America East Notebook: Top Plays and Performances of the Past Two Weeks

Tommy Brenton introduces himself to Jake O’Brien and John Holland: The “Ballsy” play of the week came in the game of the decade.  With under a minute left in the third overtime of the marathon between Stony Brook and BU, Brian Dougher fed Tommy Brenton on a fast break. As Brenton closed in on the hoop, 6’5″ pogo-stick John Holland and 6’8″ Jake O’Brien appeared to cut off Brenton’s lane to the basket. But Stony Brook’s freshman wasn’t going to be denied, as he out-leapt the Terriers’ duo for an “in your face” elbows-above-the-rim, two-handed tomahawk slam, momentarily silencing the Terriers student section. Under any circumstances Brenton’s dunk was filthy, but it gets extra marks considering Stony Brook was trailing by one.

Marqus Blakely’s “Ah, to hell with this!” moment: After taking a beating for much of Vermont’s road win against Hartford, Blakely had had enough.  After catching a feed on the left baseline, Blakely spun around one defender, only to find two more standing between him and the bucket. After passing out of similar situations all night, Blakely decided enough was enough, and leapt over both Hawks defenders and slammed home a monster two-handed jam over what seemed like the entire Hawks roster.

Corey Lowe dials up John Holland from long distance: Against UMBC Lowe and Holland connected on a half-court lob resulting in a monster Holland jam. It was harder to tell what was more impressive: Holland’s full extension, rim at eye-level dunk, or Lowe’s perfect 50-foot pass.

Matt Wolff beats the Buzzer: Wolff swished a 50-footer against as the buzzer sounded at the end of the first half. At the time it seemed like more of an anomaly than an impact play, as the Terriers entered the half leading the University of Maryland-Baltimore County by 17 points (39-22). Two overtimes later, Wolff’s heave stood out, as BU needed every single point in their 80-77 win.

Brian Benson introduces himself to the Catamounts: Benson showed his jaw-dropping athleticism in one of the few bright moments for the Wildcats during their 44-point loss to Vermont. In one fluid motion he spun around a defender in the post, planted for a second on two feet, and exploded above the crowd of Catamounts for a backboard rattling two-handed slam. Benson then proceeded to nearly clear 6’8″ teammate Dane DiLiegro as he leapt in post-dunk excitement.

Proctor leaves it all on the court: Let’s be clear, Darryl Proctor is a warrior, Darryl Proctor is a monster. When you’re a 6’3″ power forward (in shoes on a very good day), you are going to be on the wrong side of a size mismatch every single night.  And when that same undersized player is ranking second in the conference in scoring and rebounding despite facing double and triple teams every night, you’ve got a special player on your hands. Proctor gets the snot beaten out of him every night as UMBC’s only offensive weapon, and with the Retrievers only employing a six-man rotation, Proctor knows no matter how hard it gets, there isn’t anyone on the bench ready to give him a breather, as he is averaging a league-leading 39.5 minutes per game. Proctor’s game isn’t always pretty, but he flat-out gets the job done it by being the toughest, smartest, hardest working player in the conference.

Proctor refused to roll over and die in the Retrievers’ embarrassing 76-42 loss to the Vermont, bulling his way to 22 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes of playing despite being triple-teamed while watching the rest of the Retrievers quit on him. Proctor followed up the Vermont game with 27 points while fighting through a Terriers swarm for 50 minutes on the court. Proctor battled so hard that he collapsed after the game, and was rushed to a nearby hospital to be hydrated. But Proctor saved his best performance for the following week, when he carried the Retrievers over then first-place (tied) Binghamton, scoring 26 points and ripping down nine rebounds, perhaps saving UMBC’s season.

Chris Martin fights for his father: There aren’t words to sum up the performance of Martin all season long, as he has left everything he has on the court and on the practice floor while his father has fought a losing battle against throat cancer. Martin drives back and fourth daily from the Stony Brook campus on Long Island to his father’s house in Queens, and still finds the inner strength to leave his heart on the floor every day. No performance was bigger for Martin than when he put Stony Brook on his back and carried them through four overtimes in their two point loss to BU. Martin was fearless and unstoppable as he poured in all 26 of his points after the intermission.

Eric Gilchrese does his mother proud: Like Martin, New Hampshire’s Gilchrese has played much of the season with his heart focused on something much larger than basketball, as his mother fought and ultimately lost her battle with cancer in early December. Gilchrese took a leave of absence from the Wildcats to return home, missing 12 games. In his first game back, Gilchrese exploded, scoring 22 points and shooting 5-7 from downtown in New Hampshire’s come from behind win on the road at Stony Brook. After the game, an emotional Gilchrese couldn’t bring himself to speak much about everything that he has endured, but he made his few words count, saying simply “R.I.P. Mom.”