America East Basketball News & Notes: Second is Half Underway

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One half down, one more to go. The second half of the America East season started over the weekend. Over the next four weeks, the race is on to make the field of eight to partake in the conference tournament. Let’s take a look at how the second half began.

In the NET rankings, the top two teams in the league are inside the top 200. Bryant, who held the top spot in the league for the entire first half, is at #158. Maine, which has been in second place, comes in at #186.

It was a good week for the Black Bears as they took care of business at home winning twice. Victories over NJIT and UMBC improved Maine to 8-2 in league play, and 16-9 overall. The eight wins are the most in America East since the 2010-11 season. The two wins also produced this week’s AE Player of the Week as AJ Lopez recorded his first weekly award by averaging 20 points, four rebounds, two assists, and, shot 55% from the field (12-of-22). In Thursday night’s win over NJIT, Lopez went for 23 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. In Saturday’s win over UMBC Lopez had 17 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

Maine has a big game this Saturday as they will try to snap a 28-game losing streak against Vermont at home. The two teams met on February 1 in Burlington VT. with the Catamounts coming away with a 55-49 victory. This is an important game for both with only one game separating the two teams in the loss column. A win by Vermont would give them a tie-break advantage over the Black Bears that could come in handy come March.

Meanwhile, Bryant (15-10, 9-1) went 1-1 last week beginning the week with a home loss to UAlbany on Thursday night. They would bounce back on the road with a win over Binghamton on Saturday. The win over the Bearcats was paced by a double-double from Connor Withers who went for 11 points and 10 rebounds. This could be a big week for the Bulldogs. They have two games scheduled at home. On Thursday night they host NJIT and on Saturday UMBC comes to Smithfield, RI. If Bryant can win both games, they will secure at least a top 4 seed for the conference tournament in March.

Now let’s take a look at the bottom of the standings. Why you ask? Because the team that finishes in last place does not advance to the postseason. At the moment, NJIT is in last place with a 2-8 league record and 5-20 overall. They trail UMBC (11-14, 3-7) by a game in the loss column. Both teams will face Bryant this week. On Thursday, UMBC is home to Binghamton and on Saturday, NJIT will host the Bearcats. The two teams will meet on February 22 in Baltimore, MD. The two teams met back on January 9 and UMBC took the road win over NJIT by an 87-64 score. A victory by the Highlanders on the 22nd looks like a must.

The other team that had a good week is UNH. They went 2-0 last week and wins over UMBC and NJIT at home have moved the Wildcats (6-19, 4-6) up the standings. They find themselves tied for fifth place just a game back of UMass Lowell for the four spot. They will meet the River Hawks this Saturday at home. The first time these two met in Lowell, the River Hawks came away with the win. They also boast this week’s AE Rookie of the Week in Khalil Badru who averaged 18 points, and five rebounds while shooting 65% from the field (15-of-23). He had a career-high 21 points and five rebounds in the win over UMBC. Against NJIT, he had 15 points with five rebounds. This is Badru’s second weekly award.

A shoutout goes to Binghamton forward Gavin Walsh for his performance against the UMass Lowell River Hawks last Thursday night. He grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds in the game which tied for the fourth most in league history. The 23 boards are the most by a player in the league since 2016 and the most in a regular season game since 1995. Walsh is averaging 10.8 boards a game which ranks him eighth in the nation. He also has 10 double-doubles for the season which has him tied for 13th in the country. He leads Earl Timberlake of Bryant by one in the league (9), for the top spot in that category.

Next week we are back with more from the America East.