Live: Ithaca vs. St. John Fisher

9:51 p.m. Final - St. John Fisher 88, Ithaca 68. Not much more to say other than St. John Fisher dominated in eery aspect of the game. A very, very disappointing end to the Bombers’ season, if this is their last game. They may qualify for an ECAC game, but that remains to be seen. Fisher now advances to play Nazareth in the Championship game tomorrow at 3 p.m.

9:42 p.m. Burton is certainly doing all he can, draining three pointer after three pointer. But the score sits at 83-64 with 3:40 left. The Bombers just can’t stop anything the Cardinals are throwing at them offensively. It is beyond quiet here, and Fisher senior forward Justin Beigel just drained a three pointer to effectively end the game. Fans are beginning to file out. I definitely didn’t see this blowout coming. Both games this season between Ithaca and Fisher were played very close, but this one has been anything but.

9:32 p.m. Go figure. Two Chris Cruz three pointers and a huge Bostic block, and the score sits at 73-53 Fisher with 7:36 left. But at least the crowd is back into the game. Ithaca will still basically need perfect play from here on out, and some Fisher mistakes. But stranger things have happened.

9:30 p.m. Fisher leads 70-46 with 8:22 left. The Ithaca crowd is completely out of it. Considering how well Ithaca played against Fisher the last time these teams met, the score right now is pretty shocking. It’s probably too late for Ithaca to mount any kind of comeback at this point.

9:25 p.m. Ithaca cut it to a 20-point, 64-44 Fisher lead, but the Cardinals just hit another layup causing another Ithaca timeout. The Bombers will have to make a run now to have any chance of coming back. Despite being only 4-of-14 right now, Burton and his three-point shooting will have to lead the come-from-behind attack.

9:20 p.m. Fisher leads 59-37 with 13:22 left. Time is just simply running out for Ithaca. Bostic is back in though, which is necessary if they are going to make a comeback. Fisher is still just shooting the ball at will, bombing threes and getting easy backdoor layups with ease.

9:12 p.m. Fisher now leads 47-29 with 16:20 left in the game. Bostic just left the game with an apparent leg injury, and that’s about the last thing the Bombers needed. Burton continues to struggle and the Bombers have already turned it over a few times.

8:50 p.m. St. John Fisher leads 43-29 at halftime. Burton is struggling so far, having only hit two of his 10 shots in the first half. The Cardinals are showing Ithaca a balanced offensive attack, as nine of their 11 players have already scored. The most telling stat from the first half: Ithaca is shooting 27.3% compared to Fisher’s 54.8%.

8:47 p.m. Cardinals lead 39-27 with 1:24 left in the first half. Ithaca junior point guard Sean Burton looks to be a little shaken up after a mid-court collision. Barring any bleeding though, Mullins won’t take the Empire 8 Player of the Year out.

8:35 p.m. St. John Fisher has opened up a 28-18 lead on the Bombers with 6:50 remaining in the first half. Ithaca coach Jim Mullins has just called another timeout in an attempt to get his team settled down. Junior center Jeff Bostic already has seven points and seven rebounds, and appears well on his way to another huge game.

8:27 p.m. Hey guys, we’re FINALLY up and running. Sometimes I hate technology. But the Nazareth-Stevens game was a dandy, much closer than the 81-70 final indicates. The Golden Flyers are simply a high-powered offensive machine, and will now play for the Empire 8 Championship and the automatic NCAA bid tomorrow at 3 p.m.

The Bombers and Cardinals are about halfway through the first half. As expected it’s a solid game, but Ithaca just took a timeout after a St. John Fisher run put them 19-12. More updates to come.

[Editor’s note: we’re having some technical snafus but we hope to give you live updates. Check back soon.]

Roundup: Basketball season in full swing

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. The annual stuff-your-face-with-food holiday was again good to Hat Trick, full of lots of turkey, but sadly no mashed potatoes (a crime, in my opinion).

It’s been a solid two weeks since my last post (my bad…), so there’s a lot to catch up on. First let’s take a look at the football playoff picture. Read more

Football bracket set

Ithaca is in, Alfred is out. If you’ve read any of my football posts over the past month or so, you know that I had the Saxons pegged as my dark horse National Championship contender. Oops. Three straight losses to finish the season will usually be enough to keep you out of the playoffs.

