Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: First Day at the MAAC Tournament

by Ray Floriani

BRIDGEPORT, CT. - Friday's MAAC 'marathon' session is in the books. Six games. The four women's quarterfinals followed by a men's first round double header. All at the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.

About 9 am at Harbor Yard
Note the Sleepy's ad -- How appropriate.

The scores...

Women's Quarterfinals:

Team	Score			Team
Loyola	68	OT	53	Canisius
Manhattan	59		47	Iona
Marist	61		33	St. Peter's
Siena	36		33	Fairfield

The Men's First Round

Team	Score			Team
Marist	73		61	Niagara
Siena	68	OT	66	Manhattan

Game of the Day...
Loyola's 68-53 win over Canisius in overtime. The regulation finish sparked the ongoing debate, when you have a three point lead with seconds left do you concentrate on defense or give a foul or two even if it puts an opponent on the line?

Micayla Dysdale of seventh seeded Canisius hit two free throws to give the Griffs a three point lead with three seconds left. Canisius coach Terry Zeh discussed fouling with his staff during the time out after Drysdale's shots. Zeh decided not to foul. Following the time out, Loyola pushed the ball and Miriam McKenzie proceeded to release a defended three that saw nothing but net at the buzzer.

Head Coach Terry Zeh (r) discusses the first half
with his Canisius staff

In overtime, Loyola scored first, then got a defensive stop. Even with over four minutes to play Canisius was a beaten team. The efficiency numbers bear this out. At the end of regulation the score was tied at 49. Each team had 58 possessions and an 85 offensive efficiency. Let's look at the totals for overtime:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Canisius	10	40
Loyola	10	190

Clearly, Loyola was dominant in the extra session from tip to buzzer. The final numbers:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Canisius	68	78
Loyola	68	100

Credit McKenzie's shot for the huge swing in second seeded Loyola's favor. Zeh could only second guess. "To the day I put my foot in the grave I will regret the decision not to foul," he said. His philosophy is if you are small do not foul as the opponent can rebound a missed second shot. But as Zeh noted Canisius is big, rebounding wasn't a major issue. He just made a decision that did not work in the long run. The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Canisius	28	24	38	18
Loyola	43	43	27	16

Not a bad way to start with the 9:30 a.m. game. Turnover rates were impressive. Griffs owned a 20-10 edge on the offensive glass. Their 1 of 11 overtime shooting had a negative result on eFG. Trailing early in OT, Canius got into an early fouling mode which explains the free throw rate disparity.

Official Jon Levinson during a break in the action.

Record Game of the Day...
Siena's 36-33 victory over Fairfield set the record as the lowest scoring women's game in MAAC tournament history. The halftime score was 15-7 Fairfield. In 27 possessions the offensive efficiencies:

	Effs
Fairfield	56
Siena	23

Saints shot 3 for 25 (12%) the opening 20 minutes. They did put the first points on the board on a Serena Moore baseline jumper five and a half minutes into the contest. The final efficiencies:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Fairfield	54	61
Siena	57	63

Imagine giving up an efficiency of 63, and still losing? The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Fairfield	30	8	24	20
Siena	26	26	32	24

Three of the four factors were relatively normal. Even the TO rate was borderline but not excessive. The field goal shooting, as both coaches pointed out, was most affected by defensive efforts which were present on both ends. The game had two double digit scorers with Maja Gerlyng of Siena leading the way with 14 points. Moore of Siena, a versatile threat had a commendable 9 point 10 rebound effort, but was 2 of 14 from the floor. The two teams shot 49% from the field, combined. Fairfield checked in at 26.5% while Siena was 23.4%. As Siena coach Gina Castelli said, "it (the game) was hard fought, there was some great defense, especially on Fairfield's part the first half, out there but face it. It was ugly. Everyone saw it."

The Guiness stand.
An 'oasis' yours truly had to bypass.

