Catching up with UNH head coach Maureen Magarity

After dropping its first four games to start America East play, the New Hampshire women's basketball team has put together a two-game winning streak. However, the Wildcats face a huge test on Sunday when they travel to face UMBC. This game will be a huge test for UNH, as it is yet to win a road game this season. AExtra caught up with UNH head coach Maureen Magarity to talk about the current win streak, as well as what it will take to slow down UMBC guard Michelle Kurowski.

Go Behind the Scenes with Boston University head coach Pat Chambers

If you have ever wondered what it was like to be a head coach at the Division I level, then be sure to tune into this great video from Boston University athletics. Men's basketball head coach Pat Chambers is profiled in this Behind the Scenes look.

Crowley Selected No. 1 in MLL Draft

Stony Brook senior midfielder Kevin Crowley and three other teammates were selected in yesterday's MLL Draft. Crowley, who has been selected by numerous lacrosse publications as a potential All-American, was chosen No. 1 overall by the Hamilton Nationals. Last season, Crowley led the nation in scoring, averaging 4.53 points per game for the Seawolves.

Following the selection of Crowley, three more Stony Brook players heard their names called on draft day. Senior attacker Jordan McBride was selected No. 14 overall by the Rochester Rattlers. With the No. 28 pick, the Boston Cannons selected senior attacker Tom Compitello and with the No. 31 pick, the Hamilton Nationals selected senior midfielder Adam Rand.

AExtra would like to congratulate the four Stony Brook players that were selected in the MLL draft. This is a huge accomplishment and certainly only increases the excitement for the upcoming lacrosse season.

Holland Carries Terriers Past Stony Brook

After what could at the very least be called a disappointing defeat to UMBC, the Boston University men’s basketball team found themselves at a cross road. One path led to a .500 conference record and the other towards a spot near the top of the conference standings.

For much of the first half it appeared as if the Terriers were still demoralized by Monday’s loss, as they trailed Stony Brook by as many as 10 with 11:36 remaining in the first half. The Seawolves started hot, hitting five-of-six from beyond the arc, while the Terriers hung in to keep the deficit within reach. Needless to say all the student fans feared another bad loss.

The downfall of Stony Brook this season has been their lack of a superstar. America East Player of the Year Muhammad El-Amin graduated, defensive and rebounding star Tommy Brenton is redshirting this season, and Chris Martin is also recovering from an injury. The 2009-2010 America East regular season champions are now left with a very young core, with the exception of Bryan Dougher.

UMBC upends Hartford in thriller

UMBC extended its winning streak to two games with a thrilling 74-70 (2OT) road victory over Hartford. The deciding factors in this game was the UMBC bench, which outscored the Hartford bench, 42-11. Sophomore guard Brian Neller provided a huge boost off the bench, scoring a game-high 24 points, including hitting 6-of-11 from behind the arc.

Here is some footage with Hartford head coach John Gallagher following the loss:

Record Crowd sees UMBC rally from 12 down in second half to defeat Hartford in Double Overtime

After overcoming a 12-point second-half deficit, the UMBC women’s basketball team (10-9, 4-2 AE) held America East rival Hartford (6-13, 3-3 AE) without a field goal in the second overtime period and picked up a 67-60 victory Thursday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,376 fans, a RAC Arena women’s basketball record. More than 1,600 local elementary and middle school students came out to support the Retrievers for UMBC’s sixth annual Midday Madness.

Junior center Topé Obajolu (Randallstown, Md./Archbishop Carroll) was named America East Player of the Game with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and four blocks.

Hartford took a game-high 12-point lead, 43-31, on a jumper by guard Mary Silvia at the 14:21 mark of the second half, but a pair of free throws by UMBC senior forward Meghan Colabella (Upper Montclair, N.J./Montclair) ignited a 21-3 Retriever run that gave the hosts a 52-46 advantage with 4:04 remaining. UMBC scored 15 straight points during that stretch and held the Hawks without a field goal for more than 11 minutes before guard Daphne Elliott sank back-to-back 3-pointers that tied the game with 2:34 left.

Colabella put the Retrievers back on top by two with a layup 32 seconds later, but Hartford guard Ilicia Mathis made two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, UMBC’s first since the 2005 America East quarterfinals against Binghamton.

