NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Isaiah Burnett, Stonehill
6’5”, 180 lbs.
Gr., G, Annapolis, MD/Glenelg Country School (Navy)
Burnett joined teammate Andrew Sims as an NEC Player of the Week honoree after registering 20.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.0 block per game in a split for the Skyhawks. He shot 64.7 percent from the field, 84.2 percent from the line and drained both his three-point attempts. After a 10-point outing at Providence on Tuesday, Burnett came up huge in Saturday’s 81-79 win in the opener of the Tom Konchalski Classic hosted by Fordham. The senior guard rang up a career-high 30 points on just nine shots from the field - making seven - and a 15-17 mark from the stripe, and pitched in with four steals. He gave Stonehill a one-point lead with 2:49 to play on a three-point play, then hit three key free throws in the final 1:01 to help set up Josh Mack’s game-winner with two seconds remaining.
Nico Galette, Sacred Heart
6’6”, 210 lbs.
Jr., F, Rahway, NJ/Rutgers Prep
Galette, a Preseason All-NEC pick, put the Pioneers on his back in Saturday’s 75-60 road win over Binghamton to highlight a week that saw him contribute 21.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. He also showed off his three-point range, making 6-12 from beyond the arc. Against the Bearcats, Galette matched his career-high with 26 points on 9-18 shooting, including a 4-7 mark on long range attempts, and added nine rebounds and a career-best four steals. He scored ten points in the first 6:25 of the second half to help build SHU’s five-point lead at the break to a commanding 17 points. The Rahway, NJ native also tallied 16 points, seven boards, three assists and a pair of steals in a 90-81 setback at UMass Lowell on Wednesday.
NEC MEN'S BASKETBALL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Landon Moore, Saint Francis U
6’3”, 200 lbs.
Fr., G, Bloomington, IL/Western Reserve Academy
Now a back-to-back NEC Rookie of the Week honoree to begin his Saint Francis U career, Moore averaged 15.5 points, 2.5 assists and shot at a 45.5 percent clip from distance over two games. He opened his week last Monday with 15 points and four assists in a three-point loss to Cornell. Moore scored eight points in the final 35 seconds as the Red Flash cut a seven-point deficit down to two with eight seconds on the clock. Playing just two hours from his hometown of Bloomington, IL on Thursday, the 6’3” guard posted a career-high 16 points against Butler. Moore has scored at least 14 points in each of his first four outings in a SFU uniform.
NEC PRIME PERFORMERS
Heru Bligen (FDU, Sr, G)
Bligen was a model of efficiency at the JK54 Classic hosted by Longwood. He shot 60.9 percent from the field and went 15-19 (.789) from the line en route to tallying 14.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 1.3 apg. Bligen was near perfect in the Knights’ four-point victory over VMI on Sunday with 19 points on 6-7 shooting and a 7-8 mark from the stripe to go along with six caroms.
Demetre Roberts (FDU, Gr, G)
Roberts averaged 18.3 ppg, 6.3 apg, 1.3 spg and drained 8-19 (.421) from outside the arc at the JK54 Classic in Farmville, VA last week. He tied for game-high scoring honors in FDU’s 93-89 win over VMI on Sunday and posted his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 boards in a setback to host Longwood on Saturday.
Jacob Johnson (LIU, R-So, G)
Johnson recorded 17 points, a game-high eight boards and chipped in with three assists, two blocks and a steal at Marquette on Thursday. For the week, he contributed 13.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 bpg, 2.0 spg and shot 61.1 percent from the floor.
Marko Maletic (LIU, So, G)
Maletic paced the Sharks in scoring in last week’s split, averaging 21.0 ppg, including an 11-25 (.440) mark from deep. He added 3.0 rpg, 2.0 apg and 1.0 spg. Maletic finished with a season-best 22 points and hit five three-pointers at Marquette on Thursday.
