Posted: Jan 13, 2023
By Chris Granozio
Random thoughts from the past seven days, during which I saw games at Mercy, Assumption, Staten Island, St. Anselm, Southern New Hampshire, Bentley and Stony Brook (not to mention work another in a series of Long Island Nets G League games). Here is a chronological account:
- Mercy puts on a terrific show, with a well-produced starting lineup video and skillful music/public address by Joe Tribuzio, who blends dramatic music with inspirational clips from movie like “Hoosiers” and “We Are Marshall.” The talented singer/musician even uses a percussion pad to create on-the-fly crowd prompters. Very entertaining stuff! The Neil Judge Student Athlete Center inside Victory Hall isn’t spacious, but it’s clean, loud and exquisitely branded. Sports Information Director Kyle Goodhart is always super accommodating and the experience is consistently a pleasurable one.
- The game between the Mavericks and Roberts Wesleyan went overtime, with the visiting Redhawks batting from behind to prevail. But just before the end of regulation, I witnessed something for the first time in over two-thousand live college games. Mercy was putting the ball in play with under a minute left, but the inbounder – Sean Smith, Jr. – slipped on a wet spot while his pass was stolen by the defender on the baseline, who laid in the go-ahead basket. Yet the official waved off the field goal, stating that the reason for the steal was that the player slipped on some sweat that had not been cleaned up. I don’t know if that was the proper call (I’ve never seen points taken off the board in a “do-over” scenario, but I know the referee made it with fairness in mind). But ultimately, it was moot as Roberts won in OT anyway.
- Roberts Wesleyan has a Ryan Hudson, Ryan Garwood and Rian Carter in its rotation.
- Mercy became the second ECC team this season to struggle through an 0-5 homestand. The other was Queens.
- On Saturday, ALL SEVEN NE-10 road teams earned victories, which, to my knowledge, is the first time that has happened since the league expanded beyond 10 in 2000. That included Southern Connecticut outlasting Assumption for its eighth of nine straight wins – its longest such hot streak in the Scotty Burrell era. It was my first look at the Owls, whom I mentioned in last week’s column as receiving contributions from so many players, and who fit together nicely. At 12-4, the Owls are off to their best start since Burrell’s first season of 2015-16, when they started 15-3 en route to 22 wins and an NCAA Tournament berth. Southern will be battle-tested in its next six league games with formidable foes New Haven, Le Moyne, St. Anselm, Southern New Hampshire, Bentley and Pace populating the schedule.
- Laska Gym in Worcester remains one of my absolute favorite gyms to visit (Later in the season, I’ll be formulating a new list for the first time in roughly 15 years). But the athletic department needs to do something about the outdated conference members painted on the window screens. I can somewhat understand Stonehill and Merrimack – two recent NEC defectors – being listed, but UMass-Lowell? The River Hawks joined the D1 ranks TEN YEARS AGO! I realize changes like this are budgetary matters and it’s certainly not my money to spend, but from an optics standpoint, it’s borderline embarrassing and not worthy of such a D2 palace!
- Sunday was blowout central for all four ECC home teams, though the game at Staten Island saw the home team pull away late from fellow D2 newcomer D’Youville. “The Tank” is one of my favorite places to watch a game, and head coach T.J. Tibbs couldn’t be a nicer host, making a special trip down the table to shake my hand and welcome me to the game. Same with his team, which fist-pumps everyone at the table pregame. Class acts, all. Also enjoyed meeting new Athletics Director Chase Licata, who came from St. Francis (Brooklyn) and has some grand plans for his program, as well as regional basketball, in general.
- On Monday, I was “chillin’ and billin’,” working the sound board at the Long Island Nets game at the Islanders’ old home: the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Looking up at Dr. J’s jersey, as well as the old New York Nets’ two ABA Championship banners from 1974 and 1976 brought back some early childhood sports memories. By the way, the LI Nets are now 5-0 in the games I work. Just sayin’.