Hartford struck first in the extra period on a layup by guard Alex Hall, but UMBC scored five straight points and led, 59-56, with 55 seconds to play. But Hartford guard Jackie Smith nailed a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds on the clock to force a second overtime, the first for the Retrievers since 2003 against Robert Morris.

The UMBC defense came up big in the final five minutes, as Hartford missed all nine shots. The Retrievers made just one field goal in the period but connected on six of eight free throws to pull out the win.

It was UMBC’s first overtime victory since Jan. 16, 1993 against Charleston Southern; the Retrievers lost nine straight overtime contests since then before Thursday’s win. UMBC is now 6-15 all-time in games lasting longer than 40 minutes and 2-3 in double and triple overtime contests.

Both teams shot lights out to start the game, combining to make 12 of their first 19 attempts from the floor.Hartford made seven 3-pointers in the first half, including six in a row and a buzzer-beater by Hall that gave the Hawks a 32-26 halftime lead.

The Retrievers shot 48 percent in the game and held Hartford to just 29.9 percent from the floor, the fourth time UMBC has held its opponent below 30 percent this season. The Hawks, however, made a season-high 11 triples. The Retrievers dominated inside with 32 points in the paint and a 45-35 rebounding advantage.

Junior guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and she added three assists and three steals. Colabella finished with 11 points, six boards, four blocks and three helpers.

Elliott led Hartford with 17 points on five 3-pointers, the only Hawk in double figures, and earned her team’s Player of the Game honors. She added six rebounds and three assists.

The Retrievers return to action on Sunday, when they host America East rival New Hampshire at 2 p.m.

McLemore reaches milestone in key win at Vermont

While there is still a lot of basketball left to be played this season, you will be hard pressed to find a more impressive victory than the 72-58 win Maine had at Vermont on Tuesday night. Not only did the Black Bears hand Vermont its first lost at Patrick Gymnasium this season and snapped the Catamounts’ 14-game home court win streak, they also solidified themselves at the top of the America East standings, improving to 5-1 this season in conference play.

For Maine junior guard Gerald McLemore, the win at Vermont marked the first win over the Catamounts in his career and provided an experience he won’t soon forget.

“Winning at Vermont at anytime is crucial” emphasized the junior guard. “It’s very hard to win there, and I know in my career at Maine, I had never beat Vermont, period. So to be able to win there is very memorable. Being able to win a statement game like that was great. We know they are a talented team and we know that they are coached well and we were able to take care of business. Now we are just looking forward.”

UVM men’s basketball takes one on the chin as Maine ends home win streak

Entering Tuesday night’s highly anticipated game against Maine, the Vermont men’s basketball team had to feel confident playing in their own building. The Catamounts had won their first eight games at home this year and, counting last season, had a 16-game home winning streak.

The last team to beat Vermont at home was a strong Stony Brook squad from the 2009-2010 season; and it was two days shy of a year ago. If that wasn’t enough, Maine had not beaten Vermont in Patrick Gym in exactly four years.

Both streaks came to an end Tuesday night as Maine handed Vermont a convincing 72-58 loss. The Black Bears, who improved to 11-7 (5-1), never trailed in the game and controlled both ends of the floor for the majority of the night.

“I thought they really exposed our weaknesses,” Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan said. “They really exposed our point guards and we couldn’t stay between them and the basket.”

The matchup at point guard was dominated by Maine on both ends of the floor throughout the night. Vermont’s duo of Joey Accaoui and Simeon Marsalis combined for 14 points and zero assists, while Maine’s duo of Andrew Rodgers and Raheem Singleton combined for 22 points and five assists.

More importantly, Singleton and Rodgers were able to penetrate into the heart of the Catamount defense for the majority of the night, which led to easy baskets for the rest of Maine’s scorers.

“That Singleton kid really outplayed us,” Lonergan said. “Once again when your point guards combine for zero assists...it’s hard to win without a quarterback out there, running the offense and getting good shots for people.”

As in all of the league games this year, the Catamounts got off to a cold start shooting the basketball, making just 8-26 field goals — 30.8% — in the first half. Maine held leads of 22-11 and 37-28 before Vermont cut the lead to 39-37 with 13:43 to go in the second half. Nonetheless, Vermont wasn’t able to capture a lead from the Black Bears for the duration of the night.