Ziggy Reid (MC, Sr, G/F)
Reid led the Warriors with 16.0 ppg on 53.6 percent shooting in three games at the Zootown Classic in Missoula, MT. He saved his best game for last with a team-high 22 points and five assists against St. Thomas on Saturday. In that game, he shot 7-10 and made both his shots from distance.
Nico Galette (SHU, Jr, F)
Galette matched his career-high with 26 points in a 75-60 win at Binghamton on Saturday. He was 4-7 from downtown and tallied nine boards, four steals and three assists. Galette provided the Pios with 21.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.0 apg and 3.0 spg in a split. He shot 50.0 percent from distance, making 6-12 tries.
Bryce Johnson (SHU, Jr, F)
Johnson comes off a career game on Saturday that saw him score a personal-best 24 points to go along with 13 boards, four assists, two steals and two blocks while draining 9-14 from the field. In SHU’s 1-1 week, he averaged a double-double with 16.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.5 bpg and 1.5 spg. He went 12-23 (.522) from the field.
Josiah Harris (SFBK, Jr, F)
Harris notched his second consecutive double-double with a season-best 16 points combined with 13 boards in a comeback win over Saint Peter’s. He also blocked four shots and sank 6-11 field goal attempts.
Larry Moreno (SFBK, Sr, G)
Moreno led all scorers with 19 points on an efficient 6-8 from the floor, 2-3 from three-point territory and a 5-5 day at the line in a 61-58 conquest of Saint Peter’s on Saturday. His two free throws with 16 seconds remaining provided the final margin of victory.
Josh Cohen (SFU, R-Jr, F)
Cohen continued to shine for the Flash last week, putting up 21.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.5 apg while converting at a 56.7 percent clip from the floor. He dropped a season-high 24 points on 9-16 shooting in a three-point setback to Cornell last Monday.
Maxwell Land (SFU, Jr, G)
Land has reached double digits in each of his first four games and last week recorded his second double-double with 13 points and 11 boards vs. Cornell. He added 17 points at Butler to finish with 15.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg.
Isaiah Burnett (STO, Gr, G)
Burnett exploded for a career-high 30 points in Stonehill’s last second win against Holy Cross on Saturday. He scored the 30 on just nine shots from the field - making seven - and a 15-17 mark from the stripe, and pitched in with four steals. For the week, he registered 20.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.5 spg, 1.0 bpg, and shot 64.7 percent from the floor, 84.2 percent from the line and made both his three-point attempts.
TOP STORYLINES FROM #NECMBB WEEK 2
Here’s all you need to know from the second week of the 2022-23 season...
TERRIERS MAKE ONE FINAL POPE CENTER MEMORY
On a weekend that saw the entire St. Francis Brooklyn community recognize more than 50 years at 180 Remsen Street, the Terriers provided their faithful with one final memory at the Pope Physical Education Center and Daniel Lynch ‘38 Gymnasium.
SFBK, which has moved its center of operations to a new Brooklyn campus, squeezed some last minute magic in the final game at its longtime home on Saturday against Saint Peter’s.
With the Terriers trailing 63-58, junior Josiah Harris (New Castle, DE/William Penn (Hutchinson CC)) started the late comeback on a jumper with 1:34 to play.
Coming back the other way, junior guard Roy Clarke (Brooklyn, NY/John C. Fremont) rejected JuJu Murray’s shot, leading to a transition opportunity that resulted in a Di’Andre Howell-South (Paterson, NJ/Immaculate Conception) layup at the 1:07 mark to slice the deficit to one point.
The defense made another stand on the next possession as Harris once again rejected Murray and the Terriers were off to the races, culminating in Zion Bethea’s (South Orange, NJ/Immaculate Conception (Hofstra)) reverse layup that gave the Terriers a 59-58 lead with 37 seconds remaining. It was the first lead for SFBK since early in the second half.
After senior Larry Moreno (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn High School For Law & Technology) sank two free throws, the Terriers survived a pair of SPC three-point attempts in the final seconds to secure the win and even their record at 2-2 on the season.
