All the comings and goings of Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball.
Conger, Galloway, Gavrilovic Earn A-10 Weekly Awards
NEWPORT NEWS, Va.—The Atlantic 10 has named St. Bonaventure junior forward Demitrius Conger and Saint Joseph’s sophomore guard Langston Galloway its Co-Men’s Basketball Players of the Week. Freshman center Alex Gavrilovic of Dayton was selected as the league’s Rookie of the Week. Both awards were announced Monday for games played during the week of Dec. 12 – 18.
Conger shot 6-of-8 from the field (75 percent) to score 20 points and lead St. Bonaventure to a win over Loyola, snapping the Greyhounds’ eight-game winning streak. A Brooklyn, N.Y., product, Conger sunk a 3-pointer, and seven free throws while dishing out five assists and pulling down four rebounds in the Bonnies’ only game of the week.
Galloway also scored 20 points, hitting 61.5 (8-of-13) percent of his shots from the field to lead the Hawks past Big Five opponent Villanova. It was the first time the Wildcats have faced Saint Joseph’s in Hagan Arena and it snapped SJU’s three-game skid to the Big East foe. Galloway, a Baton Rouge, La., native, was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and dished out six assists without committing a turnover.
Conger carries Bonnies past Loyola, 76-66
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY — Mark Schmidt’s St. Bonaventure Bonnies took care of what they expected to encounter Sunday afternoon. It was the unexpected which nearly cost the Bonnies a victory.
Demetrius Conger scored a team-high 20 points as St. Bonaventure defeated the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds 76-66 in non-conference action at the Reilly Center.
Add Patsos to the growing list Nicholson admirers
Wide-eyed, Patsos turned to his staff seated on the bench, shook his head and muttered into his hand.
“We all know he’s going to get drafted,” Patsos said of Nicholson. “He’s going to be a solid N.B.A. guy that plays for like ten years.”
Nicholson picked up his second foul less than six minutes later, but the setback didn’t stop the National Player-of-the-Year candidate from putting his imprint on the contest. The senior forward finished with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. Nicholson connected eight times in nine attempts from the free throw line including three in the game’s final minute as St. Bonaventure sealed a 76-66 victory.
Focus on SBU’s Charlon Kloof
In his first season as a Bonnie, sophomore Charlon Kloof has already made a positive impact on the men’s basketball team. Scoring a total of 36 points so far this season and playing in all eight games with an average playing time of 22.1 minutes per game, Kloof looks to be a leader on the team. Kloof played at Canarias Basketball Academy last season where he was one of three players named by ESPN’s Adam Finkelstein at the National Prep School Invitational and was given Most Valuable Player honors in two out of the four games. Get to know more about Kloof off the court!
McConnell one of 65 candidates for 2012 Bob Cousy Award
PITTSBURGH – Duquesne sophomore T.J. McConnell is one of 65 candidates for the 2012 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award it was announced today by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in college basketball.
Tyreek Duren named candidate for Bob Cousy Award
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – La Salle sophomore Tyreek Duren has been named a candidate for Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today. The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in college basketball. Almost 60 candidates have been nominated for the 2012 Bob Cousy Award.
St. Joseph’s beats Villanova, 74-58, in Hagan Arena
PHILADELPHIA – Langston Galloway scored 20 points to help Saint Joseph’s post a 74-58 win over Villanova in front of a standing room only crowd at Hagan Arena. It marked the first time that the Philadelphia Big 5 rivals had played on SJU’s campus.
The victory was Saint Joseph’s third in a row improving the Hawks to 8-3 (1-0 Big 5) while Villanova dropped to 6-5 (2-2 Big 5). It also ended SJU’s three-game losing streak against the Wildcats.
Galloway connected on 8-for-13 from the field, while going 3-for-3 from three-point range. Carl Jones had 15 points and Ronald Roberts was 6-for-6 from the field to notch 12 points. C.J. Aiken had 11 points and four blocked shots.
The historic contest featured a Saint Joseph’s student section that was packed to the rafters and kept the volume up the entire game.
Flyers claw back to defeat FIU, 61-40
DAYTON, Ohio – A second-half surge lifted the University of Dayton Flyers men’s basketball team to a 61-40 victory over the Florida International University Panthers on Saturday night at UD Arena. The Flyers trailed the Panthers 30-22 at the half, but outscored FIU 39-10 in the second half, thanks to production off the bench by Josh Parker and Alex Gavrilovic.
