America East Daily Word - December 16

One of the most ferocious rebounders in the history of the America East Conference and the University of Vermont. One of the most intense players on the court.

Yet, as former UVM head coach Tom Brennan will tell you, Trevor Gaines was one of the most “loving, gentle and giving” people off of the court.

Gaines, a two time captain for the Catamounts during his four year career (1998-2002) in Burlington and one of only six players in school history to score over 1,000 points and grab over 800 rebounds, tragically passed away in the summer of 2010. He was playing picked up basketball when he collapsed and never regained consciousness.

UVM will honor Gaines by retiring his No. 45 jersey before tomorrow’s game against Iona at Patrick Gym. He will be the third Catamount to have his number retired joining Kevin Roberson’s No. 33 and Eddie Benton’s No. 10. 

Gaines ranks 12^th all-time on the America East career rebounding list with 880.

CatamounTV produced a retrospective on Gaines with interviews from Brennan and current UVM coach, John Becker. 

In other Vermont basketball related news, Marqus Blakely participated in Houston Rockets’ media day festivities. The former Catamount was interviewed by the Houston Chronicle about only having a limited time to prove himself with the lockout-shortened preseason. Read what the former two-time conference player of the year had to say, here.

How about a little lacrosse news for you? After helping lead Hartford to its first men’s lacrosse conference title last spring, Tim Fallon was picked up in the Major League Lacrosse Supplemental Draft by the Rochester Rattlers. Fallon was a two-time All-American as a face-off specialist. The Rattlers break down their supplemental draft.

Basketball resumes tomorrow after a brief hiatus for final exams. For the full schedule and all of the live coverage links check out AmericaEast.com.

America East Daily Word - December 15

If you watched the Boston U.-Villanova game on ESPN2 Tuesday, you probably heard the high praises Jeff Van Gundy had for Terrier point guard D.J. Irving.

The Pennsylvania native, Irving played in front of former coaches, teammates and family members at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Christopher Vito, a reporter for the Daily Times, wrote a great feature on Irving and his seemingly uncanny ability to always prove people wrong.

“At this time two years ago, in his senior year at Archbishop Carroll, Irving was underwhelmed by the recruiting interest he was receiving,” Vito says. “A number of coaches from schools in mid-major conferences — including at least two from this neck of the woods — traipsed through the Patriots’ gym, watched Irving do his thing, then passed on the 6-0 point guard.”

Now, after an all-rookie season, Irving has established himself as one of the top players in the league running the show for the reigning conference champs.  But that, according to Irving, is just an invitation to play every game with something else to prove.

“I know I can’t take a game off because I don’t have that luxury,” Irving says in the article. “I like to be pushed, anyway. That’s when I play my best.”

Read the rest of Vito’s article on Irving, here.

We’ve got zero basketball games on tap for this evening. In fact, the rest of the week’s schedule is empty until Saturday.

No worries, there is plenty of baseball news to chat about as the NCBWA announced its preseason All-America teams yesterday.  Among the collection of baseball talent is Stony Brook junior outfielder, Travis Jankowski. The 2011 Cape Cod League MVP, Jankowski cracked the 3^rd team list after a very fine 2011 campaign and an outstanding summer on the Cape.

We did have a few contests on the hardwood last night. The Stony Brook women and the UMBC men took the floor aiming to head into conference play and a few high notes. Unfortunately, neither could finish the night with a victory.

UMBC took on a winless, but talented, Morgan State team at the RAC. The Retrievers hit the glass hard outrebounding Morgan State but had a difficult time scoring in a 73-60 loss. The Baltimore Sun has more.

Meanwhile, Stony Brook traveled to New Jersey for a bout with Fairleigh Dickinson. The Seawolves led by three at halftime but the Knights opened the second frame on a 20-4 run and held off a late run to come away with the win, 51-48.

For all your conference news, head over to AmericaEast.com.

America East Daily Word - December 14

It’s an exciting time to be at Stony Brook University.

Athletic facilities are receiving major facelifts, new buildings are being constructed and now, the university is the recipient of a $150 million gift from one of its former math professors.

The New York Times ran a story yesterday detailing a very generous gift from hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist, James H. Simons. This is by far the largest gift in the State University of New York system and the sixth largest donation, according to the article, ever made to an American public university.