Evan Fjeld led Vermont with 18 points and 10 rebounds — his third double-double of the year — and Matt Glass and Joey Accaoui added 11 and 14 points respectively.

Despite the scoring numbers for Glass and Accaoui, Lonergan pointed to a lack of production from them, and others, as a key reason for their difficulties.

“Matt has to get on the boards, you know, 24 minutes no rebounds. Joey is getting outplayed by Raheem Singleton so, points are very misleading,” Lonergan said. “You know its just frustrating because I thought a lot of guys came up weak. Our bench gave us nothing; first half no rebounds, and the second half, Garret [Kissell] had two rebounds. So in all our bench minutes we had two rebounds and not a whole lot of production.”

Vermont falls to 12-5 (3-2) on the year and clearly have pressing issues that need to be addressed as the conference schedule continues against New Hampshire this Thursday in Durham.

De La Rosa Fuels Retrievers to Key Win

One of the things that makes conference play so exciting is the unpredictable nature of each contest. Due to the familiarity between coaching staffs which develops from numerous meetings over the course of multiple seasons, any matchup in conference play has the potential to create an upset. This unpredictable nature was on display Monday night, when the UMBC Retrievers, who entered their game against Boston University on a four-game losing streak, scored the final 11 points of the game to knock off the Terriers.

Although it was only their second win of the season, the Retrievers have shown flashes of their potential in a pair of 8-point losses to Stony Brook and Binghamton. Despite some of the struggles this season, UMBC is a dangerous matchup due to the excellent play of junior guard Chris De La Rosa. De La Rosa, who is averaging 22.9 points in America East play, has developed into one of the elite guards in the conference.

“I think he has been terrific,” emphasized UMBC head coach Randy Monroe. “He has certainly established himself as one of the best guards in our league. I’m not surprised by what he is doing because he has a tremendous passion and desire for the game of basketball. He is really coming along as a leader of this team. He is growing with every game and he is getting more and more confident. There is no doubt in my mind he is one of the best, if not the best, guard in our conference. He is really showing it game in and game out.”

Hitting the Links: 1/18/2011

Good afternoon, AExtra fans. Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and are back ready and refreshed on this Tuesday afternoon. It's like the week just started and it's already almost over!

America East took full advantage of the long weekend, packing 14 men's and women's basketball into the three days. After those rounds of conference action, the picture produced by the conference standings is beginning to clear...at least for the women.

Boston University has distinguished itself as the team to beat on the women's side of the bracket. After putting up a 3-9 record through their non-conference schedule, the Terriers have won their last five games, all in conference play. The Terriers are 5-0 in America East and sit atop the conference standings after a 65-39 win over UMBC.

UMBC ends game on 11-0 run to upset Boston for first conference win

UMBC scored the game’s final 11 points and rallied to upset Boston University, 71-67, in an America East contest played at the RAC Arena. UMBC junior guard Chris De La Rosa was the Retrievers’ America East Player of the Game with 23 points, tallying 20 or more for the fourth consecutive game. Sophomore forward Adrian Satchell hit the game-winning basket with 24 seconds remaining and added two free throws with 5.7 seconds to play to seal the contest for the hosts.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, people nationwide are remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

King was a pastor, preaching at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the same church for which his father and grandfather served as pastors. He was a scholar, earning a number of degrees, including his doctorate from Boston University in 1955. Most famously, King was a leader of America's Civil Rights movement, traveling around the country delivering speeches and standing up against injustice. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Eventually, King died for Civil Rights, as he was shot in Memphis in 1968.

Today, America East recognizes Martin Luther King, Jr. Additionally, coming up in February, America East will profile distinguished African American alumni from each of its nine universities. The profiles will be featured on AmericaEast.com starting in February as the conference celebrates some of its Black history during Black History Month. 

Vermont rolls past UMBC

After a highly competitive first half, Vermont used an explosive performance from sophomore guard Brendan Bold to pull away for an 85-48 win.

UMBC demolishes Vermont for best America East start in history

Junior guard Michelle Kurowski scored 28 points and junior forward Erin Brown netted 21 to lead the UMBC women's basketball team (9-8, 3-1 AE) to a 69-54 victory over America East rival Vermont Saturday afternoon at the RAC Arena.