NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Keith Braxton, Saint Francis U
6’4”, 208 lbs.
So., G, Glassboro, NJ/The Lawrenceville School
Braxton made it back-to-back NEC Player of the Week honors after stuffing the stat sheet for the Red Flash in a split to open league play. The Glassboro, NJ native averaged 23.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 4.0 steals, while shooting a robust 61.3 percent from the floor and 60.0 percent from three-point territory. Braxton helped spark a second half comeback that came up just short on Friday when the Red Flash rattled off a late 20-2 run to tie things up at CCSU before the Blue Devils scored the last four points to win, 72-68. He finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a career-high seven steals. Braxton flirted with a triple-double two days later, recording a career-high 29 points to go along with 12 rebounds and eight assists in SFU’s 86-82 overtime win at Bryant in a game that saw the Flash erase an eight-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation. He made 11-15 from the floor, including 5-6 from distance. Braxton leads the NEC in rebounding (9.2) and double-doubles (7), and ranks in the conference top-10 in scoring (18.1, 5th), assists (3.5, 10th), field goal percentage (.524, 5th) and free throw percentage (.800, 7th).
NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Noah Morgan, Fairleigh Dickinson
6’5”, 190 lbs.
Fr., F, Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon
Morgan opened his first weekend of NEC competition by contributing 11.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game as the Knights posted a road split. Morgan, who shot 50.0 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from downtown and 83.3 percent from the line, posted 13 points and eight boards on Friday in FDU’s 82-71 triumph at LIU Brooklyn. He scored 10 points and snared six boards in the second half as the Knights pulled away late. Morgan went on to record 10 points, five rebounds, two blocks and three steals in Sunday’s 66-65 setback at Sacred Heart. The Mount Vernon, NY product is averaging 9.3 ppg and 5.1 rpg on the year, and leads the Knights with a 45.2 percent success rate from three-point range. Morgan joined Jahlil Jenkins as FDU players who have been honored as NEC Rookie of the Week this season.
NEC PRIME PERFORMERS
Sabastian Townes (BRY, So, F)
Townes matched his career-high with 22 points in Bryant’s overtime loss to Saint Francis U on Sunday. He hit 10-16 from the floor, and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Mike Holloway (FDU, Jr, F)
Holloway was dominant down on the block with 18.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg in FDU’s split last week. He shot 60.0 percent from the field. Holloway hit 11-16 and scored a career-high 27 points in Friday’s 82-71 win at LIU Brooklyn.
Raiquan Clark (LIU, Jr, G/F)
Clark put up 18.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 2.5 apg and 2.0 spg, and was red hot from the field, converting at a 72.7 percent rate in LIU Brooklyn’s 1-1 week. Clark hit all seven of his shots in Sunday’s 71-57 win over the Mount, recording a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Joel Hernandez (LIU, Sr, G)
Hernandez continued his torrid scoring pace, reaching the 20-point plateau for the seventh straight game with 23 points against FDU on Friday and 21 more in a 71-57 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday. For the week, he averaged 22.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Hernandez ranks second in the NEC with 19.7 ppg.
Kinnon LaRose (SHU, So, G)
LaRose caught fire as SHU rallied for a 66-65 win over FDU on Sunday in Fairfield. He set new career-highs with 24 points and nine rebounds, and hit 6-9 from three-point range, including a pair of trifectas in the last three minutes to help the Pioneers erase a 13-point second half deficit. LaRose averaged 16.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg, while shooting 63.6 percent from long distance and 68.4 percent overall on the week.
Dachon Burke (RMU, So, G)
Burke served as the catalyst in RMU’s 2-0 start in NEC play with 15.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 bpg and 1.5 spg while making 52.0 percent from the field in a pair of 14-point road wins over Bryant and CCSU.
Glenn Sanabria (SFBK, Jr, G)
Sanabria averaged 15.5 ppg., 4.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and committed just one turnover in 73 minutes in the Terriers’ 2-0 week. He hit 6-9 (.667) from outside the arc and was 10-19 (.526) overall from the floor. Sanabria drained 5-6 from three-point range in Sunday’s 82-75 win over Wagner. He scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, highlighted by a step-back triple with 1:22 left to give SFBK a five-point edge.
