Campus Watch

Niagara-Siena Game Analysis

Niagara 58, Siena 54

How Niagara Won: Not easily. The Purple Eagles negated Siena's inside dominance by turning 17 Saint turnovers into 21 points and getting a career-high 24 points from freshman swingman Ameen Tanksley on his birthday. Somehow that helped Niagara overcome being pulverized 40-25 collapsing, double-teaming defense that limited the 6-8 junior to nine points and eight rebounds. He ripped them for 27 and 14 the last time out.

Player of the Game: Tanksley had a birthday game he won't soon forget. He shot 8 of 12 from the field including 6 of 9 from three and exceeded his previous career high by nine points. He also produced three of Niagara's eight steals. On a night when Antoine Mason wasn't himself it was a huge and necessary performance.

Play of the Game: Mason seemed frustrated early when he didn't get a couple foul calls and just meandered his way through the opening 39 minutes and 45 seconds. And then he slashed his way to the basket from near the top of the key to score his only points of the night and put Niagara in front for good with 13.5 seconds on the clock.

Unsung Hero: Marvin Jordan stepped up and key moments and finished with six points, four assists, no turnovers and one very big steal. He stole the inbounds pass and hit a three after two Juan'ya Green free throws to put Niagara on top by two with four minutes left. It was Niagara's first field goal in nine minutes.

Stat of the Game: There were five ties and six lead changes.

Unpredictable: Players on both sides were miffed by what constituted a foul as no-calls prevailed most of the night. And then, just like that, Anosike picked up three quick ones and was disqualified with 2:01 to play. Doubtless the three officials on this one -- Joe Demayo, Brian Dorsey and Tim Attanasi - have had better nights. The trio was inconsistent and then some.

They Said It

Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro: "Tanksley made some huge threes. He really in the first half kept them ahead. And then he made a couple big shots in the second half. But our defense I thought was really sound. I thought we defended them well. I think they shot in the high 30s (38 percent). Anytime you can hold a team like Niagara at home to that shooting percentage I think speaks to our defense."

Antoine Mason on Niagara getting the most out of Tanksley: "Saturday's his birthday, too."

In the House: Just 1,314 at the Taps. The students jumped off the bandwagon after five straight defeats.

What It Means: The Purple Eagles and Saints are tied for sixth at 5-9. One of them will likely finish there and avoid a first-round MAAC Tournament game. The other appears destined to face Canisius in the 7-10 game. Four games remain.

Next Up: Niagara entertains Rider Saturday afternoon while Siena crosses Grand Island and heads for Canisius.

-- Bob DiCesare

 

 

 

Niagara vs. Siena Live

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Canisius-Niagara Women's Analysis

Canisius 58, Niagara 57

How Canisius Won: The Griffs were down 10 and squandering possessions en masse before righting their wrongs midway through the second half. They turned up the defense, limiting to Niagara to one field goal the rest of the way. They cut down on the turnovers. And they got a highlight film of a drive from Ashley Durham to win it a hair before the buzzer.

Player of the Game: Having chastized herself for missing two FTs (she shoots 90% from the stripe in the MAAC), Durham drove the length of the floor on the final Canisius possession and banked home a wide layup over center Lauren Gatto. That more than offset Durham's five turnovers. She finished with nine points and seven assists.

Best Supporting Role: Jamie Ruttle owned the paint, scoring 17 points in 34 minutes. She also helped limit Gatto to six points. Gatto had 15 in the first meeting.

Stat of the Game: Niagara shot 9 of 19 from three against a team that had limited its last 16 conference foes to a cumulative 24.9%. Freshman Meghan McGuinness had three of them.

What It Means: Canisius improved to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in conference in winning their first conference road game and notching their third victory in the last four starts. Niagara (8-16 5-7) has yet to string together consecutive victories.

They Said It . . .

Niagara coach Kendra Faustin (a former Canisius assistant): "A traditional Canisius-Niagara game. It'll always be a good game."

Canisius Coach Terry Zeh: "I'm not going to lie to you. I hate Kendra coaching here. I hate it. She's a very, very good friend of mine and I think it's the most difficult thing in the world."

In the House: 287 at the Taps.

Next Up: Niagara swings through Manhattan and Iona next weekend. Canisius travels to Rider and Saint Peter's.

