The Huskies end the season on an positive note with Vinny Saponari pocketing a game-winning goal in overtime to defeat #4-ranked BU, 5-4.
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We’re down to four teams in the 2012 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men’s Basketball Championship. On Saturday, four more teams (UNCW, Delaware, Northeastern, Georgia State) were eliminated and sent home. Only the top four seeds remain, and only two wins separate these teams from the Big Dance.
Though Northeastern’s season is over, Patrick McHugh and Andy Towne are still in Richmond for the tournament. Unfortunately due to increased media coverage from other outlets, we will be unable to do a running blog of the tournament from press row. Instead, check out WRBB Sports and CAA Full Court Press on their respective Twitter handles to stay updated on semifinal action.
Two afternoon games will take place today. Here’s how it looks:
2 p.m. – #1 Drexel vs. #4 Old Dominion
4:30 p.m. – #2 VCU vs. #3 George Mason
These are truly the best four teams in the conference, and considering the run the CAA has made in the NCAA Tournament in years past, it isn’t a stretch to say these teams could make a run into late March. It should be another great day of CAA basketball.
A season-high 25 turnovers plagued the Huskies, who saw their season end with a 75-65 defeat to VCU in the CAA Tournament quarterfinals. Northeastern ends its 2011-12 campaign with a 14-17 record.
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What happened?
Northeastern ended their run as the only team in the CAA to have not faced VCU in the conference tournament, and they also became the last Colonial squad that had not lost to the Rams in the March classic at the Coliseum.
It started out as a very defensive contest, with VCU leading 4-0 at the first media timeout. Scoring picked up over the next four minutes, with the higher-seeded team jumping out to a 14-7 lead. At that point, the energy in the building was really growing in favor of the “home” team, and VCU was able to extend the lead to nine before five straight points from Joel Smith got the Huskies back into it. The Huskies’ hole would once again deepen to eight points, but as they’ve done all year they climbed right back into it. Over the final 6:15 of the opening half, VCU did not put a point on the board during an 8-0 run for Northeastern that enabled the visitors to tie the game at 26 heading into the halftime break.
At the outset of the second half, VCU took control and scored 10 of the first 12 points after intermission, converting several Northeastern turnovers into baskets as they had done all evening. The Huskies didn’t want to let the game go, and hit baskets when they really needed to. VCU extended their lead to 10 with a Rob Brandenberg triple at the 11:52 mark, and hardly looked back from there. They extended the lead to 21 just four and a half minutes later, although again Northeastern showed resilience and grabbed rebounds on many missed shots from the Rams, holding them to minimal scoring for a stretch while getting a few buckets of their own. Also taking advantage of a poor free throw percentage from VCU (45.6% for the game), Northeastern was able to foul to get themselves back in the game and closed the margin to eight with 1:10 to go and again with 51 ticks on the clock.
The Huskies played hard and believed they had a chance to win despite being down by double digits, though a Joel Smith turnover with 37 seconds left, down by nine, iced the game. It was unsurprising that a turnover would end it, since Northeastern committed 25 on the game. Read more…
Providence goalie Genevieve Lacasse stopped all 41 shots she faced, as the Huskies crashed out of the Women’s Hockey East semi-final, 2-0. The loss likely ends Northeastern’s season.
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Kieran Millan stopped 25 shots on Friday night.
BOSTON — It was a fitting end to the Huskies’ season. A solid period of play over a ranked opponent, on the road, an early lead, followed by a devastating barrage of offense from Boston University in the second period to seal a 5-2 victory at Agganis Arena on Friday night. With UMass defeating Merrimack in Amherst, it eliminated Northeastern from postseason contention. The Huskies gave up their 11th shorthanded goal of the season, while Chris Rawlings was pulled after two periods of play.
Our observations after the jump… Read more…
Four teams (James Madison, Towson, William & Mary, Hofstra) saw their respective seasons end on Friday, and four more will taste defeat today. This is the quarterfinals of the 2012 Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
Once again, Patrick McHugh and Andy Towne are live in Richmond to provide coverage of each and every game. The stakes have been raised higher and the dream of a championship is becoming clearer. WRBB Sports will update you on all of the games, as well as provide live coverage of Northeastern vs. VCU at 6 p.m., with pregame coverage starting at 5:45.
Four more games are on the schedule today. Here’s how it looks:
12 p.m. – #1 Drexel vs. #9 UNCW
2:30 p.m. – #4 Old Dominion vs. #5 Delaware
6 p.m. – #2 VCU vs. #7 Northeastern
8:30 p.m. – #3 George Mason vs. #6 Georgia State
UNCW and Drexel are set to tip off, so let’s get to it. Read more…
Northeastern goes up 1-0 early but falls apart in the second period, giving up 4 unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 loss, eliminating the Huskies from the playoffs.
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Despite not having junior captain Jonathan Lee for much of the second half due to foul trouble, rebounding and strong defense helped push the Huskies past William & Mary 57-49 on Friday night and into the CAA Tournament quarterfinals.
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