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NEC Player of the Week: Isaiah Blackmom, SFU
NEC Rookie of the Week: Rasheem Dunn, SFBK
Previous NEC Releases: January 23 | January 16 | January 9 | January 2 | December 26 | December 19 | December 12 | December 5 | November 28 | November 21 | November 14 | Preseason Poll Release | Preseason All-NEC Release | NEC-TV Release
NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Isaiah Blackmon, Saint Francis U
6’1”, 170 lbs.
So, G, Charlotte, NC/West Charlotte
Blackmon not only had a big week numbers-wise, but delivered for Saint Francis U when it mattered most in a pair of wins that lifted the Red Flash’s NEC record to 6-4 on the year. Blackmon put up 22.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, and did not commit a turnover in 68 minutes of play. He shot 63.0 percent from the field, including a scorching 80.0 percent from three-point range, drilling 8-10 shots from beyond the arc. In Thursday’s 72-67 win at Wagner, he hit all six of his second half shots and scored seven straight points over the last 2+ minutes, culminating with a layup with 18 seconds to play that gave the Flash a three-point edge. Blackmon finished with a game and career-high 25 points on 10-14 shooting, including 4-5 from downtown. He added five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. In Saturday’s rivalry game with Robert Morris, the Charlotte, NC native scored eight points in overtime and hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in an 89-83 SFU victory. Blackmon tied for game-scoring honors with 20 points and once again hit 4-5 shots from distance. The NEC’s leading long range shooter is now hitting at a 51.5 percent rate from three-point territory on the year and is averaging 12.9 ppg for the Red Flash. In league play he leads SFU with 16.7 ppg and has hit 17-28 (.607) from long range.
NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Rasheem Dunn, St. Francis Brooklyn
6’2”, 180 lbs.
Fr., G, Brooklyn, NY/Thomas Jefferson
In winning his third NEC Rookie of the Week honor of the season, Dunn stuffed the stat sheet in a pair of close setbacks for the Terriers. He averaged 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.0 steals and committed just one turnover 77 minutes of play. Dunn paced the Terriers with 20 points - including 3-7 shots from outside the arc - and added seven boards, five assists and three steals against Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. Two days later he finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and hit 9-11 from the line in a two-point loss at Wagner. Dunn has scored 20 or more points six times this season and is the NEC’s second-leading freshman scorer at 13.6 ppg. He is also tied for fourth in the conference with 1.6 spg.
NEC PRIME PERFORMERS
Nisre Zouzoua (BRY, So, G)
Zouzoua hit a dramatic pull-up jumper in the waning seconds of overtime on Saturday to give Bryant a 73-72 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday. On the week, the NEC’s leading scorer averaged 24.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg and shot 91.7 percent from the line.
Stephan Jiggetts (FDU, Jr, G)
Jiggetts paced the second place Knights with 19.5 ppg and 3.0 apg last week. He hit all 13 of his free throw attempts. Jiggetts dropped a career-high 28 points in FDU’s 79-73 win at St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday, scoring the last nine points of the game for the Knights.
Jerome Frink (LIU, Sr, F)
Frink posted two more double-doubles last week to give him an NEC-best 11 on the year. Frink averaged 14.0 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.5 spg and shot 50.0 percent from the floor.
Josh Nebo (SFU, So, F)
Nebo continues to produce for the Red Flash on both ends of the floor. Last week he chipped in with 13.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 4.5 bpg, while hitting 52.2 percent of his shot attempts. Nebo recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks in SFU’s overtime win over Robert Morris on Saturday. It was his fourth double-double of the year.
Michael Carey (WC, Sr, F)
Carey averaged 12.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg and 3.0 apg for Wagner in last week’s split. He posted his seventh double-double of the season in Saturday’s win over St. Francis Brooklyn, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
(MORE THAN) HALFWAY HOME, MOUNT SITS ATOP NEC PERCH
We’ve crossed the halfway point of the NEC regular season and the race for the regular season championship, a top-four spot and one of the eight NEC Tournament berths is starting to heat up.
So where do we stand now versus where the teams were predicted by the head coaches back in October?
Preseason Predictions Current Standings
1. Fairleigh Dickinson (6) 1. Mount St. Mary’s (9-1)
2. Wagner (4) 2. Fairleigh Dickinson (8-2)
3. Bryant 3. LIU Brooklyn (7-3)
4. LIU Brooklyn 4. Saint Francis U (6-4)
Mount St. Mary’s 5. Wagner (5-5)
6. Robert Morris Bryant (5-5)
7. St. Francis Brooklyn 7. Sacred Heart (3-7)
8. Sacred Heart Robert Morris (3-7)
9. Saint Francis U 9. Central Connecticut (2-8)
10. Central Connecticut St. Francis Brooklyn (2-8)
While NEC coaches have proven to be unreliable prognosticators in year’s past, this season sees a stronger correlation between the preseason picks made in October and where the 10 teams line up heading into the final month of the regular season.
