CAA Tournament Quick Hitters – First Round

RICHMOND, Va. – A few more quick hitters from the first round of the CAA Tournament:

• Georgia State big man James Vincent didn’t have big numbers, but you couldn’t help but notice him. He scored six points on 3-3 shooting, but all came on nice post moves to get close shots. UNC Wilmington doesn’t have much size, but Vincent could have scored on a lot of post players with what he showed. It’s enough to make you wonder why he didn’t do it more often.
• Anyone watching Drexel hold off Towson surely noticed Dartaye Ruffin’s struggles at the foul line late. He took four free throws in the final minutes and missed all of them badly, including a couple of airballs. Ruffin, who hurt his shoulder earlier in the week, finished just shy of a double-double with eight points and 12 rebounds, helping the Dragons to a commanding 43-26 edge on the glass.
• A formula for success for Northeastern included the starting perimeter trio of Chaisson Allen, Jonathan Lee and Joel Smith all scoring in double figures. That happened on Friday, but the Huskies lost for the fourth time when they did that. They were 8-4 in those games.
• Jawan Carter didn’t get much help from the complementary players in the first half, but got plenty in the second half and it made all the difference for Delaware. Devon Saddler and D.J. Boney combined for 20 points in the latter frame, with Saddler making a big three-pointer from the left wing that put the Blue Hens ahead for good with less than three minutes to play.
• Delaware isn’t known for their offense, but the Blue Hens had a pretty good night on Friday. They shot 51.2 percent from the field, including 7-14 from long range.
• One stat that can get lost easily in William & Mary’s win is what Kendrix Brown did. The junior guard has been in and out of the starting lineup this season as he has had his struggles, but he’s played better of late and was a key on Saturday night. He had eight points and four assists, but more importantly, nine rebounds, and none bigger than two that he grabbed in traffic in the final minutes.”Kendrix is a great example of this team,” said head coach Tony Shaver. “His resurgence has been one of the real keys to our last month of basketball. He doesn’t do a lot offensively in the scoring column, but he had four assists and one turnover tonight, and he had nine man-rebounds tonight. Every one of them was a big rebound.”
• Both James Madison and William & Mary had more than 20 made field goals but a single digit number of assists.