An ugly game.

Positives

Schneider is dynamite. He got another 18 tonight, 5-9 from the floor and 4-8 from 3. He is easily the best player on the team, and I am ecstatic I get to see him for 4 years.

Kyle Carrabine got another 10, 3-6 from 3 in only 18 minutes. He is becoming a great role player.

Payton had another good game, getting 16 and 4 boards off the bench. He and Schneider carried the team tonight, and I really wish their effort had been rewarded.

2/1 Assist to turnover ratio, a much-need change. Also, we shot 77% from the charity stripe.

Negatives

Corey Cofield plays 4 minutes, scoring none. What on earth is going on with him?

Laimis Kisielius decided he didn’t feel like playing tonight, going scoreless and 0-6 from the floor.

Payton, Carrabine, Schneider-44
Everybody else-16

27% from 3, 35% from the floor, and THAT is why we lost.

Oh well, we should crush North Florida on Friday night, and that should be an easy W. They are 324 in the Pomery rating.

Go Tribe.

The Towson Tigers travel to Kaplan Arena Tuesday night for an early season CAA match-up. Towson will definitely be favored, led by star guard Gary Neal, but they have struggled mightily on the road this year and the Tribe is 3-0 @ W&M Hall, coming off 2 barn-burners resulting in W’s. This looks like it will be a spectacular game.

The Tribe will be led by it’s guard play, more specifically Adam Payton and Laimis Kisielius. Laimis scored 20 and 21 in the 2 TOC games, and is averaging over 15 on the year. He is also the team’s most versatile player, but needs to cut down on the turnovers. Payton was named tip-off classic MVP for his clutch foul shots and his 3 late steals that pretty much won us the game. He is statistically the team’s best rebounder, averages 11.5 ppg, and is a solid shooter. Adam and Laimis have been suprisingly good for us so far, and without them stepping up I can’t even imagine how bad we’d be.

Nathan Mann and David Schneider also can’t be forgotten. Mann scored in double figures both TOC games, bumping up his average to 7.2. He struggled immensly early in the year, but has turned it around. He has proved in the past to be the team’s best shooter, and sunk a clutch shot against Cornell Saturday night. David Schneider WILL play, coming off an ankle injury suffered in practice causing him to miss 3 games. The Tribe was visibly hurt by his departure, but with him returning to the lineup I think  we’ll be stronger than ever. He is averaging 10 points per game, a number hampered by his injury, and was our best player through the first 3 games. Hopefully he is 100% and not slowed by his ankle at all. Adam Trumbower, a former walk-on, has provided the Tribe many valuable minutes, and we wouldn’t have won Saturday without his gutsy play.

W&M has several capable big men, but none of them have stepped up. Corey Cofield, Chris Darnell, Pete Stein, Alex Smith, and Danny Sumner could all explode any game, but until that happens the big men will be a disappointment.

The Towson Tigers are led by Gary Neal, one of the CAA’s best players. He showed signs of those accolades scoring 41 against Samford, but his season stats are much worse. He does averages over 20 a game, but is shooting 36% from the field and 25% from 3. He will still probably drop 20-25 tomorrow night, but the missed shots can’t be overlooked. Past Neal, no scorers really jump out of the screen.

Towson’s glass-cleaners are Winstonn Tubbs(8.3 per) and Dennard Abraham(7.3). Tubbs averages over 7 points per game also, and sports a solid shooting percentage of 44%. Abrahams, however, is shooting 27% from the floor and is a non-factor on offense.

Tim Crossin has dished out the most assists this year with 18, and shoots 48% from the floor. Juco-transfer(I believe) CC Williams has 17 assists on the year, and gets solid minutes at point. Tommy Breaux is the other accurate shooter on the team, shooting a stunning 61% from the field.

This will be a battle of 2 inconsistent teams, and it is nearly impossible to say who will win. Given those circumstances, and the fact I’ll be called a homer if I pick W&M again:

Towson: 61
W&M:60

Wow. That was easily the best Tribe game I’ve ever seen. Here is a quick recap of the last few minutes.

5:00-Cornell hits a 3 to take a 13 point lead.
And then it began.
4:45-Laimis hits a 2, down by 11.
3:44-Trum hits 2 foul shots, down by 9.
3:28-AP steals the inbound pass, makes a layup. Down by 7.
2:54-AP gets another steal.
2:45-Laimis gets fouled, hits both free throws. Down by 5.
2:04-Mann misses a 3. AP gets the board and fouled. Hit both. Down by 3.
1:15-Laimis hits a duece, down by 1. Yes, they still haven’t scored.
:44-Trum fouls, Jason battle hits both shots. Down by 3.
:28-Trum fouls again, one missed one good. Down by 4.
:23-Mann hits a 3 with 2 hands in his face. Huge shot. Down by 1.
:14-AP steals the inbounds. AGAIN. Fouled. Makes one shot. Tie game.
:2-Mann takes a charge. Shot not good. Time to go to OT.

