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The 2006 NEC Men's Basketball Tournament began on Thursday evening with four quarterfinal matchups taking place on campus sites. Top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson advanced to the semifinals with a 66-65 win over Quinnipiac after a Gordon Klaiber bucket with 10 seconds remaining spoiled the Bobcat's upset bid. Second-seeded Central Connecticut State reeled off the most convincing win of the night with a 86-68 victory over Sacred Heart at New Britain. Blue Devil guard Lenny Jefferson netted 21 points on five three-pointers. Meanwhile third-seeded Monmouth knocked off Long Island at home, 74-63, despite the Blackbirds' four-point halftime lead. Forward Marques Alston collected a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks. The lone underdog to advance to the next round is fifth-seeded Robert Morris. Jeremy Chappell's three-pointer with 12.3 seconds left lifted the Colonials past host Mount St. Mary's, 67-66. In the semifinal round on Sunday, March 5, Monmouth travels to New Britain, CT to do battle with CCSU at 1:00 pm on CN8, while Robert Morris comes East to take on Fairleigh Dickinson at the Rothman Center at 4:00 pm on MSG Network and FCS-Atlantic.
2006 NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
(all games played at home of higher seed)
Click Here For NEC Tournament Bracket
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 2
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #8 Quinnipiac, 66-65
#2 Cent. Conn. St. def. #7 Sacred Heart, 86-68
#3 Monmouth def. #6 Long Island, 74-63
#5 Robert Morris def. #4 Mount St. Mary's, 67-66
Semifinals^
Sunday, March 5
#3 Monmouth at #2 Cent. Conn. St., 1:00 pm (CN8-TV)
#5 Robert Morris at #1 Fairleigh Dickinson, 4:00 pm (MSG-TV)
Championship
Wednesday, March 8
7:30 pm on ESPN2
NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
Quarterfinal Recaps/Boxscores
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson 66, #8 Quinnipiac 65
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Hackensack, NJ -- Gordon Klaiber scored the game-winning bucket in the paint with 10 seconds remaining as the No. 1 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson Knights spoiled the Quinnipiac University men's basketball team's upset bid, 66-65, in the Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals, Thursday night at the Rothman Center.
The loss ends the Bobcats' season at 12-16 while the top-ranked Knights (19-10) move on to the conference semifinals to be played Sunday afternoon against Robert Morris. The Colonials scored a mild upset victory over 4th ranked Mount St. Mary's, 67-66, in Emmitsburg, Md.
The Knights quickly jumped out of the gates scoring the game's first seven points. Craig Benson stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer and Adam Gonzalez made a fast-break layup after a Knights turnover to draw to 7-5 with 17:11 remaining. The Knights would score 14 of the next 19 points to make it 21-10. After a Chris Wehye bucket, the Knights knocked down back-to-back buckets to extend the lead to 14 at 26-12 with 9:58 remaining in the stanza. Back-and-forth play made the FDU lead 27-14 with 9:23 remaining, but the Bobcats would run off nine unanswered points to make it 27-23 with just over five minutes remaining. After a free throw from Cameron Tyler and a floater by Chad Timberlake made it 30-23, Quinnipiac reeled off six points to cut the deficit to 30-29 with just under four minutes remaining. Andrea Crosariol picked up a blocked Gordon Klaiber shot and dunked to make it 32-29 but John Winchester countered with a lay-up while being fouled. He'd miss the free throw and, after a made free throw and Michael Peeples three, the Knights took a 36-31 lead. Benson countered with a long two from the baseline, making it 36-33. Timberlake made it 39-33 with a three-point bucket inside the final minute and the Knights finished the half with a Harris bucket in the paint to take a 41-33 lead into the locker room. Crosariol led all first half scorers with 15 while Winchester had nine points off the bench to lead the Bobcats.
After a Bernell Murray jumper extended the FDU lead to 42-33, the Bobcats reeled off a 9-1 run to pull within one at the 16:06 mark. The Knights scored the next six points, but the Bobcats again had an answer, scoring eight of the next 11 points to draw within two at 52-50. The Bobcats would draw within one point twice at 54-53 and 56-55 before the Knights regained a five point lead at 60-55 with 5:58 remaining.