Men's First Round
It has been another struggle for the Marist men but they did earn a quarterfinal berth with their win over Niagara. The pace and efficiency:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Marist	66	111
Niagara	67	91

Marist entered the game with a -18 efficiency margin (offense minus defense). Their average offensively was 91 and defense checked in at 109. So this was as good a performance as the Red Foxes have had this year. The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Marist	51	24	34	15
Niagara	36	38	38	19

Chucky Martin's team clicked on all cylinders. Marist shot the ball well and took care of the ball, two vital areas. They were only 5 of 17 (29%) from three but were 22 of 41 (54%) from two point range. An impressive showing.

In the paint Marist enjoyed a 42-26 scoring edge. While Niagara did not commit many turnovers, they paid dearly was the Red Foxes had a 20-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

With little consistent help, Niagara's fine senior guard Anthony Nelson led all scorers with 28 points.

The Streak Lives
The nightcap saw Siena defeat Manhattan in overtime. Siena, winner of three straight MAAC championships has not lost a conference tournament game since 2007 when Niagara defeated the Saints, ironically at Harbor Yard in the final.

The pace was in the moderate range:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Manhattan	64	103
Siena	66	104

Siena had a high 26% TO rate. They were able to offset that a bit with their 51% eFG mark and a 44% OREB percentage. The Jaspers managed only 39% in that latter category.

Ryan Rossiter, Siena's 'double-double machine' , scored 17 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. A big difference was Clarence Jackson. The Siena senior guard stepped up and hit a game high 24 points for the Saints. Interestingly neither Rossiter nor Jackson has experienced a MAAC tournament loss in their careers.

The obligatory cheer shot -- Siena cheerleaders

Notes
With overtime games to start and end the 6 game session, fans were treated to almost 15 hours of basketball.

On the officiating front, a number of friends worked games during the tournament. On the women's side Joe Barrise and Jon Levinson, whom I have had the pleasure to work with, had Marist-St. Peter's. Gary Schimel, an instructor at a few officiating camps I attended, had the 'famous' Siena-Fairfield matchup. In the evening Brian O'Connell and Brian Dorsey, again another pair I have been fortunate to work with, had Marist-Niagara.

No predictions but…Marist, with a defensive efficiency of 69 for the year (they held St. Peter's to 47 in the quarterfinal), will be awfully tough to dethrone from the top spot in the women's tournament. On the men's side, Fairfield is the favorite but any of the other top four seeds, Iona, Rider or St.Peter's, could challenge.

Harbor Yard on the exit
as Paul Simon would say 'late in the evening'

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: Fairfield at St. Peter's WBB

by Ray Floriani
JERSEY CITY, NJ- The Fairfield women's team won their third straight, 61-46 over St. Peter's Friday night. The game at Yanitelli Center saw the Stags impose their defensive will on the contest. The pace and efficiency:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Fairfield	68	90
St. Peter's	62	74

Fairfield prefers a slower pace. St. Peter's, especially trailing the second half, utilized full court pressure to force turnovers and get the Stags in a quicker tempo of play.

The Four Factors:

		FTA
	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Fairfield	47	28	42	31
St. Peter's	35	10	35	23

The St. Peter's pressure did get the Stags into rushing things. On the night they had 21 turnovers. Most of those however were in the latter 10 minutes of the game when they were enjoying a double digit lead. Fairfield coach Joe Frager was not pleased with the turnovers, especially with a number of them coming in the latter minutes (which are crucial in a close contest) when St. Peter's forced a chaotic tempo. Defense, boards and getting to the line were all strongly in Fairfield's favor.

Tempo-free proof. Discussing the game with Fairfield sophomore guard Katelyn Linney, she said that Fairfield's number one defense is "a source of pride and something we work on daily." Linney was referring to the Stags' defensive points allowed average of 48 points per game. Now the question, is the 48 ppg allowed due to a slower tempo? A tempo-free look at the 18 games prior to coming to St. Peter's yielded these results:

Opposing		Defensive
Pace	Pts	Efficiency
64	864	75

Without looking at some of the other top women's teams in the nations, the numbers show Fairfield is playing some pretty sound defense. The 64 possession pace is pedestrian. But the 75 allowed on the defensive end is nothing short of outstanding.

