BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (February 25, 2011) – With conference playoffs coming up next week, this Saturday will mark the last day of the regular season for both the men's and women's basketball seasons. And for the first time this season, the men will play first in the doubleheader with the men's game being broadcasted nationally on the CBS College Sports Network.

 

Going 10-0 at home prior to Wednesday night, the C.W. Post men's basketball squad finally suffered a home loss to Queens, 75-81. Queens led for the majority of the game, pushing a lead to as large as 11 during the contest. The game went into the half tied at 38 after Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) nailed a three from the corner at the buzzer. However, Queens continued to shoot well from the field to help secure the win. Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) added to his league leading scoring average with 20 points and seven rebounds. Lamonte Lans pushed forth the effort for Queens with 26 points and seven points. 

 

With the loss, C.W. Post dropped to second in the standings with a 16-4 mark and 19-8 overall. The Pioneers enter tomorrow's game one game behind Bridgeport and one game ahead of Queens. With a C.W. Post win, the Pioneers will take the regular season crown despite having identical conference records with the Purple Knights for that the season series will go to the Pioneers. With a Bridgeport win, the Pioneers and Knights of Queens will finished tied for second, however the second spot will go to the Pioneers for holding the season series again. 

 

Bonneau enters the game on Saturday holding the scoring title in the conference with 19.0 points per game, and will almost defiantly hold onto that title after the game. Bonneau has been the main contributor to a Pioneer team that is averaging a conference best 80.3 points a game. The team also leads the conference in field goal percentage (46.6 percent), three point field goal percentage (38.7 percent), and assists per game (16.85). 

 

The assists per game average are greatly benefited to the conference leading average by Gilbert Montalvo (Astoria, N.Y.) of 5.85. Fellow senior Aaron Hall (Syracuse, N.Y.) recently reached a career milestone, eclipsing 1,000 points in his career. Team leading rebounder Jonathan Kohler (Bordentown, N.J.) will be sidelined the rest of the season with a hand injury.

 

Bridgeport comes in as the top seed in the conference to Saturday's games, winning seven in a row and 12 of the last 13 to push to 17-8 overall and 17-3 in the conference. Sitting behind only the Pioneers in points per game, the Purple Knights are putting up 76.7 points per game while only giving up 65.2 points per game on the defensive side, which is the best in the conference. The defensive points per game also go along with a league leading +11.5 rebound margin, while also holding another margin against opponents on a +4.08 turnover margin against opponents. 

 

Jermaine Washington leads the Purple Knights with 14.3 points a game, ranking himself fifth in the conference. Tim Cokely helps contribute to the rebounding margin controlled by the Purple Knights with his 6.5 boards a game. Msoo Ikyaator leads the league in field goal shooting percentage at 57.1 percent to contribute to his 10.8 points a game. 

 

The previous two meetings this season have been split by both squads, with each team winning on their home courts. The first match-up came back on Jan. 10 on the campus of C.W. Post, with the Pioneers pulling out an 82-78 victory. With leading scorer Bonneau going down early in the game with an injury, Hall took the scoring lead and poured in 25. Montalvo contributed 16 points and 6 assists. Despite being outrebounded 24-35 by the Purple Knights, the Pioneers turned Bridgeport turnovers into 21 points compared to 12. Ikyaator led the Purple Knights with 22 points. 

 

Bridgeport came back Feb. 3 on its home court to avenge the previous loss with a 65-75 win. Dave Boykin tallied 22 points and five assists for the Purple Knights, with Josh Martin putting forth 15 points and eight assists. Kohler led the Pioneers with 22 points and six rebounds, while Billy Butler (Elmont, N.Y.) dished out 10 assists. Bridgeport outshot C.W. Post percentage wise 53.7 percent to 35.5 percent. The Purple Knights also won the battle on the glass, 37-33. 

