FEDORA

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura, Early-March:

Last week we got our first coronavirus patient. He was in serious condition and was admitted to a special ICU that our hospital had set up and dedicated for use solely for coronavirus patients. Even though it has been limited, community spread of the virus is occurring because two more patients were admitted this week. I was involved in their initial examination and diagnosis. Although there has been a lot of media coverage that has high-lighted the severity of this virus, my personal observation plus the comments from those nurses and doctors who have been treating these patients in our ICU, really has brought home just how bad it is for patients who are the most debilitated by it. Our ER policies have been modified to provide a heightened level of protection for those of us who work there. Because I have children I am not (nor will I) be involved with the ICU.

Whereas many countries have had to close down their societies, that has been avoided in the U.S. even though plans were developed for that should it become necessary. Frederick was concerned that they would shut down the basketball season. While that was discussed, it was avoided when the outbreak didn’t overwhelm our country. But controls were instituted for players and fans.

President Otani is not only the first woman elected as president of the U.S. but also the first Asian-American to be president. Those were huge hurdles to overcome in 2016 in what was a bitter and controversial election. Since then she had been derided for her policies and unable to do much with a splintered population and divided congress. That has made it difficult for her to govern effectively. But, due to her proactive response for this crisis and her creation of a highly skilled group of advisors who have relied on science and medical knowledge to put into play a sound plan of action, her popularity which had previously been low, has now shot up dramatically. Her re-election, which had been in severe jeopardy, is now looking very likely.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun article

DAY 1 AT THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION TOURNEY

#10 seed Delaware FIghtin’ Blue Hens (4-14, 6-23) vs #7 seed Elon Phoenix (8-10, 10-19): Elon controlled the first half, leading by as much as 11 points and ahead 37-33 at the break. But Delaware stormed back in the 2nd half and went on to gain a 68-54 upset win. Reginald Clark scored 19 for Delaware and Adam Sasser had 23 for Elon.

#9 seed Charleston Cougars (6-12, 7-22) vs #8 seed Hofstra Pride (7-11, 9-20): The lead shifted back and forth in the first half with Charleston holding a 35-32 halftime advantage. Hofstra gradually pulled ahead in the 2nd half and edged the Cougars 65-60. Damon Nahra had 14 points to lead the scoring for the Pride while Rashawn Jackson came off the bench to score 12 for Charleston.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun article

DAY 2 AT THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION TOURNEY

#8 seed Hofstra Pride (7-11, 10-20) vs #1 seed NC-Wilmington Seahawks (14-4, 18-11): Hofstra’s defense stymied the Seahawks in the first half. The Pride went ahead by 14 points before settling for a 35-28 halftime advantage. NC-Wilmington figured things out during the break and came out in the 2nd half hitting their shots while keeping the Pride from getting open shots. The Seahawks quickly pulled even and they steadily left Hofstra in the dust. NC-Wilmington scored a resounding 75-61 victory with C Bryan Borman, who has averaged 20.4 ppg, hitting 10 of 13 shots and tossing in 23 points. PG Kenny Rice poured in 20 points for the Pride.

#12 seed Delaware FIghtin’ Blue Hens (4-14, 7-23) vs #2 seed James Madison Dukes (12-6, 15-14): James Madison jumped out to a 16 point lead, but Delaware cut into it late in the first half to close the half trailing 37-28. The Dukes scored the first 4 points of the 2nd half and looked like they were on their way to an easy win. But then Delaware caught fire and began hitting shots from all over the court. James Madison tried to counter that with a tight defense, but only made things worse by repeatedly fouling to give the FIghtin’ Blue Hens some easy points at the line. Delaware caught up with the Dukes late in the game. The Delaware took advantage of James Madison’s Dennis Smith (who scored 23 points) fouling out and Chris Archey (who scored 16 points being saddled with 4 fouls and pulled ahead to score their 2nd straight upset win by a score of 77-74. C Sean Molnar pumped in 25 points for the Fightin’ Blue Hens.

#6 seed Towson Tigers (8-10, 16-14) vs #3 seed William & Mary Tribe (11-7, 16-13): We lost by 8 when playing on their court and we won by 7 when they visited. So while they appear evenly matched, let’s see which team can triumph on a neutral court.

