The Pioneer Trail: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015
Women's Basketball at Mercy - 5:30 p.m.The LIU Post women's basketball team gets back into East Coast Conference action with a game tonight against a resurgent Mercy squad in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
The Pioneers (6-5, 2-1 ECC) knocked off Bentley on Monday (Jan. 5) by a score of 66-57 in a re-match of last year's NCAA East Region final. Senior guard
Chelsea Williams (Copiague, N.Y.) led the green and gold with 26 points and five rebounds, while junior center
Nyasia Davis (Rahway, N.J.) continued her impressive play with another double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds). LIU Post also got a welcome contribution from red-shirt senior forward
Jessica Little (Wyandanch, N.Y.), who scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including an accurate 4-of-5 from behind the three-point arc. LIU Post utilized a 40-point second half to claim the victory, as the team shot at a 56.0 percent clip (14-of-25) from the field in the final 20 minutes.
Williams is the team leader with a 21.7 points per game average, while Davis is averaging near a double-double (10.8 ppg, 9.7 rpg) so far this season. The Pioneers are also stingy on the glass, owning a rebounding margin of plus-5.3.
The Mavericks (7-4, 1-3 ECC) are off to their best start since the 2008-09 season, when the team won 10 games overall. Mercy is coming off a 73-63 loss in their last match-up against Queens on Dec. 20. Senior forward Tanayzha Augustine (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) scored 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the defeat. Junior guard Erin Copeland (Kansas City, Kan.) tied Augustine with 17 points and grabbed seven boards. The team was held to a meager 31.8 percent (21-of-66) shooting from the field and never led in the entire contest.
Despite playing in just seven games, Augustine is the team's leading scorer, averaging 14.0 points per game. She is averaging a double-double by pulling down a clip of 10.1 rebounds per game. Senior center Brandone Roberts (Jessup, Md.) is also averaging a double-double with 11.5 rebounds and 11.2 points per contest.
Men's Basketball at Mercy - 7:30 p.m.The LIU Post men's basketball team will look to match a season-long three-game winning streak tonight and earn their first ECC win of the year against the Mavericks at Mercy Gymnasium.
The Pioneers (5-6, 0-3 ECC) knocked off Adelphi on New Year's Eve in their most recent contest, claiming a 65-54 victory over the Panthers in Garden City, N.Y. Sophomore guard
Jared Hall (South Orange, N.J.) led the green and gold with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists off the bench in the win. Junior guard
Akosa Maduegbunam (Hyde Park, Mass.) and senior forward
Charles McCann (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) pitched in nine points each for the Pioneers as well. LIU Post also played a solid defensive game, holding the Panthers to a season-low .300 field-goal shooting percentage.
Senior guard
P.J. Torres (New Rochelle, N.Y.) is the top scorer for the Pioneers with a 14.8 points per game average through the first 11 games of the season. Torres also paces the squad with a rebounding average of 7.2 boards per game. The green and gold is dominating their opponents on the glass so far this season, averaging 44.2 rebounds per game and letting up only 36.5 boards per contest.
Mercy (5-4, 0-3 ECC) is riding a two-game winning streak of its own, having defeated Berkeley (N.Y.) in its last game on Saturday (Jan. 3) by a score of 87-62. Four Mavericks finished the game with double-digit point totals, led by a game-high 18 points from junior forward Lazaro Martinez (Harlem, N.Y.). Junior forward Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn.) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with 14 points. Junior guard Jason Quijada (Monsey, N.Y.) was effective in his Mercy debut, scoring 15 points and dishing eight assists. As a team, the Mavericks shot the ball effectively from the field, hitting their field goals at a 51.6 percent (33-of-64) clip.
McClease is averaging 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for Mercy, while Martinez is averaging 10.0 points per game on a .586 field-goal percentage. The Mavericks are struggling on field-goal defense, however, as they have allowed opponents to shoot at a 47.3 percent clip from the floor.