Tag: Jason Aigner

Not Just Happy to Be Here: Hoboken Regional Preview

#12 Colby (24-3, 8-2, at-large bid)

This was a bit of a different year for NESCAC Basketball with no one team looking dominant and the conference “only” getting three teams into the NCAA Tournament. Although they may not have won the NESCAC, it’s hard to argue that anyone else had a better season start to finish than the Mules. Colby raced off to an 18-0 start behind the excellent play of Sam Jefferson ’20 who looked like he might run away with the Player of the Year Award before he went down with an ankle injury in their game against Hamilton. This team only features one frontcourt player, so their strategy is basically to speed the game up to get out in transition and shoot a lot of three pointers. This has mostly worked for them, particularly since their lone big man Dean Weiner ’20 has really elevated his play recently, matching up against some of the conference’s elite bigs. Colby has never appeared in the NCAA Tournament, so we’re about to find out if they’re truly ready for the biggest spotlight.

How They Got Here

Sam Jefferson ’20 (Courtesy of Colby Athletics)

As I just mentioned, the Mules got off to a blazing hot start at 18-0 and climbing as high as 5th in the national rankings. Losses to Tufts and Amherst late in the year dropped them to 2nd in the NESCAC by the end of the regular season, earning them a home game against 7th-seeded Bates in the quarterfinals. This game became an instant classic as the Bobcats failed to seal the win late and big shots by Alex Dorion ’20, Will King ’23, and Matt Hanna ’21 allowed Colby to walk away victorious. They followed this up with yet another thrilling matchup with Amherst, coming from behind to eke out a 4-point win to advance to their first NESCAC Championship. Although they ended up on the wrong side of yet another ridiculously exciting, double overtime contest against Tufts, the committee awarded their efforts with an at-large bid and a trip to Hoboken for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

How They Lose

I feel like I’ve been saying it all year, but the recipe for a Colby defeat doesn’t seem that complicated. They only have one true big man and they rely heavily on the three-ball, so you’d think that a team with a bit of size who slows the game down would be able to put the Mules to rest. That said, this strategy hasn’t exactly worked for everyone who’s tried it. Amherst employed this very technique in the semifinals but Colby was able to grind out a low-scoring win in come-from-behind fashion. The Mules also use about 7-8 guys per game and Coach Strahorn really rides his starters, so I can envision fatigue catching up to them a bit, particularly for Dean Weiner ’20 since he’ll likely be asked to play more minutes than he’s used to in order to matchup with opposing big men. These all seem like very likely ways for Colby to lose, but it really hasn’t been that easy this year. Only two teams all season have been able to defeat the Mules, so I don’t anticipate them being an easy matchup for whoever they go up against. 

The Competition

Christopher Newport (21-6, 9-1, at-large bid)

(Courtesy of CNU Athletics)

The Captains earned at at-large bid out of the Capital Athletic Conference where they were pretty dominant all year. Their only conference losses were at the hands of York College, once in the regular season and once in the conference championship. York is also an excellent team that has a chance to make a run in the tournament, so these aren’t particularly bad losses. Their non-conference schedule was also pretty loaded, as all but one of their losses came to teams that are also in the NCAA Tournament. The scoring duties are led by junior Jason Aigner ’21 who’s averaging 13.9 points per game while shooting over 45% from beyond the arc. He’s aided by senior forward Dalon McHugh II ’20, who’s putting up 12.3 points and hauling in nearly 8 rebounds per game. CNU has some guys with size who could give Colby trouble, but they aren’t regular members of the rotation so it’ll be interesting to see if they stick with what they’ve been doing or if they decide to overpower the Mules with some size off the bench. Either way I think this will be a good matchup, but I don’t see Colby’s season ending tonight.