- Monday afforded me a rare opportunity to watch an NE10 men’s doubleheader in two arenas! I broadcast the Le Moyne-St. Anselm game at Stoutenburgh Gym with my website partner, Steve Zerdelian, and the Hawks shot a sizzling 14-26 from 3-point range, plus outscored the Dolphins 22-1 at the line to prevail. The newcomer who stood out the most to me was St. A’s transfer guard Jadon Archer, who came off the bench to contribute nine points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals in just 19 minutes. Tyler Arbuckle tossed in 17 points and whistled for three fouls – exactly half the Hawks’ team total! Isaiah Salter had the hot hand for Le Moyne with a season-high 21 points - five off his career best, which he set on the same floor four years earler while playing for AIC.
- After finishing the postgame, I packed up the equipment, put it on the team bus and high-tailed it across the river to Southern New Hampshire, where I saw the Penmen hammer New Haven in a shocking blowout, 80-52. There must’ve been something in the Manchester water that night as SNHU connected on 18 of 34 from beyond the arc – one trey shy of a program record, including a 70-foot heave at the halftime buzzer by Ethan Okwuosa that hit nothing but the bottom of the net: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnQqdg7II5b/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=cc409bc0-4c6e-4f88-b217-9bbd98756512.'
- Jordan Brathwaite led the hosts with a career-high 24 points on perfect 9-9 shooting – six of the shots from distance as the Penmen racked up their fifth straight win. For New Haven, the loss came just three days after another trip to Manchester with the polar opposite result – a defensive gem against St. Anselm – previously unbeaten at home. It was the Chargers’ first win at Stoutenburgh Gym since January 7, 2015.
- Special thanks to loyal reader and D2 superfan Tim Lowe for treating me to a deluxe car wash prior to the game. It pays to have good friends across the region!
- After the games in New Hampshire, I made a short jaunt to the great state of Maine, where the following day, I sat in on my good friend Scott Fried’s class at Colby College, then drove back down to Waltham, Mass to get my annual trip to Bentley on the books. The Falcons, who have won a region-best 11 straight and 21 in a row at home – still good for fifth longest in all of D2 – had some defensive struggles against Assumption, but the region’s most efficient offense was up for the challenge, holding off the pesky Greyhounds in the series’ 90th all-time meeting, 77-73. Even though I stated in this space last week that I believe New Haven’s Majur Majak is Player of the Year in the NE10, redshirt sophomore Zach Laput is the most complete all-around player in the entire region, with no apparent weakness in his game. One-and-done grad transfer Matt Leritz – a former D3 All-America at Illinois Wesleyan – has seamlessly slid right into Jay Lawson’s lineup and kept Bentley amongst the elite programs in the country. Isiah Gaiter pumped in a personal-best 28 points in a losing effort.
- The game saw both teams knock down a mere five 3-pointers each (about half their averages) but each side was virtually unstoppable inside the arc (BU 65%, AU 69%), doing most of their damage right around the basket. Assumption has now lost six games by six or fewer points, while District of Columbia of the East Coast Conference has everyone beat, dropping eight such games, half of them by a single possession.
- The Falcons have been locked into the #14 spot of the NABC Top 25 Coaches’ Poll the past three weeks, best in the region, Dominican held steady at #16 while St. Thomas Aquinas ascended three spots to #18. Pace and New Haven are receiving votes while IUP (PA) – the best team I’ve seen all year – remains undefeated and #1 overall.
- Last night, there were no D2 games in the region – but did that stop me? Hell, no! I drove through a monsoon to Long Island and saw a great Colonial Athletic Association game between Drexel and host Stony Brook. The Seawolves were actually a part of this region's landscape for four years (1995-99) as members of the now-defunct New England Collegiate Conference while they transitioned from D3 to D1, and they won a squeaker last night, 68-67. It was the first time I had been inside the building now known as Island Federal Arena since I broadcast three Le Moyne games there in the mid-1990s, long before its 2012 renovation, which has transformed the arena into one of the best among the mid-majors. It was great to see my old buddy, Mike Tuberosa, formerly the Le Moyne SID during those same years of 1995-99, and who has been with the Dragons for over two decades now, currently serving as Associate Athletic Director for Athletic Communications.
- Tonight, I kick off a busy weekend with a CACC contest (the only game on the Friday regional slate) in Jersey City between Alliance and Wilmington. Saturday is a big doubleheader between Southern New Hampshire and Le Moyne in Syracuse, then it’s down to Philadelphia with the wife to watch the Bloomfield-Jefferson twin bill. After that, it’s back upstate to Rochester for my one trip to Roberts Wesleyan this season (they play UDC). The rest of the week, I’ll be at Georgian Court Tuesday, Southern Connecticut Wednesday and Hofstra Thursday. Yes, I’m insane, but at least the weather has been more than cooperative!