1st half: Towson took a 10-4 lead after 3 minutes of play. PF Jason Vickers came into the game with 15 minutes left in the half and scored 5 points in his first 2 minutes on the court. The Tribe tied the game at 21-21 with 8:48 left in the half. Hitting 46% of their FG’s and 11 of 13 from the foul line, the Tigers go on to take a 43-35 lead to the locker room. PF Matt Settles is Towson’s top scorer with 8 points. William & Mary’s PF Matt Holt matches him with 8 points.

2nd half: PF Craig Smith scored Towson’s first 6 points of the 2nd half to put them ahead 49-37. Even though William & Mary kept trying to close the gap, the Tigers stubbornly held onto a 5-11 point lead. With 40 seconds remaining, the Tigers were ahead by 5. But the Tribe then had to foul and the Tigers converted each time to crank out an 89-76 win.

Towson dominated the boards 40-26. PF Craig Smith tossed in 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while also getting 2 steals and 4 blocks. PG Matt Settles had 16 points, SG Ryan Taylor scored 11, SF Eric Shannon scored 10 while pulling down 9 boards, and SG

Mitchell Evans and PF Jason Vickers both had 10 points coming in off the bench. Leading scorer for William & Mary was Steve Webber with 15 points.

#5 seed Drexel Dragons (10-8, 11-18) vs #4 seed Northeastern Huskies (10-8, 16-13): The game was close for most of the first half, but Northeastern built a 30-24 halftime lead. The Huskies maintained control through the 2nd half to come away with a 67-57 victory. C Marlon Tucker and SG Antonio Augustine both scored 14 points for Northeastern. Drexel didn’t have any players scoring in double figures but had 5 players score 8 points apiece and two others add 7 point each.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun article

SEMIFINALS AT THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION TOURNEY

#4 seed Northeastern Huskies (10-8, 17-13) vs #1 seed NC-Wilmington Seahawks (14-4, 19-11): NC-Wilmington was on top most of the first half and went to the break with a 37-32 lead. They opened the 2nd half with a long run that gave them a 20 point lead. But Northeastern then began to eat away at that lead, but didn’t have enough time and lost to the Seahawks 77-70. C Bryan Borman hit for 28 points plus hauled down 8 rebounds for the Seahawks. SF Ronnie Henry scored 23 points for the Huskies.

#6 seed Towson Tigers (8-10, 17-14) vs #12 seed Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (4-14, 8-23): Delaware had a horrible season and conference record, but beat the Tigers by 5 at home and lost to the Tigers by 8 when playing at Towson. And the Fightin’ Blue Hens have been fighting in the tournament, scoring 2 big upsets. Towson has won 5 of their last 7 games.

1st Half: Towson fell behind 11-4 and had both C Melvin Steele and PG Matt Settles saddled with 2 fouls apiece within the first 4 minutes. The Tigers fought back and tied the game at 21-21 midway through the half. Delaware’s offense was on fire though. They hit 56% of their FG attempts, 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, and 16 of 19 at the free throw line. Towson hit 52% of their FG attempts but found themselves trailing 52-46 at the break. PG Matt Settles scored 11 points for Towson but had 3 fouls on him. Delaware’s SG Damon Cabrera also had 11 points.

2nd Half: Delaware continued to score freely but with 10 minutes to go, Towson had narrowed the gap to 77-75. With 9 minutes remaining the Tigers finally edged ahead 80-79. With 4-1/2 minutes remaining Towson, which by then was sinking 59% of their shots and 54% of its 3’s, had pulled away to a 92-82 advantage. The Tigers went on to win an offensive battle 101-91.

Towson outshot Delaware 58% to 49% and hit 15 of 29 from beyond the arc.

PG Matt Settles scored 22 and had 6 assists. SG Ryan Taylor popped in 19 points. PF Jason Vickers had a second straight strong game with 11 points and C Melvin Steele added 10. Top scorer for Delaware was Damon Cabrera who scored 17 points.

“Delaware was so hot. They were shredding our defense. No matter what we tried, we couldn’t stop them. But our guys never gave up and finally just got hotter than the Fightin’ Blue Hens. It was a darned exciting game, and certainly one I’m happy we pulled out,” said Coach Frederick Aura.

