The ECC and CACC championships capped the conference tournament action on Sunday, setting the stage for the NCAA East Regional next weekend. We kick off the recap with a classic in Connecticut:
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 97 MOLLOY 86 (OT)
Charlie Marquardt exploded for a career-high, program-best, conference record and regional season-high 51 points, but it wasn’t enough for Molloy, which lost a devastating ECC Tournament title game to top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgeport, coming achingly close to its first NCAA Tournament bid. The senior guard – who shot 14-for-25 from the floor, 8-of-17 from long range and a perfect 15-for-15 from the foul line – closes out his terrific career with the region’s highest-scoring individual outing since Holy Family’s Michael Sturns amassed 51 at New York Institute of Technology on February 2, 2008. The son and namesake of the team’s head coach accumulated 28 of his team’s 38 points by halftime and amazingly became the first player on record in the East Region to earn Most Valuable Player on a team that did not win the tournament (It simply was impossible to deny his eye-popping 83 points in two days). Justin Reyes had a terrific day at the office, himself, spearheading the STAC attack with 26 points (10-18 FG), 14 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead five in double figures as the Spartans repeated as regular-season and tourney champs with their sixth straight triumph. Trailing 70-57 with under seven minutes to play in regulation, Marquardt racked up 13 points during a 23-9 run as his Lions edged in front, 80-79, with 1:16 left. Reyes split a pair at the stripe 28 seconds later to knot the count, and Marquardt nearly played the hero at the end of regulation as a blocked shot by teammate Curtis Jenkins (10 points) led to a leak-out for the coach’s son, who took a couple of hard dribbles and launched a potential winning shot from well behind the top of the key that came up short as time expired, necessitating the extra session. Two Marquardt free throws six seconds into the OT gave Molloy its final lead of the afternoon as Shaq McFarlan (18 points, 6-8 FG, seven rebounds off the bench) converted a go-ahead “And-1” that sparked a game-defining 12-0 surge and put Aquinas ahead to stay, 92-82 with 1:02 remaining. The Spartans – who also landed Aaron Cust (16 points, 7-11 FG), James Mitchell (13) and Chaz Watler (12) in double figures – drained five of six at the stripe over the last 45 seconds to seal the deal. Jaylen Morris chimed in with 12 points in his final collegiate game for Molloy, which was outscored 56-36 in the paint and saw a five-game win streak snapped, falling to STAC for the third time in three meetings in three different venues this season.
HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE:
Seven other regional players have registered at least 50 points in a game since 1990: Sacred Heart’s Darrin Robinson hung 55 on Husson College on December 6, 1991, Philadelphia’s Tayron Thomas racked up 53 vs. Presbyterian (SC) at the Disney Tip-Off Classic in Orlando on November 13, 2005, St. Anselm’s Todd Manuel hung 52 on Bentley on January 3, 2002, Mercy’s Derrick Henry also erupted for 52 vs. Assumption on November 27, 1995, Bloomfield's Andre Dabney notched 50 against in a double-overtime win vs. Dominican on February 9, 2006 and Teikyo-Post's Ron Christy also dropped 50 on February 13, 2003 vs. Nyack. One man actually achieved the feat twice - and in the same season: Quinnipiac's Rick Barry (no relation to the Hall of Fame NBA star) exploded for 53 points in a triple-overtime game against Southern Connecticut on December 8, 1994, then rang up 51 vs. Bentley on February 1, 1995. The all-time record for the region belongs to another Quinnipiac Brave: Frank Vieira, who dumped 68 points on Brooklyn Poly in 1957 before turning his attention to baseball as New Haven’s head coach. The previous individual high in the region this season occurred just nine days earlier in Garden City as Bentley's Ryan Richmond totaled a school-record 45 points in a playoff loss to Adelphi, bettering the Panthers' Michael Coffey by a single point that night.
BLOOMFIELD 69 DOMINICAN 56
Tourney MVP Marcus Fleming stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and career-best seven steals in leading Bloomfield past Dominican in Caldwell for its fourth straight triumph and record seventh CACC championship. A 15-4 run – powered by Fleming’s two foul shots, steal, lay-up and 3-pointer – put the Bears in front to stay at 23-13 with 4:51 to go. Then, an 11-0 upswing in the second half expanded a 54-48 advantage to 65-48 following a Rakwan Kelly lay-up with 3:51 on the clock, effectively ending the drama as the Chargers came no closer than 12 points down the stretch. Kelly double-doubled with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Nick Davidson generated 11 points for Bloomfield, which scored more than twice as often at the foul line (23-30 to 11-17) and outscored its North Division rivals 17-1 off turnovers. Daniel Grant was high man for Dominican with 14 points and six rebounds, while Gerrel Irvin recorded 12 points and 14 boards in defeat. Both teams displayed an ice-cold shooting touch (BC 37%, DC 30%), especially from beyond the arc (BC 2-12, DC 3-24) in their second-ever championship game clash (The Bears also prevailed in 2006). The Chargers – whose season comes to an end – stayed in touch most of the afternoon on the strength of a 55-42 rebounding edge, including a 21-8 advantage on the offensive end, leading to a 19-8 second-chance scoring boon.
THE NCAA FIELD IS SET
For the first time since 1969, Le Moyne College will host an NCAA regional, receiving the #1 seed on Sunday evening in what amounts to an NE10 invitational with a maximum six conference clubs participating in the eight-team field. The Dolphins will take on league rival and eight seed Merrimack next Saturday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals against the survivor of the 4-5 game between NE10 Champion St. Anselm and two-time ECC champ St. Thomas Aquinas - a rematch from last year's semifinal round. The other side of the bracket pits third-seeded Saint Rose and six-seed and CACC Tournament champ Bloomfield, with second-seeded Southern New Hampshire squaring off against fellow NE10 and NECC foe Southern Connecticut, which grabbed the seven seed. All four quarterfinal games will be played Saturday at the Henninger Athletic Center with the semifinals Sunday night and the regional championship game slated for a week from Tuesday.