Monday, January 23

Delaware 62, Towson 43

Old Dominion 69, Northeastern 57

Georgia State 74, James Madison 58

VCU 61, Hofstra 49

Drexel 64, William & Mary 48

George Mason 67, UNC-Wilmington 61

Wednesday, January 25

Northeastern 62, Delaware 61

VCU 67, Towson 42

Old Dominion 53, UNC-Wilmington 48

Drexel 68, Georgia State 46

George Mason 55, Hofstra 50

Thursday, January 26

James Madison 59, William & Mary 47

Saturday, January 28

Northeastern 58, Hofstra 51

Towson 66, UNC-Wilmington 61

Drexel 71, Delaware 55

George Mason 89, James Madison 79

Old Dominion 68, William & Mary 44

VCU 59, Georgia State 58

Teams are chasing NCAA Tournament and NIT berths in the Colonial Athletic Association, but the high-level pursuit of postseason berths – for at least one week – took a backseat to a distinctly different sort of drama.

The Towson Tigers entered this weekend’s game against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks saddled with a 41-game losing streak, a record skid in the history of Division I-A men’s college basketball. The Tigers had not won a game – ANY GAME – since the year 2010, a truly unfathomable occurrence in a sport where teams usually find a way to schedule at least one cupcake against a lower-division school at some point along the line before the conference season revs into gear. Yet, Towson simply could not pull down that kind of victory in November and December, forcing the Tigers to have to break through – if they WERE going to break through at all – against a conference opponent. With major news outlets giving the Tigers a lot of coverage and many national college basketball journalists following their story, Towson faced a strange mix of pressure and publicity after toiling in obscurity for most of the season. Reaching record streaks – even if said streaks exist for all the worst reasons – can always be counted on to bring the cameras to your building.

Now, the cameras will leave – for all the right reasons. Towson finally did manage to walk off the court a winner. The Tigers used a high-energy performance – particularly near the basket – to fend off UNCW at the Towson Center in Towson, Maryland. Marcus Damas scored 18 points and Robert Nwankwo produced a 12-point, 11-rebound effort for the Tigers, who outplayed Wilmington on the glass and took the ball strong to the tin in the final minutes of regulation to nail down the win. Towson didn’t settle for long shots and instead worked to own every bit of real estate on the court. That’s how you put your foot down and say “enough is enough.” Towson coach Pat Skerry won his first game at the school, getting a big money off his back and enabling his players to play the rest of the season with a newly liberated mental outlook.

George Mason leads the Colonial with a 10-1 conference record, while Virginia Commonwealth, Drexel, and Old Dominion all sit at 9-2 with a say in the CAA discussion this season. VCU and Drexel are looking like attractive NCAA Tournament at-large candidates, while Old Dominion – burdened with nine losses – will probably need to win the CAA Tournament to advance to the Big Dance.

For one week, though, these dramas weren’t the focal point in the CAA. The Towson Tigers have won, and that’s what people in this part of the college basketball world will remember.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 1

Northeastern 60, Georgia State 57

Old Dominion 71, Towson 41

James Madison 69, UNC-Wilmington 61

George Mason 89, Delaware 63

Drexel 56, Hofstra 50

Thursday, January 19

VCU 69, William & Mary 68 (OT)

Saturday, January 21

UNC-Wilmington 68, William & Mary 66

Drexel 71, Northeastern 53

George Mason 72, Towson 60

Delaware 77, Georgia State 74 (OT)

Hofstra 71, James Madison 69

VCU 61, Old Dominion 48

The surprise story in the Colonial Athletic Association is showing signs of fading away, leaving the race to the old hands in the league. It’s becoming a familiar kind of campaign on the Atlantic Seaboard, with a Peach State insurgent losing ground as the month of January wears on.

The Georgia State Panthers once owned a partial share of the CAA lead with a 5-1 league record, but the southernmost team in the Colonial is now in a state of free-fall. The Panthers faced a road game at 3-4 Delaware this past Saturday, precisely the kind of test that an up-and-coming club needs to tuck into the win column in order to cement its ascendancy in the sport. The top of the CAA is crowded with quality – George Mason leads the pack, followed by Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion, plus Drexel as well. Mason, VCU and ODU all have the recent NCAA Tournament berths and wins to prove that they should be taken seriously. Drexel hasn’t made it to the Big Dance in recent years but has been unafraid to play top-flight competition out of conference. In order to crowd the group of CAA leaders and move into this very tough neighborhood, Georgia State could not afford to give games away against the lesser lights of the conference. It was always going to be hard enough to beat the top teams in the league, but that made the duel with Delaware a must-have.