Harris logged his second-consecutive double-double, recording 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, while Moreno set a new season high mark with 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half. He shot 6-8 from the field and was a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line.
“Lynch ‘38 Gymnasium has played host to some of the greatest moments and greatest players in program history,” said SFBK head coach Glenn Braica about the Terriers’ home back in late September. “While we will certainly miss playing in this historic building, we are thrilled to honor our legends around the final games on Remsen Street.”
BIG MACK WINS IT FOR STONEHILL
If there’s one thing we’ve learned just five games into Stonehill’s DI journey, it’s that the NEC newcomer will not go down easy.
Trailing Holy Cross by 11 early in the second half of the Tom Konchalski Classic at Fordham on Saturday, the Skyhawks dug in.
Stonehill battled back to take its first lead with just under nine minutes remaining in what would become a back-and-forth affair with eight lead changes the rest of the way out.
After Andrew Sims (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape Regional) tied the game up with 2:01 to play, Isaiah Burnett (Annapolis, MD/Glenelg Country School (Navy)) made three free throws in the final 1:01 to put the Skyhawks up three.
Holy Cross answered though, with Gerrale Gates evening things up on a conventional three-point play with 11 seconds on the clock.
Without any time outs, graduate student Josh Mack (Winchester, VA/Saint Maria Goretti) took matters into his own hands.
Known for his three-point shooting proficiency, Mack took the ball down the court, backed his man down in the paint and unleashed a contested hook that banked with 2.1 seconds on the clock for the win.
The win, which improved Stonehill to 2-3, was sparked by Burnett, who exploded for a career-high 30 points on just nine shots. The NEC Co-Player of the Week made 7-9 from the field and 15-17 from the line in recording a sky-high 149 offensive rating for the game.
Mack finished with a season-high 10 points, and added four rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot.
MOORE’S CAREER LAUNCH
Foundational players don’t come around all that often, but Saint Francis U may have found one this offseason.
Freshman guard Landon Moore (Bloomington, IL/Western Reserve Academy), now a two-time NEC Rookie of the Week, has made his presence felt and then some.
Playing just two hours from his hometown of Bloomington, IL, Moore posted a career-high 16 points against Butler on Thursday.
In doing so, Moore became the first Red Flash freshman to reach double figures in four straight games since Darshan Luckey in 2002-03. That season, Luckey led the NEC in scoring with 21.6 ppg.
Over his first two weeks, Moore is the top scoring freshman and ninth overall in the NEC with 15.0 ppg. He also ranks second in the NEC in assists (4.5), fifth in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.57) and tenth in free throw percentage (.786).
“It’s a credit to what got him here,” said SFU head coach Rob Krimmel about Moore. “I think his biggest strength is his ability to play with a level head, not to get too high or too low. I think that learning to play with Josh (Cohen) and Max (Land) as we work to find combinations that’s going to be a challenge. But when you have a guy like that as a freshman that has a high basketball IQ competes and can-do multiple things with the ball in his hands it makes Josh’s job easier, and it makes Max’s job easier.”
HICKORY HIGH MEETS SAINT FRANCIS U
“Ten feet. I think you’ll find that the measurements here in Indianapolis are the same as they are in Loretto.”
- SFU head coach Rob Krimmel
Prior to Saint Francis U playing at the famed Hinkle Fieldhouse against Butler on Thursday, head coach Rob Krimmel and his team reenacted the measurement scene from the movie Hoosiers at the shootaround. The state final scenes from the hoops classic were filmed at Hinkle back in 1986.
“Certainly appreciate the opportunity to play at Hinkle Fieldhouse,” said Krimmel. “As a young kid growing up watching Hoosiers and the chance to compete against Butler in this historic gym is a pretty cool experience. I’m not sure that our guys really understand the history of it. We showed our guy’s Hoosiers and tried to tell them who Coach Hinkle was and what he meant to the school. It was certainly an honor and a privilege to be on the same floor with the Butler Bulldogs.”
