Game Information: Trinity College (20-6) vs. Colby-Sawyer (19-6)
Friday, March 6, 7:30 PM
Oosting’s Gymnasium at Trinity College
We’re finally here folks. The most exciting time of the college basketball season is upon us. Even though there are still three-plus feet of snow on the ground in most of New England and green grass is nowhere to be seen, at least it’s finally time for some March Madness in the D-III world. For a Trinity team that hasn’t been to the dance since 2008, these are exciting times as they prepare to take on Colby-Sawyer who hasn’t tasted the post-season since 2002-03.
The last time these two teams met was also the first and only time these teams have met with Trinity beating the Chargers convincingly, 75-47 back in the 2001-02 NCAA Tournament. Coming into Friday’s match up, Trinity will be looking to bounce back after being eliminated from the NESCAC Tournament by eventual champions Wesleyan while Colby-Sawyer is riding a three-game winning streak after knocking off Castleton State and Husson to win the North Atlantic Conference Tournament. The winner of this game will move on to play the winner of Eastern Connecticut State and Salisbury the following day.
How Did They Get Here?
Trinity: At-Large Bid out of the NESCAC
Last Game: 55-52 Loss against Wesleyan
Defense, defense, defense. At least that’s what Coach James Cosgrove has been preaching to his team all year long, and it has shown. The Bantams led the NESCAC this season in points allowed, shutting down teams to the tune of 63.1 PPG. They also ranked second in the NESCAC in rebounding margin (+7.8) and tied for first in the league in field goal percentage defense, limiting teams to a measly 38.3 percent from the field. Ed Ogundeko ’17 (Brooklyn, NY) leads Trinity in rebounding, pulling down 8.1 boards per game, followed by Shay Ajayi ’16 (Brooklyn, NY) at 6.3 rebounds per game.
Offensively, the Bants are led by point guard Jaquann Starks ’16 (Hartford, CT). The junior is averaging a team high 13.5 PPG. Starks was recently named to the All-NESCAC First Team and has been the cog that keeps the Bantam’s offense moving this season. Before the team’s loss to Wesleyan where Starks struggled, scoring only 11 points on a 3-12 shooting performance, he averaged almost 17 points during the team’s six straight wins. Aside from Starks, Trinity’s scoring is spread out. Three or more players have scored double digit points 20 times this season. Both Ogundeko and Ajayi average just about 10 PPG (9.8 and 9.7 PPG, respectively), George Papadeas ’15 (Athens, Greece) is putting up 7.8 PPG, Alex Conaway ’16 (New Haven, CT) is averaging 6.8 PPG, and three more Bantams are averaging over five PPG. As a team, Trinity is averaging 70.0 PPG, good for seventh in the NESCAC, and led the conference in free throw attempts, something that will play a major factor in their success this postseason.
Trinity had won seven straight games before falling to Wesleyan in the conference tourney, an impressive end to the NESCAC regular season, good enough to win the regular season title. The Hartford Courant caught up with Coach Cosgrove upon hearing of their at-large selection and he had this to say: “We have to clean up some things. We hadn’t been playing great but had been winning. Sometimes you lose perspective of what got you there. Now you get back to watching film, looking at some blemishes, and working on details. … I think it’s fitting that the last game for members of this senior class will be an NCAA Tournament game.”
Colby-Sawyer: Automatic Bid (NAC Conference Champion)
Last Game: 86-73 Win against Husson
Offense. Scoring. Points. Anyway you put it, Colby-Sawyer has been somewhat of an offensive juggernaut this season averaging 79.4 PPG, one of the highest averages in the entire nation. They are led by the attack combo of center Peter Donato ’16 (Portland, ME) and guard Wol Majong ’16 (Manchester, NH). Donato collected both NAC Player of the Year as well as NAC Defensive Player of the year. The undersized big man (more on that below) puts up 14.7 PPG while bringing down 6.8 boards per contest and is flanked by Majong who is second on the team in scoring with 14.2 PPG. The Chargers as a team shoot pretty well from the field, shooting 44.5 percent, and hit about one out of every three three pointers they put up. Aside from Donato and Majong, Colby-Sawyer relies on 6’4” forward Mike Dias ’15 (Carver, MA) who averages 12.2 PPG, guard Zach Bean’15 (Scarborough, ME) averaging 10.2 PPG, and guard Koang Thok ’15 (Portland, ME) averaging 9.2 PPG.