UD was led by 14 each from Parker (12 in the second half) and Gavrilovic (eight in the second half). With their efforts, the Flyer bench outscored FUI’s 30-2. Paul Williams added 12 for Dayton, who improved to 8-3 with its third straight win.
Gavrilovic’s contribution was key as the top four players on Flyer frontcourt were plagued by foul trouble and injuries.
Loe, Ellis lead Billikens past Alabama State
Rob Loe and Cody Ellis tied for game-high scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Loe tallied season highs in points and 3-point field goals (3-for-6), while Ellis - who scored in double figures for a seventh consecutive outing – was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Minutemen continue home dominance, beat QU, 72-67
AMHERST, Mass. – UMass continued their home dominance, Saturday night, as they were able to beat Quinnipiac, 72-67. The Minutemen had three players in double-figures led by Chaz Williams with 14 points and seven assists. UMass is now 5-0 in home games (4-0 at the Mullins Center) this year. They will look to continue their home winning streak as they welcome Davidson back on Thursday Dec. 22 with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
Also in double-figures for the Minutemen were Terrell Vinson with 13 points and eight rebounds and Raphiael Putney with 12 points.
Spiders bested by Bison in Saturday showdown
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Following a flurry of lead changes to open the second half, Richmond saw its four-point halftime advantage fade away as Bucknell would eventually grab the lead for good midway through the frame to hand the Spiders a 79-65 setback on Saturday at Sojka Pavilion.
Junior Darien Brothers went 7-of-15 from the field and an impressive 4-of-6 from behind the arc to lead Richmond with 18 points. He also equaled a season-high by handing out three assists on the night.
Temple takes “Battle of Owls” from Rice, 77-70
HOUSTON, Texas – In the ‘Battle of the Owls’ on Monday night, Temple (7-3) had the last hoot as it held on to defeat the Rice Owls (7-4), 77-70, on the floor of Autry Court at the Tudor Center. Senior Juan Fernandez put up a season-high 23 points, including the 1000th point of his career on a driving layup at the 14:50 mark of the first half. The native of Argentina went five-of-seven from beyond the arc, giving him the most three pointers he’s had in a game since drilling seven back on Feb. 28, 2010 in a Temple win at La Salle.
Senior Ramone Moore chipped in with 15 points on Monday, while freshman Aaron Brown reached double figures with 10 points off the bench. Junior Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson led the Cherry and White with 10 rebounds.
Barnett keys 49ers 5th straight win
HALTON ARENA — Behind a career-best double-double from senior Javarris Barnett, the Charlotte 49ers earned their fifth straight win Monday night over Coppin State, 74-63. With the victory, the Niners (7-2) have surpassed last year’s high of four straight wins and now have their longest streak under coach Alan Major. The Eagles fall to 4-6 on the season.
“It’s very good to get a win tonight against a very good team,” head coach Alan Major said. “We knew it’d be a challenging game tonight. I’m very proud of Javarris in terms of igniting us; He played a terrific game. Hats off to Deuce (Briscoe) as well, coming in off the bench and giving us a lift. Multiple guys found a way to contribute.”
Barnett surpassed his previous career high of 20 points with 26 on the night and matched his career high with a game-high 12 rebounds. He shot 8 for 14 from the field, including 3 for 6 from three point range. In addition, he was a team-best 7 for 7 from the free throw line. This marks his third double-double of the season and fifth of his career.
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Scanning the game notes
Today ’s Runnin’ Ram fact(s) you can’t live without
This season, Jonathan Holton is shooting just under 42.0% from the floor, connecting on 36-of-86 shot attempts. Inside the arc, Holton is 30-for-48 – good for a 62.5% clip. That percentage ranks him among the top 25 nationally
in 2-pt. field goal percentage.
1000-1000
In Saturday’s game at Texas, senior Ramone Moore eclipsed the 1000th point of his Temple career to become 47th member in school histroy to tally at least 1000 career points while donning the Cherry and White. Against Rice, senior guard Juan Fernandez will have a chance at joining Moore in Temple Basektball history, as he is just three points short of becoming the 48th Temple player to reach the milestone. If Fernandez is fortuante to score his 1000th point on Monday evening, it will be the the closest time gap between two Owls scoring their 1000th point. The closest time in between Owls reaching the plateau happened during the 1978-1979 season. Walt Montford notched his 1000th against Dayton at the Palestra on Feb. 24, which was only two games before Rick Reed did it on March 2 against Lafayette in the ECC Championship game. This will be the 10th time two Temple players will score their 1000th point in the same season. The last time Temple it happened was 2009-10 when Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen reached the milestone.