Preseason favorite Fairleigh Dickinson is just one game behind Mount St. Mary’s at the top of the league standings. The Mount tied for fourth in the preseason poll, but has raced out to a program-vest 9-1 start in conference play, including a pair of wins last week over Robert Morris and Sacred Heart.
The Mount’s seven game win streak is its longest since winning nine in a row in 2012-13 and leaves the team just one victory shy of clinching a winning record in NEC play for a fifth consecutive season. Mount St. Mary’s entered the 2016-17 campaign as the lone team in the conference with four consecutive winning seasons in league play.
On Thursday, the Mount won a nailbiter on national TV over longtime rival Robert Morris. The CBS Sports Network game featured some shaky shooting from the field and at the line for both teams, but in the end, the Mountaineers made the key stop on the final possession for the 48-47 win.
“We’re going to get into one of these [NEC] tournament games ... and it’s going to be a game like this,” head coach Jamion Christian said. “We talk about it all year, about getting into a six-minute game and being able to take care of the basketball. And those things are really important.”
The Mount produced 13 stops over the final 15 possessions and benefitted from Junior Robinson’s (Mebane, NC/Eastern Almance) game-high 18 points.
“In two weeks from now, people won’t say it was a one-point win, or it was an ugly win,” Christian said. “They’ll just say it was a win.”
BLACKMON’S CLUTCH PLAY SPARKS RED FLASH WINS
If you take any stock in the NEC preseason poll, the biggest surprise has to be Saint Francis U.
With 12 underclassmen on the roster, the Red Flash have won six of their first 10 conference games and now sit alone in fouth place following a pair of close wins last week.
The youthful Red Flash team showed the poise of a veteran squad in both victories, none more so than sophomore guard Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, NC/West Charlotte).
Blackmon, the NEC Player of the Week, took over both games down the stretch.
In Thursday’s 72-67 win at Wagner, he scored seven straight points over the last 2+ minutes, culminating with a layup with 18 seconds to play that gave the Flash a three-point edge. Blackmon finished with a game and career-high 25 points on 10-14 shooting, including 4-5 from downtown. He added five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
In Saturday’s rivalry game with Robert Morris, the Charlotte, NC native scored eight points in overtime and hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in an 89-83 SFU victory. Blackmon tied for game-scoring honors with 20 points and once again hit 4-5 shots from distance.
And after coming away with the victories, Saint Francis U head coach Rob Krimmel was well aware of their significance.
“Tonight we took a big step forward,” Krimmel said after the RMU win. “We talk about taking little steps with this group, but tonight we took a big step. We know that this group is talented, that they’ve got a lot of good basketball ahead of them. But to be able to be the team that we want to become, we’ve got to be able to put back-to-back performances together. Tonight was the first time we were able to put a big win on the road Thursday and back that up with a big win here.”
Blackmon, who tore his ACL last February and was brought along slowly during the non-conference season, certianly feels the Red Flash are hitting their stride.
“When we’re healthy, I feel like we can win the championship,” Blackmon said. “I feel like we’ve come pretty far in conference this year.”
ZOUZOUA SHOT CAPS FANTASTIC FINISH FOR BULLDOGS
When you lead the league in scoring, you’re bound to hit some big shots along the way.
And for a Bryant team looking to build some momentum for a run at a top-four seed in the NEC Tournament, sophomore guard Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, MA/Boston Trinity) picked the perfect time to sink the most important two points of the 446 he has scored on the year.
In a nip-and-tuck battle with first place Fairleigh Dickinson at the Chace Center on Saturday, it all came down to one wild final sequence.
With Bryant holding a one-point and in possession of the ball with 13.8 seconds to play, FDU’s Darnell Edge (Saugerties, NY/Saugerties) stole the inbounds pass and fed Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, MD/Archbishop Spalding) for a layup with nine seconds on the clock.
The ball was inbounded to Zouzoua, and with time winding down, the Brockton, MA native calmly brought the ball up court and stuck a contested jumper just inside the three-point line with 2.4 seconds to play. Bryant then survived a back-rimmed halfcourt heave from FDU’s Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College) to set off a raucous celebration in Smithfield.
