Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[PointGuard]

Game #25: Feb. 18, 2018; Boston Terriers (8-16, 5-9) at New Hampshire Wildcats (11-13, 7-6)

We played badly and lost badly in our earlier game at Boston.

Boston scored the first 9 points of the game. We gradually closed to within 2 points, but the combination of Boston’s hot shooting (58%) and rebounding (23 to 9 advantage), put us down by a score of 39-26 at the half. Nate Augustus was our high scorer with 6 points.

We continued to let them score at will in the 2nd half. Nothing we did defensively worked. Boston opened an 18 point lead midway through the half. We tried to comeback very late in the game and cut their lead to 2 before fouls and a couple good shots by Boston cemented their win.

Final Score: Boston-78, New Hampshire-69. New Hampshire season record: 11-14; American East record: 7-7 (3rd place).

Scoring leaders: Kamara-14, Augustus-13, Beck-10, Hall-9, Faust-8.

Rebound leaders: Kamara-6, Hall-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-6, Jeppson-4, Kamara-3.

Player of the Game: Boston’s SF Damien Stephans-13 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Nate Augustus-13 pts, 3 reb, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: Boston canned 55% of their shots (to our 43%). The Terriers also hit 68% of their 3’s. They out-rebounded us 34-23. Our 17-12 advantage in turnovers was not enough to turn the tide. Boston’s C LeRoy Qualls recorded a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds).

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Game #26: Feb. 22, 2018; New Hampshire Wildcats (11-14, 7-7) at Stony Brook Sea Wolves (9-16, 5-9)

We beat Stony Brook by 22 when they journeyed to our home court. But the Sea Wolves have played well in their past 4 games. Even though they’ve split the 4 games, they very nearly won both games they eventually lost. John Bains continues to score well (17.0 ppg).

We turned the ball over on 5 of our first 7 possessions. We built a 8 point lead as we shot extremely well. But then our defense went south again and Stony Brook came back and overtook us. We ended the half trailing 40-37. We hit 63% of our shots, but let Stony Brook hit 58% of theirs. We held a 12-5 rebounding advantage but had 10 turnovers while the Sea Wolves only turned the ball over 3 times. Nate Augustus scored 8 points to lead our scoring.

Our defense was non-existent in the 2nd half and Stony Brook pulled away for an easy win.

Final Score: Stony Brook-79, New Hampshire-66. New Hampshire season record: 11-15; American East record: 7-8 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Faust-14, L. Smith-11, Beck-10, Augustus-8.

Rebound leaders: Beck-9, Hall-8.

Assist leaders: Augustus-5.

Player of the Game: Stony Brook’s SG Lamont Chase-19 pts, 4 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Adrian Beck-10 pts, 9 reb.

Other notes: We let Stony Brook hit 55% of their shots plus the Sea Wolves had a 14-6 turnover advantage.

[PointGuard]

Game #27: Feb. 25, 2018; UMBC Retrievers (14-12, 6-9) at New Hampshire Wildcats (11-15, 7-8)

The Retrievers are led by J.B. Rancik who is scoring 17.5 ppg. We edged UMBC by 4 points when we played them earlier this year on their court. We need to get back on track after losing our last 3 games.

We held the lead throughout the entire 1st half by playing rock solid defense early in the half and then jump-starting our offense in the last part of the half to open a 14 point lead. We finished the half with a 39-28 advantage. We hit 47% of our shots while holding UMBC’s shooting to 35%. Luis Smith was on fire throughout the half, finishing with 17 points.

We opened a 26 point lead, then held off the Retrievers while playing our bench extensively.

Final Score: New Hampshire-74, UMBC-55. New Hampshire season record: 12-15; American East record: 8-8 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: L. Smith-19, Faust-14, Augustus-9, Kamara-8.

Rebound leaders: L. Smith-7, Kamara-5, Beck-5.

Assist leaders: Kamara-5.

Player of the Game: PF Luis Smith-19 pts, 7 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Chris Faust-14 pts, 2 reb, 2 steals.

Other notes: We dropped in 45% of our shots and UMBC only hit 34% of theirs. We held a 13-7 turnover advantage.

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We tied for 3rd place in the conference.

After two early losses in conference play, Albany came on strong to run away with the title.

[PointGuard]

UMBC (14-13, 6-10) vs Stony Brook (10-17, 6-10)—[Both teams came out gunning but Stony Brook too a 41-38 lead to the locker room. They then expanded their lead to as much as 15 in the 2nd half. Stony Brook hit 52% of their shots and UMBC put in 50% of theirs. Stony Brook also popped in 52% of their 3’s (16 of 31). John Bains hit 9 of 12 from 3 point land and finished with 34 points for Stony Brook. Lamont Chase had a double-double for Stony Brook (15 points and 10 rebounds). J.B. Rancik scored 21 for UMBC and Steve Kincade recorded a double-double for UMBC (11 points and 12 rebounds). Final Score: Stony Brook-86, UMBC-76.]

[PointGuard]

Stony Brook (11-17, 6-10) vs Albany (19-8, 13-3)—[Albany jumped out on top and never looked back. At the half they held a 37-23 lead and expanded their lead to as much as 21 in the 2nd half. Albany hit 50% of their shots from the field while holding Stony Brook to 32% shooting. They also held a 36-25 rebounding advantage. Jerome Drakeford scored 23 for Albany. Lamont Chase led Stony Brook with 12 points. Final Score: Albany-70, Stony Brook-51.]

Boston (10-17, 7-9) vs Binghampton (17-10, 10-6)—[Binghamton scored first and never relinquished the lead. At the half, they led 42-27 and coasted home in the 2nd half. Binghamton connected on 53% of their shots and Boston hit 50% of theirs, but Binghamton out-rebounded Boston 31-22 and held a 14-9 turnover advantage. Jared Jensen scored 20 points for Binghamton and LeRoy Qualls had 16 for Boston. Final Score: Binghamton-83, Boston-73.]

