After the game, Georgetown Coach John Thompson described the level of Big East competition, “Each game in our league is big.”

The men of St. John’s (8-9, 2-4) made a strong impression on the 11^th ranked Georgetown Hoyas (14-3, 4-2) by taking a 13-5 lead at 12:18. Freshman Moe Harkless led the attack with seven points.

The Hoyas ended the Red Storm advantage by scoring 12 unanswered points to take a 17-13 lead. The first half concluded with Georgetown leading, 25-19.

Each team had identical statistics in several categories during the first half, field goals, turnovers, assists and blocks.

The Red Storm cut the deficit to three, 28-25, at 17:06 of the second half on a layup by Harkless. Each move by St. John’s was met by a stronger response from the visiting Hoyas who netted the next nine points to again raise the lead to double digits, 37-25.

St. John’s made a final run to slash the advantage to three, 48-45, with 6:36 on the clock. The Hoyas used their superiority in size and experience to crush St. John’s, 69-49, by outscoring them, 21-4 to conclude the contest.

Assistant Coach Mike Dunlap, running the games for the recovering Steve Lavin of St. John’s, gave credit to Georgetown forward Hollis Thompson for the defeat, “In the second half, Hollis [Thompson] got loose on us. He made the difference.”

Thompson, the leading three-point shooter in the Big East, uncharacteristically missed all his shots from the floor in the first half. In the second half, he netted all five of his shots from beyond the arc and both from closer range. He scored all 20 of his points in the second half.

Dunlap was fielding a team that played only seven men, five of them freshmen, “I think our resources are a little shallow to keep that [defense] up over the second half.”

Other factors also were in Georgetown’s control. The outrebounded the Red Storm (42-34); they doubled the number of field goals scored by St. John’s in the second stanza; they prevented the Red Storm from scoring a three-pointer; they received 23 from their bench to only seven from St. John’s.

According to Georgetown Coach John Thompson III the change came at a certain time, “Once we picked up our energy level, the offense improved and the defense improved.”

In the second game, the Marquette Golden Eagles (12-6, 3-2) edged the St. John’s Red Storm (11-7, 3-2), 63-55. The game was tied five times and the lead changed hands on 11 occasions.

Marquette was ahead by double figures with eight minutes left in the game, but the Red Storm cut the advantage to four points, 59-55, with 57 seconds remaining. The Golden Eagles scored the final four points to earn the win.

After the contest, St. John’s Coach Kim Barnes Arico commented, “When we bring our A game, we are capable of beating anyone in the country…But when we don’t bring our A game, anyone is capable of doing the same to us.”

Or, in the case of head coach Mo Cassara’s game night wardrobe choice, it’s sometimes better to change nothing at all.

The Hofstra Pride may be a mediocre 6-7 so far this season, but Cassara’s suit is a perfect 4-0 after his team forced 18 first-half turnovers, built a 19-point second-half lead, and held on down the stretch for a surprising 83-75 upset victory over the Iona Gaels (10-3) before 4,258 fans at the Mack Sports Complex on Thursday night.

After a 2-1 start to the season, the Pride lost six of its next seven games. Hofstra’s only win in that stretch was ten-point victory over talented Cleveland State (12-2), during which Cassara sported a dark gray suit with a white shirt and yellow tie.

Some coaches go back to the drawing board after results like that.

Cassara however, consulted his closet, and out came the same ensemble for Hofstra’s next two games – a 20-point domination of Binghamton and a 23-point thrashing of Colgate, each at home.

Naturally, Cassara went back to his strong suit again, this time, to beat Iona, the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference favorite.

“I’ve worn this suit the last three games,” a relaxed Cassara confessed after the win. “I actually wore it for the Cleveland State game. Same socks, same shoes, same shirt. I’m actually excited to get it dry cleaned because that means we’re starting to play pretty well [again].”

Hofstra did, on Thursday night, to the dismay of Iona, which came out flat and sloppy, committing a season-high 23 turnovers, 18 in the opening half, when the Pride held a 17-6 advantage in points off turnovers to build a 43-28 lead by intermission, after closing the final 8:32 of the half on a game-turning 21-6 run.

The Pride scored the first four points of the second half to extend its advantage to a game-high lead of 47-28 (matched twice later) on a jumper by senior guard Mike Moore, who rebounded from a poor 1-for-6 start from the field, to finish 8-for-17 from the floor (including 4-for-9 from three-point range) and lead all scorers with 24 points.

Unlike in some of the Pride’s losses this season, Moore this time, had enough help, especially from a pair of players – senior guard/forward Nathaniel Lester and junior forward David Imes – whom the Pride had counted on as being the second and third scoring options to Moore, but who had largely disappointed this year.

Eclipsing 13 points for just the third time this year, Lester added 21 points (14 in the second half) on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and ten rebounds, and Imes (16 points, game and season-high 15 rebounds) finished well above his season averages of 6.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Cassara knows he’ll need that type of production from his forwards if Hofstra is to continue its turnaround, and he’s hoping that a win over the Gaels this year will have the same effect that a humbling 25-point loss was to Iona exactly a year ago.

“Last year at Iona was a turning point for us,” Cassara said. “From that point on, we played very well for the rest of the season.” In Cassara’s rookie year as a Division I head coach last season, the Pride went on to its highest finish (tied for second place) in the Colonial Athletic Association.

This time, performing so well against Iona might be just what Imes and Lester needed to help Hofstra get hot again.

“It’s a big confidence booster,” Imes said. “I needed that.”

Lester, who entered the game shooting just 36.9 percent from the field for the season, added, “Seeing the ball go through the basket helps [my] confidence, it puts confidence in my teammates, and [can] help us get on a roll.”

Senior point guard Dwan McMillan also outplayed former high school (St. Benedict’s Prep, NJ) teammate and Iona star Scott Machado (who entered with 14.3 points and 10.4 assists per game).

With junior point guard Stevie Mejia sitting out for the fifth time in six games with an injury, McMillan played the entire game, scoring ten points, handing out nine assists, and committing four turnovers.

Machado meanwhile, scored just five points and committed a game-high six turnovers despite posting a game-high ten assists before fouling out with 2:37 left.

The Pride maintained as much as a 13-point lead until Harlem, NY product and University of Arizona transfer Lamont “Momo” Jones, who scored 16 of his team-high 20 points in the second half, helped keep Iona in the game. The Gaels closed to within seven points on five separate occasions in the final 7:46, but could get no closer.

Both Jones and head former C.W. Post (Division II) head coach Tim Cluess (who was passed over by Hofstra when the Pride hired Cassara) each admitted that some Iona players were more concerned about their families and friends in attendance, and finally getting to play near their own New Rochelle, NY campus again, after a starting a road swing 6-1, at mostly much further locales than Hempstead.

“We didn’t come out ready to play,” Jones said. “I think we were too happy to be [near] home, not really taking this game as we would have, naturally, on the road [further from home].”

Cluess added, “I knew we were in a little bit of trouble when it became more about tickets for the game than about the game itself.”

He also thought his team was complacent from its earlier season success and some resulting media publicity, while praising Hofstra.

