America East Basketball News & Notes

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It was a terrific past seven days in the America East Conference. The league racked up six wins as there non-conference portion of the season comes to an end. To date, the league has six victories over Atlantic 10 teams, and one versus an SEC team (South Carolina).

With league play now just over a week away, here is some of what else is going on.

The America East now boasts two teams in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. For the second week in a row, the Stony Brook Seawolves are there. This week the Seawolves (11-3) are ranked at #15 in the poll. The Seawolves have been road warriors so far as they are just one of only two teams across the country with six true road wins.

The other team in the poll is no stranger to it. The Vermont Catamounts (9-4) had a six-game winning streak snapped last Friday night against Lipscomb. The Cats are at #22 in the mid-major poll and have contributed to the league’s success against A-10 teams with wins over Georgia Washington and St. Bonaventure.

There are Co-Players of the week. First is Vermont’s star forward, Anthony Lamb. In two games last week, Lamb averaged 31.5 points per game, six rebounds and three blocks. In Vermont’s win over St. Bonaventure, Lamb went for forty-two points. The total is the most by an #AEHoops player since Jameel Warney went for 43 in the 2016 league title game. Lamb is ranked at # 24 in the nation in scoring at 22 points per game.

The other player of the week is red-shirt junior Christian Lutete of the UMass Lowell Riverhawks. In their win over Loyola last Friday night, Lutete went for a career-high 34 points on 12-16 shooting from the field including three of seven from deep, and seven for ten from the free throw line. He also had two assists and three steals in the game to go along with six boards.

In Lowell’s first fourteen games, (7-7), Lutete has already accounted for five double-doubles. That ranks him first in the league. He also leads in rebounds per game at 8.2 per contest.

For the fourth time this year, Binghamton freshman guard, Sam Sessoms, is the #AEHoops freshman of the week. In two games last week, Sessoms averaged 18 points and four assists. Against Notre Dame last Tuesday night on the road, Sessoms went for 25.

One reason why the Riverhawks may be playing well earlier on is the production coach Pat Duquette is getting off his bench. Heading into last Friday’s game against the Greyhounds UMass Lowell’s bench was contributing 24.2 points per game. In their win last Friday night, the bench came through with 19. It’s an improvement over last year when the Riverhawks bench added just 15.3 a night.