America East Basketball Postseason News

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The America East Basketball season has only been done for a week, and already there is plenty of news to go around. District awards have been handed out as well as another coaching change. Let’s take a look at the early postseason news in America East Conference basketball.

At UMass Lowell, it was a year of firsts. Their record of 26-8 was not only the first 20-win season in the program’s 10-year history at the division one level. It was also their first twenty-win season since 2010-11. Their coach, Pat Duquette, has been awarded not only the Conference Coach of the Year honor but now he has been named the NABC District One Coach of the Year. The River Hawks winning percentage of .765 was their best percentage since becoming a division one team. They set the program’s records for wins with 26 and league wins with 11. They ended the year as one of three schools across the country with a perfect record at home (17-0). They had two long winning streaks during the season. The first was a nine-game streak that started on November 16 and ended on December 10. Their second streak was a six-game streak that ended the regular season. They would play for the conference tournament championship for the second time in three years.

Statistically, this team was all over the America East stat sheet during the regular year. They were atop the league in ten different categories and were ranked in the top 20 in the nation in four different categories. In rebound margin, they were fourth in the nation at 8.4, in scoring margin, 14th at + 12.81, and in field goal percentage 17th at 48. 4%, and three point percentage 19th at 38.7%. Safe to say it was quite a run for the UMass Lowell River Hawks and their coach Pat Duquette.

Vermont’s fifth-year guard Dylan Penn was named to the USWBA All-District first team. He averaged 13.5 points per game and started all 34 games for the Catamounts. He shot 53.9 % from the field and during league play, that number rose to 54.4 %. During the America East Tournament, Penn averaged 23.1 points a game and shot 67.4 % from the field. He was named the Reggie Lewis Most Outstanding Player for the championship run by Vermont.

Bryant College’s Sherif Gross-Bullock was also named to the USWBA All-District first team. He led the conference in scoring, averaging 17.1 points a game. He had 11 20-point games during the year which included a career-high 39 at UMBC. He also had a pair of double-doubles and averaged over two three-pointers a game this season.

University of New Hampshire junior Clarence Daniels was named to the NABC All-District second team. He started all 30 games for the Wildcats averaging 15.3 points, 10.7 boards, in 34.2 minutes a night. His rebounding numbers tied him for seventh in the country. Daniels recorded 15 double-doubles which tied him for 12th in the nation. It also led America East. He was fourth in scoring, third in minutes played, and fourth in steals (1.3) in the league. All the news from UNH was not so good as A.D. Allison Rich announced that head coach Bill Herron’s contract would not be renewed. During his 18 seasons with the Wildcats, Herron compiled an overall record of 227-303 (.428 %). He set a program record for most wins (227), as well as the most wins overall with 394, which includes his time at Drexel. They reached the AE semifinals seven times under Herron, and he was a four-time winner of the Conference Coach of the Year award. He took UNH to one postseason appearance, the 2016 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, where they won a game defeating Fairfield 77-62. A national search has begun for his successor.