“I thought they played a heck of a game right from the get-go,” Cluess said. “They came with more energy than us, [and] they played harder than us, right from the start. It looked like it meant more to them than it did to our guys… I think our guys were drinking the Kool-Aid a little too much… way too many second-chance opportunities. I think 45 of their 83 points were handed to them.”

The first-year Division I head coach was referring to Hofstra 26 points off of turnovers, 13 second-chance points, and six fast break points. In contrast, the Pride gave the Gaels 33 easy points, including 18 points off of 16 Hofstra turnovers and ten fast break points, but just five second-chance points.

Powerful star senior forward and Bronx native Mike Glover (20 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field), who scored six of Iona’s first ten points on three dunks, chimed in on the intensity shown by the Gaels’ opponents, saying, “I think they were very hungry.”

Reflecting on his team’s other big win this season, Cassara said, “Probably on paper, the two best teams that we’ve played this year are Cleveland State and Iona, RPI-wise, record-wise, everything-wise, personnel-wise, and we’ve beaten both of them, so we certainly have the capability to be very competitive.”

As for the lucky suit?

Cassara didn’t say if he’d wear it for Hofstra’s next game, on Monday night at 7 pm ET, when Hofstra (0-1 CAA) hosts last year’s Final Four participant Virginia Commonwealth (10-3, 0-1 CAA), as the calendar turns to 2012 and the schedule focuses exclusively on conference play (except for a February non-conference Bracketbuster game) for the remainder of the regular season.

Being able to wear a lot more post-victory smiles however, would suit Cassara just fine.

* * *

Notes: In attendance, were well-known WFAN (New York) sports radio talk show host Mike Francessa (opposite the Hofstra bench) and to the left of the Iona bench, along the west baseline, former NBA player Wally Szcerbiak (who starred at nearby Cold Spring Harbor high school) and his father and ex-ABA player Walter Szcerbiak.

The consolation game was the first of two scheduled non-conference meetings between the Cowboys and the Hokies. They will face one another again on New Year’s Eve. Playing two non-conference games with the same team in one season is a rarity. It occurred most recently for Virginia Tech in 1992-93 and for Oklahoma State in 1993-94. Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said, ”It’s almost like a 13^th league opponent.”

Both the consolation and championship games on Friday were very competitive with the outcomes not decided until the final seconds. The Cowboys scored the first eight points in the opening contest on Friday afternoon. With the score 12-7 in favor of OSU, the Hokies scored 14 unanswered points to go ahead by a score of 21-12 with 6:40 remaining in the first half. Neither team could take advantage during the remainder of the half as Virginia Tech still led by nine, 32-23

A lay-up by Eric Green opened the second half to give the Hokies the game’s only double digit differential in points. A 14-6 scoring run by the Cowboys cut the led to three, 40-37 with 12:10 left in the game. The Cowboys shot more accurately than Virginia Tech in the second half, but could not capture the lead. Virginia Tech was victorious, 59-57.

After the contest, Cowboys’ coach Travis Ford explained the reasons for his team’s defeat, “I thought in the first half, we gave up way too many points off turnovers (12)…It’s tough to win any game when you give up 21 offensive rebounds, very tough. 21 offensive rebounds to go with 30 free throws is tough to overcome.”

The championship contest was ugly, especially in the first half, but very competitive. It was the first time the two teams ever played. Despite Syracuse’s favored status, especially at MSG which is like a second home to the Orange, neither team led by more than eight points. Syracuse won the title by a score of 69-63.

Four points were the greatest advantage that either team could muster in the opening half. The score was tied twice and the lead changed hands nine times during the first 20 minutes. Each team committed double figures of turnovers, shot under 40 % from the floor, sunk only one three, and missed more free throws than it netted. Stanford was ahead by one point, 25-24, when the buzzer sounded to end the first half.

The play of both teams improved greatly during the second half. The percentage of shooting from the floor, from three point range and from the charity stripe was much higher in the final 20 minutes. As in the opening half, the score was twice tied and the lead changed hands on nine occasions. The size, athleticism and capability of the Orange allowed to turn an eight point Stanford lead with 6:47 remaining to a six point victory.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was victorious in his 862^nd game, 2^nd among active coaches and 5^th all time. The veteran coach spoke of his team’s play after the contest ended, “We played 40 minutes of good defense and 35 minutes of horrendous offense. Without the pressure we wouldn’t have won. That [full court press] was the difference.”

The tournament MVP, Kris Joseph of Syracuse, modestly gave credit to his teammates for his award, “If I could cut it up [award] and share it with all the players, I would.

Until the NBA season begins on Christmas day, the focus of hoops fans will be on college basketball. The next college basketball doubleheader at MSG will take place on Sunday afternoon, December 4, The Big Apple Classic.

RUTGERS-The Scarlet Knights,off of a surprisingly good 15-17 record under first year head coach Mike Rice, return stars Gilvydas Biruta and Dane Miller and shooter Mike Poole. They also bring in a talented freshman class anchored by St. Anthony’s point guard and Jerome Seagears from Baltimore. The Knights will mss the scoring of Jonathan Mitchell, now playing in Europe, but for the first time in years have much depth and athleticism. They play a challenging schedule which includes LSU and Florida at the RAC and Miami on the road.  Prediction: NIT.

SETON HALL- They return pg Jerome Theodore and forward Herb Pope, but lose leading scorer Jeremy Hazell from last year’s disappointing squad. Second year head coach Kevin Willard brings in some talented but untested frosh who will have to contribute.    Prediction: No postseason.

ST. JOHN’S- The surprise of the Big East regular season last year under new head coach Steve Lavin. The veteran coach and former UCLA mentor had 10 seniors on his squad and they finally performed as a unit. He lost all of them, along with a frosh transfer and he returns exactly 3.0 of scoring. Lavin brought in a Top 10 nationally recruiting class, but 5 of them will not be eligible until second semester.The star of that class is 6-8 Maurice Harkless. He also has one of the most challenging out of Conference schedules in the country. Lavin is a good coach and Gene Keady, former Purdue coach is an excellent bench assistant, but the team will struggle, especially early on. Prediction: No postseason.

Yet, even for a team which has become used to exceeding expectations this season, the Pride’s latest win – rallying for an exhilarating 92-90 overtime victory over CAA rival James Madison (15-6, 5-4) before 2,324 fans at the Mack Sports Complex on Monday night – provided another revelation about the grit, determination and growth which has thus far propelled Hofstra (14-6, 8-1) to this point in the season.

Like the early part of season, which saw the Cassara regime stumble to a 1-3 start with only a lone win over Division III Farmingdale State, much looked lost for the Pride against JMU on Monday night.

The team that lost two head coaches (one to another head coaching job, another to a drunken driving charge), two all-CAA rookie starters (who subsequently defected to other schools), and another key player to an injury during the offseason blew early leads of 7-0 and 13-5, and led just 17-16 with 10:44 left in the opening half.