Billiken notables
The Billikens lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring margin (+15.2), field goal percentage (.486) and scoring defense (55.8 ppg allowed). They are second in 3-point field goal percentage (.405) and assist/turnover ratio (1.3).
YOUNG RAMS
The 2011-12 Fordham University men’s basketball roster is one the youngest in the nation with seven freshmen and four sophomores on the 15-man roster.
Underclassmen (non-seniors) are currently playing 78.9% (1421 of 1800) of the minutes for Fordham with the sophomore and freshman classes making up 59.69% (1120 of 1800) of the minutes. The freshman class is seeing plenty of playing time, accounting for 35.7% (642 of 1800) of the 2011-12 minutes, led by freshman guard Devon McMillan who is second on the team with 296 minutes played.
O’Brien to SI.com: St. Joseph’s won’t let me play
Former Saint Joseph’s center Todd O’Brien wrote a column for SI.com, lamenting Saint Joseph’s and coach Phil Martelli for not granting his request to transfer.
Join the discussion at PHILAHOOPS.com.
St. Joseph’s president responds to SI.com article
Many of you have seen or commented upon a first-person story appearing yesterday on the web site of Sports Illustrated magazine. The story was submitted by a former Saint Joseph’s University student-athlete whose request in mid-July 2011 for a waiver to play basketball at another institution during 2011-2012 was not supported by Saint Joseph’s.
I write to assure our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends that Saint Joseph’s complied with all applicable NCAA procedures in this case. It is clearly not a part of the University’s mission to block any student from pursuing their academic or athletic goals. However, it is the University’s obligation to review all student-athlete waiver requests in a consistent manner and to evaluate the facts and circumstances of each request. It is worth noting that SJU has supported such requests a large majority of the time across its many varsity sports. If a request for a waiver is not granted and an appeal is taken to the NCAA, it is the national association, not individual member institutions, which makes the final determination on the eligibility of individual student-athletes.
Garland speaks about transfer to La Salle
Tyrone Garland just wants to play, and he feels he will get the opportunity at La Salle.
A Philadelphia native and John Bartram High graduate, Garland announced Friday that he was leaving Virginia Tech and he confirmed with Philahoops Sunday night in an exclusive interview that he is transferring to La Salle.
“(Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg) wasn’t playing me at all so I just told myself I wasn’t coming back,” Garland, who ranks third in Public League history with 2,198 career points, said by phone. “(La Salle’s) been there from the jump. When I committed they said they still were going to be here for me if I ever needed them.”
Injured UD senior vows to return for Seton Hall game
DAYTON — Chris Johnson is recovering from a hyper-extended knee and is going to let the University of Dayton medical staff and coaches decide whether he’s fit enough to play against Seton Hall on Wednesday.
But the starting senior wing has been a big-game player throughout his career — being named the MVP of the 2010 NIT, rising up for good showings against Xavier in the past and dropping 20 points on Alabama this season — and he doesn’t plan to miss a shot at a 9-1 Big East foe.
Tourneys offer sun, plant seeds
Sunny skies and sandy beaches await Xavier’s men’s basketball team in this week’s Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, but the destination is just the icing on the exempt tournament.
It’s primarily a business trip filled with resume-building opportunities on the hard court.
ODU-UR Preview
UR has lost three in a row for the first time since midway through 2008-09 season. The Spiders fell 77-70 at Old Dominion last December. The Monarchs have dropped two in a row, against Fairfield, and at UCF on Saturday. ODU, picked to finish fourth in the CAA, is shooting 37.3 percent, 26.3 percent from 3-point range, and 64.9 percent from the free-throw line. Monarchs forward Kent Bazemore, a 6-foot-5 senior, is the CAA preseason player of the year, but he’s shooting 31.6 percent, 22.4 percent on 3-pointers. Richmond’s leading scorer is a reserve, 5-8 freshman Kendall Anthony (15.0 ppg), and points will probably be difficult to score against the Monarchs, who allow an average of 60.5 ppg.
Billikens are the real deal
Finally, St. Louis University basketball is worth watching again. Without qualifications or reservations, Rick Majerus is back on track to delivering on the promise that we all expected when he showed up with such fanfare in midtown five years ago. On Saturday night, the Billikens ran their record to 10-1 with a surgical 30-point dismantling of visiting Alabama State that dramatically symbolized how much better things have gotten around here.
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