Bob DiCesare

Canisius-Niagara Women's Hoops Live

UB-Ball St. Game Analysis

UB 73, Ball State 57

How UB Won: Its array of scorers tends to obscure UB's defensive prowess. But let's look at the numbers. The Cardinals shot just 36.8 percent in becoming the third straight opponent to fall below 60 points. They were outrebounded by 12. They had nine of their shots blocked. And they attempted just 12 free throws. And the Bulls didn't allow a second-half point by anyone other than Jarrod Jones until 7 1/2 minutes after intermission. Its when UB defends that it's at its best.

Player of the Game: Mitchell Watt played 37 minutes, scored a team-high 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds, blocked five shots and picked up four assists. And did we mention he was 2 of 3 from behind the arc? This might have been the best all-around game of his career. An outstanding senior season continues. He looks like he's on a mission.

Best Supporting Role: Zach Filzen went for 14 points and shot 4 of 6 from three. And those six rebounds matched his career high.

Caution Flag: Sixteen turnovers? Ouch. Most of those belong to the big men, who handle the ball frequently in the motion offense. But still. Twelve would be much more palatable.

Opponent Watch: Jarrod Jones, the Cards 6-9 senior center, has never looked better. His 21 points accounted for more than a third of the Ball State output. Watching him and Watt go at it was a treat.

They Said It . . .

UB Coach Reggie Witherspoon: "We played them last year and they shot the eyes out. I thought defensively and rebounding, well it's always a key but it was a big key here. For a team that rebounds that well I thought we did a pretty good job throughout the game."

Watt: "They have a lot of players that crash the boards and have gotten a lot of offensive rebounds so it kind of started with that on the defensive end to really box them out, get physical there and make sure they only got one shot. And that just kind of carried over to the offensive end."

UB Guard Tony Watson: "We preach a lot about staying together and playing as one unit and when we're able to do that and click on all cylinders we're one of the hardest teams to beat."

Ball State coach Billy Taylor: "We've been up and down. We've had a number of games where we've had guys make shots for us. I thought we got some good looks tonight, some open looks early, and when they didn't go down that's when our guys became hesitant and we stopped taking the good shot, the open shot, and we started forcing shots. And that just led to more problems for us."

What It Means: The Bulls have won five straight and are 6-2 in the MAC and tied with Ohio for second in the overall standing, a game behind Akron. Meanwhile, Ball State, which went 4-1 its first trip through the West, suddenly finds itself 4-4. The West just doesn't measure up.

In the House: Someone isn't doing a very good job marketing this basketball team. There were just 2,112 in the house and student representation was sad. Never mind all the excuses. Bona students show.

Next Up: The Bulls play at Toledo Saturday against a young Rockets team more dangerous than its 2-6 conference record. The road's a different animal.

-- Bob DiCesare

UB-Ball St. Live

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Manhattan-Niagara live blog

Bona-Richmond Game Analysis

St. Bonaventure 62, Richmond 47

How Bona Won: Fifth-year coach Mark Schmidt knew from the start of his Bona tenure that he wanted an exemplary defensive team. He just didn't have the athletes to make it happen. Until now. The Bonnies limited Richmond to 5 second-half field goals and 26.5 percent shooting overall They destroyed the Spiders on the boards, 43-27. Bona bolted out to a 10-0 lead and never was seriously threatened in winning for the ninth time in the last 12 games.

Player of the Game: Fouls put the handcuffs on Andrew Nicholson (how many times have you heard that in his career?). But he still managed 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists -- all in 28 minutes. He fouled out with 3 1/2 minutes left.

Play of the Game: Bona made it 6-0 when Nicholson pivoted from eight feet, took a long step, stumbled and launched an underhanded scoop shot that found the net. And you wonder why NBA scouts are smitten with his athletic ability?

Play of the Game II: Chris Johnson was huge off the Bona bench. Momentum seemed to be slipping away when he produced a steal and finished a three-point play off a Matthew Wright pass a little over four minutes into the second half. That made it 39-30. Johnson finished with 11.

Future Watch: Kendall Anthony, a 5-foot-8 guard, came off the bench to score 21 for Richmond, matching his career high. He's legit. He's lightning. And he's only a freshman.

Stat of the Game: Richmond went 6 of 22 from behind the arc. They were 16 of 33 in their last game, a 102-58 dismantling of Fordham (which beat GW Saturday, by the way).

What It Means: Bona improved to 12-7 overall and 5-2 in the A-10. They're in a three-way tie for first.

In the House: A great crowd of 4,589 savored every minute of it. Well, almost every minute.

Next Up: The next two games probably will determine Bona's chances of taking the A-10 regular-season crown. They visit Saint Louis Wednesday. Then they're at UMass a week from Wednesday. A 1-1 road trip would be a major success.

Bob DiCesare