Seawolves and Terriers Tangle on ESPN3

AExtra begins its previews for the national broadcasts of America East basketball.

Stony Brook vs. Boston University – 12 p.m., ESPN3

The last time the Stony Brook and Boston University got together on the hardwood, the America East men’s basketball title was on the line

That nail-biting, intense, down to the wire slobberknocker saw Boston U. climb the ladder and cut down the net.

While the winner of Saturday’s matchup isn’t bound for NCAA Tournament glory, expect the same intensity and the same physicality from the two teams that topped the preseason coaches’ poll earlier this season.

We talked with the head coaches from both squads about the season and the rematch of the 2011 America East Championship Game…

Joe Jones on getting a win at Maine heading into Saturday…

“We’ve have a tough road so I think the guys are feeling much better much more confident going further. We played a terrific second half so hopefully we can build off of it.”

Steve Pikiell on the Seawolves’ current six-game winning streak…

“I really like the way we’re playing right now. We’re playing good defense and we’re kind of locked in to the keys of the game and we’re getting a lot of contributions from our whole team. We’ve had nine leading scorers out of an 11-man roster so we’ve got a lot of guys doing a lot of good things and believing in our defense and playing unselfishly.”

Joe Jones on getting D.J. Irving back to full strength….

“That was tough for us losing him, but now having him back, he’s such a catalyst for us in so many ways it’s definitely a big bonus.”

Steve Pikiell on the progression of Tommy Brenton…

“Now physically he’s really starting to come into his own. He’s starting to rebound and jump like he used to. And he does so many things for us, I think he leads us in most categories, so I’m please with the way he’s progressed.”

Joe Jones on Stony Brook

“Stony Brook really has a lot of pieces. They have a great point guard in Dougher and then they have some great pieces around him. They have a lot of guys that can make shots, can bring guys off the bench that can score. They play very good defense and they are a very good team…They will come in here with a chip on their shoulder because they lost in a tough, though battle in the championship last year, so we really expect this one to be a blood bath on Saturday.”

Steve Pikiell on Boston University…

“They are very good, picked to win our league. Darryl Partin’s one of the best players in the league, they’ve got a real good point guard and they’re always challenging whenever we play them. Coach Jones has them playing real well now in conference play…they’ve got a lot of guys back from the championship team last year. Every time we play BU it’s a war, and it’s going to be a war again on Saturday.”

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It will certainly be tough to live up to, but the last time Stony Brook and Boston U. tangled on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend (January 2009), the game went to four overtimes and the Terriers prevailed 99-97. Boston U.’s Jeff Pelage and Jake O’Brien, along with Stony Brook’s Bryan Dougher, Danny Carter, Tommy Brenton and Dallis Joyner were all freshmen - all six logged minutes in that epic. The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan wrote a great column breaking down the “extra special” thriller at Case Gym.

Tip-off is at 12 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and you can catch all the action on ESPN3.

America East Daily Word - January 13

It was a tough fall for the UMBC women’s soccer team but with Thursday’s announcement of a new coach, the future seems bright.

The Retrievers announced yesterday the hiring of Leslie Wray. The former Towson head coach will be the eighth head coach in the 25 year history of UMBC women’s soccer.

After stints as an assistant coach with Towson and Missouri, Wray took the reins at Towson and proceeded to become the all-time winningest women’s soccer coach in Tiger history. In 2000, she led the Tigers to the America East semifinals and tied a program record with 10 wins.

Wray now has the opportunity to turn around a UMBC program that has consistently struggled in recent years and it is an opportunity she is excited to have.

“There is so much potential at UMBC,” Wray said in UMBC’s official release. “With the facilities and resources that we have, I am looking forward to building on what we have and am looking forward to having many great years.”

 

You can read UMBC’s full release, here.

Not only does America run on Dunkin, but it seems Black Bears do as well. Dunkin Donuts has started featuring the UMaine Black Bear logo on its medium-sized hot beverage cups and will continue to do so through January and February. How did this neat partnership take shape? The Bangor Daily News has your answer (with pictures!).

We had two games on the hardwood last night before we kick off a very busy weekend with some very intriguing matchups.

We’ll start first in Burlington, where Vermont looked for its third straight win against Mark Macon and the Binghamton Bearcats. The Catamounts jumped out early and Burlington native Clancy Rugg scored a career-high 18 points in a 73-53 win. WCAX has your highlights and John Fantino wraps this one up from Patrick Gym.

For the first 20 minutes of the women’s game between Stony Brook and UMBC, it looked as if we were in for a barnburner. The Retrievers stormed out of the locker room on a 9-2 run, outscored the Seawolves 49-23 in the second half, and rallied to a 73-47 win. The Baltimore Sun has the recap and check out the highlights, here.

The weekend schedule is highlighted by a rematch of the 2011 men’s championship game between Stony Brook and Boston University. That one will be on ESPN3 starting at noon from Case Gym. Here’s the promo video.

The Highlight Trail

After a busy night of hoops in America East land, AExtra brings you highlights from a few games around the conference.

We'll start in Vermont, where the Lady Catamounts took on Binghamton. Down by two at halftime, UVM surged back in the second half to defeat Binghamton, 69-48. CatamounTV has all the highlights.

