Gonzaga) averaged a double-double in the two games, contributing 11.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in just over 27 minutes of action. Dickinson reached double-figures for the 17th time this season with a team-high 14 points at Radford... Sophomore guard Robert Mansell (Philadelphia, Pa./Cheltenham) also averaged 11.0 points in the pair of games and his 14.2 scoring average leads the Bearcats ... Four of the team's top five scorers are underclassmen and its top two rebounders are freshmen ... The team's game against longtime SUNY rival Albany on Thursday will be shown on ESPN3.
Boston U. Terriers (14-15, 10-4 AE)
Boston University dropped both games last week, suffering a 56-54 loss to New Hampshire on Wednesday followed by a 69-56 loss at Loyola (Md.) on Sunday ... Facing the Wildcats, sophomore Dom Morris (Newark, Del./Friends Central) recorded his second career double-double with a career-high 17 points and game-high 12 rebounds ... Boston U. had a chance to go to overtime, but sophomore D.J. Irving's (Chester, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) runner hit the back end ... UNH grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.1 seconds left ... The Terriers then went to Loyola for their fifth appearance in the Sears BracketBusters ... Boston U. had a 4-0 record in the event but faced the America East's toughest opponent in the Greyhounds, who had an RPI ranking of 89 ... Boston U. trailed 54-50 with 5:30 remaining, and Loyola used an 8-0 spurt to run away for the win ... Senior Patrick Hazel (Jamaica, N.Y./Marquette) recorded a block to tie Rashad Bell ('05) for No. 2 all-time at Boston U. for career blocks with 114 ... Sitting in third in the America East, the Terriers will next visit UMBC on Wednesday (Feb. 22) and then conclude the regular season at home with Hartford on Saturday (Feb. 25) ... Boston U. will honor five seniors before facing the Hawks.
Hartford Hawks (8-19, 7-7 AE)
Hartford combined to outscore its opponents by 30 points to earn two wins last week, starting with a 64-50 home win against Maine on Wednesday followed by a 67-51 victory at Saint Peter's on Saturday in its Sears ESPN BracketBusters matchup ... The Hawks have now won four-straight, marking their longest win streak since the 2007-08 campaign (five games) ... A pair of rookies led Hartford in its victories as Mark Nwakamma (Leander, Texas/Leander) and Nate Sikma (Bellevue, Wash./Bellevue) averaged 16.0 and 14.5 points per game, respectively ... The duo accounted for more than half of their team's 64 points to lead the Hawks to their fifth-straight win against the Black Bears ... Sikma finished with a game-best 20 in that outing, including four three-pointers ... Hartford controlled the game from the opening tip and held on to its 13 point halftime advantage to secure the win ... Senior Andres Torres (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) combined for 14 assists in the wins, including eight against Maine, to pass former teammate Jaret von Rosenberg in the record books and move to third place in career assists (312) ... At Saint Peter's, five players shot over 50 percent to lead the Hawks to an impressive 61.9 percent effort from the floor, a season-best performance ... Nwakamma led the way with 14 points, missing just one of his nine attempts ... Hartford controlled the boards in that game, finishing with a 34-17 edge ... The Hawks have two games remaining in the regular season ... Hartford hosts Stony Brook on Tuesday for Senior Night (7 p.m.) and closes out the season at Boston University on Saturday (3 p.m.).
Maine Black Bears (11-15, 5-9 AE)
Maine fell at Hartford 64-50 and to Marist in a Sears BracketBuster contest 77-71 ... In Hartford, Xavier Pollard (Bronx, N.Y./Winchendon Prep) notched 10 points, four rebounds, two steals and a block to lead Maine ... Mike Allison (Lynden, Ontario/National Elite Development Academy) added nine points and nine rebounds...In a Sears BracketBuster matchup on Saturday Maine was meeting Marist for the first time since 1984...Allison led the way for Maine with a double-double of 12 points, 12 rebounds and a block ... Freshman Justin Edwards (Whitby, Ontario/Anderson CVI) added 12 points and three assists ... Raheem Singleton (Boston, Mass./Monroe Community College) had five assists to go with 11 points and three steals...Gerald McLemore (San Diego, Calif./Worcester Academy) notched his 11th 20-point effort of the season with 20 points on 4-for-7 shooting from long range ... Edwards has now scored in double-digits and given out at least three assists in 21 games this season ... The Black Bears play their home finale on Wednesday against New Hampshire ... Maine seniors McLemore, Singleton, Andrew Rogers (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), Svetoslav Chetinov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria/MCI) and Travon Wilcher (Springfield, Mass./UMass) will be honored before the game.
UMBC Retrievers (4-23, 3-11 AE)
UMBC's 14-point victory over Binghamton was its largest of the season and largest since a 79-50 victory at UNH in February of 2010.. The 56 points allowed is the fewest by a Retriever team since that same game... Five of UMBC's last seven victories have occurred on the road... Freshman guard Joey Getz (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) scored a season-high 12 points vs. the Bearcats and and averaged 10.3 ppg in a four-game span... Sophomore forward Chase Plummer (Plainview, N.J./St. Patrick) continued his torrid streak with 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in the 73-66 loss at Canisius... Plummer hit the 400-point mark in the season and has the fourth-most points of any sophomore in UMBC's 26-year Division I history... He has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games and is averaging 18.0 ppg in that span... UMBC will honor its lone senior, post Jake Wasco (Philadelphia, Pa./Franklin Learning Center) before the Feb. 22 home finale vs. Boston U.... Wasco has scored 129 points this season, after scoring 74 in his first three years combined... He is 20-of-30 from the floor over his last nine games... The Retrievers conclude the regular season at Vermont on Saturday and will meet Binghamton in the first round of the America East Tournament on March 1.
