Weekly Ram Report
Last week began with individual All-Conference honors for several men's basketball players and Head Coach Herb Magee, and it ended with the Rams advancing to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) semifinals after their win in the quarterfinals over University of the Sciences. Oh, and midway through the week, they managed to post the first undefeated league season in the NCAA history of the conference.
Earlier in the week, the CACC announced its All-Conference selections for the 2007-'08 season. Coach Magee was selected as the conference Coach of the Year, while sophomore forward Malcolm Ingram, senior forward Jason Hickenbottom and sophomore point guard Russell Frederick were named to the All-CACC teams, with Ingram picking up first-team honors and Frederick and Hickenbottom collecting third-team accolades.
Last Wednesday, Hickenbottom scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Philadelphia University to a 62-58 win at Goldey-Beacom College as the Rams indeed closed out the CACC regular season an unbeaten 16-0 in league play. Ingram contributed a double-double, adding 12 points and 12 boards; while sophomore swingman Marcus Lemon came off the bench to tie Hickenbottom for the team-high of 16 points.
The Rams certainly had to earn their final league win on the unblemished CACC campaign, as the Lightning led 17-12 at the halfway point of the opening period. However, Philadelphia University would go on a game-changing 18-3 run over the next six minutes, capped by a Lemon layup, to take a 30-20 lead with 3:38 left before halftime.
Both sides struggled from the field in the closing minutes of the first half, as the teams traded free throws down the stretch and the Rams led 32-23 heading into the locker room for the break. At the half, the Rams were shooting 41.7% (10-24) with half of their attempted and made field goals coming from beyond the three-point line (5-12). Goldey-Beacom was connecting on just 34.6% of their total field goals (9-26) with one-third (33.3%, 4-12) from long range.
The Rams opened up their largest advantage of the night when Hickenbottom made a layup with 14:14 left in the second half to put Philadelphia up 44-30. Goldey-Beacom remained at arm's length (or closer) the rest of the way, trimming the Rams' lead to six with 8:16 left and a score of 49-43.
Ingram shot a below-average 54.5% from the free-throw line at Goldey-Beacom, making six free throws on 11 attempts, about 10% under his percentage on the year. But none were bigger than the two he drained with 3:44 to go in the contest, a pair that put the Rams back up by double digits at 59-48.
From there, the Lightning pulled out all the stops, scoring 10 of the game's next 11 points to cut the Philadelphia lead to a single basket at 60-58 with twenty-six ticks remaining on the clock. Once again, the Rams had to rely on their free-throw shooting in the closing seconds, with Lemon and Ingram each hitting one out of two and lucky for the visitors, the Lightning rally stalled as they were unable to find the basket again and Philadelphia University escaped Wilmington with the four-point win, sweeping the season-series from Goldey-Beacom.
The top-seeded Rams then set their sights on the CACC tournament and an opening quarterfinal-round matchup with the University of the Sciences at The Gallagher Center on Saturday. Philadelphia University faced the always-difficult task of overcoming the same opponent three times in the same season, but that's exactly what they were able to accomplish against the Devils.
Frederick led the way with a game-high 20 points and
he dished out five assists as the Rams took a 65-44 decision
over USP. The win pushed the Rams to 20-11
overall as they advanced to the tournament semifinals
where Bloomfield College is on tap for Wednesday, March 5th at
7:00 p.m., once again on Herb Magee Court at The Gallagher
Center
Ingram added 14 points and seven boards for
Philadelphia, winners of a season-high eight straight
games. Lemon again shined off the bench while several
starters battled foul trouble, adding 11 points and seven
rebounds for the Rams, who also got ten points and nine rebounds
from sophomore center Mike Yocum.
Coach Magee's squad jumped out to a quick lead in the
contest, holding a 19-5 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining in
the first half. The lead then swelled to 18 points at 27-9
when Lemon converted on a layup with 5:14 left in the opening
frame. However, the Devils stormed back, going on a 15-0 run
to trim the lead to 27-24 before Frederick connected on one of his
four three-point field goals to snap the Rams' drought. The
Rams led by just six at the half, 30-24.
In the second half, Philadelphia University took control quickly,
with Lemon draining a three-pointer to jump-start a rally which saw
the Rams score the first 16 points of the period to take a
46-24 advantage. The Devils tried to make one more run, but
would get no closer than 19 points as the Rams have posted 20
overall victories for the 28th season in Magee's illustrious
41-year career at Philadelphia University; this includes five
consecutive campaigns.
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Here is a look at how the rest of the varsity athletic teams fared this past week:
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (19-9 overall, 12-6 CACC) -- The women's basketball team also was well-represented on the All-CACC teams for the 2007-'08 season, as Head Coach Tom Shirley's frontcourt duo of Jessica Romano and Ashley Webster was named to the All-Conference team in voting done by the league's coaches last Wednesday. Sophomore center Romano was named first-team All-CACC and senior forward Webster garnered second-team All-Conference accolades. For both players, it represented the first time being honored by the league for their season performance.