Surprisingly enough, the committee selected three teams from the Empire 8, something I thought was a virtually impossibility. But Hartwick got in by virtue of the automatic bid for winning the Empire 8. St. John Fisher got in based on their impressive season (9-1 overall) and Ithaca got in based on their spectacular six-game winning streak that helped them finish 8-2 overall.

Hartwick faces undefeated Curry, Fisher hosts 8-2 Hobart and the Bombers get the unenviable task of traveling to Ohio to face two-time defending champion Mount Union. Elsewhere in the playoff field, there weren’t too many surprises. The top four seeds in the four brackets are Mount Union, Central, Washington and Jefferson, and UW-Whitewater.

After I take some time to look over the bracket, I’ll make some predictions and post them here. Feel free to leave comments on who is your early favorite.

Catching up on a few weeks of football

Ah yes, Hat Trick returns after a two-week hiatus (I’ve probably been having too many of these in the past few months). But, in my defense, it was mid term week, followed by fall break, so please excuse my recent absence. And though Hat Trick wasn’t blogging much, that doesn’t mean the D-III football slowed down one bit. Let’s take a look at how the season is shaking out, and what lies ahead for the playoffs.

Read more

Cardinals clearly cream of the crop

After watching a good majority of today’s Ithaca-St. John Fisher football game, it was abundantly clear that the Cardinals are just as good, if not better than last year. I was not surprised in the least that Fisher easily handled the Bombers. I was, however, surprised at how easy they made it look.

At this rate, Fisher will go undefeated and again challenge for the National Championship, while Ithaca is in serious jeopardy of snapping their streak of 37-straight winning seasons. They could easily lose to Springfield, Alfred and Cortland, meaning they would finish the year at 5-5.

These are clearly two schools going in two very different directions. Hat Trick will have much more to say about Saturday’s games soon. I just had to write about the ugliness I witnessed earlier today.

Monday Morning Quarterback

This weekend Hat Trick had the opportunity to travel up to Alfred, N.Y. for a little getaway. One thing that become immediately clear to me Saturday afternoon - the Saxons are good this year. Really, really good.

Alfred destroyed St. Lawrence 49-19, one week after blowing past Thiel 34-7. For you math lovers, Alfred has outscored their opponents 83-26. That’s a pretty ridiculous point differential. Skeptics will be quick to point out that the Saxons’ next game comes against reigning co-Empire 8 champion Springfield College.

However, the Pride are coming off a bad 33-30 loss to Montclair State, and don’t appear to have the same magic as last year’s squad. Chris Sharpe is still a beast, but Springfield simply lost too many starters on defense for Sharpe to compensate for. If Alfred does get past Springfield, as I expect them to, they won’t face another tough challenge until their final game of the season at St. John Fisher. At this point in the season, the Empire 8 looks to be a two-team race between Fisher and Alfred, which pretty much no one would have expected three weeks ago.

Some other things I learned this weekend: Read more

Monday Morning Quarterback

So it rained this weekend - a lot. There was even an hour-long rain delay in the Ithaca-King’s football game. OK, so the game was technically delayed because of nearby lightning, but seriously, the weather was crazy.

But being stuck inside isn’t always a bad thing. Case in point: Saturday and Sunday were a sports fan’s dream. College football all day on Saturday and the return of NFL Sundays. I spent the majority of my Saturday watching the Ithaca-King’s game on TV, safely away from the rain.

Some thoughts from that game: Knowing that St. John Fisher pounded King’s 49-7 in the opening week, Ithaca should have beat the Monarchs by a lot more than 13 points. I know, I know - a win is a win is a win. But this doesn’t bode well for the Bombers. They welcome Fisher to Butterfield Stadium in two weeks, and if they hope to pull off the upset win, they’d better start taking care of business. They’ll get a good test this coming Saturday in Hartwick, which sports one of the nation’s top offenses, not to mention arguably the top all around player in the country in Lindy Crea.

Click to read my other thoughts and musings from the wild weekend that was: Read more

Not too shabby

It’s been a slow weekend, and I love the chance for self promotion as much as the next guy, so why don’t we revisit my Empire 8 men’s tennis predictions from a few days ago.