The Panthers fell short against the Blue Hens, however. A 40-minute regulation-size drama wasn’t enough to decide the outcome, and neither was a five-minute overtime period. It took 50 minutes and two overtime periods for this drama to be resolved, and the fact that Georgia State couldn’t pull out the win speaks volumes about the Panthers’ lack of staying power. The legs are growing weary in late January, and the mental challenge of becoming a factor in the CAA is clearly wearing on the Panthers’ minds. There’s still a lot of season left, but GSU has to turn around its season in short order.

The big game in the league was Virginia Commonwealth’s battle of Virginia against Old Dominion, in a rematch of last season’s CAA tournament final, won by the Monarchs. This game was played on VCU’s home court in Richmond, and the Rams used that advantage to great effect, locking down ODU at the defensive end of the floor. The Rams are now the primary contender to George Mason for first place in the conference.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Monday, January 2

George Mason 70, William & Mary 56

UNC-Wilmington 80, Delaware 75

Old Dominion 67, James Madison 61 (OT)

Northeastern 57, Towson 48

Georgia State 58, Drexel 44

VCU 80, Hofstra 63

Wednesday, January 4

Delaware 67, Hofstra 66

UNC-Wilmington 70, Northeastern 62

Drexel 60, Towson 27

William & Mary 68, James Madison 61

Georgia State 55, VCU 53

Thursday, January 5

George Mason 63, Old Dominion 54

Saturday, January 7

Northeastern 68, James Madison 56

Old Dominion 75, Towson 38

UNC-Wilmington 86, Hofstra 80

George Mason 61, Georgia State 58

Delaware 75, William & Mary 64

Sunday, January 8

VCU @ Drexel – Late Game

The Colonial Athletic Association is heating up, with familiar faces at the top of the league but some party-crashers also making noise. The standard-bearer in the league so far this season is not the Virginia Commonwealth club that ran to the Final Four in Houston last year. It’s not the Old Dominion team that won the league tournament and almost took out Final Four-bound Butler in the first round. It’s the George Mason Patriots, the program that broke ground – and broke a barrier – for the Colonial when it reached the 2006 Final Four in Indianapolis. Now coached by former Georgia Tech boss Paul Hewitt (who led Tech to the 2004 national championship game), GMU is making the same magic it produced under former coach Jim Larranaga, who ironically traded placed with Hewitt by going to the Atlantic Coast Conference to coach Miami.

George Mason won a game this past Saturday which was an unexpected battle for first place in the league. GMU faced not VCU, but Georgia State. The Panthers lost their first three games of the season in the first half of November, against Portland, Washington and Florida Atlantic. After that, they won 11 straight games, including a shocker this past Wednesday against VCU. The Panthers dug in their heels at the defensive end of the floor and contained the Rams in a dogfight. The ability to win a close game gave Georgia State a spring in its step heading into the matchup with Mason, but the Patriots – the old guard of the conference – used their home court in Fairfax, Virginia, to great effect. Georgia State still played first-rate defense, but George Mason was able to cobble together just enough sound possessions to take a three-point win. The Patriots moved to 4-0 at the top of the Colonial standings, but Georgia State earned that currency known as respect.

Elsewhere in the league, the other team that had a particularly strong week was UNC-Wilmington. The Seahawks won three league games in three outings. Only George Mason was able to match that feat.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 28

Drexel 77, Fairfield 69

Thursday, December 29

Miami (Ohio) 73, William & Mary 69

VCU 76, Akron 75 (OT)

Hofstra 83, Iona 75

Rhode Island 79, James Madison 60

Friday, December 30

Missouri 75, Old Dominion 68

Northeastern 53, Vermont 51

Temple 66, Delaware 63

Virginia 57, Towson 50

George Mason 84, Charleston 76

UNC Wilmington 72, Furman 61

James Madison 71, Stetson 69 (OT)

Saturday, December 31

Drexel 63, St. Francis (PA) 42

The Colonial Athletic Association proved how formidable it was last season when three teams made the NCAA Tournament (George Mason, Old Dominion, and Virginia Commonwealth), with one of them – VCU – going all the way to the Final Four in Houston. This year, the Colonial’s strength isn’t quite as substantial as it was 12 months ago, but the league can still play. The past week of results showed that this conference can compete throughout the United States.