A three-pointer by junior guard Mike Moore (14 points, 7 rebounds) pushed Hofstra’s lead back to 22-16, just 1:01 later. But, the Dukes closed the half on a 25-6 run to lead, 41-28, at halftime, and JMU extended that margin to a game’s largest advantage, 43-28, just 27 seconds into the second half.

Leading the way for JMU to that point were senior forward Denzel Bowles (team-high 27 points, 10 rebounds) and junior forward Julius Wells (23 points), who combined to outscore Hofstra themselves in the first half (Bowles scored 15 points and Wells had 14 points before halftime).

Bowles gave the Dukes a 52-38 lead on a jumper with 14:47 left, but freshman guard Shemiye McClendon (14 of Hofstra’s 16 bench points) scored three points before and after Jenkins (game-high 35 points, 11-19 fg, 11-13 ft) scored five points during an 11-0 Hofstra spurt that pulled the Pride to within 52-49, with 11:22 left in regulation.

However, four different Dukes scored during a 17-9 run, to push JMU’s lead back to 69-58, with 6:34 remaining in the second half.

Hofstra though, began to move the ball nicely to get right back in the game again. Senior Australian point guard Brad Kelleher (10 points, team-high 5 assists, 1 turnover) made a three-pointer and a pair of free throws, and then nice skip passes by Moore and Kelleher on consecutive three-pointers by Jenkins and McClendon highlighted an 11-2 Pride run which cut the Dukes’ lead to just 71-69, with 3:33 left in the half, forcing a JMU timeout.

The Dukes would twice build a five-point lead, but two free throws from Jenkins and a layup by Moore pulled Hofstra to within 76-75, with 1:16 remaining in regulation.

Russian sophomore forward Andrey Semenov (10 points, 8-8 ft, off the bench) hit two free throws to extend JMU’s lead to 78-75 with 53.4 seconds left in the half, but a nice swooping layup along the right blocks by Kelleher trimmed JMU’s lead to 78-77, with 38.2 seconds left in the half.

Sophomore guard Devon Moore (13 points, game-high 8 assists) made one free throw but a lane violation by Semenov denied Moore a second attempt, and JMU led 79-78.

McClendon then made two free throws to tie the game, 79-79, with 17.6 seconds left in regulation.

Devon Moore drove along the left blocks looking for a game-winning basket, but sophomore guard Yves Jules (Brooklyn, NY), who only played four minutes, and whose only box score contribution was a single steal, typified what Cassara has been preaching to his team about the little things it takes to compete for a conference title.

Jules stripped Moore and time ran out, sending the game to overtime, with Hofstra riding momentum.

“I don’t think anybody in [the media room after the game] probably thought we’d be 8-1 [in CAA play] right now, including myself,” said Cassara. “But, this team is coming together as a group and as a family, and we believe in each other. One thing I’m really proud of is our bench is [mentally] into the game every game, and that’s the type of stuff that’s going to continue to help us win games…Yves Jules who didn’t play a lot of minutes, comes in and plays three great defensive possessions for us.”

Nicknamed “The Jury Box” by his teammates, Jules, who averages just 8.4 minutes per game, helps set the defensive tone in practice for the Pride.

We call him the “Jury Box” because he locks up with his defensive ability. He gets us going all the time and all his stuff starts on defense.”

That was an area that needed considerable improvement after halftime for Hofstra to be able to rally to victory. “I think we got complacent on defense,” Cassara said about his team’s ability to take “The Jury Box’s” cue and lock in defensively after Hofstra built its early lead.

But, a switch from an earlier zone defense helped turn things around. JMU shot 48.5 percent (16-for-36) from the field in the opening half, but just 37 percent (10-for-27) from the floor in the second half.

“The one thing we have to do is switch our defenses, said Cassara, “and once we did that, [it helped us] win. We went to man-to-man and that really helped us.”

In contrast to JMU, the Pride caught fire after halftime, outscoring JMU 51-38 in the second half and 13-11 in overtime. Hofstra shot 53.6 percent (15-for-28) from the field after shooting 41.9 percent (13-for-31) in the first half.

A free throw and jumper by Jenkins, a three-pointer by McClendon, and a couple of free throws by Moore sparked an 8-1 Hofstra run that gave the Pride a 90-83 lead with 2:05 left in the extra session, but JMU scored the next six points on a three-pointer by Wells and a three-point play by Bowles, to cut the Pride’s lead to 90-89, with 53.1 seconds left in the game.

That’s when another freshman off of Hofstra’s bench, forward Stephen Nwaukoni (Queens, NY), came through for the Pride.

Like McClendon in the final seconds of regulation, Nwaukoni coolly hit a pair of free throws to extend Hofstra’s lead to 92-89, with 4.6 seconds remaining.

Cassara was especially proud that his two freshmen came through with the poise of upperclassmen in such big spots.

“You have two freshmen,” he said. “One hit two free throws at the end of regulation and one hit two free throws in overtime. I tell our guys every day in practice, free throws are going to win us [games].”

It was no accident that the two freshmen stepped up, especially Nwaukoni, whose effort was noted by Jenkins, an extremely hard worker himself.

“He’s always here an hour early, shooting free throws, working on his game,” Jenkins said of Nwaukoni. “Before he took those free throws, I told him, you worked too hard not to make these.”

Getting to the foul line was a particular point of emphasis for Cassara during intermission. “I jumped on our guys at halftime and told them [that] we only had one free throw in the first half,” Cassara said.

Actually, neither team shot many free throws in the first half (JMU was 3-for-5, Hofstra was 0-for-1), but the Dukes ended up 25-for-33 at the foul line, making 18 of 21 free throws in the second half. The Pride sank 15 of 16 second-half free throws and finished 21-for-23 at the foul line.

Rather than rely on a defensive stop, Cassara then elected to put the Dukes on the foul line. McClendon immediately fouled Wells near midcourt with 3.9 seconds left.

Wells made the first free throw, but missed the second. Jenkins pulled down his third rebound and time expired, giving Hofstra its third straight win following its only conference loss of the season.

Continuing the usual tradition after each home game, an appreciative Jenkins and his teammates visited the Lion’s Den, the Hofstra Student section behind the basket near the opposing team’s bench. “If my arms were big enough, I’d give the whole student section a big hug,” said a smiling Jenkins.

The contributions of senior forward Greg Washington (Centereach, NY) — who had 13 points and game-highs of 11 rebounds and 5 blocks – and the Pride getting Bowles running and fatigued helped Hofstra down the stretch.

“Greg Washington deserves a ton of credit,” said Cassara. “He just did a great job [defending Bowles down the stretch]. And, the one thing we wanted to do was get [Bowles] up and down the court and I think you saw in the last three or four minutes [of regulation] and in overtime, he was kind of laboring a little bit, and our plan worked.”

Cassara called the victory “a great win,” and said, “I’m just so proud of the way our guys hung in there.”

If half-year conference awards were given out, the first-half CAA Coach of the Year would undoubtedly go to Cassara, yet the rookie Division I head coach remains humble and hungry to make his team better.

“I’m a work in progress very much like [my players],” he said. “But, they believe in what I’m telling them and what our staff is telling them, and that’s half the battle. Once they believe in it, I think we can continue to execute even better.”

