Catamounts Reach the Top Once Again

For the fifth time since 2003, the University of Vermont men's basketball team can call itself the America East Champion. The Catamounts defeated Stony Brook on Long Island Saturday morning, 51-43 in front of nearly 5,000 fans at the Stony Brook Arena.

Vermont used a 17-5 first half run to gain control of the the contest and led the rest of the way. Four McGlynn led the Cats with 14 points and Brian Voelkel, the Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, hauled in 15 rebounds and handed out 7 assists.

Stony Brook got 10 points apiece from Al Rapier and Dave Coley.

Both teams will head to postseason tournaments now. The Seawolves await their NIT fate, an appearance they earned by being the regular season champions, while Vermont finds out its NCAA Tournament destination on Selection Sunday.

Check out some highlights from the great scene at Stony Brook on Saturday morning.

AE Championship Preview

- from a Stony Brook Point of View...

March 10^th could wind up being one of the most important days in Stony Brook basketball’s history.

For the second straight year, the Stony Brook men’s basketball team has a chance to win the America East Championship and in the process, earn their first ever trip to the NCAA tournament.

The two top seeds of the tournament will collide this Saturday at a sold out Stony Brook Arena at 11 a.m. as the Vermont Catamounts try to upset the Stony Brook Seawolves on a nationally televised stage, ESPN 2.

Stony Brook (14-2, 22-8) comes into the game riding the momentum of a buzzer beating win on Sunday over Albany. Dallis Joyner tipped in a missed shot with only seconds remaining to give his team the 57-55 win, while on his way to the #1 play on Sportcenter’s Top Ten Plays.

Remembering the way the Seawolves’ season ended last year, by two points in the championship game, they seem poised to not let it happen again.

“Last year after the game the feeling was nasty in the locker room,” said sophomore guard Dave Coley. “We don’t want anyone cutting down the nets on our home floor.”

Vermont (13-8, 22-11) on the other hand won a thriller in double overtime over the upset minded Hartford Hawks to earn its way into the championship game.

The Seawolves will try to keep their record setting year going by earning their first bid into the big dance. This has already been one of, if not, the best years in program history with 22 Division I victories tieing their previous record set in 2009-10. In addition, senior Bryan Dougher needs only two points on Saturday to become Stony Brook’s DI all-time leading scorer.

Stony Brook has decided to open up the Arena for one of the biggest games in school history in expectations of a large, noisy and red crowd. Student tickets will be given out for free for the first 1400 people waiting in line outside the Gymnasium. Along with all the tickets that will be sold, the Sports Arena should be quite a spectacle on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of high energy right now. We just want to skip practice and get in the game,” said America East Defensive Player of the Year Tommy Brenton. “And the Arena just adds to that.

With the two top seeded teams playing and motivation on both sides at an all-time high, the game itself should not disappoint basketball fans either.

Stony Brook’s basketball team and their fans are ready for some March Madness.

Title Bout for the Ages

They were the two best teams during the regular season. They ranked 1-2 in scoring defense. They won a combined to 44 games this year and on Saturday one of them will be cutting down the nets as America East Champion.

Saturday’s championship tilt was meant for No. 2 Vermont and No. 1 Stony Brook.

The game, which will be played in 4,500-seet Stony Brook Arena, completely sold out on Thursday afternoon – nearly a full 48 hours before Saturday’s 11 a.m. tip-off.

Both teams faced tough tests in the quarter and semi final round to even get to this point. Stony Brook received the best shots from Binghamton before defeating the Bearcats and was immersed in a battle with Albany that required Dallis Joyner’s buzzer-beating tip-in to get to the finals.

Vermont scored just 14 points in the first half against Maine but went on a 14-2 run late in the second half to get past the Black Bears last Saturday and survived a double overtime thriller against Hartford in the semis.

It was the Seawolves that ended the Catamount’s season a year ago, can they do it again on Sunday or will Vermont capture yet another conference championship?

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John Becker on the path to the championship…

“I’m really proud of my guys. We felt like we had our backs against the wall for a good majority of both those games and guys continued to fight and play smart, composed basketball. We were able to execute and guys stepped up to make plays and it was really exciting to get out of there with two wins.”