Jamaal King (SFU, Jr, G)
King netted a career-high 29 points on 12-21 shooting in Saint Francis U’s 86-82 overtime win at Bryant on Sunday. For the week, he contributed 20.5 ppg and 3.5 apg.
Blake Francis (WC, So, G)
Francis was an ironman for the Seahawks last week, playing all 80 minutes over two games, averaging 20.5 points, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals. He shot 53.8 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from outside the arc. Francis is currently third in the league with 19.5 ppg.
PERFORMANCE OF NOTE
Charles Bain (RMU, Fr, F)
Bain finished with a career-high 18 points in RMU’s win over CCSU on Sunday. He shot 7-10 from the field, including 4-5 from beyond the arc, and added four rebounds.
TOP STORYLINES FROM WEEK EIGHT OF #NECMBB
Here’s all you need to know from the eighth week of the 2017-18 hoops season...
#NECTIPOFF WEEK-IN-REVIEW: RMU & SFBK RISE TO TOP
If the first ten games of the conference season are any indication of what’s to come, NEC fans are in for one dramatic rollercoaster ride in 2018.
In an #NECTipoff week that featured an overtime game, a one-point game and some remarkable late-game comebacks, only two teams walked away unscathed with perfect 2-0 marks.
And wouldn’t you know it, the two teams that went unbeaten were picked seventh and tenth, respectively, in the NEC preseason poll.
With just two returnees back from last year, Robert Morris utilized a suffocating defensive effort to record a pair of 14-point road wins over Bryant and CCSU. The Colonials, who were picked to finish seventh by the league’s head coaches, allowed just 55.5 ppg in the victories. Led by three-time NEC Player of the Week Dachon Burke’s (Orange, NJ/Orange) 15.5 ppg, RMU jumped out to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2013-14.
Even more surprising was St. Francis Brooklyn opening NEC play with a pair of wins. Selected 10th in the preseason, the Terriers turned the ball over just 18 times, forced turnovers on 25.3 percent of possession in the two games and received 19.0 ppg from sophomore guard Rasheem Dunn (Brooklyn, NY/Thomas Jefferson) as SFBK posted a 73-68 road win over Sacred Heart on Friday and an 82-75 home victory over projected NEC contender Wagner on Sunday.
As luck would have it, RMU and SFBK will match up this coming Thursday in western Pennsylvania, leaving a lone unbeaten heading into the weekend.
Preseason favorite Saint Francis U was involved in a pair of #NECTipoff thrillers that saw the Red Flash mount furious late-game comebacks. On Friday, SFU needed just over four minutes to erase an 18-point deficit and tie CCSU with 1:48 to play, but were held scoreless the rest of the way in a 72-68 win for the Blue Devils. Two days later, the Flash went on a late 8-0 run to take a three-point lead over Bryant with 18 seconds to play, but Bryant’s Mr. Big Shot, Adam Grant (Franklin, VA/Norfolk Collegiate School), sent the game to OT on an NBA range three-pointer with just 11 seconds on the clock. SFU would go on to register an 86-82 win and come home with a split. NEC Player of the Week Keith Braxton (Glassboro, NJ/The Lawrenceville School) and junior guard Jamaal King (Salisbury, MD/Bishop O’Connell (VA)) both registered career-highs with 29 points apiece.
Another nailbiter took place in Fairfield on Sunday as Sacred Heart rallied from 13 down with 8:17 to play to clip Fairleigh Dickinson in the final seconds of a 66-65 win. The Pioneers scored the last five points of the game on sophomore Kinnon LaRose’s (Ogdensburg, NY/Ogdensburg Free Academy (Siena)) sixth three-pointer of the contest with just under a minute to play, and Mario Matasovic’s (Slavonski Brod, Croatia/St. John’s NW Military (Western Michigan)) game-winning layup with two seconds left on the clock.
When the dust settled on New Year’s Eve, NEC blogger Nelson Castillo summed it up best on Twitter.
Nelson Castillo @NelCastNY
This weekend is the latest indication that this #NECMBB season is going to be bonkers. And it is only week one.
LIU’s HERNANDEZ REACHES JOINS NEC MILLENNIUM CLUB
LIU Brooklyn senior Joel Hernandez (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) became the first NEC player this season to reach the 1,000-point career scoring mark and did it in style, scoring a game-high 21 in the Blackbirds’ 71-57 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Sunday.