The key to Hofstra’s success to this point in the season has been focusing on the present rather than dwelling on all that the Pride had to overcome since last season.

“We have every excuse not to be successful,” said Jenkins, who once again played before several NBA scouts on Monday night. “We had all the odds against us. We’ve got a first-year head coach who lost all these players and we had all these things happen in the offseason, and our ability to just let everything go and just play basketball, is just starting to show… our guys are really buying in and playing hard.”

Jenkins’ second-highest scoring output of the season places him just 35 points shy of the Hofstra all-time scoring record of 2,276 career points (set by Jenkins’ former teammate Antoine Agudio, two years ago).

But, personal accolades have never meant much to Jenkins, the nation’s third-leading scorer and the country’s current active career scoring leader. Instead, his primary goal throughout a brilliant college career has been to get his team to the NCAA tournament.

“More importantly, my team is winning,” he said.

So, how satisfying has the winning been for a team that was picked fifth in the CAA and which is the only non-traditional CAA power that is currently positioned for a first-round bye in the CAA tournament with three other perennial CAA mainstays?

“I can’t say it’s satisfying yet,” said Jenkins. “We have a long way to go. If you ask me that question in March, maybe I’ll have a different answer.”

The next step toward finding that fulfillment will be a first-place showdown at Virginia Commonwealth (16-5, 8-1) on Thursday at 7pm ET, before Hofstra returns home to The Mack against Drexel, on Saturday at 4pm ET.

There have of course, have been many games on the Hofstra campus over that time, that were much bigger than the Pride’s non-conference meeting with the Wagner Seahawks at the Mack Sports Complex on Friday night.

But, for this Wagner, the matchup was personal.

Not only was it the 100th career game for senior guard Charles Jenkins, who maintained his pace to leave Hofstra as the school’s all-time leading scorer, but Friday’s game represented the all-important battle of Alma Mater vs. Namesake.

Okay, admittedly, I was pulling for the Hofstra Alma Maters all along, which is understandable, since Wagner (the writer) hasn’t followed Wagner (the college basketball team) that closely, while staying on top of just about every dribble of Pride, or Hofstra Flying Dutchmen, basketball since the early 1990’s.

Although, perhaps I should have been more in tune to the Namesakes (2-2) for a few reasons (shame on me for not).

For one, they’re headed by basketball royalty, including first-year head coach Dan Hurley (who helped build the legendary St. Benedict’s Prep, in New Jersey, into one of the top high school programs in the nation), and his older brother Bobby Hurley, the former St. Anthony’s high school (N.J.) and Duke University star who once had a promising NBA career as the seventh overall pick in the 1993 draft, until a bad car accident helped to eventually derail his professional career much too soon.

The older Hurley is now an assistant coach to Dan Hurley with Wagner, as is Luke Murray, the son of actor and comedian Bill Murray, who was rooting on his son, behind the Namesakes’ bench on Friday night.

One other big reason to have paid more attention to the Namesakes, is witnessing another New Jersey product, 6-foot-1 freshman guard, Latif Rivers (from Elizabeth, NJ), who  tried to almost single-handedly shoot down the Alma Maters, with an impressive 28-point night on 6 of 10 shooting from three-point range (6 of 13 overall) and a perfect 10-for-10 performance at the foul line.

But, of course, the Alma Maters (2-3) have Jenkins (last year’s Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year), and unlike his team’s previous three games (all losses in the Puerto Rico Shootout), Hofstra’s best player received the help he needed up front in a thrilling 67-63 victory before 2,542 fans in attendance.

You might say Hofstra won with rebounding from three players, including Jenkins (though his version of rebounding wasn’t done on the glass).

While senior 6-foot-10 forward Greg Washington had yet another disappearing act, the young forward duo of sophomore David Imes and freshman Stephen Nwaukoni were the prefect compliment to Jenkins, who scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the second half.

Washington played only 15 minutes, scoring just four points and committing as many fouls, while failing to grab a rebound.

But, both Imes (14 points, 17 rebounds) and Nwaukoni (10 points, 13 rebounds) reached double figures in scoring and rebounding for the first time in their college careers, to give the Alma Maters their first multiple-player double-double game since forwards Dane Johnson and Darren Townes accomplished the feat on January 17, 2008, against conference rival George Mason.

Without their contributions, not even Jenkins could have come close to saving the night for the Alma Maters, as he did in the second half.

Together, Imes and Nwaukoni accounted for 30 of the Alma Maters’ 38 rebounds, as Hofstra held a 38-33 rebounding advantage over the Namesakes.

That proved to be huge, because in a game that came down to the final seconds, the Alma Maters dominated the Namesakes in second-chance points, 19-5.

While Imes and Nwaukoni were doing that, Jenkins (who had just 1 actual board), rebounded in a different way.

After a brutal start, in which he managed just two points on 0-for-7 shooting from the field (including 0-for-6 in the first half), Jenkins made 6 of his final 7 shots from the floor, to rally the Alma Maters.

Why the slow start for Jenkins?

Tryptophan, perhaps.

“That wasn’t me, that was Thanksgiving Charles,” he joked.

“[Wagner wasn’t] doing anything [defensively, to stop me], that was just me,” Jenkins said. “I was excited to get back on the floor [after the losses in Puerto Rico], and I was trying to make plays when they weren’t there. As soon as I got in the locker room, [head] coach [Mo Cassara] told me to relax and play my game, and that’s what I did in the second half.”

How dare you!

Sure, after all you’ve done for the program, you’re entitled to a bad half the night after a big Thanksgiving meal, and you did ultimately lead your team to victory with a superlative second half.

But Charles, this was for bragging rights, Alma Maters vs. Namesakes!

And, as much pride (no pun intended) as Wagner (the writer) has in his surname, the Alma Maters needed you from the start.

Well, since it is a day after Thanksgiving, Jenkins is forgiven for the first half, and thanks are instead given, for Jenkins’ second half.

Or maybe, it was all part of the plan. Let the Namesakes lead at the half, which they did, 35-28, but make sure the Alma Maters win the game.

Brilliant! So once again, on the day after Thanksgiving, thank you, Charles! Nice idea.

From a much different coach’s perspective without a namesake at stake, Cassara of course, didn’t see it that way, yet he remained confident that his team would come back after halftime.

“I told our guys at halftime, we gotta calm down a little bit, take a deep breath, relax,” Cassara said. “We’re in the game, we’re gonna chip away at this thing.”

The Alma Maters shot just 32 percent (8-for-25) from the floor compared to the Namesakes’ 44 percent (11-for-25), including a perfect 4-for-4 by 6-foot-11, West African freshman center Naofall Folahan, who was limited to an ineffective 0-for-1 from the field in the second half, by Imes.

“He’s bigger than me,” Imes said of Folahan, “But I’m stronger, so I just [had] to use my body to get him out of the paint as much as possible.”

Imes’ 6 points and 11 rebounds and Nwaukoni’s 5 points and 7 rebounds in the opening half kept the Alma Maters in the game, but as Cassara noted, “In the first half we missed a couple of [defensive] assignments. In the second half, I thought we really did a good job. We contested a lot of shots… also in the first half, we just missed a lot of free throws, and in the second half, we made some free throws, and ultimately, it closed the gap.”

