America East Basketball News & Notes: Good Start for the League

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A very good first week of basketball for the America East Conference. All told, the league picked up 12 wins with at least eight teams gaining at least one win. Three programs, Binghamton, Bryant, and New Hampshire got off to 2-0 starts. The league has feasted on the Ivy League in the early stages with Vermont, Binghamton, and Bryant getting wins. UMass Lowell joined in on the fun by adding to the win total vs the Ivy later in the week. Nineteen games are on the schedule for this week. Let’s look back at a good first week in America East.

Last Friday night, Bryant (2-0) went on the road to Hanover, NH to face Dartmouth. The 89-70 road win was led by Sherif Gross-Bullock with 27 points, including a blistering night at the foul line knocking down 13-of-18. The Bulldogs received a double-double from Earl Timberlake with19 points and 12 rebounds. Bryant got 14 points off the bench from Kvonn Cramer part of the 25 points that Bryant got off the bench for the game. Another impressive stat was 52 points in the paint. Despite this game having six lead changes and six ties, the Bulldogs used a 41-28 advantage at the half to take them to victory on the road. The week ahead for Bryant has them heading to the state of Florida for games vs Florida Atlantic and Florida International.

Vermont (1-2) is getting ready for the conference season by playing a difficult non-league schedule. This time the west coast is calling the Catamounts. The trip began on Thursday night with a 79-53 loss to St. Mary’s. Vermont had a tough night shooting the ball hitting only 41% from the field and 33% from 3-point land. Their bench really struggled scoring only five points for the game. Robin Duncan (14) and Dylan Penn (13) were the only double figures scores on the night. The Catamounts had trouble on the boards being outrebounded 39-21. On Sunday night, Vermont lost a tough double-OT game to Cal St. Fullerton 94-85. As was the case on Thursday night. Duncan (27) and Penn (15) were the only double-figure scorers. Both guys played all 40 minutes. Vermont was better in the paint (36 points) and off the bench (23). This game was decided by the starting five for both teams, Fullerton starters all finished in double figures. The west coast swing ended last night at USC.

Binghamton (2-0) got a nice win on the road on Saturday beating Marist 78-75. The Bearcats got a combined 38 points from starters Jacob Falko and Miles Gibson who both finished with 19 on the night. Binghamton outscored Marist’s bench 20-12 with Dan Petcash getting 11 points to go along with eight rebounds. Despite the Bearcats committing 14 turnovers for the game, Marist could only turn those into eight points and did not register a fast break point in the game. Last night the competition geot a little better for the Bearcats as they headed to College Park, MD to meet the University of Maryland.

The University of New Hampshire Wildcats (2-0) started their season with their first two games at home. On Friday night the Wildcats led most of the way to pick up an 83-71 win over Fairfield. UNH had four players (two starters, and two reserves) finish the game in double-figures. 31 points came off the Wildcats bench with another 24 coming in the paint. Kyree Brown, with 25 in a starting role, led the team. Nazim Derry led the bench scoring with 17. Both teams took very good care of the basketball turning the ball over just eight times. UNH goes on the road for the first time last night vs Fordham.

We will be back next week with more news on America East.