Men’s basketball looking to surprise despite low hopes

 The University at Albany men’s basketball team will go into the America East Conference tournament hoping to spoil the party for its higher-ranked counterparts.

   UAlbany coach Will Brown will have a difficult task at hand in guiding his team through the tournament after finishing with a 2-14 record in conference play.

   The Danes will open the tournament as the No. 9 seed and will play in the first round play-in game Thursday against Maryland-Baltimore County, the only team that the Danes beat in the conference.

   “Just because we beat them twice I don’t think that we need to prepare differently from the first two times,” Brown said. “I think the only advantage we have is that we have beat them twice but I think the mentality for both teams is that we have nothing to lose. Usually teams in that type of scenario play fairly loose and players play fairly loose.”

   The Danes will have an interesting matchup should they beat UMBC, as they would have to face No. 1 seed Stony Brook in the quarterfinals. The Danes lost to the Seawolves, 68-66, on a last-second shot at home on Feb. 19. In that game, the Danes played with the lead for long stretches and showed that, despite their record, they can compete with the top teams in the conference.

   What remains to be seen is how the youth of the Danes will compete, as freshman Mike Black will be making his first conference tournament appearance after a successful rookie campaign in which he averaged 10.1 points per game in conference play.

   “I think that some teams will probably be taking us lightly looking at our record,” said Black, who has averaged 29.7 minutes a game in conference play. “We haven’t had a great year this year but I feel like we can compete with anyone in the league. Nobody can really beat anybody by 20 points or something; anyone can beat anyone.”

   The tournament will be held at the University of Hartford, at whom Albany played its final game of the season, giving them a chance to get familiar with the territory.

   “I just think you get used to the surroundings. I know when you haven’t played someplace in a while a lot of coaches feel that as much time on the court for shootaround or practice time is imperative just to get used to the surroundings,” Brown said.

   “We get to play a game (in Hartford) four days before our first game of the tournament,” said Billy Allen, who will be playing in his second conference tournament. “It’s going to be a little bit of an advantage. I mean, you only get like an hour on the court (to practice) when you get to the tournament at that gym.”

   The tournament favorite is not easy to decipher as Stony Brook, Vermont, Maine, and Boston University have all played well in conference play. Defending champion Binghamton has gone through several controversies but has played well enough to earn a number five seed and will look to do damage as well.

   Tournament play begins Thursday with Albany’s play-in game and concludes on Sunday with semifinals. Final games will be played March 13th at the court of the higher seeded team.
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   The UAlbany basketball team lost in overtime to the Hartford Hawks in the final game of the regular season, 85-79.

   Will Harris had a monster day, scoring 26 points on the day including four three-pointers while Logan Aronhalt had a career-high (?) 18 points, however their play was not enough as the Hawks were able to pull away in overtime to take home the victory.

   After Aronhalt made two free throws to make the score 72-70 with 1:10 to play in the game, Brett Gifford was called for a foul on the Hawks’ Anthony Minor with nine seconds on the clock. Minor drained the free throws and the game went to overtime.

   In the start of the extra session, Albany struggled to convert on their shots, allowing Hartford to pull away with a 78-72 lead 2:00 into the period. After Aronhalt hit a three-pointer, Hartford’s Milton Burton responded with one of his own and the Hawks never looked back.