Virginia Commonwealth carried the baton for the Colonial, as is appropriate, backing up its status as the big dog by beating Akron in overtime on the road. The Rams survived the Zips with their veteran mix and their ability to rise to the top in the crucible of crunch time. The belief which was developed a season ago on coach Shaka Smart’s roster was very much in evidence against Akron; VCU is always going to be a very hard team to close out, within or beyond the CAA.

Other teams put up a very good fight in the Colonial. Delaware didn’t beat a credentialed Temple squad, but the Blue Hens gave the Owls a much tougher battle than many hoops pundits ever had a right to expect. Towson almost took down nationally-ranked Virginia before falling to the Cavaliers by a scant seven-point margin in Charlottesville. Old Dominion gave top-10 dweller Missouri a mighty scrap before fading in the final minutes, largely because Mizzou’s Marcus Denmon drained a huge late-stage three to create some distance on the scoreboard. The Monarchs and coach Blaine Taylor should still be very encouraged heading into CAA play; their level of quality on Friday night should show them just how capable they are.

George Mason snagged one of the better wins for the CAA this past week, winning at the College of Charleston as a slight underdog. Charleston almost won at Louisville, making the Southern Conference’s best regular-season team in 2011 an attractive choice. However, the Patriots stormed into the state of South Carolina and made their voices heard. Balanced scoring within a diversified offense enabled Mason to ring up a big number and knock off coach Bobby Cremins’s C of C Cougars.

Hofstra, the team that just missed the NCAAs last year out of the Colonial, also came up with a big scalp, taking down the Iona Gaels in a frenetic, fast-paced contest. The Pride have undergone some turmoil in recent seasons, with coach Tim Welsh having to abruptly resign because of a drunk driving incident, but new boss Mo Cassara has held the team and the program together.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Monday, December 19

Delaware 70, La Salle 66

James Madison 67, Citadel 49

UNC Wilmington 67, Campbell 65

Tuesday, December 20

Manhattan 81, Towson 62

Richmond 90, Old Dominion 82 (OT)

VCU 68, UAB 49

Northeastern 56, Louisiana Tech 53

Wednesday, December 21

Wake Forest 87, UNC Wilmington 78

Duquesne 75, George Mason 64

Iona 83, William & Mary 65

Thursday, December 22

Drexel 68, Binghamton 44

Hofstra 82, Colgate 59

Old Dominion 81, Virginia Military 73

VCU 80, UNC Greensboro 68

North Carolina State 88, Northeastern 59

Georgia State 72, Georgia Southern 52

James Madison 62, George Washington 57

Howard 88, Delaware 83 (OT)

Friday, December 23

George Mason 81, Manhattan 61

Vermont 65, Towson 49

There wasn’t a whole lot to point to for better or worse in the Colonial Athletic Association this past week. The conference that was a mid-major powerhouse last season isn’t as strong this time around, but the past week really can’t be seen as a damning indictment of the league. The schedule was too light to serve as an accurate barometer of either strengths or the weaknesses of the CAA.

Virginia Commonwealth is clearly taking care of business and doing what it can to produce an at-large-worthy NCAA portfolio. The Rams topped UNC Greensboro this past Thursday, but it was their Tuesday spanking of Alabama Birmingham which should gain even more traction. VCU and UAB both went to Dayton, Ohio, as part of the initial First Four event last year at the start of the NCAA Tournament. UAB faced Clemson in one contest while VCU took on Southern California in the other game between teams who just made the NCAA cut line. UAB lost to Clemson while VCU rocked USC. Just under two weeks later, VCU had proceeded to the Final Four in Houston, while Alabama-Birmingham sat at home and watched. The fact that VCU and UAB were brought together on the court gave UAB a chance to prove itself on a national stage; instead, Virginia Commonwealth reasserted its dominance and added more credibility to the notion that last year’s Final Four run wasn’t an isolated event. VCU’s continued success is a definite boost to the Colonial, which wants teams to continue to inhabit the spotlight the way George Mason did in 2006.