New Hampshire Wildcats (12-14, 6-8 AE)
New Hampshire preserved its undefeated streak with a pair of victories over Boston University (Feb. 15) and Towson (Feb. 18) in its most recent week of action ... The Wildcats, who have won four in a row including five of their last six, most recently took down Towson in a 72-58 decision at Lundholm Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon ... The last time UNH posted a four-game winning streak was during the 2005-06 campaign when the 'Cats collected victories against Hartford (Jan. 8), UMBC (Jan. 11), Stony Brook (Jan. 14) and Dartmouth (Jan. 16) ... Ferg Myrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Prep Charter) and Chandler Rhoads (Berryville, Va./Air Force Academy) shared team-high honors with 19 points apiece to help guide the 'Cats to victory ... Myrick tied his season high in scoring, earning America East Player of the Game honors, adding six boards, two boards and two blocks to his line ... He shot 6 of 13 from the floor, including an impressive 6 of 7 from the charity stripe ... Patrick Konan (Gainesville, Fla./The Rock School) chipped in with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal ... Rhoads also added four assists, two rebounds and one steal in 27 minutes ... In the game prior the Wildcats defeated the Terriers, 56-54, at Case Gymnasium on Wednesday evening ... It was the first time UNH has beaten BU on its home floor since Feb. 10, 1994 ... Myrick poured in a team-best 15 points, all in the second half to propel the Wildcats to victory ... He was named the America East Player of the Game, rounding out the contest with three boards in 27 minutes ... He shot 6 of 14 from the floor, 2 of 4 from deep and 1 of 1 from the stripe ... Rhoads and Alvin Abreu (Lynn, Mass.) rounded out UNH's double-digit scorers, notching 10 points apiece ... Rhoads also collected five rebounds and four assists ... New Hampshire returns to America East action Wednesday, Feb. 22, with a 7 p.m. game at Maine.
Stony Brook Seawolves (18-8, 12-2 AE)
Stony Brook won its only game last week in comeback fashion, beating Northeastern 76-69 after trailing by nine points with just over five minutes left in the game...the win was Stony Brook's 15th in its last 17 games and helped even its non-conference record to 6-6...it was Stony Brook's first win over Northeastern since Feb. 5, 2003, snapping a five-game skid to the Huskies...Stony Brook is now 1-1 in games scheduled through Sears BracketBusters...the Seawolves had lost to Manhattan last season...a 17-2 run in the final minutes of the game helped secure the win for the Seawolves...junior Tommy Brenton (Columbia, Md.) played a large role in it with timely steals and baskets...he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks...of his seven rebounds, five were on the offensive glass...he leads America East in offensive rebounding at 3.1 per game...sophomore Dave Coley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had a game-high 21 points and also had timely baskets...he stole the in-bound pass with less than 2 seconds left before halftime and sank an off-balance buzzer-beating jumper to tie the game at 35-35...he had a three-pointer during SBU's game-winning 17-2 run and sank 6-of-6 free throw attempts in the final minute to ice the victory...the 21 points matched a career high...senior Dallis Joyner (Norfolk, Va.) posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds...Stony Brook will play at Hartford Tuesday and host Maine Sunday live on CBS Sports Network...wins in both games will clinch at least a share of the America East regular season title for the second time in three years.
Vermont Catamounts (19-10, 12-2 AE)
Vermont won a pair of games last week and is riding a 10-game winning streak heading into the final week of America East play … The Catamounts opened the week with a 50-47 win at Albany on Wednesday … The 47 points are the fewest that the Catamounts have given up this season and it marked a second straight game that they held an opponent to under 50 points (Stony Brook) … The Cats have earned season sweeps over Boston U, Hartford, Maine and now Albany … Vermont followed that up with a 92-70 win at home over Niagara on Saturday as part of the Sears BracketBusters series … Freshman Four McGlynn (York, Pa./Dallastown) led five Cats in double figures with 20 points on six made 3-pointers, while sophomore Clancy Rugg (Burlington, Vt./Burlington/NMH) earned his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds … The 92 points were a season-high for the Catamounts who shot 55.2 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Purple Eagles 42-22 … McGlynn’s six 3's are the most for a Catamount since Matt Glass (Underhill Center, Vt./NMH/UMass) hit six from long range last season against eventual national champion UConn … Saturday marked the fifth, 20-point game for McGlynn this season … 13 of UVM's 19 wins this season have been by double figures … The Catamounts have won their last eight home games … UVM returns to action this week with a game at Binghamton (Tue. 7 p.m.) and wraps up the regular season at home on Saturday when it hosts UMBC as part of Senior Day for Glass and Pat Bergmann (Burlington, Vt./Rice).