The Alma Maters had to shoot free throws well in the second half to keep pace with the Namesakes, who made all ten of their free throws after going 9-for-13 from the foul line in the opening half.

In comparison, Hofstra made 12 of 15 second-half free throws and 21 of their final 24 after missing their first seven.

Cassara also told the Alma Maters at the half, that the second half would be a great test for a team that he said “was feeling sorry” for itself after Puerto Rico, one that Cassara was happy his team passed. “We have to learn how to win,” he said. “We took a step forward tonight,” he said.

The biggest step toward Friday night’s victory was Jenkins getting back to his old self after halftime.

With Hofstra trailing 42-34, more than four minutes after the Namesakes took the game’s largest lead (at 40-30), Jenkins made six consecutive shots and scored 15 points during a 26-12 run that gave the Alma Maters their biggest lead, 60-54, with 4:15 remaining.

During the run, after another Rivers three-pointer brought the Namesakes to within 45-41, with 10:56 left, Jenkins reeled off nine straight Hofstra points to keep the Alma Maters in front.

“He made some real big shots for us,” Cassara said of Jenkins. “We knew Charles, at some point, was going to get going. He just needed to get a little bit of a rhythm.”

When Jenkins finally did miss again, coming up short on a runner in the lane, Imes was there to rip the ball out of the hands two Namesake defenders, and follow with a huge layup to extend an already-slim Alma Mater lead to 64-61, with 1:07 to go.

Junior guard Tyler Murray (14 points), by way of Toronto, then turned the ball over, but nearly tied the game on a shot which most in the building thought was a three-pointer.

Receiving the ball off of a steal and a quick push ahead, Murray buried a left-corner jumper with 18.5 seconds left. But, he didn’t get both feet behind the three-point line on a two pointer that pulled the Namesakes to within 64-63.

Cassara saw the play clearly. “I actually saw his feet,” he said. “I thought they called it a three, and I knew it was a two. I did see his foot on the line. I had a really good angle on it.”

Perhaps it was destiny, so the Alma Maters could prevail.

Jenkins then made two free throws, to give the Alma Maters a 66-63 advantage, with 14.7 seconds left.

With a great name like Wagner though, you knew the Namesakes wouldn’t go down without a fight, and they almost tied the game again, in the final seconds, as Rivers came off of a curl and had a good look at a right-wing three-pointer.

But, Rivers’ attempt fell short, and order triumphed.

Nwaukoni secured yet another rebound and made one of two free throws with 4.7 seconds left, to end the scoring, as the Alma Maters grabbed the offensive rebound after Nwaukoni missed the second free throw. The Alma Maters had won!

Cassara appreciated both Imes and Nwuakoni growing up before his very eyes. “For David Imes to go out there and get 17 rebounds and for Stephen Nwaukoni to get 13 rebounds, that’s really just a tribute to how hard they work,” the proud couch said.

It was obvious that the two overcame the lack of confidence that sometimes comes with inexperience.

Imes said, “[My] coaches said that I need to start asserting myself and [be] more aggressive. I took that as, this [was] my opportunity, why not go out there with some confidence and see what I could do?”

“My first couple games, I was nervous,” Nwaukoni admitted. “Today, I was just really happy that I performed well and did what I had to do.”

He also noted, “I know that when [Washington] is in foul trouble… I have to step up and rebound. Coach told me that I have to go out there and rebound, and that’s exactly what I did.”

To which the elder statesman Jenkins added, “That’s a very good answer, Stephen.”

And, Cassara chimed in, “That’s your first official answer. We’re proud of ya.”

In the end, it was a perfect night.

The Namesakes won a half, and the Alma Maters took the game, with their star playing the role of the main hero, in an exciting contest that went down to the wire.

Now, with my middle name of Jay, if I can just get the City University of New York Athletic Conference’s John Jay College to drop the ‘h’ for one night and see that team travel to Staten Island, to play Wagner.

Then, I could cover the Jon Jay-Wagner game.

NEW YORK – For at least a while, the Virginia Commonwealth Rams (3-1) had plenty of reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving eve night in New York City.

VCU, which entered the evening averaging 86 points per game on 49 percent field goal shooting, was held to just 22 fist-half points and hovered under 30 percent from the floor for most of its National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off semifinal game with 24th-ranked Tennessee (4-0) at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.

Yet, despite their horrid shooting, hurt in part, by an injury to their leading scorer, the Rams remained fortunate enough to battle a Top 25 team to the end, with a good chance to win down the stretch.

Ultimately though, junior guard Scotty Hopson’s first career double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) and key contributions from a pair of local New York products returning home for the holiday – freshman forward Tobias Harris (15 points) and center Brian Williams (13 points, 9 rebounds) – led the Volunteers to a 77-72 victory before a sparse crowd of 6,746.

Harris was an early force inside, scoring the game’s first points and making five of his first six field goal attempts (all in the paint) to lead all scorers with ten points while helping the Volunteers to the game’s largest first-half lead, 23-14, with 9:17 left in the opening half.

That set the tone for the rest of the game, as Tennessee dominated in the paint, where the Volunteers outscored the Rams, 48-16, tallying 18 second-chance points on the strength of just as many offensive rebounds.

Out of VCU’s first time out, the Rams made ten free throws (six by senior forward Jamie Skeen, who scored 12 points, going 8-for-9 from the foul line, despite making just 2 of 10 field goal attempts) to key a 15-5 run and grab their only lead of the game, 29-28, with 1:47 to go before halftime.

A Hopson dunk with 1:13 left in the half regained a 31-29 lead for Tennessee, which took a 33-32 lead into the locker room, shooting just 39.4 percent (13-for 33) from the floor, making just 2 of 7 shots from behind the arc.

VCU shot a chilly 23.7 percent (9-for-38) in the first half, including 3-for-18 from three-point range, but the Rams hung in the game, making 11 of 15 free throws compared to Tennessee’s five, in nine first-half attempts.

Rams’ head coach Shaka Smart admitted that his team was affected by playing on ESPN in the 43-year-old program’s first-ever trip to world’s most famous arena.

While Smart appreciated his team’s fight, he noted that VCU didn’t always play in the sprit of his namesake. “I really can’t fault their effort, [we] really fought until the very end of the game,” he said, but added, “We didn’t play as smart as we usually do. I don’t know if that had to do with some nerves or being the first time in Madison Square Garden, playing on national TV. We made some mistakes particularly on the defensive end and even executing our offense, that are unlike us. The way we shot the ball for the first thirty minutes of the game obviously made it tough.”

Skeen credited the Volunteers’ defense, saying “They switched everything so they made it hard for us to catch [the ball]. So, when we would run our plays, we had places we wanted to be at. They took us out of places we wanted to be.”

Like his coach, Skeen acknowledged the venue being a factor for VCU, hailing from the Colonial Athletic Association, saying “It’s much different, [a] bigger atmosphere” than playing on the campus of conference rival Hofstra, on Long Island. “I just wish we had better results,” Skeen added.

