America East

America East Basketball News & Notes: Win streaks Abound

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With league play a little over three weeks away, the America East Conference is starting to show top to bottom strength that should make league games even more interesting once they arrive. The non-league performance of the conference is a good sign that some really good hoops are yet to come. Let’s give you an idea of where things stand as December rolls on.

NJIT (5-3) was one of those teams that made a jump in the right direction last week. Three games were played, and three wins were recorded for the Highlanders. The victories were against Columbia, Sacred Heart, and Lafayette. On Tuesday night vs Sacred Heart, Dylan O’hearn (20) and Miles Coleman (24) combined for 44 of the 75 points that the Highlanders scored in their win. Points in the paint were a big reason for the win as NJIT scored 36 of them. They also took very good care of the basketball as they committed only nine turnovers for the game. In Sunday’s double-OT win at Lafayette, O’Hearn was the story as he went for 42 points in 50 minutes of action. His line of 12-24 from the field, 5-11 from 3-point land, 13-15 from the free-throw line single-handedly gave the Highlanders a chance to win this road game. We will talk more about Mr. O’Hearn a little later.

Another team that received some good news this weekend was the UMass Lowell River Hawks (6-3) in the form of the return of forward, Connor Withers who had missed the first eight games of the season because of a foot injury. On Saturday night at Merrimack, Withers came off of the River Hawks bench and played 19 minutes, scoring 10 points on 4-8 from the field, 1-4 from three-point territory, and 1 for 1 from the foul line. He also gave the team three rebounds, three steals, two assists, and two turnovers. Withers did a good job of filling up the stat sheet in his first game back. The River Hawks are at full strength for the first time this season which could make them even more dangerous than they have already been.

The UNH Wildcats are on a bit of a roll lately having won three in a row themselves. Last week their only game was a win over Central Connecticut State. The Wildcats at 4-2 placed four of their five starters in double-figures to pick up the home win. They led wire-to-wire in this one paced by a double-double from Jayden Martinez of 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats are second in the league in both offensive (74.5) and defensive (61) points a game. They are first in margin of victory at 13.5 a contest.

The defending champs, the Hartford Hawks, became the last team in the conference to enter the win column. The 68-55 win over St. Francis of Brooklyn was a much-needed victory for a team that has gotten off on the wrong end to start the year. This was a match-up of two winless teams to date but Hartford (1-7) was able to get the road win behind a double-double from Hunter Marks of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Austin Williams added 22 points as the Hawks pounded the paint to the tune of 46 points scored.

NJIT has both the Player of the Week and the Rookie of the Week in America East. Dylan O’Hearn is the player after averaging 26 points, and four rebounds last week. The 42 points produced vs Lafayette was not only was a career-high but also set a new scoring record for the school in the process. In the win over Sacred Heart, O’Hearn went for 20 points and four assists. It was the first weekly award for O’Hearn who also leads the league in scoring at 19.9 a game, and in minutes played with 37.6.

The rookie is Sam Ihekwoaba, the freshman guard out of Orlando, Florida. He was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of rebounds in 10 minutes of action vs Columbia. For the week that just ended, he averaged six points and three rebounds. Sam is fast becoming someone this team can look to off the bench for positive results.

Next week we will be back with more from the America East Conference.

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