The top four seeds - Nazareth College, St. John Fisher College, Ithaca College, Rochester Institute of Technology - all advanced to the second round, which I correctly forecasted. Then third-seeded Ithaca and fourth-seeded RIT pulled off upsets against St. John Fisher and Nazareth, respectively.

Yes, that’s right, I predicted all six matchups correctly. Unfortunately, I tabbed the Tigers to defeat the Bombers in the championship match. Ithaca won 6-3 earlier today. Alas, I am human after all.

But I’ll take six out of seven any time. As Dave Chappelle might say, “Byahh!“

That’s why they play the games

So I’ve been covering the Ithaca College men’s basketball team for the past two seasons and, as with any sports team, they’ve had their fair share of highs and lows. On the court the team stampeded through the ECAC Upstate Tournament at the end of last season to claim the crown - as a seventh seed. Off the court, the Bombers were placed on probation for hazing after it was discovered that seniors on the team hazed rookies at a party.

It doesn’t get much worse than that for a team. But consequently, it doesn’t get much better than reeling off three consecutive victories to earn a title no one gave you a shot at. Of course last season the Bombers had three of their best players in recent memory on the squad. Jim Bellis ‘06, Jon Whetstone ‘06 and Brian Andruskiewicz ‘06 were all integral parts of the team. In particular, Bellis was a pure scoring machine and single-handedly won a number of games for Ithaca last year.

Jump ahead to this season where, entering last night’s game against conference powerhouse Utica College, the Bombers deployed a starting lineup of two sophomores, a freshman, and a junior and a sophomore transfer, both who are in their first season with the team. It’s fair to say that things are a lot different for the team this year. But change isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, for the Bombers this season, it has been a thing of beauty.

Last night Ithaca pulled off what might be one of the biggest upsets I’ve ever seen. Not just in Division-III sports, but in any sports. Utica was picked by virtually everyone to run away with the Empire 8 this season, and they essentially have. They entered last night’s contest with a 16-2 overall record (8-0 in the Empire 8). The Baby Bombers stood no chance right? But that’s why they play the games. Where’s Chris Berman when you need him?

Ithaca raced out to a 11-0 lead to start the game and never looked back, winning 70-68 in overtime. OK, so the Pioneers made it interesting, but hey, Ithaca walked away with the W. And just about an hour ago the Bombers pummled dismal Hartwick College, putting them in a conference record tie with usual powerhouse St. John Fisher, and leaving them only two and a half games behind Utica.

I have never been more excited about Division-III basketball and, at this point, I can honestly say I have no idea how things will end. And with only two full weeks of regular season games left, things promise to be very interesting. Two games that are must-watch: Friday, Feb. 9th, St. John Fisher at Ithaca, Friday, Feb. 16th, Utica at St. John Fisher.

Nothing but sweat pants and take-out

I love Saturdays. But then again, who doesn’t? The beautiful combination of sleeping a lot, doing a little and reveling in unabashed laziness is one of life’s little treasures. If you happen to be a sports fan, then Saturdays are as close as you can get to heaven. Late fall through early winter means a glutton of college football games. The start of the New Year through early April means a plethora of college basketball games.

At the moment my computer is a virtual sports smorgasbord. I’m listening to radio broadcasts of the Ithaca - St. John Fisher men’s basketball game, as well as the Utica - Nazareth men’s basketball game … simultaneously. I don’t even know how I can pull that off. Earlier today I listened to the Ithaca - St. John Fisher women’s basketball game.

Strewn amongst random issues of Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine on my desk is a bag of Doritos (ranch flavored of course), a can of Mountain Dew and a list of things to do that I am enjoyably ignoring. And I just got two score updates from empire8.com in my e-mail inbox. Life is good.

One thing I have noticed today is that St. John Fisher basketball still reigns supreme. On the men’s side, Utica College was picked as the preseason favorite, but the Cardinals won’t be giving up their stranglehold on the Empire 8 any time soon. They’ve won the conference title each of the last four seasons, and don’t appear to be falling off. The Cardinals have been all over Ithaca today, and currently lead 67-40 half way through the second half.

The race will be closer this year than in past seasons, but my money is on St. John Fisher to still be playing in March. My money right now though is on chinese food, because it is after all Saturday. I love Saturdays.