Brits in College: Week 9 Recap

By Rowan Shiell
We are almost halfway through the season, and about to go knee deep in conference play.  It’s a time to renew old rivalries, unless you’re in the Big East which is about to implode, and make a last stand. Especially if the non-conference campaign didn’t go so well. This is the last chance to show the selectors of any post-season tournament that you belong. Some of our guys got off to a good start, in conference play, while others dropped the ball. But it is early days, plenty of work left to do.

Player of the Week

Ben Mockford | St Francis NY | Junior | Guard | @BenMockford

Sacred Heart (4-9, 2-0 NEC) snapped St Francis’s three game winning streak, on Saturday. Mockford made only one of his five field goal attempts but it was a three pointer that gave St Francis a brief lead, with two minutes on the clock. Unfortunately they could not hold on.

However Mockford would have his best  game of the season against Mount St Mary’s (6-8, 1-2 NEC), on Thursday. The 6’2” junior scored 19 points on 6-9 shooting. He made five of his six three point attempts and both his free throw attempts. He opened the second half of the game with four consecutive three pointers giving St Francis a much need cushion, which they never relinquished.

St Francis is currently fourth in conference standings.

It’s good to see Mockford regain his form as he seemed to have been in a slump for a while. Hopefully this will, to coin an old phrase, take the monkey off his back.

Best of the Rest

Andrew Lawrence | College of Charleston | Senior | Guard | @andrewcofc04.

Despite only making 34% of their field goal attempts, Charleston was able to pull off a victory against Furman (3-10, 0-2 Southern). The Cougars went on a late game run, capped off by an Andrew Lawrence three pointer (see video below), to pull off the victory on Saturday. Lawrence finished with 13 points but it wasn’t one of his best shooting nights, as he was 3-13 from the field.

Charleston would have been 3-0 in conference if they hadn’t dropped a home game to Samford (4-12, 2-1 Southern) on Thursday. Lawrence scored 14 points but only made one of his six three point attempts.

After taking down Baylor this must have been a disappointing loss, considering they were at home. This is the first time Samford had beaten Charleston in 13 games.

Ashley Hamilton | Loyola Marymount | Senior | Forward | @thekingash

On Saturday, Ashley Hamilton scored 15 points to go with 6 rebounds in a loss to St Mary’s (12-3, 1-0 WCC). That meant LMU were 0-2 in conference play. Not a great start but their first three games are against the big boys in the West Coast Conference, so not a total surprise.

(St Mary’s Australian guard, Mathew Dellavedova, one of two college players to take part in the London Olympics (the other being Andrew Lawrence) was the leading scorer with 17 points and 8 assists)

Next game was against Santa Clara (12-5, 1-2 WCC), Steve Nash’s alma mater, was a hard fought come from behind victory for LMU and their first conference win. Hamilton chipped in 17 points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench.

At least they won one out of three.

Fahro Alihodzic | University Alabama at Birmingham | Junior | Center

UAB had two games over the week that resulted in losses. Fahro scored 10 points against Dayton (10-4) on Saturday, and then followed that up with eight points in UAB’s (8-8, 0-1 C-USA) first conference game, against UCF (11-4, 1-0 C-USA), on Wednesday.

Next game is on Saturday against the conference favorite, Memphis (11-3, 1-0 C-USA).

Alasdair Fraser | Maine | Junior | Forward | @bigali15

On Saturday, Maine continued their winning streak (taking it up to 4 in a row) as they were victorious over UMBC (2-13, 0-2 Am. East) giving them a 2-0 conference record. Fraser was the co-leading scorer, along with team mate Justin Edwards, with 17 points. The Scottish forward also chipped in with six boards.

Next game was against Hartford (10-6, 3-0 Am. East), who ended Maine’s four game winning streak. Fraser had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Will Neighbour | Arkansas Little Rock | Junior | Forward

Will Neighbour scored 14 points to go with five rebounds and two steals in a three point loss to Troy (6-10, 1-4 Sun Belt), on Saturday.

On Thursday, the 6’10” junior scored only nine points but had 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a win over North Texas (6-11, 1-5 Sun Belt).

Arkansas Little Rock are now 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the Sun Belt Conference.

Keith Rendleman | North Carolina-Wilmington | Senior | Forward

UNCW (5-9, 0-2 CAA) are on a four game slide. They lost on Saturday to Northeastern, by four. Rendleman had another double double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. He also had three blocks.

Wednesday saw UNCW lose by 18 points to James Madison (8-8, 2-1 CAA). Rendleman was not as active on the rebounds as normal; he only had three, but scored 17 points to go with two blocks.

Allie Fullah | Charleston Southern|Junior| Center

Allie Fullah scored a season high 10 points in a win over Radford (6-9, 0-1 Big South) to help Charleston Southern (6-6, 1-0 Big South) win their first conference game. The 6’7″ center also had three blocks in 26 minutes, second most he had played all year even though he currently starts.  Previously he had played 28 minutes against their rivals College of Charleston featuring Andrew Lawrence.

Fullah scored four points, to go with three rebounds and two blocks in a victory over Winthrop (6-8, 0-2 Big South). He only played 15 minutes, which is around his normal playing time this season.

Thoughts? Anyone else deserve a mention? Let us know in the comments!