Rush The Court

Ray Floriani of College Chalktalk is the RTC correspondent for the NEC and MAAC conferences.

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – The Northeast Conference report reaches out to the present, and recent past.
 
Standings as of Friday January 23, 2009

1. Robert Morris  7-1
2. Mount St.Mary’s  5-3
3. LIU    5-3
4. Central Connecticut 4-4
5. Quinnipiac   4-4
6. Sacred Heart   4-4
7. FDU    4-4
8. Monmouth    4-4
9. Wagner   3-5
10. St. Francis (NY)   3-5
11. St. Francis (PA)  1-7

Co-Players  of the Week :

• Jeremy Chappell, Robert Morris. The 6-3 senior guard earned the honors, averaging 19 points and 6 rebounds in wins over Central Connecticut and Wagner.
• Jeremy Goode, Mt.St.Mary’s.  Goode shares the award for a week that saw him average 18 points and 4.5 assists. In addition the 5-9 guard averaged 4.5 boards during that stretch. 

Rookie of the Week. Travis Taylor, Monmouth. For the 6-7 freshman, 13 was lucky. He scored 13 points in a win over Quinnipiac which marked the 13th time this season Taylor hit double figures in scoring.

NEC Tidbits:

• Milestone: Central Connecticut coach Howie Dickenman picked up his 200th career victory in a recent win at St. Francis(PA). Dickenman is second in the school win list behind Bill Detrick who had 458 victories from 1959-88.
• The Nutmeg drought: Prior to recent wins over Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac and Central Connecticut, Monmouth had lost 10 straight games to schools hailing from the state of Connecticut. The last win had been a triumph at Central Connecticut in the 2006 NEC semifinals.
• Speaking of Monmouth…A reason for the late surge by the Hawks is the play of the freshmen led by the aforementioned Travis Taylor.  Frosh have accounted for 40% of Monmouth’s point output and as they have gained experience and matured, Dave Calloway’s team has improved.
•  Mount St.Mary’s is picking up steam. The Mountaineers shoot over 40% from three point range.  Sophomore guard Jean Cajou has shown he can fill it up but , most importantly, he is a stopper on the defensive end.
•  Wagner’s ‘Western swing’ brought mixed results. The Seahawks stopped St. Francis(PA) 76-68 before being dominated 104-56 by Robert Morris. It was the fourth largest margin of defeat in NEC history.  
• Robert Morris is beginning to separate themselves as the conference team to beat. As noted Jeremy Chappell has been a major factor. On a given night one of many players on Mike Rice’s roster can do damage as the Colonials have had 10 different players reach double figures in scoring this season. As expected, the rest of the race is up for grabs. Standings show the team theoretically in eighth place (five way tie for fourth) is one game out of second.