Maine (12-15, 7-9) vs Hartford (14-13, 8-8)—[Hartford held a lead throughout the entire game. At the half they had a 38-31 advantage. Hartford hit 54% of their FG attempts while Maine hit 42% of theirs. Casey McMahon held high point honors for Hartford with 17 points. Matt Fields’ 10 points were tops for Maine. Final Score: Hartford-68, Maine-59.]

Game #28: Mar. 2, 2018; Vermont Catamounts (11-16, 7-9) vs New Hampshire Wildcats (12-15, 8-8)

We split the series with Vermont, winning by 7 at home and losing by 12 away. In our loss, we let them shoot too well (53%) and let 5 of their players score in double figures. But the stats for both games show just how evenly matched we were. We will need to pull together to get over this hurdle.

PF Ben Clagget scored Vermont’s first 10 points giving them a 10-6 lead four minutes into the game. He’d also drawn 3 fouls, 2 of which were against Luis Smith putting him on our bench. With 13:14 left in the half, he had drawn 5 fouls and Chris Babul was added to our bench with 2 fouls against him. We clawed our way back into the game even though the refs were piling up fouls against us. With 6-1/2 minutes left in the half, we took our first lead at 19-17. We hit 50% of our shots and held the Catamounts to 42% shooting, but the refs awarded 8 more free throws to Vermont on which they scored 6 more points on free throws that did we. We escaped with a 36-33 halftime advantage. Chris Faust came into the game from the bench and led our scoring with 13 big points.

In the 2nd half, the refs continued to whistle us for merely being on the court and we had sent our 3 best big men (Luis Smith, Adrian Beck, and Chris Babul) to the bench with 3 fouls apiece by the 17:16 mark. Vermont’s Ben Clagget has scored 13 of his 19 points from the foul line at that point. We overcame the refs help of the Catamounts by shooting the lights out. We opened a 15 point lead late in the game, and then hung on to the end.

Final Score: New Hampshire-81, Vermont-75. New Hampshire season record: 13-15.

Scoring leaders: Faust-25, Augustus-12, Jeppson-10, Beck-9, Hall-8.

Rebound leaders: Beck-9, Hall-6.

Assist leaders: Augustus-7, Jeppson-4, Kamara-3.

Player of the Game: SG Chris Faust-25 pts, 4 reb, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Adrian Beck-9 pts, 9 reb, 1 assist, 4 blocks.

Other notes: The refs gave Vermont 18 more trips to the line than we got, and they scored 18 more points from the free throw line. Fortunately we were on fire from the field, hitting 57% (including 50% of our 3’s).

After the game, Edvin Jeppson’s back began experiencing severe back spasms, so he’s likely to miss the rest of the tournament.

[PointGuard]

Hartford (15-13, 8-8) vs Binghamton (18-10, 10-6)—[Binghamton pulled away early in the 1st half opening a 17 point lead and closing the half out with a 37-24 advantage. Hartford turned things around in the 2nd half, but wasn’t able to overcome a 10-point difference in scoring at the free throw line. Jamal Watson scored 14 points for Binghamton and David Hoiberg added 12 points plus 11 rebounds. Casey McMahan was Hartford’s top scorer with 13 points. Final Score: Bighamton-63, Hartford-58.]

Game #29: Mar. 3, 2018; New Hampshire Wildcats (13-15, 8-8) vs Albany Great Danes (20-8, 13-3)

We take on the Big Dogs…err Great Danes…of the America East. In our first conference game this year, we beat them by 28 points at home. We lost to them on their court, but only by 4 points. But Albany definitely has been the most consistent, as well as strongest, team in the America East this year. They presently are on a 5-game win streak. They have 3 players averaging in double figures, Brandon Dickenman with 12.0 ppg, Todd Holbrook with 12.0 ppg, and Jerome Drakeford who’s averaging 11.7 ppg.

We gamely hung with the Great Danes in the 1st half as both teams shot very well. Again our opponents were sent to the line by the refs. The first foul AGAINST Albany wasn’t called until 14 minutes had been played. By that time 8 had been called against us. Albany drew away at the end of the half, so we trailed 46-38 at the half. William Kamara had 11 points for us and Nate Augustus added 10.

We simply could not overcome the Great Danes in the 2nd half, and our season ended.

Final Score: Albany-78, New Hampshire-68. New Hampshire season record: 13-16.

Scoring leaders: Augustus-20, Kamara-19, L. Smith-8.

Rebound leaders: L. Smith-5, Beck-5.

Assist leaders: Augustus-6, Kamara-3.

Player of the Game: Albany’s PG Todd Holbrook-15 pts, 5 reb, 6 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Nate Augustus-20 pts, 2 reb, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: We were outshot by Albandy 48% to 43%. The Great Danes got 9 more free throw attempts (on which they scored 9 more points) than we did. Albany completely dominated the boards, 49-24. The only aspect of the game in which we had an advantage was turnovers where we made 7 and Albany committed 16.

[PointGuard]

Binghamton (19-10, 10-6) vs Albany (21-8, 13-3)—[The first half went back-and-forth with Binghamton finishing with a 33-32 lead. But Albany clamped down defensively in the 2nd half and steadily pulled away. They outshot Binghamton 46% to 37% and hit 44% of their 3’s. Albany out-rebounded Binghamton 36-28. Danny Rawlings came off the bench to lead Albany’s scoring with 20 points. The leading scorer for Binghamton was also a bench player, Broderick Benton, with 12 points. Final Score: Albany-72, Binghamton-55.]

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