Checking in on… the America East
Posted by jstevrtc on January 28th, 2010
Michael Hurley is the RTC correspondent for the America East Conference.
America East Standings (conf/over):
- Maine 5-1 13-6
- Stony Brook 6-2 14-7
- Boston University 6-2 11-9
- Vermont 5-2 14-7
- Binghamton 3-3 8-13
- Hartford 3-4 5-15
- New Hampshire 2-4 7-10
- Albany 1-6 6-16
- UMBC 0-7 1-19
Hottest Team — Maine
Maine has won five straight since the loss at Vermont. The Black Bears now have sole possession of first place.
Stud Player– Gerald McLemore, soph. G – 24 PPG in two wins away from home. McLemore is really coming into his own including a 7-11 night from downtown against Hartford. He is helping Maine get off to a great start.
Thoughts on the AE
Two teams received votes in the most recent mid-major top 25 poll, while another is off to their best start since joining the league in 2001-02. There is still one team looking for their first victory.
Team Notes
Maine is playing their best ball in years. They have won five straight, eight out of their last nine, and ten out of their last 12. Sophomore Gerald McLemore shined in the most recent game out finishing with a career high 27. McLemore shot 7-11 from downtown in helping the Black Bears beat Hartford. Terrance Mitchell played great off the bench, scoring 17 points. As a team the Black Bears shot 12-18 from three-point range. McLemore is starting to heat up — in the previous game at Albany he scored 21 points. Mitchell has also developed a scoring touch, hitting double-digits in points in his last six games.
Stony Brook is sitting in second place in the league at 6-2. They are the only team to knock off both Boston University and Vermont, and did so on the road in both games. At UVM last week Bryan Dougher scored 20 points to help the Seawolves win. Stony Brook followed that up with a win over Albany. Freshman Marcus Rouse led the way with 17 points while Tommy Brenton added 14. Their combined 31 points came on a combined 13-for-15 shooting.
Boston University has won seven of eight, with the only blemish at Vermont. They fell behind early by a lot against the Catamounts and were never able to cut into the lead very much at all, losing 78-58. The Terriers have followed that up with two big wins. They beat Albany by 21, then followed it up with an 18 point win over UMBC. John Holland scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds while sophomore Jake O’Brien added 18 points. It was the first team BU had swept this year. Holland and O’Brien had big games in that one, too, with 21 and 19 points, respectively. Carlos Strong also added six three-pointers for 18 points. The team as a whole hit 16 long balls setting a school record. The offense is clicking and averaging over 70 PPG, good for first in the league.
Vermont started off the conference schedule with five straight wins, all with margins of eight or more. The Catamounts were beating their America East foes by an average of 14+ points a game. They have since hit a wall in losses to Stony Brook and Binghamton. In the loss to Binghamton, Vermont was led by guard Maurice Joseph, who scored 29 points. Marqus Blakely had his second straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Binghamton is the ultimate surprise so far halfway through the year. They lost at Hartford by one, 64-63, then bounced back well with a win over Vermont. Eight of the Bearcats’ 22 games have had differentials of five points or less this year. Vermont had no answer for Binghamton’s Greer Wright in the game. Wright scored 30 points and pulled down ten rebounds for the Bearcats. The Bearcats should also be proud of hitting 10-for-12 from the foul line.
Hartford is only 3-4 in league play this year including, most recently, a 77-69 loss at home against Maine last week. Charles White and Joe Zeglinski led the way with 18 points and Morgan Sabia added 16 points.
New Hampshire played four of their first six league games on the road and were only victorious in one of them. The last game was against winless UMBC and the Wildcats managed to come out on top by a slim margin, 62-58. Alvin Abreu played especially well, scoring 22 points for New Hampshire.
Albany is lucky that UMBC is in the league or else they would be sitting at the bottom. The Great Danes’ lone victory came at the hands of UMBC. They have lost their last three to Boston University, Maine, and Stony Brook, admittedly the top three teams in the league. Luckily they are playing Hartford at home on Wednesday. Hartford and UMBC are the only teams who are worse on the road than Albany (Hartford is 1-10 currently on the road). Tim Ambrose and Will Harris are still the only players who can score for the Great Danes. Both players are averaging over 14 PPG, while not a single other player is averaging even six points a game.
UMBC still is looking for their second victory on the season and their first in conference. They are currently in the midst of a ten-game losing streak. It seems their best shot will be when they host Albany in the second weekend of February. They did come within four points in that loss against UNH last week.