Hopson scored Tennessee’s first six points of the second half to help the Volunteers to a 39-34 lead, but the Rams tied the game, 41-41, as two free throws by Skeen and a layup by junior guard Bradford Burgess (9 points, 5 rebounds) were sandwiched around a three-pointer by senior guard Brandon Rozzell (game-high 23 points), who after a poor-shooting first half, kept VCU in the game with a hot-shooting second half.

After going just 1-for-6 from the field while failing to make a three-pointer in four first-half attempts, Rozzell made 6 of 9 second-half field goals, including a torrid 6 of 7 from three-point range.

With Long Island, NY’s Harris doing just the opposite (missing his final nine shots after a strong start), Tennessee needed to find other offensive options.

The Volunteers regained a 51-41 lead on an 10-0 run as Williams (a Bronx, NY native) scored four points, Tennessee native, senior forward Steve Pearl, (the son of Volunteers’ head coach Bruce Pearl), scored two of his four points, and senior guard Melvin Goins (8 points) added a three-pointer on a pass from Pearl.

Rozzell made a three-pointer to start a 5-0 VCU run that cut Tennessee’s lead to seven points, but Pearl scored on a fast break layup in between a jumper and two free throws from redshirt junior guard Cameron Tatum (9 points, 8 rebounds) which gave the Volunteers the game’s largest lead, 57-46, with 8:30 left.

The Rams weren’t done yet, however, as Rozzell made back-to-back three-pointers, the second, assisted on by senior guard Ed Nixon, who scored 16 points.

After Rozzell’s three’s, senior point guard Joey Rodriguez made a left-wing three-pointer (assisted on by Rozzell) to cap an 8-0 VCU run that pulled the Rams to within 57-55, with 5:49 remaining.

It was the only field goal of the game though, for Rodriguez who was significantly hampered by an earlier ankle injury which he aggravated late in the first half.

Rodriguez, who had led the Rams in scoring with 18.3 points per game while leading the nation with 10.3 assists per game, scored just five points on just 1-for-10 shooting from the field, including only 1-for-5 from three-point range, while handing out only two assists and committing three turnovers.

Smart said Rodriguez “had a hard time getting by his man” and was “probably at 60 to 70 percent of where he normally is.”

If VCU was thankful to stay in the game shooting so poorly as a team (21 of 68, for 30.9 percent from the field) and playing with an injured Rodriguez, Coach Pearl felt perhaps even more grateful for not having to deal with VCU’s talented point guard at full strength.

“He was not 100 percent,” Pearl noticed. “They’re really good with him on the floor [at] 100 percent.”

The Volunteers responded to VCU’s charge with an 8-0 run as Hopson scored four points and Harris and Williams each added two points, to extend Tennessee’s lead to 63-55.

A four-point play by Rozzell made it 65-62, and two free throws by Nixon drew VCU to within 67-65, with 2:52 left, but six free throws (three from Williams and two from Harris) pushed Tennessee’s lead to 73-66 in the final minute.

The Volunteers won the game amidst controversy swirling around their head coach. Pearl, who will miss the entire first half (eight games) of his team’s regular season conference schedule due to a Southeastern conference-imposed suspension for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators regarding alleged recruiting violations, commented on continuing a solid New York-Tennessee connection.

After the game, Pearl waxed poetic about former University of Tennessee stars Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, and Allan Houston, all of whom later gained fame either playing for the New York Knicks, being an integral part of the Knicks’ front office, or both (Houston is still in the Knicks’ front office with rumors that he’s being groomed to be the club’s general manager in waiting).

“Allan Houston was sitting right behind our bench,” Pearl gushed. “Ernie and Bernard grew up here [as] high school legends,” he added.

Pearl mentioned of the trio of ex-Tennessee stars, “They are all very involved in our program. [They] attend our games, they stay in touch with our players and kids. [I] wouldn’t mind coming back and keeping that thing going.”

A bit earlier, Pearl said, “I’m listening to the starting lineups in Madison Square Garden and the first two kids, [Harris and Williams], that trot out there are from New York. So, it was special.”

The victory moves Tennessee into Friday night’s season-opening NIT final against seventh-ranked Villanova (5-0), back at the Garden, following the tournament’s third-place game between VCU and UCLA (3-1).

Villanova 82, UCLA 70

NEW YORK – The doubleheader nightcap was decided over the final 4:31 of the first half, when seventh-ranked Villanova (5-0) broke open a close game with a 14-2 run, the difference of which, proved to be the final margin of victory in an 82-70 win over UCLA (3-1).

The Wildcats continued their strong play behind 6-foot-10, 250-pound West African center Mouphtaou Yarou, who scored 13 points while grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds, and a trio of guards who combined for 61 points.

Entering the game as Villanova’s leading scorer, senior guard Corey Fisher shot just 6 of 19 from the field, but led all scorers with 26 points (13 in each half), making 14 of 15 shots from the foul line, where Villanova held a decided advantage.

Field goal shooting was even for each side. UCLA made 24 of 59 shots (40.7 percent) from the floor, including 4 of 15 from three-point range. Villanova meanwhile, shot 40.3 percent (25-for-62) from the field while making 4 of 14 shots from behind the arc.

But, with Fisher leading the way, the Wildcats made 28 of 34 free throws to the Bruins’ 18 of 24.

Fisher also got his team started fast, scoring six straight points to give Villanova an 8-0 lead just 78 seconds into the game.

Stokes later made a three-pointer to put the Wildcats up, 30-21, with 7:42 left in the opening half, but junior guard Jerime Anderson scored four of his six points to cap a 6-0 run that brought the Bruins to within 30-27, setting the stage for Villanova’s game-deciding run.

UCLA went almost the next four minutes without a field goal attempt, turning the ball over five times in that span (the Bruins finished the game with 13 turnovers, while the Wildcats committed just seven).

Fisher meanwhile, scored the next six points and totaled eight points during the half-closing stretch during as Villanova made six straight shots to take a commanding 44-29 lead at intermission.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright had counted more on UCLA staying within striking distance in the second half than his team building such a large halftime lead.

“I was more surprised we were up fifteen at the half. I knew that team was not going to go away. They grinded it. They did a good job. They stuck with their stuff, they never lost their personality. That’s a sign of [UCLA head coach Ben Howland’s] teams… that’s why I feel good about this win [and] about our team.”

Four points from junior guard Malcom Lee (team-high 13 points, 7 of 8 from the free throw line) scored four points and a three-point play by sophomore forward Reeves Nelson (10 points, team-high 13 rebounds) keyed a 9-2 UCLA run to open the second half, bringing the Bruins to within 46-38.

But, a three-point play by sophomore guard Maalik Wayns (19 points) pushed the lead back to 54-42 with 13:06 left in the game.

A layup by junior guard Lazeric Jones (12 points) pulled UCLA to within 54-46, but Villanova maintained either a nine or ten-point lead for the next three minutes, until freshman center Joshua Smith (10 points) made a layup to get the Bruins to within 58-52, with 7:56 remaining.

