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LATINA’S FIRST WIN IS A MEMORABLE ONE
Anthony Latina has become synonymous with NEC hoops the last 15 years. He assisted on two NEC championship teams at CCSU, then served on Dave Bike’s staff when Sacred Heart made back-to-back NEC title game appearances in 2007 and 2008. Now in his first year running the show for the Pioneers, Latina earned his first-ever head coaching victory on Saturday, and it is one he will not soon forget.
Sacred Heart went into Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx on Saturday winless, but dominated Fordham down the stretch, ending the game on a 10-1 run to down an A-10 opponent for the first time in school history by an 85-73 final score.
“Today we put it together for 40 minutes,” said Latina after the victory. “We finished strong, something we didn’t do against Holy Cross and Brown. Hopefully today was a good first step in the right direction.”
The Pioneers received a pair of double-double performances from senior forward
Louis Montes (Brockton, MA/Brockton) and sophomore forward
Tevin Falzon (Newton, MA/Newton North (Winchendon School)). Montes finished with 16 points and a season-high 13 boards, while Falzon came off the bench to register 16 points and 10 caroms.
Up 78-73 with 54 seconds left, junior
Chris Evans (Stamford, CT/Stamford (Taft School)) snagged an offensive rebound off a Falzon missed free throw to effectively seal the victory as the Pioneers hit 7-8 shots from the line in the final minute.
“I think the biggest thing was total team effort defensively and on the glass...we put together 40 minutes today and we defended for 40 minutes.”
For the game, Sacred Heart outrebounded Fordham, 49-35, and enjoyed advantages in points in the paint (40-32) and bench points (31-8).
TERRIERS NEARLY SQUEEZE #9 ORANGE
If there were any doubters after St. Francis Brooklyn beat Miami to begin its 2013-14 season, they surely came around last Monday. The Terriers took #9 Syracuse to the brink in front of 23,117 fans in the Carrier Dome before falling, 56-50.
The Terriers led by four with just over three minutes to play before Syracuse tied the game with 1:29 to go. Two late turnovers hurt SFBK as the Orange ended the game on a 10-0 run and prevented a Terrier sweep of ACC opponents.
“To come up here against this team, it was a difficult to come and beat them,” St. Francis Brooklyn head coach Braica said.” We gave ourselves a good chance. We almost did it. We had a legitimate chance to win the game.”
After a sluggish start adjusting to SU’s vaunted zone, the Terriers began to find the seams, scoring 22 points in the paint via the interior play of preseason All-NEC forward
Jalen Cannon (Allentown, PA/William Allen) and freshman forward
Wayne Martin (Brooklyn, NY/South Shore). Cannon finished with a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while Martin came off the bench to contribute 13 points and five boards.
“There was a big opening on the inside, because they kept going out to our shooters,” Cannon said. “And I found a sweet spot in the zone just to post up. There was a big opening there.”
Cannon and Martin combined to hit 10-18 shots from the floor, and found vulnerabilities in a defense that rarely gives up easy buckets.
“I think the toughest guys to play down there are 6’6” guys,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “They’re the toughest guys to play when they get down low. It’s much easier to play a 6’10” guy, much easier. They don’t have that ability to put the ball on the floor and turn.”
“There’s no question,” Boeheim added, “that when a team decides to go inside, which I’m sure now people are going to, we have to be better when that happens.”
“FRANCHISE” NUMBERS
In what could be a season filled with milestones for the New York City native, Bryant senior forward
Alex Francis (Harlem, NY/Holderness Prep) last week became just the 13th player in NEC history to reach 1,500 points and 750 boards in his career. Francis, who has amassed 1,573 points and 763 rebounds in his three-plus years in Smithfield, joined some select company, including NEC Hall of Famers Rik Smits and Desi Wilson.