The Knights continued to lead by five at 64-59 with 4:24 left before the Bobcats scored the next six points, including two Gonzalez buckets in the paint and one of two Winchester free throws to put the Bobcats up, 65-64 with 1:11 remaining. On the ensuing Knights possession, Victor Akinyanju made an acrobatic steal, reaching around an FDU post player, grabbing the ball, and calling a timeout while falling out of bounds with 55.9 seconds left. The Bobcats couldn't capitalize on the other end and the Knights took advantage with the Klaiber bucket in the paint over the outstretched arms of the Bobcat defense with 10 seconds left. Gonzalez's off-balanced shot in the paint wouldn't drop and the remaining time ticked off the clock before the ball could touch down out-of-bounds. Winchester led four scorers in double-figures for the Bobcats with 16 points. Karl Anderson (15), Gonzalez (13), and Benson (11) rounded out the double-figures contributors while Anderson grabbed a team-high seven boards.Crosariol led the Knights with 17 points while Klaiber had 15, and Timberlake and Harris each contributed 10 points.
#2 Central Connecticut State 86, #7 Sacred Heart 68
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New Britain, CT -- Senior Lenny Jefferson connected on five three-pointers and scored 21 points to lead second-seeded Central Connecticut State in an 86-68 home win over Sacred Heart in Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinal action. Kibwe Trim, a senior, matched Jefferson's 21-point effort to lead four Pioneer players in double-digits. The Blue Devils had five players reach double figures, including junior Obie Nwadike, who collected his 13th double-double on the season with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Central Connecticut moves on to the semifinals with the victory. The Blue Devils will host Monmouth at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 4.
A Drew Shubik triple opened the game's scoring and started a string of three-pointers from both teams. Jefferson countered with a three to tie the game, and the Norwalk, CT native made one more of Central's six in the opening 10 minutes. Shubik, meanwhile, made all three of the Pioneers' shots from beyond the arc during that same stretch. The Blue Devils held a nine point lead (27-18) midway through the opening half, however, and stretched their lead to as much as 10 points with just under two minutes to go in the half.
Junior Ingo Beaudet blocked a Trim shot with about five seconds remaining in the half, and senior Justin Chiera laid in a fast break bucket off a feed from sophomore Tristan Blackwood to give Central Connecticut a 42-33 lead as the teams headed to their locker rooms.
Chiera led all players with 12 first half points, shooting 5-for-9 from the floor. As a team, the Blue Devils were 17-for-31 (.548) from the field over the first 20 minutes. Jefferson added nine points on 3-for-3 shooting from three-point land, while Trim and Shubik each scored nine to pace the Pioneers.
Central Connecticut started the second half with a 10-2 run and increased its lead to 16 points with 9:33 remaining in the contest. Jefferson continued his hot shooting, making two more triples during the span. A Tavio Hobson three-pointer cut Sacred Heart's deficit to 10 points, but that margin would be the closest the Pioneers would get to for the rest of the game.
The Blue Devils, who finished the game 21-for-27 from the free throw line after getting there just once in the opening half, went 14-of-16 (12-of-12 over the final 2:42) from the stripe after Hobson's triple.
Central Connecticut finished the game 50 percent (27-for-54) from the floor, while Sacred Heart upped its shooting in the second half to finish 24-for-54 (.444). Neither team committed many turnovers, as the Pioneers lost the ball nine times to the Blue Devils seven. However, the Blue Devils outrebounded Sacred Heart, 35-27.
Blackwood finished with 16 points, while Chiera chipped in with 14 points and a team-high five assists. Sophomore Jason Hickenbottom had 11 points and six rebounds for CCSU, while Hobson, a junior, had 14 for the Pioneers. Shubik finished with 12 points and a game-high seven assists and sophomore Luke Granato had 10 for Sacred Heart.
Central Connecticut will host Monmouth on Sunday, March 5, at 1 p.m in semifinal action in Detrick Gymnasium.
#3 Monmouth 74, #6 Long Island 63
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West Long Branch, NJ -- Monmouth University men’s basketball team used a balanced offensive attack and tenacious defense to shut down Long Island University in a Northeast Conference tournament quarterfinal match-up on Thursday night in Boylan Gym. Second-team All-NEC forward Marques Alston (Neptune, N.J.) and fellow junior Dejan Delic (Belgrade, Sebria-Montenegro) combined for 32 points, 29 of which came in the second half. The Blue and White defense, which LIU lit up for 78 points and 16 trifectas in its win over the Hawks on February 11, shut down the high powered Blackbird offense forcing 22 turnovers and 33.3% (8-for-24) shooting from beyond the arc.
