Arcadia falls at home to Wilkes this afternoon, 75-71, despite 20 points from Lynam. The Knights battled foul trouble all game and were outscored 23-10 from the foul line. In the second half alone, the Colonels shot 23 free throws to just 9 attempts for Arcadia. The Knights' lack of depth showed, with four starters logging 31 minutes or more.

Stevens falls to 4-4 after a road loss to a good Union team. The Ducks looked lethargic in yielding 44 second half points. For the game, Stevens was outscored 50-20 in the paint. A road game on Sunday at Scranton is all that is left before the holiday break.

Hurley's team will need to find some kind of defensive identity prior to conference play. His previous squads have thrived on the defensive end, typically yielding an average of 64-65 points per contest over the last decade or so. In the last five games, Ducks' opponents have averaged 79 points.

Two of the league's top teams lost in Reading, PA yesterday, making it more unlikely that the MACF will earn an at-large bid this season.

Arcadia shot just 6-31 from deep in a loss at Alvernia, giving up 19 fast break points in a game in which they trailed by just 3 at halftime. A 10-2 Alvernia run to open the second half extended the lead to 39-28 and the Knights never got closer than five. For the game, Arcadia shot just 21-70 from the field and missed nine free throws.

Four miles north of there, Stevens lost to Albright. The Ducks trailed by six at half but took a 64-57 lead with 6:52 to play. From that point on, Albright outscored Stevens 22-10. The Ducks' starting guards were 2-15 on three point attempts and the Ducks coughed it up 17 times, leading to 24 points off turnovers for Albright.

Early December update:

Only three MACF teams have winning records to date and all three faced off with opponents from the Centennial Conference on Wednesday night.

Misericordia (5-1) picked up an impressive road win at Swarthmore, keyed by a 9-2 run in the middle of the second half that pushed their lead to 59-50. The Cougars held Swat to just 39% shooting on the night and placed four players in double figures, lead by Matt Prociak with 17 and Jack Gallagher with 16.

In Hoboken, Stevens (4-2) jumped out to a quick 19-point lead over a very good Franklin & Marshall squad on the strength of seven made 3's in the first 11:30. The lead dwindled to 10 at half as the Diplomats tightened up things on the defensive end. The Ducks' failure to rebound effectively in the second half proved costly in an overtime loss in which F&M recorded 25 second chance points.

Arcadia (5-2) cruised to an easy home victory over a Haverford team that is likely to finish in the bottom half of the CC. Jamison Lynam had 21 points on 9-15 from the field.

Coming up:

The Knights have two good tests before the break, traveling to Alvernia this weekend and hosting Wilkes on 12/14.

The Ducks will test their mettle on the road at Albright (12/6), Union (12/10), and Scranton (12/14).

The Cougars have a pair of cupcakes before going to Randolph-Macon (12/29) and Hood (1/3).

Next up: Lebanon Valley

The Dutchmen do not have a single out-of-conference opponent that finished in the top 100 of NPI last year. Their toughest game may be at home against Albright College on December 3. They also travel to Stevenson on November 11 and Muhlenberg (PA) on December 6.

Half of the MAC Freedom schedules have been posted. First up - Arcadia.

The Knights have four out-of-conference opponents who finished among the top 80 in NPI last year and three of those games happen during an eight-day stretch in November.

On November 12, they'll host Gwynedd Mercy. On November 14, they will travel to Chester, PA to face Washington & Jefferson on the first day of the Widener tournament. Five days later, on November 19, they will play at York (PA). The other top 80 opponent is Wilkes, which will travel to Glenside on December 14, in the final game for the Knights before the two-week break.

Stretch4's post nailed the key points, as usual. I love his insights.

For all the talk of Redding's offense (which deserves every bit of credit), the key to DelVal's late season run was its team defense. In their last eight games, only one opponent shot better than 40% from the field. Stevens led the league in three-pointers per game and 3PT% for the season. Entering the title game, the Ducks were 15-0 when holding opponents to 64 or fewer points but could not overcome such poor shooting yesterday. Their starting guards, who shoot 40% from distance, were just 4 for 20. Despite that, they had a clean look to win the game and the ball didn't bounce their way.

I would have liked to see Stevens' best defensive unit on the floor together a whole lot more. By my count, they had seven defensive possessions as a group - one in the first half and six in the final 3:30. Here is what DelVal did against them:

Turnover
Turnover
Missed layup
Turnover
Turnover
Breakaway dunk
Game-winner

For the game, that group outscored DelVal 10-4 in five minutes. It is not clear to me why they did not get more time as a unit. Redding had no 3's and no FT's against them.

Congratulations to Coach Kaba, who ought to be coach of the year based on his team's performance. DelVal hosts Misericordia on Wednesday night in what should be a fantastic semifinal. Arcadia heads to Hoboken to face Stevens in the other semi.

Redding had a great game. Really fun to watch and certainly among the top 10 players in the league this year. He can light it up.

Your observation provides more evidence of why the deep reserves should not have been on the floor. When they were, Redding scored 24 points in less than 16 minutes. The freshman and sophomore from Stevens could simply not stay with him.

When some combination of the top 7 for Stevens were defending, with Goodall handling much of the assignment vs Redding, he was limited to less than one point per minute (23 in 24+). Still blazing but a significant drop from what he produced against the younger, shorter guards. A review of the game tape shows he got very little against Goodall.

What happened to Stevens?

In last night's game, the coaching staff inexplicably went way down the bench on two occasions (once each half) that turned out to be very costly. In those 8 and a half minutes of the game, with deep reserves getting time in a key contest, they were outscored 19-3. Details below.