Hernandez, who missed last year with a thumb injury, has now scored 20 or more points in seven straight games, averaging 23.1 ppg over the stretch to boost his season average to 19.7 ppg. He ranks second on the circuit in point production.
Hernandez is the 214th player in NEC history in the 1,000-point club, joining current NEC stars Junior Robinson (Mebane, NC/Eastern Alamance) from the Mount (1,490 points) and Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College) (1,486) from FDU. Hernandez should have plenty of company this season with CCSU junior guard Austin Nehls (Tucson, AZ/Cheshire Academy) (903), Sacred Heart senior forward De’von Barnett (Waldorf, MD/Riverdale Baptist) (885) and a host of others approaching the scoring milestone.
NEC MONTH-BY-MONTH LEADERS
With 2017 coming to a close, here are the leaders in various statistical categories on a month-by-month basis for the 2017-18 season.
(Minimums: FG - 3.0/game, FT - 2.0/game, 3PFG - 1.5/game).
November December
Scoring Junior Robinson, MSM (20.1) Joel Hernandez, LIU (22.5)
Junior Robinson, MSM (22.5)
Reb. Joseph Lopez, SHU (9.0) Keith Braxton, SFU (10.0)
Assists Donald Carey, MSM (5.0) JoJo Cooper, WC (6.9)
Tyler Kohl, CCSU (5.0)
Junior Robinson, MSM (5.0)
*FG% Ryan Gomes, MSM (.706) Deion Bute, CCSU (.673)
*3PFG% Andre Wolford, SFU (.579) Jon Williams, RMU (.556)
*FT% Junior Robinson, MSM (.964) Andre Wolford, SFU (1.000)
3PFG Jonah Antonio, MSM (3.6) Andre Wolford, SFU (4.7)
Steals Ikenna Ndugba, BRY (2.7) Blake Francis, WC (2.3)
Blocks Deion Bute, CCSU (2.0) AJ Sumbry, WC (2.4)
COLONIAL DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
Robert Morris turned up the defensive pressure in its two NEC wins over the weekend.
With a 68-54 win at Bryant and 71-57 triumph at CCSU, the Colonials held their first two NEC opponents under 60 points for just the second time in program history and the first time on the road. In Andy Toole’s second season as head coach in 2011-12, RMU posted a 66-54 win over Fairleigh Dickinson and a 69-51 win over Monmouth at the Charles L. Sewall Center to open its league slate.
The Colonials limited their two New England opponents to a combined 33.0 percent shooting from the field and 25.0 percent from three-point range.
BRAXTON IN RARE COMPANY AFTER BIG DAY
Saint Francis U sophomore forward Keith Braxton (Glassboro, NJ/Lawrenceville Prep) continues to put up numbers that put him in the national spotlight.
Braxton, who has won back-to-back NEC Player of the Week honors, finished Sunday’s 86-82 overtime win over Bryant with 29 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a near triple-double effort.
In doing so, he became just the second player in the nation this season to rack up 29/12/8 in a game and the first to do it against a D1 opponent. Tennessee-Martin’s Fatodd Lewis finished with 34 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists against Cincinnati-Clermont on December 10.
Braxton is also just the sixth player since 2010 to reach the single-game milestone, joining a list that includes NBA players Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) and Daniel Hamilton (UConn), and former NBA player Norris Cole (Cleveland State).
ANDERSON’S THIEVERY
With nine steals in the last three games, Fairleigh Dickinson senior guard Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John’s College) is right back in familiar territory.
Anderson now leads the NEC 2.2 spg, a year after pacing the circuit with 2.2 spg in his junior season. He also ranked second in steals as a sophomore (1.8) and third as a freshman (1.8).
Anderson leads all active NEC players and ranks fifth nationally with 193 career steals.
FOR OPENERS
Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Greg Herenda remained perfect in NEC openers with Friday’s 82-71 win at LIU Brooklyn. He is now 5-0 to open conference play, just ahead of St. Francis Brooklyn’s Glenn Braica, who improved to 7-1 with a 73-68 victory at Sacred Heart.