Steve Pikiell on the anticipation and excitement…

“I can tell you right now, just looking out my window, the students are lined up every single one of them wearing read and some of them have their faces painted already. We are excited to have this home game, our community is excited, and there is a buzz around here. I wanted to bring March Madness to campus and we’re getting a dose of it right now.”

Becker on how the tough atmosphere in Hartford will help this weekend…

“We are still a young team and we’ve had trouble at points this year handling adversity on the road. So this weekend, basically being a road team in the semifinal, to be able pull out that win in that environment will only help us on Saturday. It’s going to be an even more hostile environment but our guys our confident they can win on the road in the conference tournament.”

Pikiell on the path to the title game…

“I think over the weekend we took the best punches of two good teams. Binghamton averaged three three-pointers a game and they made 11 against us and then Albany really dealt us a punch. I’m pleased that we did a great job defensively and rebounding in both games and we were tough enough to win [the Albany] game at the end.”

Becker on Stony Brook…

“They haven’t lost at home and they are very experienced and tough team. We’re going to have our hands full. We know it’s going to be a tough game that comes down to a few plays, a loose ball here a rebound there. The team that makes more toughness plays is probably going to win.”

Pikiell on Vermont…

“That program has been good for a long time. They’ve got great players at every position, they’re well coached, they run good offense, they play good defense. We knew we were going to have to play someone real good and that’s the way it is and we’re just excited to have this game on our home court with our fans, our students.”

Becker on preparing for the 11 a.m. tip-off…

“We’ve been practicing every day at 11, getting the guys up early having team breakfast. We’re just trying to get them ready to go and compete at a high level at kind of an odd hour that we aren’t familiar playing at.”

Pikiell on playing the game in the arena…

“It’s going to be louder that’s for sure. We practice down there, we shoot down there so it’s not like it’s a gym we never spend time in. But we’re excited because more people can get involved in this game. Our students and our community will really make this a tough place to play and it gives them a chance to see what type of basketball is played during March Madness time.”

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For the 15^th time in league history, it will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 to decide who will go Dancin’.

You can catch all the action live on ESPN2 starting at 11:02 a.m. on Saturday.

Retrievers and Danes Battle for Title

In 2007, UMBC made a run to the NCAA Tournament, winning the conference crown as a No. 7 seed – the lowest seeded team to ever win the title.

In 2012, almost five years to the day of its 2007 title win, UMBC can become just the second No. 5 seed to go Dancin’.

The Albany Great Danes stand in the Retrievers’ way.

Led by Coach of the Year Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, the Danes enter Saturday night’s title game looking to cap off the finest season in the program’s Division 1 history. Boasting one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, the lockdown-Danes turned on the defensive prowess in the early rounds of the conference tourney forcing 50 combined turnovers so far in their two games.

The Danes will have to deal the league’s top scoring offense powered by seniors Erin Brown and Michelle Kurowski. That duo, plus the solid one-on-one defense of Kristin Coles, provides the Retrievers with a formidable and experienced core.

It’s the top offense against the top defense on Saturday night. The winner goes dancing.

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Phil Stern on the road to the final…

“We are thrilled especially for our seniors, such a great group of young ladies. We never really saw ourselves as the fifth seed in this tournament. We knew we were one of the better teams in the league and we just had a disappointing regular season.”

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson on her team’s will power…

“What an amazing group of young ladies. It’s the will power of this team. They don’t care about what’s happening tomorrow, about what happened yesterday but they only care about today and 40 minutes. We can do a lot of things in 40 minutes so anything is possible with that human will power and they’ve got it.”

Stern on Kristin Coles…

“She was just incredible this weekend. To contain both Beliveau and Alford in a three-day span is an incredible feat. She also did a great job on the offensive end. She had 15 crucial points against New Hampshire, knocked down a couple of big jumpers against Boston and she’s just made herself into a really good all-around player and we got see that on a big stage this weekend.”

Abrahamson-Henderson on the way her freshman have played in the tourney…

“To me they aren’t freshman anymore. They’ve played a whole season and they are only going to get better because they still have three more years. Megan is a lot more comfortable now playing and she’s gotten more agile and gotten used to moving out there. And Sarah, thank goodness I recruited that young lady. She’s as competitive as anything.”