Reeves later scored three straight points to again bring the Bruins to within six points, 62-56, with 5:44 left, but UCLA could get no closer.

Senior guard Corey Stokes (16 points) got free underneath for a dunk, to put Villanova up 74-63, with 2:13 left, to end any further hope for UCLA.

Howland credited Villanova while lamenting some defensive lapses for his own team, saying of his opponent, “They’re a very, very good team. I thought we did a good job coming back, fighting back… we have a very young team, we have to learn from this… our foul trouble hurt us tonight. We did a better job defensively in the second half… [but] we ended up having 28 fouls, which is a lot of fouls… they got to the line 20 times in the second half, which is a lot.”

UCLA will be back at MSG to meet Virginia Commonwealth (3-1) in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off at 2:30pm EST, while Tennessee and Villanova will play afterwards on the same floor, for the tournament championship.

Coming out with great energy after a long break the Dream kept their playoff hopes alive with a huge Game One victory over the New York Liberty by the score of 81-75 on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. Leading the way for Atlanta was forward Angel McCoughtry who had 21 points and five rebounds.

Atlanta who was the best rebounding team in the WNBA showed a very strong showing on the backboards grabbing a whopping 40 total boards. Leading the way was center Sancho Lyttle who had a huge night, finished with a double-double netting 18 points and 13 boards. Forward Erika de Souza also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.

“The Dream are a very good rebounding team so you have to keep your focus and put them on your backs and not give them shots and that is the one area we were not able to perform on,” head coach Anne Donovan said after the game.

Cappie Pondexter would have this to say of the game, “Atlanta is a good team. They do what they do well and they definitely did that tonight. We have to make adjustments in terms of how we approach the game. We have to start the game off very aggressive and we have to contain them on the rebounds like we did the second half. They did a great job of playing the transition game. We have to limit Angel McCoughtry going to the free throw line as much as she did today and if we do that I think we’ll be coming back to the Garden for Game Three.”

Lyttle sparked the Dream’s offense from the start netting the first six points for the team before Angel McCoughtry and company finally followed the center’s lead. McCoughtry who always has had a tendency to carry team’s on her back from her collegiate days came alive in the fourth quarter to net 13 points.

Lyttle had this to say of her performance tonight, “I am now getting more of an opportunity to play here with Atlanta and now have a great opportunity to help this franchise win.”

“We have to look back at the way we built the Atlanta Dream team,” head coach Marynell Meadors said of her team after the game. “It’s built on speed, quickness, depth and balance. I think we’ve got great balance from top to bottom, and everybody comes to play. Everybody knows they’re probably going to get in the game, so they’re always ready to play. When one doesn’t play well another one will and that’s the great balance and depth we have.”

The Dream along with rebounding also have some form of kryptonite defense. With having been able to keep both the Washington Mystics and the Liberty off of the scoreboard for the most part offensively. Atlanta also dominated the second chance opportunities netting a total of 22 shots.

“I think at halftime, they had 15 second chance shots already. It is a tough task and I do not know if we are going to come out ahead on the rebounding margin, but what I know is that we cannot give them second chance shots. At that end, we have to do a better job.” Coach Donovan would say.

One thing that may have hindered the Liberty’s chances of a victory is the play of forward Janel McCarville, who is still out with a sprained ankle. McCarville who is the team’s leading rebounded was missed. New York who used its super subs to help them get into tonight’s finals, could not get the same type of contributions tonight.

“Janel was missed in tonight’s game,” Coach Donovan would say. “But our bench was able to step it up in Game Three and we really missed that tonight. The minutes you get on the floor when you are on the bench are earned from what you did on the floor the last game.”

It took the very last seconds of the Fourth Quarter to decide a winner between the two teams as New York was able to have a one point lead with 54.9 seconds remaining. Guard Cappie Pondexter had the ball in her hands to shoot two free throws, which gave New York the lead, while also allowing the 14,248 in attendance to finally explode.

“New York’s crowd is amazing. There were a couple of times when it was deafening. I was trying to call plays and my teammates could not even hear me and they were a few feet away. Congratulations to them for being able to bring a crowd like that, but that is one thing you have to do as a player is tune it out. You can’t worry about those elements of the game. We did a good job and stuck together,” said guard Shalee Lehning, who finished the night with eight points and five assists.

Pondexter lead the way offensively for New York finishing the game with 24 points and four assists. Forward Plenette Pierson had 18 points and five rebounds while Nicole Powell tallied 15 points and four rebounds. The lone double figure rebounded was center Taj McWilliams-Franklin who recorded 11 boards.

“You can’t predict the playoffs, exactly what’s going to happen, but I think the Atlanta Dream just refuse to lose tonight,” coach Meadors would say of her resilient team.  In again another classic matchup between two teams, as there were seven times the two teams were tied seven times to go along with six lead changes.

One can tell that the fans were holding their breath throughout the game; they voiced their displeasure throughout the game as some questionable officiating was found throughout parts of the Sunday night game. And as quickly as the Garden was able to explode the air would be let out again, as  McCoughtry  and Lyttle would end the game as they started it by scoring and closing out the Game One victory.

Lyttle had this to say on her team being able to keep focused inspire of the tight game, “We practice all of these situations in Atlanta. It may be stressful but it help kept us focused, we see these situations all the time. Tonight was the same thing, we are down by four points and all we needed was to go out and get it done.”

“Right now it is all about who wants to win more, it is about the will to win,” Pondexter would say after the game. “We need to do whatever we have to-to bring it home and most importantly we need to stay together.”

The series now shifts to Atlanta for Game Two of this Three Game series on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. It is do or die time for New York if they want to keep their playoff dream along with a shot to advance to the WNBA Finals to face the Western Conference Champion Seattle Storm.

“We need to get that hunger in the belly and come out fighting in Game Three,” Pondexter would say. “These New York Fans deserve something special and I will do everything in my power to do just that.”

The Liberty was able to pull off a win in a true thriller of a game. A game that featured seven lead changes and the two teams being tied a total of seven times. The Liberty was able to prevail over a very tough Indiana team by the score of 77-74 on Wednesday Night basketball at Madison Square Garden.

“It was a typical Indiana-New York matchup, where it’s just grueling and physical and no one is giving up anything easy.” Head Coach Anne Donovan said after the game. “It’s a battle…it’s a great team we just beat and they could be there down the road so I give them a lot of credit.”

New York now advances to the Eastern Conference Finals, as they will take on a very hungry Atlanta Dream team in Round One on Sunday night. Leading the way for New York was MVP candidate Cappie Pondexter who had 30 points to go along with four assist.

“This team is really amazing, especially to have a player out of the game. It’s unbelievable and I am really happy right now.” Pondexter would say after the game. “I have been on two championship teams and one common thing that they had was togetherness. No matter if you are the most talented on the team or what. And that is the one special thing that we have this season.”

Pierson would have this to say on the win tonight” It was a huge win for us tonight.” She would continue by saying. “We had our backs against the wall, we knew we didn’t have a great showing in Game Two; and we really wanted to come out and show our fans that we are here-yeah we messed up but we are ready to play and go on to the next round. We had to defeat a tough team. It went down to the wire but we are just happy that we have that opportunity to play in the next round.”