“Most of the money will go to research in medical sciences, including the construction of a life sciences building and the creation of a neurosciences institute and a center for biological imaging, as well as to the study of cancer and infectious diseases,” the article says.

Simons left teaching in 1978 for the financial sector and founded Renaissance Technologies. Since then, he has become the 30^th wealthiest person in the country with Forbes estimating his total worth at an astounding $10.6 billion.

Stony Brook’s president, Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, referred to the moment as the university’s “rebirth day.” The official announcement will be made today.

We’ll stay on Long Island for a little lacrosse news. New women’s lacrosse coach Joe Spallina made a major splash yesterday when he announced that Long Island’s own Janine Hillier is returning home to play lacrosse for the Seawolves. Hillier has been a standout player for the University of Florida the last two seasons. Check out the video of Spallina’s announcement and Inside Lacrosse caught up with him for a closer look at his new talent.

Back to the hardwood now where both games last night featured Boston University pitted against power conference foes – the women made the short trek up Comm. Ave. to Boston College while the men took on Villanova in Philly.

Chantell Alford, the reigning conference player of the year, scored 23 points and hit some big shots down the stretch to help the Terriers pick up their first win against the Eagles since 1990. BC led at the break but Alford and company hit the glass hard in the second half, ultimately proving to be the difference in the game. Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald has more.

Meanwhile, the Terrier men were giving Villanova and former America East coach Jay Wright (Hoftsra) all they could handle in the first half. Boston U. led 26-23 at intermission and then the Wildcats turned it on, outscoring Boston U. 45-17 in the second half. The final from the Wells Fargo Center, 68-43. Check out the game recap from the Philadelphia Inquirer, here.

Make sure you read the Daily Updates for the basketball schedule tonight!

America East Daily Word - December 12

Some nice wins for our women’s basketball teams highlighted the weekend events.

We’ll start first in Hartford as the Hawks looked to take down an ACC foe in Boston College. The deck was seemingly stacked against the Hawks. Jen Rizzotti and company were without leading scorer Ruthanne Doherty and Hartford had never beaten Boston College.

But the Hawks played one of their most complete games all season to defeat the Eagles, 54-45.

Daphne Elliot proved more than capable to handle the scoring load in Doherty’s absence as she finished with 20 points including four 3-pointers. The Hartford Courant has all the postgame reaction for you.

Meanwhile, Boston U. took on a perennial mid-major power in Marist on Saturday. The Red Foxes entered the game ranked 10^th in the lasted CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.

The Terriers were up to the test playing stingy defense and getting some much needed contribution from Mo Moran en route to the 49-36 win. The Daily Free Press went in depth on Moran’s afternoon, which saw the junior go off for 16 points to lead Boston U.

Over to the men’s side now where UMBC notched its first win of the season over the weekend getting past crosstown rival Towson on Saturday. Using come clutch free throws down the stretch, UMBC outscored Towson 10-4 over the final 2:10 to preserve the win. All 10 of those points came from the charity stripe.

UMBC was in the midst of a 13-game losing streak dating back to the end of last season and now plays its next two games at the RAC against Morgan State and Rider hoping to use the home court to start a winning streak.

The Baltimore Sun has all your game coverage including some photos from the Retrievers’ win.

We’ll take a break from hoops for just a bit and talk indoor track. Indoor track? That is correct because there is a certain distance runner on Long Island literally striding past all competition. Stony Brook’s Lucy Van Dalen qualified for another NCAA Championship race over the weekend when she won the 3,000-meter run at the Harvard Open Track Meet. Her 9:07.48 time was nearly three seconds faster than the automatic qualifying standard. The New Zealand native qualified for the mile run in the season’s opening meet at Yale back on Dec. 4.

We’ve only got one game on the slate tonight as the Hartford women, fresh off two big wins, look to make it three in a row when they head to Hanover, N.H. for a tilt with Dartmouth.

AmericaEast.com has all your live coverage links and check out some other links from around the conference.

 
Boston Herald: BC takes down Stony Brook
Hartford Courant: Hartford shows promise but falls to 0-10
Bangor Daily News: UMaine men fall at San Diego
Portland Press Herald: UMaine comes up short against UMass
Portsmouth Press Herald: UNH men fall to Fairfield
Newsday: Stony Brook women can't get past Fordham
Burlington Free Press: UVM drops fourth straight
Daily Free Press: Terriers meet their (A)maker in loss to Harvard