Zouzoua netted a game-high 25 points and added five rebounds and a pair of assists in the win. For the week, he averaged 24.5 ppg to lift his season scoring average to 20.3 ppg.
Bryant has now won three straight NEC games for the first time since claiming four in a row in January, 2015 and at 5-5 sits just one game back of fourth place Saint Francis U.
NEBO’S ALL ABOUT REJECTION
In the words of NEC color analyst Tim Capstraw, Saint Francis U sophomore forward Josh Nebo (Houston, TX/Cypress Lakes) would be considered a “conscientious rejector.”
The Houston product rejected nine more shots last week, including six in Saint Francis U’s exciting 89-83 overtime win over Robert Morris on Saturday.
Nebo is now averaging 4.2 blocks over his last six contests to raise his league-leading average to 2.3 per game.
On Saturday, Nebo also became just the fourth NEC player since 2010 to finish a game at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.
Ken Horton, CCSU 21 points, 10 rebounds, 7 blocks vs. Bryant (2/9/11)
Brandon Peel, CCSU 17 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks vs. SFU (2/6/16)
Amdy Fall, SFBK 15 points, 10 rebounds, 7 blocks vs. FDU (1/2/16)
Josh Nebo, SFU 15 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks vs. RMU (1/28/17)
MOUNT DEFENSE STANDS OUT
As pointed out last week, while first place Mount St. Mary’s can win in a variety of ways, a staunch defense has been the primary factor in the Mount’s success this season.
The Mount has held its opposition to a mere 49.0 pg and 33.5 percent shooting from the floor over the past three outings. The last time the Mountaineers held three straight opponents to 53 points or less was in January of 2009 during the Milan Brown era.
Down the stretch last week, the Mount posted stops on 13 of the team’s final 15 defensive possessions in its 48-47 win over RMU, and the final eight possessions in Saturday’s 67-53 victory over Sacred Heart.
Mount St. Mary’s current allows a league-low 62.5 ppg in league play and also ranks third in field goal percentage defense (.412).
NEC RETURNS TO ESPNU AIRWAVES
The NEC will make its presence felt on the Worldwide Leader this week with two games airing nationally on ESPNU.
On Thursday, first place Mount St. Mary’s hosts Bryant at 7:00 pm. John Brickley (PxP) and Mark Plansky (color) have the call.
NEC fans can start their weekend with some brunch as they take in Wagner at Fairleigh Dickinson in a special 11:00 am start. Chris Hassell (PxP) and Adam Finkelstein (color) are in the booth.
NEC LEADERS: EFFECTIVE FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE (eFG%)
Peeking at advanced stats, this week we tackle effective field goal percentage (min. 5 ppg).
What does the stat mean? This stat is the same as regular field goal percentage, except that made three-pointers are appropriately given 50 percent more credit.
In a stat category dominated by bigs, the most surprising name on the list is Saint Francis U sophomore guard Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, NC/West Charlotte). Blackmon’s eFG% is .592 boosted by his 51.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc. In fact, Blackmon is shooting better from outside the arc than from two-point territory, where he is converting at a more than respectable 48.1 percent.
Rk Player Team eFG%
1 Nura Zanna LIU .618
2 Chris Wray MSM .602
3 Mike Holloway FDU .601
4 Billy Giles RMU .598
5 Isaiah Blackmon SFU .592
6 Joseph Lopez SHU .581
7 Marcel Pettway BRY .575
8 Josh Nebo SFU .573
9 Blake Francis WC .570
10 Bosko Kostur BRY .563
STAT OF THE WEEK
Robert Morris is currently allowing conference opponents to shoot just 25.3 percent from beyond the arc. If the Colonials continue to hold steady over the final eight games of the league campaign, it will mark the lowest success rate in the NEC in the last 20 years. Over the last two decades, Wagner set the standard when it limited conference rivals to a 27.0 percent conversion rate from three-point range in 2011-12.
RMU’s overall three-point percentage defense stands at 28.1 percent, the lowest in the conference since UMBC’s opponents shot 28.3 percent from distance in 1998-99.
NEC MONTH-BY-MONTH LEADERS
With January coming to a close, here are the leaders in various statistical categories on a month-by-month basis for the 2016-17 season.
(Minimums: FG - 3.0/game, FT - 2.0/game, 3PFG - 2.0/game).