Defensively the Chargers allow 66.4 PPG, good for second in the NAC behind Castelton. It’s tough to gauge Colby-Sawyer’s defense other than what their stats provide. The NAC only had four out of 10 teams finish better than .500 on the season so the Chargers defensive stats could be a bit misleading. Donato leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 6.8 boards per game followed by forward Jake Maynard ’15 (Shelburne, VT) who averages 5.7 rebounds per game.
The Chargers will enter the tourney riding a three-game winning streak as well as having won eight of their last nine due largely in part to their offense. They won the NAC title for the first time since joining the conference in 2011-12 and are looking to continue their winning streak into Saturday.
Trinity X-Factors
G Jaquann Starks ’16, 5’9″ 160 lbs. The Bantams floor general has come up huge for the Bantams this year more often than not but had a bit of an off game last time out against Wesleyan (11 points on 3-12 from the field). Trinity will need him to be firing on all cylinders if they are going to keep up with the Chargers offense.
C Ed Ogundeko ’17, 6’6″ 225 lbs. Note the height listing here. Ogundeko is a relatively undersized center but boy does he get his. He’s Trinity’s go-to-guy in the paint averaging nearly a double-double and will undoubtedly look to go to work against a small Colby-Sawyer team. He only had two points against Wesleyan but expect the big man from Brooklyn to bounce back for tourney time. More than anything Ogundeko is a force on the boards. In 10 conference games against strong competition, Ogundeko averaged 20.3 MPG but hauled down 9.5 boards per contest.
F Shay Ajayi ’16, 6’6″ 203 lbs. Ajayi is Trinity’s second leading scorer but something tells me his impact in this game is going to be because of his height and length. The 6’6″ forward can stretch the floor on offense and is a matchup nightmare for opposing teams. With Colby-Sawyer playing a guard-heavy lineup, most of which are no taller than 6’2″, whoever guards Ajayi is going to have their hands full.
F Alex Conaway ’15, 6’6 210 lbs. Another matchup problem for Colby-Sawyer comes in the form of Conaway who is a defensive workhorse and able scorer for the Bants. Conaway averages 6.8 PPG and contributes on the glass as well. Look for him to be an X-Factor in this game on defense.
Colby-Sawyer X-Factors
C Peter Donato ’16, 6’5″ 180 lbs. Colby-Sawyer’s go-to-guy. Donato was named NAC Player of the Year as well as Defensive POY and leads the Chargers in scoring (14.7 PPG). Donato is a hybrid center who causes all sorts of issues for opposing teams. He’s a freak athlete with an enormous wingspan which means he plays a lot bigger than his 6’5″ height may imply. He can be neutralized if sent to the line (54.9 percent FT), but can be dominant down low.
G Wol Majong ’16, 6’2″ 170 lbs. Majong is the Kobe to Donato’s Shaq (as far as Colby-Sawyer’s team is concerned). If he gets open, Trinity beware because he can shoot (.409 3-PT%, .860 FT%, 14.2 PPG). The Second Team All-NAC guard went off in the conference tourney putting up 27 against Castleton and 22 against Husson.
F Mike Dias ’15, 6’4″ 220 lbs. Dias is averaging 12.2 PPG, good for third most on the team, however this stat is extremely misleading. The Charger’s senior surpassed the 1,000 point total last season as a junior. He’s led the Chargers in scoring the two seasons before this one (16.3 PPG his sophomore year, 14.2 PPG last year) but for some reason has been wildly inconsistent this season. However he is getting hot at the right time dropping 18, 17 and 20 points in his last three games, as well as helping Donato on the boards averaging 5.2 RPG.
G Koang Thok ’15, 6’3″ 180 lbs. Thok is on this list because he’s a bit of an enigma. He averages 9.2 PPG this year but similar to Dias, has the potential to go off. He’s coming into this game off of 22- and 15-point scoring games respectively but he’s not a great shooter, especially for a guard (.263 3-PT%, .366 FG%). He is, however, a pest for other teams defensively as he plays a lot bigger than his 6’3″ height may suggest.
Three Storylines to Watch
1. Which Trinity team will come to play?
Will it be the gritty Bantams defensive squad that puts up around 55-60 points and still wins by eight-plus or will it be the huck and chuck Bants team that plays like they did against Middlebury towards the end of the regular season and puts up 90+ points but gives up 85? If the Bantams want to win this one, something tells me it’s going to have to be the tough defensive team that shows up. As mentioned, Colby-Sawyer puts up just about 80 points a game so the Bantams will be in trouble if this game turns into a barn burner. But it certainly is not going to be easy to do. Trinity will look to slow the game down when possible while Colby-Sawyer is going to look to run and utilize a very athletic starting five. But something tells me that Trinity will dictate the pace of this game, though whatever pace that may be is yet to be determined.