QUOTABLE
Wagner head coach Donald Copeland following his team’s 68-52 win over Fairfield on Friday.
“I like the way we came out and set the tone defensively. We knew they were desperate for a win. They played some really good teams coming into tonight and we had to really be good just on the defensive end, and I thought we did that from the start. That was able to set the tone for us. Our offense kind of got going where we were sharing the ball and a couple of shots go in for us. I thought we were really unselfish. We made a point to be unselfish.”
SKYHAWK EFFICIENCY
Stonehill has displayed quite the efficient offense through its first five games.
The Skyhawks lead the NEC in field goal percentage (.495), effective field goal percentage (.566) and free throw percentage (.837), and rank second in three-point percentage (.381).
SPEAKING OF EFFICIENCY
CCSU’s Davonte Sweatman (Boston, MA/Lawrence Academy) has made the most of his court time the last four games for the Blue Devils.
The sophomore guard out of Boston is shooting at a blistering 69.0 percent (20-of-29) clip from the field and converting 64.3 percent (9-of-14) of his three-point attempts over the stretch. He has also gone a perfect 5-5 at the free throw line.
He has averaged 13.5 ppg off the bench in the four games.
Sweatman scored a career-high 17 points in a last-second, 78-76 loss at UMBC on Sunday. He was a perfect 7-7 from the floor and 3-3 from distance.
He leads the NEC and ranks 94th nationally in assist rate (32.3) and his 140.1 offensive rating is the ninth-best nationally among those with a 20 percent or higher usage rate.
HANDLE WITH CARE
FDU graduate student guard Demetre Roberts (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon (St. Thomas Aquinas)) has turned the ball over just eight times in 202 minutes running the point for the Knights. He ranks second in the NEC with a 3.88 assist-to-turnover ratio and ranks seventh in turnover percentage (9.4).
BROWN’S BOARD GAME
In a league that has seen guards lead the league in rebounding twice in the last five years, Wagner sports a newcomer in that same mold.
Senior Brandon Brown (Memphis, TN/White Station (Arkansas Pine Bluff)), a transfer from Arkansas Pine Bluff, has made an impact on the boards in his first five games for the Green & White.
The 6’5” guard from Memphis ranks second in the NEC with 9.6 rebounds per outing and posted a pair of double-doubles last week with 10 points and 12 boards in a win over Neumann, followed by a 14-point, 12-rebound outing in Wagner’s 68-52 victory over Fairfield.
Brown ranks second in the NEC in defensive rebound percentage at 26.9 percent.
NEC ANALYTICS ZONE WITH RYAN PETERS
Each week throughout the 2022-23 season, NEC Overtime! blogger and NEC on the Run podcast collaborator Ryan Peters (@pioneer_pride) will contribute a series of analytically based tidbits covering NEC hoops.
With Sacred Heart’s win at Binghamton on Saturday by the score of 75-60, the Pioneers earned a BartTorvik.com game score of 72. It was the Pioneers’ best game score in more than two years when they earned a score of 80 in a January 25, 2020 victory over FDU. In the triumph over the Bearcats, SHU allowed just 0.87 points per possession (ppp) and forced a turnover on 23.4 percent of its opponent’s possessions. It was the second time this season SHU held a DI opponent under the 1.00 ppp threshold, and ninth time when including the 2021-22 campaign. The Pioneers are now 9-0 when this occurs.