Other games just didn’t move the needle for the CAA; member schools in the league beat cupcakes such as Binghamton, Virginia Military, Georgia Southern, George Washington, Manhattan, and Louisiana Tech.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 13

Drexel 71, Niagara 58

Wednesday, December 14

Coppin State 71, Towson 57

Thursday, December 15

William & Mary 70, Wesley 47

Saturday, December 17

Drexel 73, Bradley 68

Hofstra 82, Binghamton 62

UCF 61, Old Dominion 53

VCU 87, UNC-Wilmington 64

Georgia State 71, Utah Valley 68

Sunday, December 18

Missouri 94, William & Mary 56

Princeton 71, Northeastern 62

There wasn’t a lot of news to be found this past week in the Colonial Athletic Association. The second full week and the third full weekend of December usually offer a diminished slate of high-quality games following the glut of Thanksgiving tournaments and early-December made-for-TV games. Kids are either taking final exams or preparing for Christmas, and there’s just not enough reasons for coaches to schedule especially demanding games in this portion of the calendar. Early December represents a time to get the attention of players. The post-Christmas buildup to the conference season is another time when coaches can schedule one last marquee non-conference game, but right now, it’s fairly slim pickings. Therefore, no one in the CAA scheduled boldly this past week… or, to put the matter more precisely, no coach from a power-conference school was willing to take on a CAA team. Therefore, the roster of games was relatively light in terms of quantity and stature.

The only real headliner in the league was the conference game which took place this past week. While everyone else in the league played unfamiliar foes, Virginia Commonwealth locked its Ram horns with UNC-Wilmington on home hardwood in Richmond, Virginia. The VCU crew promptly took care of business in a 23-point romp. Bradford Burgess led the Rams with 22 points in 27 minutes on 7-of-14 shooting from the field, including a stellar 5-for-10 performance from three-point range. Four Rams scored at least 15 points, giving coach Shaka Smart the balanced production any bench boss craves. The Rams didn’t just offer the Seahawks a primary or secondary scoring option, but tertiary and fourth options as well.

The biggest statistic in the game had nothing to do with shooting totals or three-point percentages. It was the fact that Virginia Commonwealth forced 28 UNC-Wilmington turnovers. The Rams hounded Wilmington guards K.K. Simmons (7 turnovers) and Tanner Milson (6 turnovers) into 13 combined giveaways. Milson’s six turnovers were committed in a span of just 13 game minutes. The Rams will face tougher tests as the CAA season continues, but they certainly can’t argue with the way they started their conference campaign.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 6

Kent State 71, James Madison 51

Virginia 68, George Mason 48

UNC-Wilmington 77, Liberty 68

Wagner 58, Hofstra 43

Bradley 79, Northeastern 68

Wednesday, December 7

La Salle 89, Towson 51

Pennsylvania 69, Delaware 60

Friday, December 9

Virginia Commonwealth 73, Richmond 51

Fairfield 59, Old Dominion 51

Saturday, December 10

Delaware 58, Delaware State 42

Georgia State 96, Rhode Island 64

Drexel 64, Princeton 60

Manhattan 68, Hofstra 59

George Mason 76, Radford 61

UMBC 62, Towson 58

The great thing about the 2010-2011 season in the Colonial Athletic Association was that it represented a banner campaign for the mid-major league near the Atlantic Seaboard. Old Dominion, George Mason, and Virginia Commonwealth all made the NCAA Tournament, and VCU – the one team in the Colonial that was relegated to the inaugural First Four event in Dayton, Ohio – won five tournament games to reach its first-ever Final Four. Indeed, just five years after George Mason lifted the Colonial into the national spotlight, Virginia Commonwealth pulled off a similar run. Coach Shaka Smart’s team played an active, quick style that featured balanced scoring and capable shooting, plus just enough interior defense to withstand more powerful opponents’ best punches. VCU, like Mason five years ago, beat a capable brand-name program in the round of 64 (Georgetown compared to Mason’s Michigan State), drilled a No. 3 seed in the second round (Purdue compared to Mason’s North Carolina), fended off a challenge from a pesky mid-range seed in the Sweet 16 (No. 10 Florida State compared to Mason’s regional semifinal victim, seventh-seeded Wichita State), and then ambushed a mighty top seed in the Elite Eight to get to college basketball’s promised land. George Mason upended a loaded Connecticut squad to punch its Final Four ticket, and when VCU raced past Kansas in San Antonio – before a highly partisan KU crowd – the dose of déjà vu in the Colonial had been fully and forcefully administered to the rest of the college basketball community.

