The Alternative Press

The New England Small College Athletic Conference is arguably the toughest Division 3 men's basketball conference in the nation, a fact that was underlined in Friday's showdown between no. 1 Middlebury and Hamilton. The latter, which came out on the short end of a 76-64 verdict on their own court, are 10-3 in non-league play, but have only one win against NESCAC rivals thus far this season. Pat Sullivan (Madison, Sr.) was his stalwart self, racking up a double-double for Hamilton, scoring 17 points on 6-for-16 shooting from the floor and 5-for-6 at the foul line. His 10 rebounds were the game high. Joey Kizel (Short Hills, Soph.), meanwhile, added 16 points for Middlebury, nailing six of seven field goal attempts, including both from 3-point territory, along with both his free throws. His six assists were a game high and he had four caroms for good measure.

Middlebury then followed with a 73-54 win over Plattsburgh State at home on Tuesday. Kizel had four assists in a game in which he was limited to five points. He canned his only 3-point try and dropped one of seven from close in. The Panthers are 17-0 after this non-NESCAC win. They're 5-0 in league play.

Hamilton, meanwhile, visited Williams on Monday and returned home with an 81-62 loss. Sullivan was nearly unstoppable down low, where he scored 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the floor (1-for-2 from long range) and 3-for-4 from the foul line. The Continentals dropped to 11-8 overall and 1-5 in NESCAC play.

A double-double from Kevin Udo (West Orange, Soph.) went for naught as Bloomfield College lost to Philadelphia University, 85-66, in a Saturday road game. Udo had a game-high 15 rebounds and scored 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the floor and 2-for-4 from the foul line. The loss snapped an 11-game win streak for the Deacons, who then capitalized on another Udo twinner to defeat Felician, 70-62, in Lodi on Tuesday. He put 16 points on the board (7-for-10 from the floor, 2-for-5 from the line) and brought down 11 caroms. Bloomfield is now 15-6 overall and 9-2 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

Ithaca's Jordan Marcus (West Orange, Sr.) also went into double digits in two columns in Saturday's 84-80 home loss to Alfred. He tallied 22 points on 7-for-16 shooting from the floor (2-for-7 from deep) and 6-for-6 at the foul line. He also reeled in 10 rebounds from his backcourt perch. The Bombers (8-10, 5-2 Empire 8) got back in the win column at home on Tuesday by downing Utica, 83-74. Marcus was held to just two points, both on free throws (he attempted only four field goals), and managed five boards. Teammate Jordan Healey (Summit, Jr.) had a perfect shooting night, connecting on all four of his attempts from the field, including one from outside the 3-point arc, to provide Ithaca with nine points in just nine minutes on the court.

Andy Charles (West Orange, Soph.) came up just shy of a double-double in Centenary’s 79-65 home win over Philadelphia Biblical on Saturday. He scored nine points, all of which came on three of the four bombs that he launched. He also pulled down nine rebounds, to go with two assists and two blocks. The Cyclones evened their season mark at 9-9 and are 5-6 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference.

Lafayette lost, 90-76, at home to Lehigh on Sunday, despite a fine shooting performance from Rob Delaney (Westfield, Sr.). He scored 16 points, nailing six of seven attempts from the floor, including his only 3-point try, and all three of his free throws. He also dished out three assists for the Leopards (8-12, 3-2 Patriot League).

Mike Venezia (Westfield, Sr.) tossed in 13 points as Colgate prevailed, 65-54, in overtime over Navy at home on Saturday. Venezia shot 4-for-8 from the floor, including 3-for-4 from downtown, and 2-for-4 from the foul line. Colgate is now 6-13 overall and 1-4 in Patriot League play.

Alex Rosenberg (Short Hills, Fr.) tallied nine points to help Columbia to a 61-56 victory over Cornell at home on Saturday. He shot 3-for-6 from both the floor and the victim’s compensation line. The Lions improved to 12-7 overall and 1-2 in Ivy League skirmishes.