Two weeks in, the league’s most ferocious defensive rebounders have all been newcomers to the Northeast Conference. St. Francis Brooklyn’s Josiah Harris (New Castle, DE/William Penn (Hutchinson CC)), a junior transfer from Hutchinson Community College, currently leads all league mates in defensive rebounding rate (DReb), grabbing a splendid 34.7 percent of the opponent’s misses. Wagner’s Brandon Brown (Memphis, TN/White Station (Arkansas Pine Bluff)) (26.9% DReb), Merrimack’s Jordan Derkack (Colonia, NJ/Colonia (Spire Academy)) (25.1% DReb) and Wagner’s Keyontae Lewis (Chesterfield, VA/Lloyd C Bird) (24.6% DReb) round out the conference’s top four. Brown and Derkack are listed at 6’5”, a noteworthy tidbit given that Saint Francis’ Keith Braxton was the last NEC player standing at 6’5” or shorter to post a DReb north of 25%. Braxton achieved the feat in the 2018-19 season when he won the league’s Player of the Year award.
Things were looking bleak for St. Francis Brooklyn after a Saint Peter’s bucket extended their lead to five points with just 2:04 remaining in Saturday’s final game inside the gym at 180 Remsen Street. Following a Glenn Braica timeout however, the Terriers proceeded to score on four straight possessions (2.00 ppp), which included a mid-range jumper, two transition buckets and two free throws. Even more important, Braica’s defense held Saint Peter’s scoreless on their final four possessions by inducing three Peacock turnovers over that stretch. St. Francis Brooklyn earned the comeback win despite giving up a 18-0 run to Saint Peter’s in the first half.
Isaiah Burnett (Annapolis, MD/Glenelg Country School (Navy)), Stonehill’s standout two-way guard, has recorded a steal in five straight contests to open the 2022-23 season. His latest game yielded a four-steal effort, a DI career high, to help guide the Skyhawks to a narrow two-point victory over Holy Cross. Collectively in the contest, Stonehill had 10 thefts, gathering a steal on 10.8 percnt of Holy Cross’ possessions. Burnett now leads all NEC with a steal rate of 5.0 percent.
20-20 VISION
FDU graduate student guard Grant Singleton (Sumter, SC/Lakewood (St. Thomas Aquinas)) has recorded three 20+ point games this season, including two last week when he took home game scoring honors with 24 at Longwood and 21 in a 93-89 win over VMI.
Only teammate Demetre Roberts (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon (St. Thomas Aquinas)) has more 20-point outings in the NEC this season with four to his credit. In fact, FDU players have scored 20 or more in a game this season 10 times, six more than any other school.
HERE & THERE
FDU sophomore forward Ansley Almonor (Spring Valley, NY/St. Joseph Regional (Montvale)) continued his strong start with 17.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg at the three-game JK54 Classic hosted by Longwood. He went a perfect 8-8 from the line and hit eight shots from downtown. His best showing came against the Lancers on Saturday, when he made 8-14 shots, including 4-7 from 3P territory, on his way to a 20-point showing.
FDU shot 49-60 (.817) at the line in three games at the JK54 Classic last week.
LIU sophomore guard Marko Maletic (London, Ontario/ Saunders Secondary School (Laramie County CC)) has made 11 3P over his last two games, including five at Marquette last Thursday.
Merrimack’s Jordan Derkack (Colonia, NJ/Colonia (Spire Academy)) leads all NEC freshmen and ranks fifth overall with 7.2 rpg. The 6’5” guard out of Colonia, NJ also ranks third among NEC freshman scorers with 10.4 ppg. He posted back-to-back games with 13 points and nine rebounds last week against Troy and Montana at the Zootown Classic.
Saint Francis U will be at home for the next three games against Lehigh (Monday), Franciscan (Wednesday) and American (Saturday). It’s the first time the Red Flash will have a three-game non-conference homestand since 2006-07 and the tenth time since joining the NEC.
Stonehill senior guard Shamir Johnson (Waterbury, CT/The Taft School) caught fire from 3P range last week, hitting 8-11 for a 72.7 percent success rate. He drilled 5-7 as part of a career-high 15-point night at Providence, then sank 3-4 in the Skyhawks' 81-79 win against Holy Cross. Johnson ranks second in the NEC in three-point accuracy at 56.0 percent (14-of-25).