Indiana had three players finish the night in double figures as they were led by guard Katie Douglas, who found her shot after being shutdown in Game One. Douglas finished with 24 points, four rebounds and four assists. Catchings ended the night with 21 points, six boards and three steals. Forward Ebony Hoffman, who yet again provided some big shots and rebounds for the Fever finished with 13 points and four boards.

“I just thought it was a battle that both teams were playing to win,” Douglas said of the game. “It was overall an incredible game for women’s basketball. You could see that neither team wanted to lose and go home. I’m just proud of the way we fought.”

For New York they were missing a key player in center Janel McCarville, who is day-to-day with a sprained ankle. Stepping up big time in the game on Wednesday was the play of Plenette Pierson and Bronx native Kia Vaughn, as they had 13 points and eight points respectively.  The Mecca crowd of16, 882, including C. Vivian Stringer and Sue Wicks, were on their feet from the start of the game until the end. As the enthusiastic crowd rocked the Garden with their thunder sticks, sang and danced; along with giving this reporter Goose bumps with their energy and support for the Liberty.

“I love the Garden,” Vaughn would say after the game. “It is amazing the fan support you get day in and day out is amazing.” On her play she would have this to say, “I knew that Indiana would be aggressive so I just knew that I had out come out and be aggressive as well. I’m a strong girl…I knew I had to be aggressive and push them around and be the one to get the big rebounds and buckets tonight.”

“The fan support meant a lot,” guard Essence Carson said of the Madison Square Garden crowd support. “They really rallied behind us and were a huge part of us coming back and we really thank all of our fans for their support.”

Pierson also enjoyed the crazy crowd saying, “It meant a lot having that kind of support in the game tonight. When you have that kind of support you can’t help but to will yourself to win.”  She would continue to say, “We need our crowd and we are looking forward to seeing them on Sunday.”

Pondexter who was showered with chants of ‘MVP’ from the Garden faithful also enjoyed the support saying, “It means a lot to me, to know that your city is behind you. They want great basketball; they believe in it, they believe in you. And to see their support and to hear it is overwhelming.” She would continue to say, “This city deserves a lot and I want to be the one that brings it to them.”

Pierson also wants to bring home a title to the Mecca, the forward who celebrated her 29^th birthday on Tuesday had this to say, “We are greedy we don’t want to stop here, it was a nice belated birthday present. I am greedy and I want the big trophy then you can say that is my birthday present.”

Carson was another key part to the Liberty success. The guard had 11 points in the night, did a stellar job in defending forward Tamika Catchings who is easily the MVP for the Fever.  She also had one of the sweetest shots of the night timing a leaping tip-shot at the 4:35 mark of the second quarter to give New York the 40-34 advantage.

“We are just being aggressive on all ends both offensively and defensively,” Carson said of the victory tonight, “We are just attacking what is there and playing the game of basketball, we playing together and playing New York basketball.”

On her defensive performance against Catchings she had this to say, “I tried to make her take all jump shots today. In the first half she hit a lot, and in the later part of the game she hit a few. I knew when it got down to it in the fourth quarter she was going to be pretty tired, she was carrying a lot offensively for that team and it was going to wear her down. It was my job to stand there and make her shoot over me.”

This three game set was truly the definition of Playoff basketball as it brought physical play and thrilling moments throughout the short time the two teams played each other. Considering that these two teams throughout the 2010 season had battled it out it was only appropriate that it would come down to a thrilling Game Three.

“It is a great feeling to know that we are creating a new part of history for the New York Liberty,” Pierson said. “We got a tough battle a head of us in Atlanta. Indiana really pushed us to our limits and we really learned a lot about ourselves. We learned that as long as long as we play together and confidentially there is no one that can stop us. And we will carry that over until we are able to hopefully carry that championship over our head.”

Mitchell who was 7-for-12 from the field, was 4-for-5 from the three-point range, had two of the sweetest shots in the game hitting a back to the basket lay-up to go along with an aggressive lay-up with four Indiana Fever players surrounding her. The point-guard also dished out five assist in the game.

“We just brought a lot of energy, especially defensively because we knew they are a great team. They have a lot of great players so our good defense was able to translate our offense,” Mitchell said of her team’s performance. “Our whole team played great today; the whole team was able to contribute with an assist, a steal or a rebound so it was great for the confidence of each and every one of our players.”

Along with Mitchell three other players were in double-digit scoring including Center Taj McWilliams-Franklin who had double-double with 14 points and 10 boards. Guard Cappie Pondexter who was named to the WNBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for two weeks in a row, scored 13 points to go along with six assists.  Forward Nicole Powell had 10 points for New York to go along with two very big three-point buckets. Rounding out the scoring for the Liberty was Guard Essence Carson who had eight points, while Janel McCarville and Plenette Pierson both had six points each.

“We are just going one game at a time and that is the beauty of this team,” head coach Anne Donovan said after the game. “They understand that you have to go one game at a time. I was really pleased with the mentality of our group. Playing a great team like Indiana and playing well….that’s the most important thing for us.”

Leading the way for the Fever was Forward Tamika Catchings who was on fire the first half of play. Catchings, who is making her bid for MVP, scored 15 points from behind 5-for-5 shooting from the field while also shooting 3-for-3 from the three-point arc. The forward was then kept off the board due to great defense by New York.

“The third quarter was our biggest difference,” Catchings said after the game. “The Liberty was able to come out with more intensity after halftime and we just weren’t able to match that. We have to regroup. We still have two more games. Go to San Antonio from here then we have Minnesota at home. It’s a tight race.”

Essence Carson who again provided a positive spark including a fourth quarter steal and lay-up around the two minute mark, had this to say of the game. “We really defended well tonight they shot just under 40 percent, and we really cleaned up on the rebounds. So that was the main key to our victory tonight.”

Center Taj McWilliams-Franklin who provided New York with some of the biggest rebounds of the game, also with hit a thrilling last second shot in the fourth quarter of play. The center had this to say of the victory, “It was a great team victory we had some goals that we set out to do against the Fever, as well as the playoffs. Right now teams are jockeying for a spot in the playoffs. Today was a game for us as a team that everything fell together.”  McWilliams-Franklin would continue to say, “As our mental focus strengthens we just keep getting better and better.”

Also having a strong game for New York was forward Janel McCarville, giving the Liberty a strong inside post presence to go along with some nice passing and key jumpers throughout. McCarville had this to say of the win, “It was huge to have been able to get the win tonight. To have been able to keep them to six points in the second quarter was great and shows what our team is all about.”  She continued by saying, “Everyone stepped up and so many people on the team are unselfish enough  to give up any shot for one that is open and it has paid off for us.”

New York has two more regular season games at Madison Square Garden before the start of post season play. The team will wrap up their three-game home-stand at the Mecca on Thursday as they take on the Tulsa Shock with tip-off at 7:30 p.m. The schedule includes one last road game on Friday against Washington before the home finale against Connecticut at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.