[PointGuard]

Baltimore Sun article

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AT THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION TOURNEY

#6 seed Towson Tigers (8-10, 18-14) vs #1 seed NC-Wilmington Seahawks (14-4, 20-11): Before the game, Coach Frederick Aura said, “We're really excited to be in the championship game. Given how our season went, it’s a surprise to most everyone that we are. But going up against NC-Wilmington is a huge challenge. They’ve shown throughout the season that they are an exceptionally good team and have been the class of the conference. Not only that but the clobbered us in both games we played against them this season.”

The Seahawks beat the Tigers by 20 and 14 points in their two contests. NC-Wilmington has 4 players averaging in double figures, led by C Bryan Borman’s 20.6 ppg. Borman has scored 20+ points in 16 games and has been held to less that 10 points in just 2 games this season.

Game Results:

1st Half: Towson took an early 11-3 lead and stayed in front the entire rest of the first half. The score at the break was 35-33 in favor of the Tigers. C Melvin Steele had 10 for Towson. NC-Wilmington’s C Bryan Borman scored 12.

2nd Half: Both teams battled it out throughout much of the 2nd half with the lead shifting back and forth and neither team being able to pull away. With 6 minutes left the teams were tied at 55-55. But NC-Wilmington then asserted dominance and gradually pulled away to achieve a 73-66 win over Towson. The difference in this game was turnovers with Towson making 27 while the Seahawks had 18.

For Towson PF Craig Smith had 13 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks for the Tigers and C Melvin Steele finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, a steal and 4 blocks while SG Mitchell Evans added 10. NC-WIlmington was led by C Bryan Borman who scored 20 points, pulled down 8 boards, and had 4 steals and 2 blocks.

“NC-Wilmington was every bit as strong as we figured they would be. We played a helluva game but fell apart in the final few minutes. We came up 7 points short of making the NCAA tourney. But NC-Wilmington played well all season so they deserve going,” said Coach Frederick Aura. He added, “Gotta give some credit to the officiating crew. It was a physical battle out there, but the refs called few fouls and didn’t take the game away from the players as some other refs may have.”

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura, Early April

Based on the findings in countries with extensive coronavirus infection, we know that older adults, particularly those with other complications, are more seriously affected by what is now called COVID-19. Because of this, President Otani announced that nursing homes and long-term care facilities have been undergoing extensive testing to avoid what could be devastation amongst their patients. Thus far this has worked and prevented staggering death totals that are affecting some other countries. People continue to experience infections here but these have been controlled due to extensive testing and contact-tracing. Our hospital has been able to avoid being swamped, and due to the pre-planning, our physical resources and available medical staff have been able to handle this.

Meanwhile, the world death toll has been rapidly and steadily increasing. The virus has completely devastated both the populations and economies of many countries. President Otani’s coronavirus task force provides regular briefings and dissemination of information and guidance which is keeping our population not only informed and proactive, but also has begun re-uniting segments of our population that in the past were in diametrical opposition to one another. The two branches of Congress which are controlled by different parties have developed ways to work toward common goals which many of us thought was no longer possible.

Our hospital continues to get some coronavirus patients and there have been at least two patients who have died at our hospital due to the disease. A friend who works in the ICU has told me how draining physically and emotionally it is for their staff to effectively respond to the dire conditions of some of the patients. Intubations are necessary for those sicker with the disease and no one wishes that on anyone.

The director and two department heads at a nearby nursing home have been fired due to their facilities failing to meet the strict federal and state measures that were instituted to keep prevent contagion and keep it from spreading should it occur. Their replacements have quickly stepped in to harness what could have been a terrible outbreak.

The government has been cracking down on fraud and exorbitant profiteering by individuals and companies who have sought to take advantage of people who have been scared by this virus. There also have been a number of charlatans who have been making false claims about drugs that they have alleged (without scientific proof) that can prevent or treat the virus.