Numbers

Fairfield is 13-6 (6-3 in the MAAC). St. Peter's falls 10 (3-17 (3-6). Linney led all scorers with 19 points. Lauren Morris paced St. Peter's with 14 points. Brittany MacFarlane, Fairfield's 6-1 sophomore, did not score but led all players with 11 rebounds. Fairfield junior forward Taryn Johnson had an impressive all around effort. Johnson scored 17 points while grabbing 9 rebounds and handing out a game high 6 assists. Admiring St. Peter's work ethic and resilience in a tough injury riddled year, Frager called them "the most dangerous 3-17 team you will find anywhere." St. Peter's freshman Teresa Manigrasso (8 points) and Linney were teammates on St. John Vianney's 2009 NJ High School Girls Tournament of Champions title winners.

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: MAAC Conference Wrapup

by Ray Floriani

JERSEY CITY, NJ - Iona edged St.Peter’s on Sunday at Yanitelli Center. The game drew the MAAC regular season to a close. The following is a final regular season tempo free breakdown of the MAAC, with conference games only factored in.

The offensive and defensive efficiencies are subtracted to give us the efficiency margin on the far right. Naturally, a figure in the positive is desired. Pace is the average number of possessions a team uses per game.

		Efficiency			Eff
Team	Record	Off.	Def.	Pace	Mgn
Siena	17-1	109	91	70	18
Fairfield	13-5	103	98	68	5
Iona	12-6	94	90	67	4
St.Peter’s	11-7	91	88	67	3
Niagara	9-9	101	95	69	6
Rider	9-9	95	101	69	-6
Canisius	8-10	96	98	67	-2
Loyola	6-12	96	100	67	-4
Manhattan	4-14	94	99	68	-5
Marist	1-17	85	107	64	-22

Siena, the class of the conference, has the impressive numbers to back it. The defensive numbers in the MAAC are noteworthy especially those of St.Peter’s. The offensive efficiency was not too great in Jersey City but when you hold opponents to an 88 DE you will win games.

Last season Chucky Martin arrived at Marist with th dribble drive motion offense. This season Marist was the most pedestrian team in the conference. Little worked this season for a painfully young Marist squad.

A 9-9 mark is not bad but many expected more of Rider. A quick look shows the defense was too generous and the efficiency margin, one of the poorest in the conference.

Conference tournament is March 5-8 at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Dinneen Hall
St. Peter's College

The St.Peter’s-Iona game was a 59 possession (Iona 56 St. Peter’s 62) contest , with the efficiencies and four factors as follows:

	Off		FTA
	Eff	eFG%	FGA	OReb%	TO%
Iona	88	40	23	18	25
St.Peter’s	77	37	25	25	23

At Stake. A lot, namely third place. The winner would secure third in the MAAC standings. Beyond the pride of a higher finish was the knowledge that tournament favorite Siena would not (possibly) be faced until the final game.

With all that in mind, these two teams got together in an intense, defensive struggle with 7 ties and 4 lead changes, that was not decided until the final possession.

Interestingly Iona ,which took 40% of their attempts from three point range (19 three point attempts of 47 total tries), got the game winning points due to a penetration. Sophomore guard Scott Machado was fouled going to the basket with 5 seconds left and converted both shots. St.Peter’s countered with a drive by Eddie Leon who was stripped of the ball by Iona’s Jermel Jenkins.

One of the discernible differences was in rebounding where St.Peter’s had an edge. That was offset by Iona’s defense. St.Peter’s led 27-24 at the half but shot 7 of 26 (27%) the final twenty minutes. The Gaels were only slightly better at 8 of 22 (36%) but they knocked down three treys (st>peter’s had one) and that slight margin was enough in a very close finish.