 

The women will follow the men with a 3:30 p.m. start time, matching-up two teams headed for the playoffs. The C.W. Post women are coming off a win on Wednesday that locked up the fourth place position for the Pioneers. Janea Aiken (St. Albans, N.Y.) and her 24 points led the Pioneers to a 59-53 victory in the Pratt Recreation Center. Aiken put four steals along with her 24 points, as teammate Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) achieved a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Queens played without conference scoring leader Amanda Bartlett and had Chloe Johnson lead the way with 21 points. The Pioneers controlled the glass with a 44-35 rebounding edge and shot a 34.5 percent from the field, compared to a 28.6 percent shot by the Knights. 

 

With the win, the Pioneers jumped two games ahead of the Knights with only one game left and secured the fourth spot and home court in the first round of the playoffs. Tomorrow's game still has playoff implications for the Purple Knights of Bridgeport, as a win and a Dowling loss will give Bridgeport second place and bye in the playoffs. Dowling will be taking on Mercy on Saturday.

 

C.W. Post comes into the game allowing only 60.0 points a game, while teams are shooting 36.5 percent from the field including 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. With a team responsibility on the defensive side, Aiken had taken the lead on the offensive side with a fourth ranked 16.9 points a game. Aiken also leads the team and is seventh in the conference with 3.16 assists per game. Marciniak has helped to keep the Pioneers shooting efficiency steady all season long as she is second in the conference with a 45.9 shooting percentage to contribute to her 8.5 points per game output. The sophomore also helped on the defensive end with 1.08 blocks per game. 

 

The Pioneers have also controlled the boards a team, with a +3.4 rebounding margin on average per game. This has been greatly contributed to Alyssa Lombardi (New Fairfield, Conn.) and her third ranked 8.3 rebounds a game in the conference. 

 

As previously noted, the Purple Knights of Bridgeport come into the game in third place with a 13-7 conference mark and 15-12 overall. Bridgeport is coming off a loss at conference leading St. Thomas Aquinas, 57-44. Prior to that game, the Purple Knights had strung together a six-game win streak. The Purple Knights have contributed much of their success to good ball control, as the team ranks first with both a +3.3 turnover margin and 0.74 assist-to-turnover ratio.

 

Four-time ECC Player of the Week Kelly Keil has been the lead force for the Purple Knights thus far this season. Keil ranks in the top five in various categories inside the ECC. The 6-4 senior is averaging 15.0 points per game, 8.0 rebounds a game, 45.4 percent field goal shooting, and 3.13 blocks per game. Elinor Avny joins Keil in the top 10 in scoring in the conference with 12.5 points per game herself. 

 

Sophomore Elsebeth Birman has had a noticeable second-year, as she has played the point position well for the Purple Knights. The guard enters play Saturday averaging 4.65 assists per game and 2.73 shots made from three-point range behind 42.3 percent from beyond the arc. 

 

Bridgeport has already clinched the season series against the Pioneers this season, with two previous wins over the course of the season. The first came on the Pioneer home court on January 10, as Keil nearly achieved a triple-double behind 14 points, 11 rebounds, and eight blocks to help lead the Purple Knights to a 51-45 victory. The Pioneers managed to shoot only 28.3 percent from the field compared to 35.2 percent shot by Bridgeport. The Purple Knights also held the turnover batter, 14-19. Aiken put in 16 points and six rebounds.

 

The February 3^rd match-up was much of the same for Bridgeport, taking the game 62-57. Five players figured into double-figures for the Purple Knights, with Edna Marant coming off the bench to lead the way with 16 points. The pitfall for the Pioneers came at the free throw line, as the team only shot 46.2 percent from the charity stripe while the Purple Knights shot 87.5 percent. Aiken tallied 12 points along with six rebounds and assists each. 

 

The men's game will be broadcasted at LIVE at 12 p.m. on the CBS College Sports Network. The women's game will then get underway at approximately 3:30 p.m. Each of the games will honor the senior members on each C.W. Post teams, with this being the last regular season game for those senior players.