To the surprise of many, Smart – who was a top choice for the North Carolina State job – stayed in Richmond, and as a result, VCU is the pick to represent the Colonial in the Big Dance once more. The Rams whacked Richmond – a Sweet 16 team last year (in the same San Antonio regional where VCU played) – to affirm their identity as the Colonial king nobody wants to face in March. For the Rams, all systems are go as the 2011-2012 season enters its second full month of competition.

For most teams in the league, however, life is not a VCU-style joyride.

Old Dominion and George Mason, who were so strong a season ago, are stumbling out of the gate this time around. The past week witnessed the Monarchs drop an eight-point decision to Fairfield, the favorite in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. ODU will need to snag some quality wins before January rolls around. As for George Mason, the Patriots are trying to adjust to life without Jim Larranaga, the coach who felt the need to scratch his power-conference itch and try his hand at coaching the Miami Hurricanes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Larranaga is the man who coached Mason to the 2006 Final Four, so under new bench boss Paul Hewitt – who led Georgia Tech to the 2004 national championship game – the Patriots are trying to scramble a little bit, and the early results aren’t encouraging. This past week’s 20-point loss to Virginia will not inspire much confidence as December develops.

Hofstra was the fourth team in the CAA mix last season, a worthy contender for the three teams that wound up making the NCAAs. This year, however, the forecast isn’t so bright for the Pride. A decisive loss to Wagner represents a sobering event, a splash of water that Hofstra will find difficult to absorb.

If there was one bright spot for the Colonial this past week, it was Drexel’s win over a Princeton team that will contend for the Ivy League title. Drexel’s hard-fought triumph looks that much better in light of the fact that Princeton recently beat Rutgers on the road.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

CBI First Round: Davidson 85, James Madison 65
The Colonial Athletic Association’s miserable Tuesday began with this 20-point setback for the James Madison Dukes at the hands of the Davidson Wildcats. James Madison was one of six CAA teams to win at least 20 games this season, and one of two in the CBI Tournament, but the Dukes didn’t put up much of a fight at Belk Arena in Davidson, North Carolina. Coach Bob McKillop’s Wildcats rolled to an easy win behind 50 percent field goal shooting (33 of 66) and an 11-of-24 outing from three-point range.

CBI First Round: Evansville 77, Hofstra 70
On what was a very good night for the Missouri Valley Conference across the college basketball landscape, the Evansville Purple Aces turned back the Hofstra Pride in Evansville, Indiana. The story of this game was that whenever Hofstra tried to make a push in the second half and steal a road win, Evansville had… well… an ace up its sleeve: the three-point shot. Evansville hit 7 of 14 threes, with Colt Ryan banging in 4 of 6 triples to lead the charge for the home team. Hofstra fell short on what was a disappointing night for the Colonial Athletic Association. The Pride’s star player, Charles Jenkins, hit 50 percent of his shots, but the gifted performer gained only 12 attempts, which was a mixture of Evansville’s committed defense and Hofstra’s inability to get Jenkins the ball in good positions on the floor. Jenkins finished with only 14 points on a night when he needed to ring up a much bigger number for coach Mo Cassara’s club. One other detail is worth mentioning in this game: Evansville got at least 10 points from three reserves on a night when the Purple Aces’ bench outscored the Pride by a decisive 35-16 margin.

By Zach Bloxham and Tim Coyne
DFN Sports Staff Writers

Frank Hassell scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, as the Old Dominion Monarchs (27-6) took a 39-26 halftime lead and staved off a frenzied second-half rally by the Virginia Commonwealth Rams (23-11) to claim the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament championship.  The Rams outscored the Monarchs 39-31 in the second half, but were unable to completely overcome the 13-point deficit they faced, as Old Dominion’s Kent Bazemore hit crucial baskets at the 3:12 and 1:33 marks of the second half to help the Monarchs cling to their lead and earn their second consecutive CAA championship.  Bazemore finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, but was only 3-of-11 from the free throw line.