Writer’s Pick: Colby 86 – Christopher Newport 80

The Other Two

Stevens (23-4, 12-2, MAC Freedom Champions)

(Courtesy of Stevens Athletics)

Stevens is somewhat of an enigma given that they come from a relatively weak region, but there’s no doubt that this team can play. They blew threw the MAC Freedom Tournament, winning the title game in convincing fashion en route to becoming a host for the first two rounds of NCAAs. This team has some experience playing against the nation’s best, as they defeated #6 Johns Hopkins early in the year and battled to close defeats against #1 Swarthmore and #21 Middlebury as well. The Ducks are led by the trio of Spencer Cook ‘20, Alec DiPietrantonio ‘21, and Kevin Florio ‘20, each of whom average double digits in scoring. Cook shoots the three at a nearly 50% clip, so you can bet that teams will key in on him and make sure to always get a hand in his face. They’ve been tested before so you know they’ll be tough, but given that they haven’t played a particularly tough schedule since before the New Year, it’s hard to know exactly what we’ll see from them.

Nichols (20-8, 12-4, CCC Champions)

(Courtesy of Nichols Athletics)

The Bison are easily the weakest team in this region and I really don’t anticipate them getting past day one. They had a great run last season making it all the way to the Elite 8, but they lost quite a bit to graduation and really haven’t been the same team at all this year. They’ve got some experience with NESCAC teams as they took down Trinity and lost to both Tufts and Hamilton earlier this year, plus they earned a win early in the year over New England College who’s also an NCAA Tournament team. After finishing second in their conference during the regular season, Nichols defeated top-seeded Endicott in a thriller to earn the automatic bid into the tournament. DeAnte Bruton ’20 is as versatile a scorer as any, posting 22.3 points per game and big man Matt Morrow ’21 has been a beast this year, averaging a double double with 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Jaekwon Spencer ’22 chips in 12.6 points per game of his own, but outside of these three guys there isn’t a ton of damage to be done. They have the pieces to make some games interesting, but this is a tough region and I don’t think Nichols has the fire power to consistently keep up with some of these other schools.

Déjà Vu?: Hamilton vs. Christopher Newport Sweet Sixteen Preview

We’ve got a Top-10 matchup out in Clinton, New York as the #10 Hamilton Continentals (25-4) welcome the visiting #9 Christopher Newport Captains (27-3) to Margaret Bundy Scott Field House. For the Continentals, their first game was all but a cakewalk, as a last-second layup bounced off the front end of the rim to give them a two-point win. They followed up that nailbiter with a more comfortable 11-point victory, one that featured a more consistent performance on both ends of the floor. The Captains ran through the New Jersey Athletic Conference and continued running through their first two NCAA Tournament opponents, winning both games by a combined 61 points. It’ll be a contrast of styles. They’re built like Amherst on defense, but have more weapons from the perimeter instead of all-around guard play. It’ll be a stern test for the Continentals, one that they’ll hope to pass in order to advance to the Elite Eight.  

Well, the cardiac Continentals survived quite the scare in their opening round matchup with Penn State-Behrend, ultimately pulling out a 72-70 win. Hamilton trailed by as many as 11 midway through the second half before storming back to take the lead late. Kena Gilmour was sensational, racking up 26 points to go along with five boards, and Peter Hoffmann chipped in with 19 points. While the Continentals forced 17 turnovers en route to their win, they struggled to guard the perimeter. Their poor defensive performance was partially corrected in their round of 32 victory against Moravian (35.6% from the field), but they were still able to connect on 40% of their shots from deep. This time, Gilmour and Hoffmann got a big boost on the offensive end from Tim Doyle ‘19 as the senior tallied 16 points. For the second game in a row, Hamilton forced 17 turnovers; however, they committed 17 of their own. They must be more careful handling the ball against Christopher Newport, a team that’s stingy defense only allows 62 PPG and can rebound the ball.

