Random notes on a basketball season
By Chris Granozio
There were only a handful of games on Thursday, but two results were eye-openers. Southern New Hampshire – playing without point guard Jacari Sanders – turned aside previously-undefeated Dominican in a foul-plagued game at the Hennessy Center. Meanwhile, across the Hudson River in Pleasantville, Felician handed Pace a second stunner of a loss in five days, sandwiching an impressive defensive performance in an NE10 road win vs. Adelphi. Dee-End McRae was the hero down the stretch for the Golden Falcons with two huge hoops in the final minute.
These are the latest in a series of early-season results that illustrate the fickle nature of the East Region’s teams. They are crabs in a barrell… when one or two climb to the top, other crabs pull them down and new ones emerge. I’m sure this will all sort itself out in the wash by march, but the way things look right now, no team is a clear favorite or lead dog as far more teams than I expected are still attempting to establish an identity. Stay tuned!
Despite their step backwards, Dominican remains the lone regional representative to be ranked in the NABC’s Top 25, vaulting 10 spots to #14, while Pace (along with Stonehill) is still receiving votes. At 6-1, Bentley appears to be the most experienced, most stable club at the moment, although the Falcons are not at full strength at the moment.
On the same night upstate in Syracuse, Le Moyne lost to former Mideast Collegiate Conference rival and third-ranked Mercyhurst for just the second time in 18 lifetime meetings, and first time in Syracuse in 11 tries. On the sidelines were former UMass-Lowell Head Coach Gary Manchell and assistant Tom O’Shea, formerly of St. Michael’s. His son, Joe O’Shea is now an assistant at St. Anselm.
Southern Connecticut Head Coach Scotty Burrell has joined his wife Jeane Coakley as a media mogul. The latter has been the New York Jets beat reporter at SportsNet New York, and the coach has since joined the YES network as a commentator during the Brooklyn Nets Pregame Show. On one particular night, the two were actually on the air simultaneously!
Not sure I’ve ever seen a team whistled for just five fouls in a game, but that was exactly the scenario for Felician in its home game vs. fellow North Jersey rival Bloomfield on December 1.
Speaking of the Bears, their loss at St. Thomas Aquinas last Saturday represented the first time in the last five meetings in which the home team has earned a rare home win in the series.
How about what Georgian Court is doing? Despite losing 10 players to suspension, the Lions – suiting up just six players including walk-ons and last-minute “stringers” – earned wins against Mercy and Holy Family, the latter on the road.
As of today, three Philadelphia schools – Jefferson, Chestnut Hill and University of the Sciences – are tied for first in the CACC South with perfect 2-0 league records.
Wednesday night, in its league opener at Mercy, St. Thomas Aquinas saw all five starters log exactly 20 minutes apiece. Three reserves also played exactly half the game as Tobin Anderson employed a 5-for-5 substitution pattern.
Mercy Head Coach Michael Maczko is a smart coach with a fine pedigree, but expecting his teams to seriously contend with the limitations imposed on him and his staff is sheer folly. I mean, can we get this dude some scholarships for once???
Correction on my previous post regarding St. Anselm becoming the first team to put 70 on the scoreboard against Stonehill. Caldwell actually defeated the Skyhawks, 74-69, opening weekend at the Newman Center. I looked at the wrong column. Doh!
Congrats to the College of Staten Island. Four days after stunning Pace for its first win as a D2 institution, the Dolphins bumped off Queens in Flushing for their first East Coast Conference triumph. The game was the first ever between two members of the City University of New York (CUNY) system at the D2 level.
And it’s in the East Coast Conference where we start a three-part series over the coming weeks detailing the names of the venues where the region’s basketball teams play their games, and – where appropriate – the very court on which they play. Here they are in alphabetical order:
Bridgeport: Harvey Hubbell Gym – named after the inventor, entrepreneur and industrialist who founded Hubbell Incorporated in Bridgeport, which is still up and running. The court bears the name of legendary coach Bruce Webster, who guided the Purple Knights to 549 wins, five regional titles and a pair of national champion games over his 34 seasons.
Daemen: Lumsden Gym – named after Charles L. Lumsden and his wife Gloria, who were benefactors of the college’s athletics department.
District of Columbia: UDC Sports Complex – yawn.
D’Youville: College Center Gym – not to be confused with the College Left Gym or College Right Gym.
Mercy: Victory Gym – named after the ultimate goal of all athletic endeavors.
Molloy: Quealy Gym – honoring Monsignor Peter Quealy, who was a source of encouragement when the school was founded in 1955 as Molloy Catholic College for Women.
Queens: Fitzgerald Gym – named after Maurice Fitzgerald, the late Queens Borough President who supported the construction of the facility in 1958. The court is dedicated to Lucille Kyvallos, the trailblazing coach and early Title IX advocate who piloted the then-Division I Knights as they, along with Immaculata, became the first women’s teams to play in Madison Square Garden in 1975.
Roberts Wesleyan: Voller Center – dedicated to the school’s president, Woody Voller, and his wife, Beth in 1965.
Staten Island: Sports and Recreation Center – as generic as it gets.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Aquinas Hall is an offshoot of the college’s namesake, a highly influential and revered priest, philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism.
Next week, we’ll learn about the CACC namesakes. Until then, Happy Hooping to All!