Ken Rubenstein (South Orange, Jr.) chipped in 11 points to enable Montclair State to defeat Rowan, 79-74, in Montclair on Saturday. He had a 4-for-11 game shooting the ball, including 3-for-6 from long range. He also came away with four rebounds. The Red Hawks ticked up to 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

Entering Friday's contest against Nazareth, Stevens Tech had every reason to feel good about the way their season was proceeding. They'd won seven straight, 10 of their last 11, and were looking at three games in five days in their own Canavan Arena. Reality then set in in the form of two losses in those three outings, including a 74-67 loss to Nazareth, in which Russ Thompson (West Orange, Jr.) scored 12 points and had a game-high four assists, as well as four rebounds. The points came on 4-for-11 shooting from the floor (2-for-6 from 3-point land) and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Stevens put salve on the wounds with a 73-53 rout of St. John Fisher on Saturday, in which Thompson worked out five distributions to go with four rebounds and five points. Stevens (13-4, 5-2 Empire 8) then dropped a 68-66 heartbreaker to Hartwick on Tuesday. Thompson was good for six assists. His only points came when he zipped a 3-pointer through the twine to bring the Ducks to within a point of Hartwick with just under three minutes to play.

The outcome of last Friday's Vassar-Hobart game was no longer in doubt when Vassar's Seth Bynum (West Orange, Fr.) knocked down a 3-pointer, his only field goal attempt of the game, in a 72-40 road loss to Hobart. Vassar is now 6-9 overall and 2-4 in the Liberty League.  

WOMEN'S HOOPS

Abby Martin (Maplewood, Jr.) scored a game-high 16 points to lead Monmouth past St. Francis (Pa.), 66-45, in West Long Branch on Monday. Six of her 11 field goal attempts found their mark, as did four of five free throws. Her three steals were a game high, as well; she also came down with five rebounds. Monmouth (11-8, 6-2 Northeast Conference) is in the midst of an 8-game win streak.

Chinyere Ozuzu (Maplewood, Soph.) got an unusually high amount of minutes (21) for her in Georgian Court's 89-62 loss to University of the Sciences on Tuesday in Lakewood. She scored seven points, making two of eight field goal attempts, and three of four free throws. She also earned credit for five rebounds and two steals as the Lions dropped to 2-16 overall and 1-10 in the CACC.

Michelle Montagna (New Providence, Jr.) scored 11 points for Montclair State in Saturday's 62-58 win at home over Rowan. She lit up the scoreboard on three of 12 3-point attempts, as well as her only effort from 2-point territory. Monday found the Red Hawks (13-6, 3-4 NJAC) in Radnor, Pa., where they took out Cabrini, 66-47. Montagna contributed nine points, again taking all but one of her eight shots from outside the 3-point arc. She made three of those and had a game-high four steals.

Tracy Borsinger (Chatham, Jr.) was high scorer for Middlebury in Friday's 43-41 loss to Hamilton in Clinton, N.Y. She tallied eight points on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor, to which she added eight rebounds. Middlebury (5-11, 0-5 New England Small College Athletic Conference) bounced back to defeat Plattsburgh State, 77-74, at home on Tuesday in a non-Conference match. Borsinger rang up 15 points, finding paydirt on five of 12 attempts from the floor, including three of seven missiles, and two of three foul shots. She also blocked a pair of Plattsburgh shots.

Caroline Murphy (Chatham, Soph.) came off the bench to help Gettysburg extend its win streak to five games with a 52-42 defeat of Haverford on the latter's court on Saturday. Murphy scored eight points, hitting three of six field goal attempts and both of her free throws. She also handled seven rebounds as the Bullets improved to 9-9 overall and 7-5 in Centennial Conference play.

ICE HOCKEY

Boston University's Sarah Bayersdorfer (Short Hills, Fr.) earned an assist, her second of the season, in the Terriers' 6-2 home win over Vermont on Saturday. The feed to teammate Jenn Wakefield midway through the third period gave Wakefield a hat trick for the game, which saw the Terriers improve to 12-12-1.

Skidmore's Phil Buonocore (Westfield, Soph.) picked up an assist, his third of the campaign, as the Thoroughbreds suffered a 4-2 loss to Southern Maine on the latter's ice on Saturday. Skidmore dropped to 5-10-2.

WRESTLING

The College of New Jersey's Rick Cordero (Livingston, Soph.) split his four matches in the 174-pound bracket at Saturday's Messiah Open. He began with a 14-0 major decision over Michael Evarista of Elizabethtown. Delaware Valley's Robert Hennings then fell to Cordero via a pin at the 4:29 mark. Cordero then suffered a similar fate in his next bout at 1:01, when he was stopped by eventual champion Dustin Stough of Wilkes. Another Wilkesman, Joshua Rodriguez, took out Cordero at 2:50 of their match in the consolation round, thus ending Cordero's day.