2. A Matchup Nerd’s Heaven
This games biggest subplot is how these two teams matchup and there are a couple different angles one could take on this. Let me lay them out for you:
–Trinity’s guards vs Colby-Sawyer’s guards: Starks is Trinity’s biggest offensive threat as far as scoring is concerned and is a lot to handle no matter whom he’s playing. He can shoot, drive and pass and is generally fearless. However on the other side of the ball, Majong is the exact same thing for the Chargers. He can shoot the lights out of the gym, get to the basket and is a strong player physically. The Bantams will need contributions from Hart Gliedman ’15 (New York, NY) and Chris Turnbull ’17 (Ridgewood, NJ), who are capable of getting hot from the three-point line, in order to keep up with the Chargers backcourt and the Chargers will need Thok to compliment Majong and take some of the scoring pressure off of the bigs. Speaking of which…
–Trinity’s two-headed monster vs. Colby-Sawyer’s two-headed monster: Ogundeko and Papadeas vs. Donato and Dias, WWE style, 10 rounds. Wait that’s not it … Trinity is capable of putting out a variety of lineups and I’m sure Coach Cosgrove has something up his sleeve with this one. Generally speaking, Ogundeko and Papadeas are rarely on the floor at the same time as they are both the same type of player. Both are very polished down low with great rebounding ability. Ogundeko plays a lot bigger than his height and Papadeas is tenacious in everything he does. On the other side, Donato is a Center who can run and pass like a guard and uses his quickness to get other team’s bigs into foul trouble early and often. Dias is a strong, prototypical post player who plays with his back to the basket, has a nice jumper from 15 feet in and is a menace on the boards as well. There’s only so much room in the paint on a basketball court and with these four bigs set to battle it out, make sure to put the kids to bed early on game day.
–Everybody else: This is where there is a bit of a gap between the two teams and very well could be the deciding factor on Friday. Trinity has seven players capable of scoring double digits on any given night. Colby-Sawyer is somewhat thin after you get past their first six with no one averaging more than 3.9 PPG. This means that the Chargers live and die by their starters, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you have starters as capable as they do, but they won’t be playing the entire game so when they’re out, the scoring is going to have to come from someone else. Look for guys like Conaway, Ajayi, Gliedman and Rick Naylor ’16 (Sudbury, VT) to take advantage of a weak Charger’s bench.
3. Home Court Advantage
I’m glad we were able to get Trinity Days out of the way. With the school administration sending out an email blast about the big weekend and Trinity not having ever hosted an NCAA Tournament, campus is buzzing and Oosting’s Gymnasium should be packed this weekend. I do think this will play a factor on Friday. The Bantams are looking to rebound after a tough loss against Wesleyan on their own court last weekend and Coach Cosgrove will certainly have his squad ready to go. Not to take away from Colby-Sawyer’s great season, but they have not been challenged too often, especially not on the road. That will certainly change on Friday at 7:30 in Hartford when they face a Trinity team that has been receiving Top-25 votes consistently to end the regular season and is currently ranked second in all of New England.
Prediction
This is tough. I have been going back and forth on this game every couple of hours and it’s twice as tough because I have to be as objective as possible, and for those who know me, it’s nearly impossible for me to be objective when it comes to my teams. That being said, I truly think these two teams matchup extremely well. Donato and Dias down low are a force and Majong balances out the attack on the perimeter. However, Trinity has four regular players who are 6’6″ or taller and I think that is going to cause Colby-Sawyer some issues outside of Donato and Dias. I see Ajayi guarding Donato since they both match up from an athleticism stand point even though Ajayi isn’t a center. I see Ogundeko and Dias going back and forth all game with Papadeas coming in and holding it down as well. I see Conaway having his way with whoever guards him, as he’s just too athletic and big for any of the Chargers’ smaller players who will most likely be on him. I see Turnbull, Gliedman and Naylor dropping three’s early and often. I have a gut feeling that Starks, in front of a crowd in the city he grew up in, goes off. That being said, Trinity will be in trouble if they get down early because Colby-Sawyer is too good offensively for teams to come back from big deficits. All things considered…
Trinity 76 – Colby-Sawyer 71