ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 4, 2016) – History will be on the line for one member of the Molloy College men's basketball team on Wednesday (Jan. 6). The Lions will play host to the LIU Post Pioneers in what will begin a seventeen-game East Coast Conference stint that will determine if the maroon and white will see the hardwood for the ECC's postseason tournament or not. The matchup is one predicated on the results from last season, in which the Lions won a game at the buzzer in Brookville only to fall to the green and gold in the ECC Quarterfinals a few months later.
The Lowdown on the Lions
Molloy (3-8, 1-2 ECC) concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule on last Wednesday (Dec. 30) with a 91-58 defeat at the hands of Bentley University at the Dana Center in Waltham, Mass. It was a rather difficult night for the Lions shooting-wise, especially from beyond the three-point arc. Molloy hit just three long-range jumpers and attempted 27 shots from three-point territory, hitting at an abysmal 11.1% from deep. The loss also marked the sixth time this season that Molloy was outrebounded by a margin of 10 or more boards, as Bentley crashed the glass for a 50-32 advantage in the statistic. In spite of this, senior guard Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) crept even closer to the 1,000-point plateau for his career. Williams scored 14 points and now currently stands at 995 over his four year-stint in Rockville Centre.
A Further Breakdown on B-Will
Brandon Williams' 995 points have come from a career full of spread-style offense in that he has showcased a versatile knack for scoring. The senior guard scored 228 points in his freshman year and 223 points in his sophomore season before breaking out with a 414-point effort last season. Thus far, Williams has totaled 130 points for the Lions through 11 games. Over his career, the Baldwin native has knocked down 292 free throws, 93 three-pointers and 212 two-point field goals. It's anyone's guess how he will hit the 1,000-career point mark, but however he does it will be a special moment at Quealy Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
Morris Making Opponents See Double-Double
Junior guard Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) continues to shine for Molloy this season, and the Amherst native is doing so as a double-double machine for the maroon and white. With 17 points and 10 rebounds against Bentley last Wednesday, Morris achieved his sixth double-double of the year through just 11 games. The junior guard has also been uncontainable for the early portion of the season, scoring over 10 points in every contest for the Lions thus far. Morris currently holds the sixth-best points per game average in the East Coast Conference, totaling 18.1 points per game.
Marquardt Must Find The Stroke
When a player is averaging almost 10 attempts from beyond the arc through the first 11 games of the season, two thoughts immediately come to mind. The first thought is questioning how opponents continue to leave a weapon of that caliber open from deep range. The second thought, more of a glaring omission if anything, is how effective is that shooter with his attempts from three-point territory. Junior guard Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) has hit 31 threes in 98 tries thus far, collecting a 31.6% field goal percentage. Repetition is key for Marquardt, who has hit a season-high six three-balls in two contests; on the flip side, he was 0-for-5 and recorded his second o-fer of the season in the loss to Bentley.
On The Pioneers' Trail
LIU Post (9-3, 4-0 ECC), like Molloy, ended its non-conference part of the 2015-16 campaign with a whimper as the Pioneers were felled by Merrimack in an 84-65 loss last Wednesday (Dec. 30) at the Pratt Recreation Center. Junior guard Jared Hall (South Orange, N.J.) led the green and gold with 22 points in the loss, but he was the only player in double figures on what was an uncharacteristically cold night for the Pio's from the field. LIU Post shot 38% (24-63) from the field including a frigid 4-of-21 (19%) from three-point territory, while Merrimack slashed through the defensive effort to a split of 49% from the field and 52% from deep range. The Warriors were only plus-one (38-37) in the rebounding category and both teams committed 18 turnovers; however, the visitors scored 28 points off of LIU Post's errors while the Pioneers had just 18 points from Merrimack miscues.
New Faces In The Crowd
Last year's version of the LIU Post Pioneers was one that went dominated by mostly four players: seniors Tyuan Williams, Charles McCann, P.J. Torres and Isiah Stokley. This season, a bevy of new players have settled in Brookville and are contributors to the Pioneers' dominating height advantage over a majority of their opponents. Along with the six-foot-five junior Greg Dotson (Abington, Pa.), whose vertical leap might as well put him over seven-and-a-half feet tall, the Pioneers have six-eight sophomore Hunter Powell (Tunstin, Mich.) and six-foot-nine big men Barrington Alston (Wilmington, Del.) and Michael Phillip (Brooklyn, N.Y.) platooning on the starting rotation. Regardless of who is in the game in the frontcourt, the chances are that the Pioneers will contend for an overwhelming edge in the rebounding category.
Backcourt Bros
Along with Hall, who has assumed the role of elite scorer for the Pioneers this season, Head Coach Erik Smiles has two main guards that make the offense run in seniors Dillon Burns (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Devon McMillan (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Burns, a savvy four-year veteran who stands at a diminutive five-foot-seven, is as gritty as they come with an instinctive tenacity and a bark that is just as vicious as his bite. The Staten Island product currently ranks third on the team with 10 points per game while holding a team-best 3.7 assists per game ratio as well as a 36.4% efficiency rating from beyond the three-point line. Meanwhile, McMillan's points of emphasis come from natural talent and a lack of fear when it comes to crashing the boards. The five-foot-ten guard is third on the team with 5.2 rebounds per contest and is scoring at a clip of 7.2 points per game.