November December January
Scoring Nisre Zouzoua, BRY (22.9) Nisre Zouzoua, BRY (19.5) Quincy McKnight, SHU (20.3)
Rebounding Aaron Tate, RMU (8.8) Jerome Frink, LIU (9.6) Jerome Frink, LIU & Michael Carey, WC (10.5)
Assists Stephan Jiggetts, FDU (4.8) Charles Tucker, SHU (4.9) Elijah Long, MSM (5.75)
*FG% Josh Nebo, SFU (.750) Joseph Lopez, SHU (.671) Chris Wray, MSM (.692)
*3PFG% Austin Nehls, CCSU (.462) Blake Francis, WC (.632) Isaiah Blackmon, SFU (.667)
*FT% Raiquan Clark, LIU (.938) Jamaal King, SFU (1.000) Bosko Kostur, BRY (.909)
3PFG Nisre Zouzoua, BRY (3.0) Glenn Sanabria, SFBK (3.1) Austin Nehls, CCSU & Corey Henson, WC (2.6)
Steals Kavon Stewart, RMU (2.0) Quincy McKnight, SHU (2.3) Adam Grant, BRY (2.2)
Blocks Josh Nebo, SFU (1.7) Mawdo Sallah, MSM (1.7) Josh Nebo, SFU (3.75)
QUICK HITTERS
CCSU sophomore guard Austin Nehls (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills (Cheshire Academy)) averaged a team-high 13.0 ppg and added 4.0 rpg last week. He scored a game-high 20 points in Saturday’s 61-52 win over LIU Brooklyn. Nehls netted 16 points in the second half, hitting 3-5 from three-point range. Nehls now has four 20-point games on the year, including three of the last four. He has averaged 17.3 ppg in that stretch to boost his season average to a team-high 14.1 ppg.
Fairleigh Dickinson freshman forward Kaleb Bishop (Paterson, NJ/St. Anthony) scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Knights 79-73 victory at St. Francis Brooklyn last Thursday. Bishop threw down three highlight reel dunks and hit all five of his free throw attempts. In Saturday’s overtime loss at Bryant, Bishop posted his first double-digit rebounding performance with 10 boards. For the week, he averaged 10.0 ppg and 8.5 rpg on 63.6 percent shooting.
Robert Morris sophomore guard Matty McConnell (Oakdale, PA/Chartiers Valley) put up 12.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 2.0 spg for the Colonials last week. He matched a career-high with 16 points in Saturday’s overtime setback at Saint Francis U, hitting four shots from distance.
Sacred Heart junior forward Joseph Lopez (Miami, FL/South Miami Sr. (Broward CC)) averaged 10.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and shot 50.0 percent from the floor last week.
Saint Francis U freshman guard Randall Gaskins Jr. (Woodbridge, VA/Bishop O’Connell) averaged 12.5 ppg and 3.5 rpg, and hit at a 52.6 percent clip from the field in two Red Flash wins. He tallied a career-high 20 points in SFU’s 89-83 overtime win over Robert Morris on Saturday.
Wagner junior guard Corey Henson (Upper Marlboro, MD/DeMatha Catholic) hit six three-pointers in an 18-point outing on Thursday against Saint Francis U. Then on Saturday his driving layup with seven seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner in a 66-64 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn. Henson is now just 14 points away from 1,000 points for his career and leads Wagner with 13.7 ppg on the year.
TWEET DECK
Nelson Castillo @NelCastBHJ
Zouzoua with the winner!! Made it after FDU got the steal and Potts made the layup to take the lead. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Chris Cappella @C_Cappella
Personal list of 10 best #NECMBB players since I started at RMU in 2011:
Karvel Anderson, Julian Boyd, Velton Jones, Jamal Olasewere...
Jalen Cannon, Lucky Jones, Dyami Starks, Julian Norfleet, Kenny Ortiz. Most underrated: Ronnie Drinnon
Ryan Peters @pioneer_pride
This is the most complete Mount St. Mary’s team I’ve ever seen under Jamion Christian. Team depth top to bottom gives him so many options.
Carroll17 @mccarroll17
Good win, @Dmarsh42! Another step in the right direction. You’ve got these guys playing with passion. @CCSU_MBB
Craig D’Amico @CraigCD13
In 2 weeks we’ll have WC/SFU in Loretto on NEC-TV. I’ll be on the sidelines. Tonight I’m at WC/SFU in SI in the front row studying up!
The Mount @MountHoops
Special Thanks To The Student Section and The Fans Last Night For Your Incredible MAYHEM!!! We Have The Greatest Fans In The Country!!!
Saint Francis U MBB @RedFlashMBB
Great atmosphere at DeGol Arena tonight! Thank you #RedFlash fans for your support. Keep bringing that energy!!!