Phil Stern on Albany…

“I really think they play differently than anybody else in our league. They really get out and pressure you. Most of our league is a half court league and Katie has done a great job getting her kids to play differently and play aggressive. So we have to handle their pressure and do a good job against their zone. But at this time of the year what kind of enthusiasm you come with and the energy you bring.”

Abrahamson-Henderson on UMBC…

                     

“Phil’s a great coach, and it’s like why do I have to play you again? That’s how you feel. They are going to chess match this game, come prepared for everything but so are we. Coach Stern has some great players on his team, some great seniors that don’t want it to end. Saturday is going to come down to which seniors don’t want to go home.”

America East Daily Word - March 8

The men’s and women’s basketball teams representing the conference in the NCAA tournament will be decided on Saturday. Albany and UMBC tangle at 8 p.m. on the women’s side and it’s No. 1 vs. No. 2, Stony Brook and Vermont, for the men.

Cue the hype from local media outlets.

Newsday on Long Island ran a collection of stories today about Stony Brook including a video piece about the Seawolves’ preparation for Vermont on Saturday. Bryan Dougher, Dallis Joyner, Tommy Brenton and head coach Steve Pikiell all make appearances in the video journal. In addition, Steven Marcus wrote a piece on Joyner reflecting on last year’s championship game against Boston U.

Up in Burlington, the Free Press continues its buildup of the title tilt on Saturday by taking a look at where this contest will be played. No, not the friendly confines of Pritchard Gym where Stony Brook is 13-0 this year, but the Stony Brook Arena. With a seating capacity in the range of 4,500 things are sure to be wild and crazy on Long Island Saturday morning.

Want to know more about the Albany women’s hoops team? Look no further than the Times Union today. The Albany paper give us 10 things we may not know about the Great Danes, including the fact that the league’s leading rebounder, Julie Forster, makes great chocolate chip cookies.

Promotional videos for the weekend hoops madness are starting to pop up as well.

First check out the America East promos and then take a gander at promo spots from UVM, Stony Brook and Albany.

We had a full slate of games yesterday on the diamonds and the turf. We’ll start with some baseball as four of the five teams in action picked up victories. Stony Brook, Maine, Albany and Hartford won their contests. Check out highlights and reaction from Hartford and a recap on Maine’s win over Western Michigan.

Women’s lacrosse went 4-2 on the day with wins being posted by Vermont, UMBC, Albany and Binghamton. The Cats beat High point, the Retrievers downed Delaware, Binghamton edged Marist and Albany sneaked past crosstown rival Siena.

Hartford men’s lacrosse picked up its first win of the season, defeating Brown by the final of 20-6. Aidan Genik scored five goals for the Hawks.

America East Daily Word - March 7

UMBC attackman Scott Jones did not score a goal in the first half of Tuesday night’s men’s lacrosse game against No. 4 Maryland.

Trailing the Terps 6-3 heading into the fourth quarter, Jones picked an ideal time to notch his first tallies of the evening. The junior scored twice in the fourth quarter – once to give UMBC a 7-6 lead and an insurance goal just 35 second later – and UMBC upset Maryland, 8-7, in Catonsville.

The win is the Retrievers’ second of the season and fourth over the Terrapins in their last six tries.

Inside Lacrosse took in the game on a chilly night and cited the effort of Phil Poe in the face-off circle as the key to UMBC’s victory. Poe controlled 15 of 19 draws including four of five in the decisive fourth quarter. See what else the magazine had to say about the win.

UMBC entered Tuesday’s game coming off a near upset of No. 19 Fairfield but its comeback fell short. The Baltimore Sun spoke to head coach Don Zimmerman about the team’s attitude after that game and how it impacted the outcome Tuesday.

Check out some highlights of the comeback including postgame reaction from Zimmerman.

Two other America East men lax had shots to knock off top five opponents. Both battled but fell short in their bids. Joe Resetarits scored a hat trick for Albany but it was not enough against No. 5 UMass and Vermont got four goals from Connor McNamara but No. 1 Virginia posted a 16-10 win over the Cats.

We’ve got even more lacrosse action today with another men’s game and six women’s contests from around the conference. Defending champion Hartford takes on Brown in men’s action while, Vermont, New Hampshire, UMBC, Albany, Boston University and Binghamton are all in action for the women.