Numbers. Jenkins led Iona (21-9 overall) with 13 points. Machado was the other double figure scorer for the Gaels with 10. St.Peter’s (16-13) had two players hit doubles with Ryan Bacon and Wesley Jenkins both scoring 12 points.

The MAAC. St.Peter’s wanted that third seed but what they are getting is not too bad. The Peacocks will face Rider at 2:30 on Saturday in Albany. The two teams split this year and Rider struggled this weekend getting waxed by Siena on Friday and barely surviving Canisius (both at home).

Iona draws Niagara in a 10 pm game on Saturday. Gaels coaches and players all said the right thing but deep down the 10 pm contest is a coaching nightmare. Awaiting is a Niagara team that played fairly well down the stretch.

“We had a tough weekend at Fairfield and St.Peter’s. We finished 12-6 (MAAC) and 21-9 that’s what I’m most proud of.” - Iona coach Kevin Willard

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win and finish third but I’m proud of my team. We are playing with passion.” - St. Peter’s coach John Dunne

Kyle Smith (l) and Jermel Jenkins (r) of Iona
interview with Sean Brennan of the Daily News

Guest Contributor Ray Floriani: Fairfield at St. Peter's Women's Basketball

by Ray Floriani

JERSEY CITY, NJ - In MAAC women’s meeting on Friday night, St.Peter’s defended their way to a 55-41 decision over Fairfield at Yanitelli Center. The efficiency and four factors in a pedestrian 58 possession game (Fairfield 59 St. Peter's 57):

			FTM
	ORtg	eFG%	FGA	OR%	TO%
Fairfield	70	30	17	33	22
St.Peter’s	97	38	23	60	26

Scoring has been a problem for Fairfield in conference play. Entering the game these were a few of their numbers on the offensive end.

	O Eff.	eFG%	2FGM%	PPG
Fairfield	88	43	41	56.6

The Stags haven’t fared well in the paint or beyond the arc either. Their three point percentage is 32%. On the defensive side their defensive efficiency is 94. That’s pretty good D but that offensive number is responsible for a -6 efficiency margin and a sub .500 conference record.

The story tonight was defense. Fairfield struggled from the floor and had a poor OE. Credit St.Peter’s for a tough defense that gave few good looks. Defense and hustle also resulted in a notable 60% offensive rebounding percentage. Stephanie DeWolfe’s club simply hustled on both ends of the floor.

Fairfield did not have a player in double figures. They were led by senior forward Tara Flaherty with 9 points and the only Stag to shoot 50% (3 of 6) from the field. The Stags trailed 28-13 at the half. They scored five field goals the first four minutes of the second half but that was their best stretch. On the evening they managed only 15 field goals.

St.Peter’s had two players hit double figures and was paced by senior guard Natasha Morris with 17 points. Rapidly improving sophomore center Quiana Porter added a significant 13 rebounds and 4 blocks to her six points.

Turnover rate was high for St.Peter’s but when you defend as well as they did and have a 19-6 advantage in second half points and hit 13 of 17 from the line, there are a lot of pluses to look back on.

Katelyn Linney. Had a chance to meet Linney (pictured) after the game. She is a Fairfield freshman, third in scoring at 10.4 PPG. Last season she played on the New Jersey TOC champion St. John Vianney. Yours truly had the opportunity, or honor, to officiate the game she scored her 1,000th point, a January win over Oak Hill at Monmouth University. Vocal on the floor and very active, Linney has a great outside touch. Tonight, as with her teammates, it was not a game for the archives. She scored 7 points but was 1 of 7 beyond the arc.

Records. Fairfield is 10-12, 4-7 in conference. St.Peter’s, winners in three of their last four, is 9-13, 5-6 in the MAAC.

“It was a good effort. We executed and they (Fairfield) didn’t get any easy looks….(Natasha) Morris is playing point. She’s not a natural point but does what we need.” - St.Peter’s coach Stephanie DeWolfe

Fairfield's Katelyn Linney