Meanwhile, the Albany men took on New Hampshire at the SEFCU Arena. The Danes put forth a complete effort against the Wildcats en route to a 86-63 win. Rich Becker and the Fox 23 team have the highlights for you.

More action on the women's side as Maine took on Boston U. at Case Gym in Boston. The Terriers jumped out early and never looked back. Take a look at some of the highlights, here.

America East Daily Word - January 12

Don’t look now but the Albany women are 4-0 in conference play. And those Stony Brook Seawolves who were picked second in the men’s coaches’ preseason poll? They are 4-0, as well. 

Both teams hit the road last night. Albany made its way its way to Durham to take on a tough New Hampshire squad and Stony Brook traveled to Baltimore for a date with a scrappy UMBC team. 

Stingy defense and consistent scoring led each to convincing wins as conference play stretches on. 

Albany powered past New Hampshire, 60-44, thanks to seven steals and a defense that held the Wildcats to just 26.4 percent shooting. The Danes also received 23 points from Lindsey Lowrie while Ebone Henry scored her 1,000^th career point in the win. The Albany Times Union has more. 

Stony Brook shot nearly 60 percent from the field, four players scored in double figures and the Seawolves head into Saturday’s game against Boston U. coming off a 89-49 win over UMBC. Bryan Dougher scored 15 points to lead Stony Brook including 3-for-3 from downtown. In his career at the RAC, Dougher is 14-for-24 from long distance. Newsday has the recap from this one. 

Next up for Albany is Maine on the road in Orono and the Seawolves head to Boston for a rematch up the 2011 championship game.

Let’s take a trip through America East land now to review the rest of last night’s action.

We’ll start in Albany were the Albany men played a “complete” game against visiting New Hampshire en route to a 86-63 win. The Times Union and Troy Record have all the postgame coverage from Albany.

Up to Orono now where the Maine men took on Boston University. Darryl Partin scored his 1,000^th career point in the game, and plenty more, finishing with 27 for the Terrier’s in a nice 77-68 win. D.J. Irving scored 23 points and added 11 assists for Boston U., as well. The Boston Globe recaps this game. Back in Boston, the Terrier women defeated Maine, 75-34.

Lastly, we’ll head up to Burlington for the Vermont-Binghamton women’s matchup. UVM trailed by two at halftime but then went on to outscore the Bearcats 44-21 in the second frame to secure a 69-48 win. John Fantino of the Burlington Free Press takes us through the action.

In other news out of Vermont, head women’s soccer coach Kristi Lefebvre apparently now has a pizza named after her at the New York Pizza Oven in Colchester. You know you’ve made it big when you have a pizza named after you in your hometown.

If you’re in the Hartford area this evening, head over to the Winning Ways forum at the University of Hartford where three coaches – UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Hartford’s Jen Rizzotti and Trinity’s Paul Assaiante – will chat about their programs impressive winning streaks. The Hartford Courant has the details.

We’ve got two games on the slate tonight. On the women’s side, UMBC hosts Stony Brook in Baltimore while in men’s action Vermont takes on Binghamton in Burlington.

America East Daily Word - January 11

It’s the second full week of conference hoops action which means the America East television schedule is creeping closer and closer.

In fact, we have two nationally broadcasted games this weekend – one on ESPN3 and the other on the CBS Sports Network. It is okay to be excited.

On Saturday, we have a rematch of the 2011 championship game as Stony Brook makes its way to Boston to take on the Terriers. It is the first meeting between the two teams since Boston U. took home the conference championship last March. Stony Brook sits atop the standings right now as one of only two unbeaten teams left in league play (3-0) while Boston U. picked up its first league win on Sunday against Binghamton. ESPN3 has Saturday’s game starting at 12 p.m.

And we’ll stay in Boston on Martin Luther King Day for another doozy of a matchup. Albany makes the trek on I-90 East for a CBS Sports Network date with the Terriers on Monday night. The high-powered Danes offense will look to torch the nets while Darryl Partin and company try to hold court at ‘The Roof.’ That’s a 7 p.m. game with Don Criqui and Wally Szczerbiak on the call.

Keep an eye out on the AExtra blog later this week for a preview of both games and take a look at the Boston U.-Stony Brook promotional video.

Tonight, the Boston U. men take on the other unbeaten team in conference play – Maine. Darryl Partin is seven points shy of eclipsing the 1,000 point milestone for the Terriers and Maine is playing for its first 3-0 America East start in 12 years. While that game goes down in Orono, the women square off in Boston. The Bangor Daily News has more on those games tonight.

Meanwhile, Stony Brook looks to move to 4-0 in league play when it travels to Baltimore to take on UMBC. Chase Plummer and the Retrievers look to end a slide against the Seawolves, who have won the last 6 meetings.

The Albany men return to SEFCU Arena tonight to take on New Hampshire. That should be a good one from the New York State capital as the Troy Record tells us more. The two women’s squads will battle it out in Durham tonight as league leading Albany looks to continue its stifling defense against a tough UNH team coming off a big win over Hartford.

Lastly, the Vermont women are back in Burlington for a tilt against Binghamton. The Bearcats and Catamounts have played one another 22 times with Vermont holding the all-time edge, 15-7. Check out the Burlington Free Press for more.

And as always make sure to head over to AmericaEast.com for all of the live coverage links to tonight’s action.