For the complete schedule, head over to AmericaEast.com

Local media in the Burlington and Stony Brook area have started to create some buzz around the men’s hoops championship game on Saturday. Greg Logan of Newsday gets some perspective from UVM coach John Becker about the Seawolves while John Fantino of the Free Press breaks down the rise of the Stony Brook program over the last four years.

Meanwhile, the Albany men’s hoops team may not be done playing just yet. See what the Troy Record is saying this morning.

America East Daily Word - March 6

It could potentially big a huge day for America East men’s lacrosse.

All three teams in action today – Albany, UMBC and Vermont – take on teams ranked in the top-5 of the latest USILA Coaches’ Poll.

Headlining the matchups is tonight’s tilt between the Catamounts and No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville. The Catamounts are the second America East team (Stony Brook) to try their hand at knocking off the nation’s best. UVM enters the game looking for its first win on the young season.

Elsewhere, UMBC hosts No. 4 Maryland under the lights at UMBC Stadium. These two teams have met every year since the 1982 season with Maryland holding the all-time series edge 26-7. However, UMBC has won three of the last five against the Terrapins. Face-off from Baltimore is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Lastly, Albany stumbled at No. 16 Yale over the weekend but gets another shot to bounce a ranked opponent when it takes on No. 5 UMass this afternoon. Recent Major League Lacrosse draft selection Joe Resetarits leads Albany in scoring with 9 goals so far this year.

For all of the live coverage links to today’s action, head over to AmericaEast.com.

Yesterday in women’s lacrosse, Stony Brook nearly pulled off the upset of No. 5 Duke at LaValle Stadium. The game played into the final stages tied at eight until the Blue Devils scored the go-ahead goal with 5:31 left. The Seawolves could not tally the equalizer and fell, 9-8. Newsday has a recap of the near upset by the much-improved Seawolves.

To the hardwood now, if you missed any of the tournament action from the weekend – games, fans, spirit squads, anything – we have got you covered. Check out the weekend recap featuring game highlights from all four thrilling semifinal games on Sunday.

Tickets for the men’s championship game at Stony Brook will go on sale to the general public on Thursday while tickets for the women’s title bout at Albany went on sale today at noon.

For all of the latest America East news, including the latest weekly award winners in lacrosse, baseball and softball, check out AmericaEast.com.

America East Daily Word - March 5

This is the first Daily Word in the month of the March and the “Madness” has already begun.

Semifinal action at the America East Basketball Championship in West Hartford yesterday defined March Madness. We had upsets, buzzer-beaters, comebacks, double overtime, big shots but most importantly we know who will be playing for a shot to Dance next weekend.

Stony Brook and Albany went down to the absolute wire on the men’s side. Dallis Joyner’s buzzer-beating tip in sent the Seawolves to the title game back on Long Island and created serious buzz in the New York media market.

ESPN New York’s Kieran Darcy blogged about the game and included Eric Frede’s call of the final 10 seconds in the post. Darcy also included Stony Brook’s win in a post of local Long Island schools still standing.

Stony Brook will host the America East title game for the first time looking to head to the NCAA tourney for the first time. Greg Logan of Newsday recaps from the Stony Brook perspective and Tim Wilkin of the Times Union has more from Albany.

In the other men’s semifinal game, Hartford nearly pulled off the upset of the tournament, riding the energy of their home crowd to a near victory over No. 2 Vermont. The Cats pulled it out in double overtime, 77-73. Channel 3 and the Burlington Free Press have more from West Hartford.

In women’s action, UMBC shot lights out from 3-point range and knocked off top-seeded Boston University to earn its second title game bid since joining the league. Michelle Kurowski scored 25 points for the Retrievers in the 77-61 win. Check out some highlights.

In the other women’s game, Albany got one step closer to its first America East Conference title. The Danes got 19 points from Ebone Henry en route to defeating Binghamton. By virtue of UMBC’s win over Boston U., Albany will host the championship game next weekend. Fox 23 was there to bring you some video coverage.

In the midst of all the hoops excitement, Stony Brook’s women’s lacrosse team pulled off a nice upset over the weekend. The new look Seawolves knocked off No. 20/17 Johns Hopkins, 15-14 in Baltimore. It’s the first win over a ranked opponent for Stony Brook and Inside Lacrosse and Lacrosse Magazine wrote about the victory.

To check out all the tournament coverage from over the weekend, head over to AmericaEast.com.