Having built a 19-10 lead thanks to a 10-0 run, Stevens' staff inserted a first-year guard who entered the game with 18 turnovers in 63 minutes of playing time. They could have reinserted fifth-year starter Mike Goodall, who had been subbed out a couple of minutes before that. In just two minutes of playing time, the first-year guard turned it over and missed a 3, and suddenly it was 19-16 and the momentum had swung. He did not play again.

In the second half, the Ducks led 51-48 after a 12-2 run. Here, they opted to insert lightly used Loscalzo (instead of Leming) and even more lightly used Scott (instead of Coughlan) at the 13:06 mark.

In two and a half minutes of playing time, Scott committed two fouls, the Ducks turned it over three times, and they lost the lead because of a 5-0 run before sending Leming in to replace Scott. Notably, fifth-year starter Mike Goodall continued to sit while the run grew to 11-3, leaving the Ducks down 5 before he entered again.

Another two minutes passed without a Ducks point as Coughlan remained on the bench. He finally re-entered the game with the Ducks down 7 and less than seven minutes remaining. It was his first action of the second half, a stretch in which Stevens scored just 19 points in more than 13 minutes.

All told, in the 8 and a half minutes in which some combination of the 8th, 9th and 10th best guys were on the floor, the Ducks were outscored 19-3. In the other 31.5 minutes of the game, the Ducks outscored DelVal 69-59. Both the offense and the defense suffered considerably when Stevens went deep down its bench.

As postseason looms, I suspect they will shorten the bench, play guys who will not turn the ball over and take bad shots, and use their timeouts occasionally if one of the regulars needs a breather.

Arcadia and Stevens both lost last night. With the Knights' loss, the Ducks backed into clinching first place and will host one semifinal next Wednesday. There is now a four-way tie for second with Arcadia, Misericordia, DeSales and DelVal sitting at 7-6.

Arcadia has clinched a bid (although the MAC website does not yet indicate that). The Knights control their destiny for second place. A win at LebVal on Saturday secures home court for the semifinal. Beyond that, it is absolute chaos. I have tried to make sense of the tiebreakers. See below...

If Saturday's winners are...final seeding would be...

Arcadia, DeSales and Mis... (2) Arcadia; (3) DeSales; (4) Mis
Arcadia, DeSales and Kings... (2) Arcadia; (3) DeSales; (4) DelVal
Arcadia, DelVal and Mis... (2) Arcadia; (3) DelVal; (4) Mis
Arcadia, DelVal and Kings... (2) Arcadia; (3) DelVal; (4) DeSales
LebVal, DeSales and Mis... (2) DeSales, (3) Mis, (4) Arcadia
LebVal, DeSales and Kings... (2) DeSales; (3) Arcadia; (4) King's
LebVal, DelVal and Mis...(2) DelVal; (3) Mis; (4) Arcadia
LebVal, DelVal and Kings... (2) DelVal; (3) Arcadia; (4) King's


 

It appears to me that if DeSales wins at DelVal (and therefore sweeps the season series), it will own a tiebreaker over Misericordia (which split with DelVal this season) and earn the 3 seed, which probably means a trip to Arcadia a week from today.

That would have Mis heading to Stevens for the other semi-final.

So rare to see any publicity about one of the best leagues in D3.

If four teams make it, that might be as many as the CCIW and WIAC combined, depending on what Stevens Point does the rest of the way.

In any case, five of the top 63 teams play in this league. Strong games every week.

Home teams won both key games last night, leaving the Ducks at 8-3 and two games ahead of four teams at 6-5. Now riding a three-game losing streak, the Ducks visit King's on Saturday. A win there and they will still be in great shape for the top seed in the conference tournament given that their final game is at home against last place FDU-Florham.

Spellman and Maddison have seen their production tail off in the last three games, shooting a combined 36% from the field and contributing an average of just 17 points a game, down from 27 a game prior to this stretch. The big man has battled foul trouble that is limiting his minutes. The talented guard is logging considerable minutes, as he has all season, and may be showing some signs of fatigue as the season enters the stretch run.

With last night's win over Misericordia, Arcadia owns important tiebreakers and is positioned for the second seed if they can win at home vs DelVal on Saturday.

If Misericordia beats FDU-Florham on Saturday and DeSales knocks off LebVal, both would be 7-5 heading into their matchup next Wednesday. That game would likely decide who gets the 3rd seed.

A pair of big games tonight as teams jockey for seeds in the conference tourney.

Misericordia (6-4) goes on the road to Arcadia (5-5), trying to avenge an 86-79 loss to the Knights three weeks ago in the Cougars' home gym. On Saturday, Arcadia gave up 50 second-half points to King's and lost by double digits. A Knights win would give them a season sweep and an important tiebreaker should they finish the season tied with Misericordia in the MACF standings.

The Cougars have enjoyed an extremely friendly whistle in recent home games against conference teams, having shot 80 free throws combined against LebVal, Stevens, and Arcadia. In each of those games, the Cougars were outrebounded and outshot from the field, needing help at the charity stripe to stay in games. In road conference games, the Cougars average 16 free throws so they may need to improve on the glass and convert second chance points to stay in this one.

Elsewhere, DeSales (5-5) hosts Stevens (8-2), which has lost two straight and had its lead chopped to two games over Misericordia. Jack Spellman scored just 12 points in the last two contests and will need to get going tonight against a Bulldogs team that generally outrebounds its opponents and excels at defending without fouling. The Ducks won the first match-up of the season by 40 points in Hoboken on January 22.