NEC Players With 1,500 Points/750 Rebounds
Rik Smits MAR 1,945 pts./811 reb. 1984-88
Jamie Latney FDU 1,666/786 1984-88
Freddie Burton LIU 1,540/836 1986-89
Desi Wilson FDU 1,902/780 1988-91
Alan Tomidy MAR 1,508/838 1991-96
Corsley Edwards CCSU 1,731/966 1998-02
Rahshon Turner FDU 1,637/927 1994-98
Jermaine Hall WC 2,278/777 1999-03
Devin Sweetney SFU 1,529/754 2006-10
Justin Rutty QU 1,521/1,032 2007-11
Ken Horton CCSU 1,966/842 2007-12
Jamal Olasewere LIU 1,871/963 2009-13
Alex Francis BRY 1,573/763 2010-14
The New York City product is currently on pace to become the first player in conference history to finish with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Francis, who ranks 51st all-time in the NEC in scoring and 23rd in rebounding, is averaging 16.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg and leads the conference with 68.9 percent field goal accuracy.
NEED A STOP? LOOK NO FURTHER THAN WAGNER’S ORTIZ
He’s the two-time NEC Defensive Player of the Year, so when a game goes down to the wire, Wagner senior guard
Kenneth Ortiz (Newark, NJ/Science Park (Southern Mississippi)) has a reputation for making the big play without the ball in his hands.
Last Thursday, it was the Choice Hotels/NEC Player of the Week’s key steal with 17 seconds left that sealed a 68-61 win over American East preseason favorite Vermont.
“That’s my pride. That’s my bread and butter right there,” Ortiz said about his defense. “No matter what that’s what I take pride in. That’s what wins games.”
“I can’t coach him to do that,” said Wagner head coach Bashir Mason about Ortiz’s key play. “He just has a knack for coming up with those.”
But it wasn’t just about defense down the stretch for Ortiz. Leading by one with under three minutes to play, his offensive rebound off a missed three throw led to two more shots from the line for the Seahawks. He also hit a pair of free throws with 1:34 to play to keep Wagner’s lead at three.
On the week, Ortiz averaged 13.5 points, 6.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals. He finished with 12 points and a season-best 10 assists in Wagner’s 102-87 win over Coppin State last Monday. It was his fourth career double-double.
NORFLEET DOING IT ALL FOR MOUNT
Very few players in the NEC mean as much to their team as Mount St. Mary’s senior
Julian Norfleet (Virginia Beach, VA/Landstown). Norfleet has assumed a variety of roles in his four years in Emmitsburg, but this year head coach Jamion Christian has handed him the keys to the offense.
Serving as both a facilitator and point producer, Norfleet leads the Mount in scoring (19.7) and assists (5.2), and ranks third in the NEC in point production and second in helpers. Last week, he averaged 19.5 ppg, 4.0 apg and 2.5 spg, and led the Mountaineers to their first win of the year on Saturday with 15 points, four steals and three assists against American.
Norfleet stands fifth among active NEC players with 1,157 career points.
FORMER RMU STAR TOUTS ANDERSON’S SHOOTING PROWESS
Robert Morris and NEC legend Velton Jones last week on Twitter called current RMU senior guard
Karvel Anderson (Elkhart, IN/Elkhart Memorial) a top-10 shooter in the country, then amended that statement.
Velton Jones @VeltonJones2
Vel top 10 shooters in the country. He has to shoot the ball
Velton Jones @VeltonJones2
I said top 10? I mean TOP 5
In an 88-81 victory over UT Arlington on Thursday, Anderson once again showed why those statements may not be far fetched.
Anderson paced RMU with 24 points and tied a Sewall Center record for three-pointers by a Colonial with eight on the evening. Anderson is one of six Colonials in school history to drain at least eight three-pointers from beyond the arc at the Sewall Center, and the first to do it twice. The eight trifectas also tied for the most in a DI game this season.
For the week, Anderson averaged 19.0 points and shot 53.8 percent from the field. He leads RMU and ranks fourth in the NEC with 17.2 ppg. He also leads the conference with 22 made three-pointers.