Top-5 NEC Opener Records - Current Coaches
1. Greg Herenda, FDU 5-0
2. Glenn Braica, SFBK 7-1
3. Andy Toole, RMU 6-2
4. Bashir Mason, WC 4-2
5. Rob Krimmel, SFU 3-3
Donyell Marshall, CCSU 1-1
JUNIOR’S THE KEY
How important is Mount St. Mary’s senior Junior Robinson (Mebane, NC/Eastern Alamance) to the Mount’s success?
Everything seems to funnel through the cat-quick senior guard, who currently ranks fifth nationally in usage rate (35.0), which measures personal possessions used while the player is on the court. It assigns credit or blame to a player when his actions end a possession, either by making a shot, missing a shot that isn’t rebounded by the offense, or committing a turnover. Oklahoma freshman phenom Trae Young is first in the country with a 39.3 usage rate.
Robinson currently leads the NEC in scoring (21.4) and ranks third in assists (5.1). He’s also the league leader in free throw percentage (.933), and ranks fifth in offensive rating (98.5).
NEC NUMBERS
Saint Francis U junior guard Andre Wolford (Willowick, OH/Saint Ignatius) is ranked fifth nationally in three-point accuracy (.530) and 19th in made 3PFG (3.38/gm). He’s also hit 19 consecutive free throws.
CCSU junior swingman Tyler Kohl (Allentown, PA/Mineral Area College) has converted 34 of his last 35 shots from the stripe.
Fairleigh Dickinson committed an NEC single-game season-low four turnovers in its win over LIU Brooklyn on Friday.
Wagner shot 61.9 percent on two-point shots in its first two NEC games.
Bryant sophomore guard Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, MA/Brooks School) established a new career-high with 12 assists vs. Saint Francis U on Sunday.
Home teams went 5-5 on #NECTipoff weekend.
SHU DID YOU KNOW?
Sacred Heart posted a +16.5 rebounding margin in its first two NEC games. The Pioneers have outrebounded opponents by 7.5 per game on the year to lead the league.
CCSU DID YOU KNOW?
Central Connecticut’s 72-68 win over Saint Francis U in its conference opener was the Blue Devils’ first in an NEC lid-lifter since 2011-12.
BOSKO’S SHOOTING RISE
Bryant senior swingman Bosko Kostur’s (Melbourne, Australia/Hallam Senior College) deadeye accuracy this season has lifted him to the top of the NEC’s advancing shooting metric lists.
Kostor, who ranks ninth in the NEC in two-point shooting percentage (.556) and second in three-point percentage (.474), is the league leader in both effective field goal percentage (.635) and true shooting percentage (.656).
Effective FG percentage gives 50 percent more credit to made three-pointers, while true shooting percentage figures in trips to the line and converts it to a shooting percentage that approximates what two-point percentage a player would need to have to score the points he produces on all of his shooting attempts.
The last NEC player to end a season shooting 55 percent from two-point range and 45 percent from outside the arc was RMU’s Karvel Anderson (.563 from two, .463 from three) en-route to NEC Player of the Year honors back in 2013-14.
LIU’S ONE-TWO PUNCH
LIU Brooklyn possesses perhaps the league’s elite two-headed monster in senior guard Joel Hernandez (Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) and junior swingman Raiquan Clark (New Haven, CT/Hillhouse).
Hernandez is second in the league in scoring (19.7) and Clark sits fourth (18.7) on the circuit. The duo also rank one-two in 20+ point outings with Hernandez tallying nine and Clark eight on the season.
Likewise, Clark is the league leader in offensive rating (102.9) while Hernandez ranks third (101.4).
NEC in NCAA STATS (Top-25)
Name School Category Rank Value
Junior Robinson MSM PPG 24th 21.4/gm
Andre Wolford SFU 3P 19th 3.38/gm
Andre Wolford SFU 3PFG% 5th .530
Junior Robinson MSM FT% 7th .933
Joseph Lopez SHU Off. Reb. 16th 3.57/gm
Keith Braxton SFU Def. Reb. 10th 7.92/gm
Keith Braxton SHU Doub-Doub 18th 7
Team Category Rank Value
Saint Francis U 3PFG% 24th .403
Fairleigh Dickinson Steals 14th 9.1/gm
Wagner Off. Reb. 22nd 13.46/gm
Sacred Heart Rebounds 19th 41.00/gm
Robert Morris TOs Forced 13th 18.07/gm
Fairleigh Dickinson TOs Forced 24th 16.92/gm