Marcus Carter ‘19 is capable of going off at any point for the Captains

Christopher Newport is riding high into their Sweet Sixteen trip to Clinton after dispatching their previous two opponents quite easily. The #9 ranked Captains feature a squad with a solid balance on offense combined with a ferocious defensive gameplan that packs the paint and makes teams beat them with the long ball. Marcus Carter is the leading scorer for Christopher Newport (16.5 PPG, 7.2 REB/G), and guard Jason Aigner (15.5 PPG, 44.8% 3PFG) will shoot from just about anywhere on the court. In their most recent 85-59 win against Alfred, Carter went off for 26 points and Aigner sunk five threes. Adrian Beasley was a force down low, posting an impressive double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Cutch Ellis also registered a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds). This one game is a microcosm of the Captains’ offensive game plan: spread the ball around and get everyone involved, because they have plenty of guys who can score and the ball movement will tire opposing defenses quickly. CNU doesn’t force a ton of turnovers (12.6/game), but they make it extremely tough for opposing players to score; they boast an impressive defensive field goal percentage of 37.5%, including 29.6% from beyond the arc. They are relentless when crashing the glass (outrebounded Alfred 49-30) and also attack the rim frequently on offense, averaging over 20 free throw attempts per game.

Hamilton X-Factor

Michael Grassey ‘19

Kena Gilmour and Peter Hoffmann cannot handle all the scoring duties alone if Hamilton wants to advance to the Elite Eight; they need help, and I think Michael Grassey’s play will severely influence the outcome of this matchup. Grassey is the team’s third-leading scorer with 11.8 PPG, however the NCAA Tournament has not been kind to him: In the Continentals’ first round matchup against Penn State-Behrend, Grassey shot 2-9 from the field and registered a measly four points. In their most recent win over Moravian, he was slightly better (eight points) but again shot just 2-8. Grassey will need to exceed his scoring average for to stay in the tournament, as Christopher Newport’s defense seems likely to zone in on Gilmour and Hoffmann and force guys like Grassey to beat them. The senior has had a great career at Hamilton and is not ready to hang it up just yet, so I believe he’ll break out of his mini slump and put up some points.

Christopher Newport X-Factor

Jason Aigner ‘21

Hamilton has not guarded the three ball very well in their first two tournament games, allowing Penn State-Behrend and Moravian to sport a combined 43.8% from beyond the arc. In steps Jason Aigner, and as I touched on briefly earlier in the article, the sophomore is an absolute sniper from deep. He’s taken an insane 252 three pointers (over eight attempts per game) but is sporting an impressive 44.8% success rate. Aigner has connected on nine triples in Christopher Newport’s two tournament wins, and he’ll be salivating at the defensive numbers the Continentals have registered in their last two games. He’s only failed to register double digit points in one of his last sixteen games and hit at least four three-pointers in twelve of those sixteen. He doesn’t attack the rim too often, so the Continentals will have to try and run him off the three point line. Hamilton doesn’t really have anyone who can shoot as well as Aigner from deep, so their best bet is to run the sophomore off the three-point line and force him to beat you off the dribble.

Final Thoughts:

I’d love to take the Continentals here because they are a great feel-good story in the sense that sans Gilmour, the starting five is all comprised of seniors who are making one last run to avenge last year’s heartbreaking defeat in the NCAA Tournament. Gilmour is a special player, and if Hoffmann, Grassey and Doyle all sync up, they’re a very hard team to defeat. I’m concerned the Continentals will get bombarded from deep if they don’t fix their perimeter defense, but an underlying factor is Newport’s ability to bang down low and make the game a physical one. The Captains are by no means a big team (Ellis is the tallest player that plays significant minutes at 6’7’’), but they are no doubt a very physical team who is not afraid to initiate contact. What’s more, they’re a smart team who uses their physicality but doesn’t commit very many fouls. Barring an incredible performance from Gilmour, I think Hamilton’s run ends in the Sweet Sixteen at home, and the Captains advance to the Elite Eight.

Prediction: Christopher Newport 77 – Hamilton 71