Monmouth jumped out to a 12-4 advantage at the 16:00 mark, when senior Chris Kenny (Spring Lake, N.J.) hit his second three-pointer of the contest, before the Blackbirds responded with an 8-0 spurt to knot the score at 12-12 with 13:22 showing, paced by five consecutive points from Esa Maki-Tulokas (Forssa, Finland).
Maki-Tulokas tied the score once again, at 18-18, with 10:05 left, as the forward registered a three-point play, highlighted by a dunk over John Bunch (Randallstown, Md.). Long Island then rattled off a 16-10 run to take a 34-28 advantage with 1:41 left until the half, as the Hawks went scoreless for 4:46. The draught ended when Delic dropped in both ends of a one-and-one with 38 seconds remaining, to trim the edge to 34-30. Long Island came up empty on two attempts as the first half ran out, to hold the 34-30 lead at the intermission.
Monmouth came out of the locker rooms firing as they went on a 9-0 run to start the second half with an old-fashion three point play by Kenny with 17:00 remaining giving the Hawks a 39-34 advantage. Long Island would not be silenced as they answered with five straight points of their own, tying the game 39-39 on a three-point play by Aubin Scott (Hempstead, N.Y.) with 16:28 remaining.
A trifecta from Delic with 9:34 remaining in regulation extended the Blue and White lead to six, 53-47. The Blackbirds cut the lead to two, 53-51, on a dunk by Maki-Tulokas with 8:29 left in the contest. Consecutive lay-ups by Alston with 4:45 remaining pushed the Blue and White lead to seven, 65-56.
A three-pointer by Donovin McLendon (Miami, Fla.) with 1:52 left in the second half cut the Hawks’ lead to 67-63, the closest they would come the rest of the way. The Blue and White scored the next seven points, five-of-six from the free throw line, to seal the victory, 74-63.
Both teams had four player in double-digits with Alston leading all scorers with 17 points. The junior also grabbed eight rebounds and six assists in the contest. Delic chipped in 15 points, while Kenny scored 11 points and Bunch connected for 10 points off the bench for the Hawks.
Long Island had three players with 13 points with Scott registering a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. First-team All-NEC guard James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) chipped in 13 points, while Maki-Tulokas scored 13 points and grabbed 7 boards. Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Ontario) scored 12 points for the Blackbirds.
Monmouth moves on to the Northeast Conference tournament semi-finals and a match-up with second-seeded Central Connecticut State on Sunday, tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. in New Britain, Conn.
#5 Robert Morris 67, #4 Mount St. Mary's 66
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Emmitsburg, MD -- Jeremy Chappell's three-pointer with 12.3 seconds left lifted No. 5 seed Robert Morris past No. 4 seed Mount St. Mary's, 67-66, in the opening round of the Northeast Conference Tournament at Knott Arena on Thursday night. The Mount had a chance to tie on the final possession, but Joey Butler's contested shot from just inside the foul line was short, allowing Robert Morris (15-13) to earn the victory.
Mount St. Mary's grabbed a 66-64 lead with 24 seconds left after Kiel Butler converted two free throws. On the ensuing possession, Chappell made a three-pointer from the left wing for the winning shot.
The Mount (13-17) held a 62-59 advantage with 3:06 left before a 5-0 Robert Morris run gave the Colonials a 64-62 edge with 1:27 left. Kiel Butler's jumper with 1:01 on the clock tied the game and the Mount got the ball back with 41 seconds left after Robert Morris guard Derek Coleman's jumper was off the mark.
Leading 34-33 at the half, the Mount used a 9-2 run to open the second half for a 43-35 advantage. The Mount was leading 48-40 before a 10-0 Colonial spurt gave Robert Morris a 50-48 advantage with 9:34 left.
Chappell, the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year, finished with 25 points and eight rebounds while A.J. Jackson chipped in 14 points and Tony Lee 11 points. Coleman added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win.
Kiel Butler led the Mount with a season-high 18 points while junior Gus Durr added 15 points. Junior Mychal Kearse, who sat out the previous two games, chipped in 12 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.
Robert Morris advances to play at top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday, March 5th.
Game Notes: All three meetings between the two teams this year were decided by two points or less...The Mount won both regular season meetings, 60-59 at home and 64-62 on the road...Robert Morris shot 42.6 percent in the game while the Mount hit 44.4 percent...The Colonials were 19-of-22 (.864) at the charity stripe and the Mount was 13-for-20 (.650).