Webster (pictured above) certainly didn't let the accolades get to her head last Wednesday night, as the super senior led all scorers with 27 points and she pulled down 10 rebounds to pace the Lady Rams to their sixth-straight CACC and overall win as they closed out the regular season with an 80-74 victory at Goldey-Beacom College. Romano also recorded a double-double in the victory, scoring 18 points and securing a game-high 13 boards.
The final regular-season contest was a tight one for the Lady Rams, as neither they nor the Lady Lightning were able to gain a double-digit lead at any point in the game.
The evening opened with Goldey-Beacom taking a six-point advantage, their largest of the night, just three and a half minutes into the opening period when they were ahead 10-4. Six minutes later, after a 19-4 Lady Rams' run, Shirley's team had their biggest lead of the game when sophomore point guard Nina Brascetta scored a layup to put the visitors up nine, 23-14, with 10:34 remaining in the first half.
It was back and forth for the rest of the opening frame, as the score would be tied four times in the final ten minutes before halftime, including at 39-39 heading into the locker rooms for the break.
The Lady Rams held serve for the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, establishing leads between one and six points before yielding a three-pointer to Goldey-Beacom with 9:55 left that put the Lady Lightning back up by one, 60-59.
That would mark the last time the hosts were in front, as Romano, Webster and junior guard Amanda Brennan, who came off the bench to score 12 points -- seven in the key closing stages of the second half - blazed the trail down the stretch to extend the Lady Rams' season-long win streak to six games. Philadelphia University also earned their third consecutive season sweep of the annual two-game series with the Lady Lightning. Amanda's sister Kate Brennan added 13 points and six rebounds in the winning effort on white-hot 5-7 (71.4%) shooting, including 3-4 (75%) from three-point territory.
With the win, Philadelphia University earned the third-seed in the CACC tournament, as well as the right to travel back to the Diamond State to New Castle, Del. to face second-seeded Wilmington University in a South Division quarterfinal-round matchup which was held last Saturday, March 1st.
In that contest, freshman guard Stephanie Agger posted a career-high 18 points, but it was not enough to prevent the third-seeded Lady Rams from a 77-69 defeat, their third loss on the season to the host and second-seeded Wildcats.
Romano poured in a team-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out while Webster notched 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds; both solid performances in the losing cause for Philadelphia University.
The Lady Rams are eliminated from further CACC postseason play; and Coach Shirley's squad now awaits word about a possible bid to the ECAC Division II Tournament.
Philadelphia University fell behind early in their matchup with Wilmington, as the Wildcats held a commanding 33-16 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. But the Lady Rams did mount a charge in the closing stages of the opening period when sophomore guard Brascetta registered her only points on the day, a three-point field goal that trimmed the Wildcat lead to five with 2:11 remaining until the break. The momentum would prove short-lived however, as Wilmington scored the final six points to go back up by double figures, taking a 43-32 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
Philadelphia University battled valiantly throughout the second period, staying within an arm's length of Wilmington most of the way, and even cutting the Wildcat margin to one after four straight points from Agger made the score 65-64 with just 2:35 left in the game.
That would be as close as the Lady Rams would get, as the Wildcats' clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed their passage to the CACC tournament semifinals. Wilmington scored their final 14 points from the charity stripe, where they shot 16-19 (84.2%) overall and 14-16 in the final four minutes of the contest.
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Taking a look at the coming week, in addition to men's CACC semifinal basketball, spring-sport seasons begin in men's tennis, baseball and women's lacrosse. Head Coach Marty Gilbert's men's tennis team serves up a pair of matches, at Arcadia University on Wednesday, March 5th at 3:00 p.m. and at home on the Main Campus Courts this Saturday, March 8th at 1:00 p.m. against Adelphi University. Also, Head Coach Mark Heineman's baseball team is on deck for three games next Sunday and Monday, March 9th-10th. On Sunday, the Rams host a doubleheader at 12:00 noon versus Franklin Pierce University, the #2-ranked team in all of Division II. On Monday, Philadelphia University welcomes the #2 ranked team in the Northeast Region (behind Franklin Pierce, naturally) as Bryant University comes to Alumni Field for a game that is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Lastly, first-year Head Coach Jenn Devinney has her women's lacrosse team prepped for their season-opener, also at home next Sunday, March 9th as the Lady Rams host St. Anselm College at Ravenhill Field at 12:00 noon.
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Finally, if you can't make it to the Gallagher Center arena on campus for remaining home games in the CACC basketball tournament, be sure to follow along from home (or wherever you might be) via any or all of the following digital offerings from the Department of Athletics:
- Log onto the new live stats service
- Listen to live audio play-by-play on Teamline
- Watch pay-per-view video via Penn Atlantic at CACC.tv.
