Meetings Against Queens Should Prove to Be Big for Both the Men's and Women's Basketball Teams
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Jan. 28, 2011) – Saturday's doubleheader basketball contest against Queens College will have huge implications on the ECC standings for both the men's and women's teams on both sides. Both Pioneer clubs travel to Queens looking to bring back the same results the last time these two schools met.
Women Pushing For Series Win vs. Knights
Back on Jan. 8, C.W. Post was able to come away with a convincing win against Queens in the Pratt Recreation Center, 82-46. Felicia Joyner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) led the way with 17 points, with Aiken and Anthia Smith (Elmira, N.Y.) each contributing 13 points. Lombardi and Nicole Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) grabbed nine rebounds apiece to give the Pioneers a 57-30 advantage on the glass. Bartlett was held to 13 points on 4-13 shooting from the field, including 0-3 from beyond the arc. The Pioneers used 25 points off Queens' turnovers to help secure the win.
Janea Aiken (St. Albans, N.Y.) fell just short of giving the Pioneer women an upset victory over ECC top-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday night, as C.W. Post was just edged out 51-52. Aiken's running jumper just wasn't able to find the middle of the rim to go through, as she could not give herself 19 points on the night. She did finish with a strong game, tallying 17 points and four assists on the night. Alyssa Lombardi (New Fairfield, Conn.) had a strong performance on the glass once again for the Pioneers, pulling down 12 boards.
The Pioneers are currently sitting fifth in the conference standings with a 6-6 record, 8-9 overall, and are a half game back of the Knights from Queens. Aiken continues to lead the team in both points (16.0) and assists (3.18), with each mark a top five presence in the ECC statistical leaders. Lombardi is also among the league leaders in the ECC with her rebounding of 8.5 boards a game. She has also helped the Pioneers establish a +3.1 rebounding margin per game against opponents.
Two-time ECC Player of the Week Amanda Bartlett has led Queens to a 6-5 conference mark, 7-11 overall, and a position to be tied for third with Bridgeport in the conference. The two teams were scheduled to meet this past week, however the contest was moved to Monday January 31 due to the inclement weather.
Bartlett not only leads the league scoring at a 21.6 clip a game, she is also fourth in the nation with that mark. The redshirt-junior is also 11th in the nation with 3.0, threes made per game. Her shooting from the beyond the arc has also established Queens as one of the better shooting teams in the country with a team ninth best in the nation 8.7, threes made per game at a 33 percent shooting from long distance. The Queens offense is also the best in the conference at 65.4 points a game; however the Knights are giving up 70.7 points to opponents and having a -14.2 rebounding margin per game.
Queens has also experienced strong freshman play, with Caitlin Hopkins and Nicole Caggiano earning three separate Rookie of the Week Honors during the year, with Hopkins having two of the awards. Caggiano is the sister of Pioneer sophomore guard Ashley Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.). Each Caggiano sister did not participate in the previous meeting this season; however Ashley has worked her way into the C.W. Post starting lineup since returning from injury.
Men Going For 10th Straight Victory
The second game will feature a C.W. Post men's team that is looking to close out the month of January with a perfect 10-0 record. Also, this game will have an impact at top the standings for the men's team in the ECC. With Queens and Bridgeport unable to play this week, both the Knights and Purple Knights sit half a game behind C.W. Post for first place.
The Pioneers are coming off a 79-65 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas this past Thursday night at the Pratt Center. C.W. Post was led by four players reaching double-figures in the point column, with Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) being at the top with his 18 points effort. Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) and Jonathan Kohler (Bordentown, N.J.) each contributed 16 points and Aaron Hall (Syracuse, N.Y.) rounded out the quartet with 14. Bonneau was able to get the crowd electrified with three thunderous dunks over the course of the game.
Bonneau continues to lead the conference in scoring, as he is now averaging 18.6 points a game for the season. The junior guard is also seventh in the nation from the charity stripe, shooting 91.7 percent from the line. Kohler is also having a strong sophomore campaign, putting together 12.1 points a game to go along with 6.5 rebounds a game. Hall continues to shoot with efficiency from the field, going 48.2 percent from the field on the year for his 14.8 points a game. Senior point guard Gilbert Montalvo (Astoria, N.Y.) continues to lead the team and conference in assists with a 5.79 per game average. The senior also is ranked among the nation's best with his 2.93 assist to turnover ratio placing him 12th in the country.
C.W. Post as a team has put itself among the nation's best behind all-around performances from Coach Chris Casey's squad. Along with being the number one scoring offense in the conference at 81.0 points a game and dishing out 16.74 assists a game, the team's three-point shooting has earned top marks across the country. Converting on 8.4 from beyond the arc a game, the Pioneers rank 21st among Division II schools in the three point shots made per game while the team's 39.7 percent from long-distance is 23rd.
Queens will enter Saturday's match up looking to knock the Pioneers off the top spot in the standings. Akim Neverson has been a regular in filling up the stat sheet for the Knights, as he sits behind Bonneau in the conference in scoring with his 16.7 points a game output. However, Neverson does control the top spot in the conference with his 7.8 boards per contest. The senior forward has earned Player of the Week honors once during the season from the ECC.
Neverson has not been the only contributor for the Knights during the 2010-2011 campaign, as Edil Lacayo has also earned a Player of the Week nod during the season. Lacayo has been a threat from downtown, knocking down 2.46, threes a game. Senior point guard Anderson Labase has controlled the flow of the offense, dishing out 4.75 assists per game, second to Montalvo. Jeremiah Mordi is averaging 7.2 points a game as a freshman, earning ECC Rookie of the Week earlier in the year.
The Queens offense is scoring at a rate close to C.W. Post, putting forth 75.2 points a contest while holding opponents to 66.1 points a game. The Knights defense has also only allowed opponents to shoot 40 percent from the field on the year, including 29 percent from three. Neverson and his teammates' rebounding have contributed to the Knights holding an advantage on the glass as well, with a +6.3 rebounding margin per game.
A double-overtime thriller was the outcome the last time these two top offenses met, with C.W. Post edging out the Knights 98-96 in the end back on January 8. Bonneau had a career game, shooting 10-10 from the free throw line along with five, threes to finish the day with 39 points. Montalvo dished out 11 assists while putting down 10 points of his own to accomplish a double-double. Junior Khalil McDonald led the Knights with 20 points on 9-13 shooting from the field. Neverson contributed 19 points and 13 rebounds for his own double-double, with teammate Labase falling one assist shy of his own double-double, ending the game with 19 points and nine assists.
Both games should turn out to be good ones, with all four teams looking to control their own fate in the ECC standings with less than half of the conference schedule remaining. The women are set to tip-off at 5:00 tomorrow evening, with the men to following around 7:30 pm on the Queens College campus.