[PointGuard]

TOWSON TIGERS PLAYER STATS LEADERS, 2019-2020 SEASON


PPG: Craig Smith-11.8; Melvin Steele-9.1; Matt Settles-8.7; Ryan Taylor-8.6; Eric Shannon-8.2; Mitchell Evans-7.6; Billy Thomas-6.5; Ryan Holmes-6.0; Nick McPherson-4.9; Jason Vickers-4.5; Jason Minor-4.3

RPG: Craig Smith-7.2; Melvin Steele-5.1; Nick McPherson-3.7; Erick Shannon-3.4; Billy Thomas-3.0; Mitchell Evans-2.9; Matt Settles-2.7; Ryan Holmes-2.4; Jason Minor-2.4

APG: Matt Settles-4.1; Ryan Holmes-3.2; Billy Thomas-2.5; Mitchell Evans-1.5, Melvin Steele-1.4; Ryan Taylor-1.3; Eric Shannon-1.2; Craig Smith-1.2; Nick McPherson-1.2

[PointGuard]

Michael Snoddy, 2nd Assistant Coach:

It’s not surprising, but the only team in the Colonial Athletic Association to make it into a post-season tournament was the NC-Wilmington, the conference champ. We had the most wins this season (18) of any other team. But we figured there was no way to get into a tournament based on our 6th place finish in the conference and our poor RPI (237th best in the country) even though we won 6 of our final 9 games and made it to the conference championship game. So…we get to spend the next few weeks watching tournament games on TV.

NC-Wilmington is the #13 seed in the West Regional and will go up against #4 seed Arizona. The Seahawks are going to need a lot of good luck in that one.

[PointGuard]

NCAA Tournament

#13 seed NC-Wilmington Seahawks vs #4 seed, 8th ranked Arizona Wildcats: Close for 3 minutes but then Arizona began to pull away. By the end of the half the Seahawks trailed 37-25. The Wildcats wasted no time asserting their total dominance in the 2nd half and made the game a wipe-out. Arizona led by as much as 34 points before winning by a final score of 93-64. If it hadn’t been for NC-Wilmington’s C Bryan Borman’s 27 points and 7 rebounds, the rout would have been ever greater.

Post-Season Championships:

NCAA Championship: Virginia-85, Maryland-77
NIT Championship: Cincinnati-79, Georgetown-68
CBI Championship: Wright State-73, South Carolina-71
CIT Championship: Creighton-76, Ball State-68

[PointGuard]

Omar McDade:

We have five seniors graduating:

PF Craig Smith—Craig will be tough to replace. Not only was he our leading scorer (11.8 ppg) and rebounder (7.2 rpg) but he was our on-court leader.
PG Matt Settles—While Matt was our primary starter at PG, he also played at SF in all our games and also filled in occasionally at SG. He averaged 8.7 ppg, 4.1 apg, and 2.7 rpg.
SG Michael Evans—Michael averaged 7.6 ppg and hit 44% of his FG attempts and 39% of his 3’s. He also occasionally filled in at PG.
PG Ryan Holmes—Ryan was a solid point guard who averaged 6.0 ppg, 3.2 apg, and 2.4 rpg.
C Mike Edwards— As a walk-on Mike only got into a few games for short periods, but his regular participation in our practices helped us prepare for our upcoming opponents.

Taking their places will be our 4 recruits:

SF Keiron Stone—6’7”, averaged 13.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.8 bpg, and 3.0 spg at Kent Island HS in Stevensville, MD. Good inside scorer, good passer, and strong rebounder, quick hands allow him to get a lot of steals. Posted up at times in HS, so we’re hoping he also can play PF for us. 196th ranked recruit in the nation.
SF Wayne Burrough—6’8”, averaged 14.8 ppg, 1.3 apg, 7.9 rpg, and 1.5 spg in his senior year at Kane Area HS in Kane, PA. Good scorer with excellent outside and good inside shooting abilities and an excellent rebounder. 220th ranked recruit nationally.
PG Adrian Brown—6’0”, averaged 16.9 ppg, 4.9 apg, 4.3 rpg, 2.0 bpg, and 2.7 spg in his second season at Noble CC in Noble, OK. Hard worker, good scorer who has an excellent eye from outside. We hope he can step right in as a starter for us. 253rd ranked recruit within the country.
PG Mateen Carroll—6’1”, averaged 12.1 ppg, 5.7 apg, 4.3 rpg, and 3.2 spg at Francis Scott Key CC in Union Bridge, MD. Very good outside shooting skills, likes to step out to take 3’s, excellent passer and good ball handling skills, very good at stealing the ball, hard worker who has few injuries. 1089th best recruit in the nation.

I’m pretty sure Adrian will step right in and contribute, most likely as a starter. Mateen should also be ready to go, although maybe not as a starter. We’ll have to see how ready Keiron and Wayne are, but they’ve been good in HS and I’m positive about both of them.