THE CHASE CONTINUES FOR LIU’S BRICKMAN
LIU Brooklyn senior guard
Jason Brickman (San Antonio, TX/Clark) is not wasting any time in his pursuit of one of the NEC’s longest-standing individual records. Last week, Brickman cracked the 750 assist mark for his career and boosted his career total to 767. He is just 38 shy of surpassing Marist’s Drafton Davis, who racked up an all-time best 804 from 1984-88. Prior to Brickman, no NEC player had come within 200 assists of the mark Davis set 25 years ago.
Brickman is the leading active distributor in DI and needs 56 dimes to enter the top-25 all-time in NCAA history. Looking ahead, Brickman also has a realistic chance of joining Duke’s Bobby Hurley (1,076), NC State’s Chris Corchiani (1,038) and UNC’s Ed Cota (1,030) as the only players in the history of DI college hoops to end their careers with 1,000 assists.
Brickman led the nation last season with 8.5 apg, and is again on top of the national leaderboard in 2013-14 with 9.2 apg. His 14 assists against Saint Peter’s is the most by an NCAA player this season against a DI opponent.
WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?
Bryant’s 60-55 win at America East rival New Hampshire on Sunday did not come without its glitches. The game saw a 48-minute interruption with only 3:35 left to play in the contest when the entire UNH campus lost power. The Bulldogs, who were leading, 54-50, at the outage, held on for the five-point victory.
NEC NOTABLES
• Bryant senior forward
Alex Francis (Harlem, NY/Holderness Prep (NH)) averaged 16.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg last week as the Bulldogs split a pair of games. He shot 66.7 percent from the field (12-18) and picked up his first double-double of the season and 27th of his career on Sunday afternoon with 16 points and 10 rebounds in a 60-55 road victory over New Hampshire. He added a team-high 17 points at Harvard on Wednesday.
• CCSU freshman guard
Khalen Cumberlander (Washington, D.C./Coolidge) had 15 points in 22 minutes against Rider on Saturday, giving him 35 points in his last two games. Cumberlander was 5-8 from the field.
• FDU senior guard
Sidney Sanders (Charleston, SC/Burke) averaged 19.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 4.7 apg while shooting 48.8 percent from the floor in three games for the Knights. He finished with a team-high 16 points, to go along with three boards and three assists against #5 Arizona in a Preseason NIT matchup last Monday, and added a career-best 22 points and season-high seven assists the following evening versus Metro State, the top-ranked DII team in the country.
• Robert Morris freshman forward
Jeremiah Worthem (Philadelphia, PA/Math, Civics & Sciences) continued his steady contributions off the bench last week for the Colonials, averaging 11.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg to earn Choice Hotels/NEC Rookie of the Week honors. He led RMU with 16 points and five boards against Cleveland State on Saturday.
• St. Francis Brooklyn junior forward
Jalen Cannon (Allentown, PA/William Allen) averaged 16.3 ppg last week and scored a season-high 22 points in a 68-62 victory over Oakland in the consolation game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational Mainland Tournament on Sunday.
• St. Francis Brooklyn junior guard
Brent Jones (Brooklyn, NY/Bedford Academy) recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-best 10 assists in a 68-62 win over Oakland on Sunday.
• Saint Francis U’s
Malik Harmon (Queens, NY/Christ the King) has emerged as one of the NEC’s top freshman this season. The 5-11 point guard averaged 13.0 points and 3.5 assists in two games last week, including 16 points on 4-8 shooting from three-point range against George Mason on Tuesday. He has scored in double digits in five straight games and leads all NEC freshman with 12.5 ppg.
• Wagner senior guard
Latif Rivers (Elizabeth, NJ/Avon Old Farms (CT)) (1,211) is just five points behind former teammate Tyler Murray for 23rd place on the all-time Wagner scoring list. Rivers’ 165 made three pointers also tie him for 10th place in school history and are just three behind Matt Vitale.