4:40-Mann hits a shot, up by 2.
3:35-Cornell answers. Tie game.
3:12-Peter Stein gets a lay-up. Up by 2.
2:55-Cornell answers again, and we are tied up.
1:42-Laimis gets another bucket, giving us a 2 point lead.
1:24-Cornell misses, Pete Stein tips it out of bounds.
1:23-Offensive foul. Tribe ball.
:15-After several misses, AP gets fouled. He stays cool and hits them both. Up by 4.
:9-Jason Battle lay-up. 2 points lead.
:6-AP fouled, hits one of 2. Up by 3.
:1-Missed shot, Laimis fouled, hits both, and that’s all she wrote.

What a comeback. When we were down 13 I thought we were finished, but the guys hung in there and we pulled out a huge W without our point guard. I’ll admit I was the first one on the court after the game, and it was great to have the whole team come over. I got to talk to Trum after the game, and he told me games like this build confidence, and this could be the turning point of the season.

The Hall was PUMPED tonight. The Kaplan Krazies always jump, but tonight we were joined by the entire student section, and it was the best atmosphere in a long time. The Hall will be rocking against Towson.

Speaking of Towson, David Schneider told me he would play. That could be huge for us.

Wow, I’m still shocked. What a great game!

RIP EM UP TEAR EM UP GIVE EM HELL TRIBE!!!!!!!!! 

Not what I expected, but I’ll take any win we can get with David Schneider on the shelf.

Picking up the slack were Laimis Kisielius, scoring 20 points, and Adam Payton, with 18 of his own. Laimis was still a little sloppy on the floor, but was 9/12 from the carity stripe and iced the game with 20 seconds left hitting 2 much-needed foul shots. I really thought we played better when AP was in the game, without him bringing the ball up the floor was an adventure.

It was incredibly painful watching us try to blow a 9 points lead inside 2 minutes. JSU had no business getting the game that close. We need that killer instinct to put away opponents when they are down, but as usual take this with a grain of salt without Schneid.

Corey Cofield was very sloppy catching feeds down low. He seemed to muff it every time it was passed in, and if he did catch it put up a brick.

Danny Sumner needs to work on his foul-shooting. Alot.

I’m still wondering why Peter Stein touched the ball when they were trying to foul late. I was not suprised when he clanked both.

Matt McFadden was at the game, sitting in the nosebleeds with a bunch of friends.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to David about his injury, but I’ll be sure to tomorrow.

Danny Sumner: 0-6 from the stripe.

Mann(8)+Cofield(5)+Payton(18)+Laimis(20)=51 out of 59 points. Spread them out!

Cornell shouldn’t beat us with their athleticism, but they slowly wore down VMI and took over late. They shot pretty well from 3. Also, their fans were pretty vocal, and a bunch came.

But we’ll still win.

First Opponent: Jacksonville State

Jacksonville State is currently 1-3, and they just got demolished(31 points!) by UMass. They are an athletic team that is led by Courtney Bradley. Bradley averages over 22 points per game and nine rebounds. He is a 6-5 foward, and a CC transfer. The other big scorer is Dorien Brown, who averages 16.3 points per game and over 7 boards. He’s also a foward, and a 6-7 junior.

Nobody else is seemingly on their level, but also watch out for Harold Crow(7.5 ppg, 5 boards, another foward transfer), Nick Smith(a starting guard, 7 ppg), and Erik Adams(starting guard, 6.5 ppg).

The next 2 will be updated more tomorrow night after I get to see them, but…

VMI

VMI will be very fun to watch. The play a type of offense involving shots 5 seconds into the shot clock, running up and down the court with reckless abandon, and 5 subs every minute. They scored over 160 points in a rgulation games earlier this year, and have switched to this style after their center left last season(a relative of mine), leaving them no big men.

Cornell

The big red are 3-3 on the year. Their wins are highlighted by Northwestern, but with loses  in their last 2 games again Binghampton and Hartford, they seem to be playing badly. They have 4 players averaging double-figures, led by Adam Gore(20 ppg, but only 1 game so far). He is followed up by Ryan Whittman(15.7), Louis Dale(13), and Brian Keefer(12.7).

All in all, all these teams are inconsistent, sub-par teams, and the tournament championship is up for grabs. W&M being without David Schneider can’t(and won’t) help, but we have a talent edge over all these teams.