The Monarchs seemed to be on the verge of routing the Rams, opening the second half with a 7-2 spurt to take a 46-28 lead on a lay-up by Hassell at the 16:35 mark of the second half.  VCU refused to go down without a fight, however, going on a 19-4 run over the next nine minutes that Jamie Skeen finished with a three-point play to get the Rams within four points at 51-47 with 7:12 remaining.  Hassell responded for ODU, sinking a jumper to extend the lead to 53-47.  The Rams mounted one more charge, outscoring the Monarchs 7-2 over the next few minutes to close the gap to 55-54 on three-pointer by Bradford Burgess at the 4:27 mark.

The Rams got no closer than that, however, as Chris Cooper and Bazemore scored on putbacks on the Monarchs’ next two possessions, extending the lead to 59-54.  ODU secured the victory by making 7-of-10 free throws in the final minute of the game.

The way Old Dominion played in the first half, it seemed unlikely that the Monarchs would need to sink free throws in the game’s final minute to earn the win.  While Hassell and the Monarchs’ frontline pulverized the Rams’ frontcourt in the first half, outscoring the Rams 16-6 in the paint, it was the three-point marksmanship of Bazemore and Trian Iliadis that enabled Old Dominion to take control at the half.  With ODU leading 21-19, Bazemore and Iliadis hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to 27-19.  Hassell scored five of the Monarchs’ final 12 first-half points, staking ODU to its 13-point halftime lead.

Not surprisingly, Old Dominion, one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, out-rebounded VCU 34-21.  The rebounding margin was 16-5 at one point during the first half.  The Monarchs shot 58.5 percent from the field (24-of-41), which helped to offset an abysmal 17-of-30 performance from the charity stripe, not to mention the 16 turnovers they committed.

Bradford Burgess led VCU with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting.  Jamie Skeen added 18 points, but was only 1-of-3 from three-point range.  The Rams shot just 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field, misfiring on 17 of their 27 three-point attempts.

Coach Blaine Taylor’s team can now rest easily on Selection Sunday, knowing its spot in the 2011 NCAA Tournament field of 68 is secure.  The VCU Rams are not in contention for an at-large bid to the Big Dance, but are almost certain to be invited to a post-season tournament, quite likely the NIT.

Tim Coyne
DFN Sports Staff Writer

It truly was a hassle for the Hofstra men’s basketball team to guard Frank Hassell, and that’s pretty much the reason why Old Dominion is going to be the favorite team in many college basketball towns and locker rooms on Monday night.

Hassell continued his stellar play in the 2011 CAA Tournament, scoring 22 points to lead the Old Dominion Monarchs past the Hofstra Pride and into the CAA championship game.  Hassell, who scored 24 points in the Monarchs’ 59-50 quarterfinal victory over Delaware, hit four crucial second-half free throws to help ODU stave off the Pride’s multiple comeback bids.

The first pair of key foul shots came after Hofstra got within 56-50 on a three-pointer by Charles Jenkins, the CAA Player of the Year, at the 12:01 mark of the second half.  Hassell made two free throws and hit a jumper, building the Monarchs’ lead back to 62-50.  The Pride had one more charge left in them, cutting a 72-61 deficit to 72-64 when Mike Moore made a three-pointer with 1:24 remaining.  While a comeback by the Pride at that point was highly improbable, Hassell rendered it all-but-impossible by sinking two foul shots to extend the lead to 74-64 with a minute to play.  Hassell is simply a meal-ticket scorer with a long and lean frame plus the motor to match. Old Dominion’s prime post player is a force of nature, a skilled operator in the painted area who can only be stopped by an equally elite big man. No one in the CAA has been able to rein in Hassell this season, and that’s why the Monarchs – who finished second in a cutthroat league that owns six 20-win teams – are now one win away from winning one of America’s tougher conference tournaments.

Darius James and Kent Bazemore added 16 and 11 points, respectively, for the Monarchs.  The Pride were led by Jenkins, who scored 16 points, but the senior guard struggled from the field, making only 6-of-16 field-goal attempts.  It was the final CAA tournament game for Jenkins, and the fans at Richmond Coliseum rightly applauded his efforts, chanting his name when Hofstra coach Mo Cassara subbed him out in the waning seconds of the game.

Old Dominion will face longtime rival Virginia Commonwealth in an all-Virginia CAA championship game.  The teams split the season series, with each winning on the other’s home court. Tip-off time is slated for 7:05 p.m. Eastern tonight, and the game will be televised by ESPN.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer