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

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America East Conference Tournament—Day 2

UMBC Retrievers (15-13, 8-8) vs #10 Albany Great Danes (27-1, 15-1)—[UMBC was the only team to beat Albany all year. Albany pulled away early in the 1st half and led 37-28 at the half. They expanded their lead to 18 points in the 2nd half, before UMBC closed the gap a little. Albany knocked down 48% of their shots while UMBC hit just 37% of theirs. Todd Holbrook led Albany’s scoring with 21 points. Sean Smith scored 26 p9oints for UMBC. Final Score: Albany-74, UMBC-62.



Game #29: Mar. 3, 2019; Vermont Catamounts (9-19, 6-10) vs New Hampshire Wildcats (20-8, 12-4)

We beat Vermont by 32 and 14 points in our previous meetings. Myron Degala is Vermont’s leading scorer with a 10.2 ppg average.

Vermont scored 12 of their first 15 points inside and took a 15-12 lead. We then went on a scoring tear and opened a 19 point lead. We finished the first half with a 45-31 lead. We hit 64% of our shots. The quick pace caused us to make 8 turnovers but also forced the Catamounts to make 13. Bobby Havens scored 11 points and Vernard Strickland added 10 for us.

Although we cooled a little, we still continued to shoot well in the 2nd half and out lead ballooned to 26 points.

Final Score: New Hampshire-79, Vermont-55. New Hampshire season record: 21-8; American East record: 12-4.

Scoring leaders: Strickland-18, Havens-15, L. Smith-15, Augustus-11.

Rebound leaders: L. Smith-10, Kresse-5.

Assist leaders: Strickland-4.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-15 pts, 2 reb, 2 asssists, 5 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Luis Smith-15 pts, 10 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal.

Other notes: We hit 53% of our FG attempts. Vermont hit 44% of their shots. We out-rebounded the Catamounts 33-27. We forced Vermont to turn the ball over 22 times while making 13 ourselves.

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Game #30: Mar. 4, 2019; New Hampshire Wildcats (21-8, 12-4) vs #10 Albany Great Danes (28-1, 15-1)

So far Albany has had our number, but we need to win this game to get into the NCAA Tournament. Albany is a lock to be selected for the Big Dance no matter the outcome of this game. Their PG Todd Holbrook (16.0 ppg) has a strained calf and if he plays, his time on the court is likely to be limited. That means we’ll focus our defensive efforts on controlling their center Brandon Dickenman (12.1 ppg).

We held a small lead throughout the first half but weren’t able to draw away from Albany. We held their shooting to 30% but only hit 36% of our shots. We controlled the boards 24-15. The half finished with a 30-23 lead for us. Bobby Havens led our scoring with 11 points.

It took us almost 5 minutes to find the basket and Albany had narrowed our lead to just 2 points by that point. We re-established a 7 point lead and at the 4:02 mark we led 50-44. We tightened our defense and didn’t allow the Great Danes to close the gap.

We did it! We beat Albany (finally), are America East Champs, and are going to the NCAA Tourny.

Final Score: New Hampshire-57, Albany-46. New Hampshire season record: 22-8; American East record: 12-4.

Scoring leaders: Havens-19, Strickland-11, L. Smith-9.

Rebound leaders: Kresse-12, L. Smith-7, Beck-5, Strickland-5.

Assist leaders: Three players with 2 each.

Player of the Game: SG Bobby Havens-19 pts, 2 reb, 2 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Luis Smith-9 pts, 7 reb.

Other notes: Defense dominated making this seem to be an ugly game. We hit just 37% of our shots and held Albany’s shooting to 30%. We controlled the boards 42-35 and forced Albany to turn the ball over 18 times while we had just 13 turnovers.

This led to a big celebration in Durham, NH since it meant we were going to the NCAA Tournament.

Bobby Havens (23.8 ppg) is the 4th highest scorer in Division 1 this year.

Our RPI is 33rd highest in the nation.

Albany is ranked #10 in the Media Poll and #12 in the Coaches Poll.

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Here's the final player stats for the 2018-2019 season:

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Here's the final team stats for the 2018-2019 season:

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Here's the final Top 10 in the Media Poll for the 2018-2019 season:

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#1 Seeds: Duke, North Carolina, Georgetown, Utah

We were selected as the #13 seed in the Seattle Regional and will play #4 seed Arizona

Albany is a #5 Seed in the Charlotte Regional and will play the #12 seed University of Washington

CSU Bakersfield is a #16 seed in the Kansas City Regional and will play #1 seed North Carolina

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Round 1:

16th seed CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (19-11) vs 1st seed #2 North Carolina Tar Heels (25-4) —[North Carolina scored first and never looked back making this an ugly game for Roadrunners’ fans. CSU Bakersfield trailed 48-26 at the half and the 2nd half wasn’t much better. North Carolina hit 56% of their shots while the Roadrunners could only manage to can 33% of theirs. Ron Takaki led North Carolina with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Brandon Vining came off the bench to lead CSU Bakersfield’s scoring with 10 points. Final Score: North Carolina-78, CSU Bakersfield-47. ]

12th seed Washington Huskies (17-12) vs 5th seed #10 Albany Great Danes (28-2) —[Washington came out and took a 17 point lead during the first half with the half ending with Albany trailing 42-30. Albany chipped away at Washington’s lead in the 2nd half but wasn’t able to overcome the Huskies. Most team stats were pretty similar but the key difference was that Albany had 25 turnovers (as compared to Washington’s 16) and Washington made them pay for those miscues. Matt Williams led Washington’s scoring with 18 points. Albany’s Paul Kirkland had 15 points. Final Score: Washington-75, Albany-67. ]


Game #30: Mar. 17, 2019; 13th seed New Hampshire Wildcats (22-8) vs 4th seed #18 Arizona (22-7)

Arizona’s SG Will Slay has slayed many an opponent and averages 22.2 ppg. The crowd for this opening game is the biggest our kids have ever encountered. Hopefully that doesn’t disconcert them.

We hit 6 of our first 7 shots and add 3 free throws to take an 17-8 lead six minutes into the game. From that point we had extreme difficulty making our shots. In the last part of the 1st half, Arizona got extremely hot and zipped past us. By the end of the half, we trailed 43-31. Arizona’s shot 58% from the field, while our shooting deteriorated to 35% for the half. We were able to dominate the boards though, 20-11. Bobby Havens led our scoring with 10 points, but Arizona had two players scoring in double figures: Byron Cobb (13) and Alvin Hall (11).

After falling behind by 18 points early in the 2nd half as our shooting woes continued, we pulled within 7 with 4-1/2 minutes to play. But Arizona refused to fold.

Final Score: Arizona-76, New Hampshire-63. New Hampshire season record: 22-9.

Scoring leaders: Havens-17, Beck-14, Kresse-12, Strickland-10.

Rebound leaders: Beck-11, Kresse-7, Havens-6.

Assist leaders: Strickland-6.

Player of the Game: Arizona’s SF Byron Cobb-25 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Adrian Beck-14 pts, 11 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We were only able to hit 37% of our shots while Arizona hit 47% of theirs. We had a 36-30 rebounding advantage. And if it weren’t for Arizona getting 13 more trips to the foul line where they made 10 more points than us, the game would have been very close. I was proud of how our players played against a very strong Pac-12 team.

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4th seed Wyoming-87, 7th seed Delaware-82

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1st seed Central Florida-70, 5th seed Dartmouth-63

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1st seed #1 Duke-75, 1st seed #2 North Carolina-71

2nd seed #7 Syracuse-62, 8th seed Charlotte-55