Some News and Notes from the week that was:
- Congratulations to Dominican Head Coach Joe Clinton, who earned his 500th win with the program on Saturday vs. Wilmington, 73-67. It was the Wildcats’ eighth straight game decided by one or two possessions – a streak that was snapped (albeit just barely) in its following outing vs. Georgian Court: 93-86. Dominican and Rockland County neighbor St. Thomas Aquinas each have 15 wins to pace the East Region, with 11 of DC’s 15 wins remarkably coming by six points or fewer.
- Two other veteran mentors are also closing in on major milestones as Keith Dickson stands at 692 wins and his former University of New Hampshire teammate Jay Lawson has 598 at Bentley.
- On the other side of the ledger, two of the three teams that had not experienced a league victory heading into last weekend claimed their initial triumphs on Saturday. One was guaranteed as winless Holy Family and Felician played in the City of Brotherly Love, with the host Tigers emerging on top. Adelphi also won easily at Saint Rose, leaving only the depleted Golden Falcons without a league “W.” If their fortunes don’t reverse, they will become only the second defending CACC Tournament champion that failed to qualify for the league tournament the following season. Holy Family was the first to achieve that dubious distinction, going from 26-6 and hosting the NCAA Regional in 2016 to 11-17 and finishing fifth in the CACC South a year later.
- Speaking of the CACC South, how ‘bout those first-place Georgian Court Lions? Not only has Terrence Stewart thrust his hat into the ring for strong Coach of the Year consideration (Clinton may be his only true challenger at this stage), he has led the Lions to four straight road wins (a team record for most ever and most in succession) and nine overall victories, tying his 2019-20 club. Their next win will put the region’s youngest program at double figures in the win column for the first time.
- Molloy wrapped up its ambitious non-conference slate at 1-10, but not to worry, you other Lions fans… at 5-1 in the East Coast Conference, your team is just a game off the pace, and hasn’t even played either of its head-to-head match-ups with first-place STAC yet.
- Goldey-Beacom snapped a four-game slide in impressive fashion, rallying to stun Caldwell on the road before building on that three days later with an impressive conquest of perennial division power Jefferson in Delaware. The CACC South is as open as we’ve ever seen it.
- After suffering its worst loss in decades to Cheyney last Saturday, Queens welcomed back Sunnie Diamond to the starting lineup after an injury in a much-needed win vs. Staten Island in a battle of CUNY schools in Flushing, applying the brakes to a rough, six-game skid. The player who I think is the most talented in the ECC stuffed the stat sheet with 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots. He, along with William Ellis (who has missed the last eight games to an injury) and lefty point guard Dion Herrington (out for five) have left big holes that – if they ever get filled – will make the Knights dangerous down the stretch. Getting the glittering Diamond back is step #1 in that quest.
- Despite an eight-game winning streak, very little has come easily for Pace, whose last six wins have come by a grand total of 16 points. The Setters have also played four overtime periods in their last four outings, thwarting upset-minded American International in double OT in a Pleasantville nail-biter on Tuesday. It was the two teams’ second straight one-point OT thriller dating back to last February – a game in which AIC mysteriously gave a foul after having tied the game with under three seconds left. Too bad these two clubs only play once this year because their clashes are clearly of the must-see variety!
- And lastly, Daemen has answered the question: Which way will they go after losing that devastating game at league rival St. Thomas Aquinas on December 9? – a game which the Wildcats led by 10 with under three-and-a-half minutes remaining and were outscored 12-0 the rest of the way. Well, Mike MacDonald’s troops didn’t lick its wounds… they rattled off seven wins in their next eight games – the only setback being a 66-60 game at regional power Pace. Daemen may not be as flashy as it was during Andrew Sischo’s reign of terror, but the team's perseverance and commitment to defense has made it a team to watch closely over the final weeks.
I was sorting through the thousands of pictures on my phone the other day and the thought came to me: if anyone wants copies of any of my game photos from any event I’ve seen over the past six years, just say the word and they’re yours. I also have several video snipets.
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