Sports Talk
By Brian DePasquale
Phillis Receives Football Team’s MVP Award
Senior split end Chris Phillis received the University at Albany football program’s most valuable player award on December 9 at the 2001 post-season banquet held at the Recreation and Convocation Center’s Hall of Fame Room on campus.

Phillis, a first-team All-Northeast Conference selection, caught 42 passes for 609 yards and six touchdowns. Despite an injury-plagued season, he averaged 92.4 all-purpose yards per game. Phillis, who was also chosen as his team’s top receiver for the second straight year, finished his career with 126 receptions for 2,100 yards and a school-record 20 touchdowns. He ranks fourth on the all-time list in career all-purpose yards with 2,773.

Senior quarterback Marcus Rotondi, one of five players to receive his fourth varsity letter, earned the team’s most improved award. Rotondi completed 58 of 103 passes for 635 yards and six touchdowns, and was second on the team in rushing with 232 yards and one TD.

Dustin Wilson, a sophomore tailback, was voted the most valuable player of special teams. He averaged 27.8 yards per kickoff return, and totaled 14 tackles and one blocked punt.

Other award winners were Alex Argulewicz (offensive lineman), Brian Manigault (offensive back), David Parks (defensive lineman), Josh Bazan (linebacker), and Samson Brown (defensive back).

Head coach Bob Ford awarded 55 varsity letters to a team that went 7-3 overall and finished third in the NEC standings with a 5-2 record. The Great Danes have reached the seven-win mark in five of the last six seasons.

Women’s Basketball Records Back-to-Back Wins
Freshman guard Becky Ayers scored 11 of her career-high 17 points in the first half as UAlbany earned a 55-52 non-conference victory over Sacred Heart on December 8 at the Recreation and Convocation Center. The win snapped an eight-game home-losing streak for the Great Danes and was the program’s first back-to-back win since the end of the 1999-2000 season.

Albany (2-4), which never trailed after the 10-minute mark in the first half, was ahead 48-40 with fewer than nine minutes to play. Sacred Heart (3-2) hung tough, pulling within three points on six occasions and 39-38 on Brooke Rutnik’s driving baseline shot. Junior forward Brooke Kelly, who scored a season-high 19 points, converted a layup with 10.4 seconds left, cutting the margin to 55-52. Kathryn Hemlock, who added a season-high 15 points, missed two free throws in the double-bonus situation. After a Pioneer timeout and 5.3 seconds remaining, Allie Bagnell dribbled the ball up the court and found Leslie Newhard on the right wing. Newhard’s three-pointer to tie the contest grazed the side rim as time expired.

In the first half, Sacred Heart led 9-8 at the 10:52 mark when Bagnell converted a three-point basket. Albany responded with a 22-7 spurt as Ayers totaled eight of her 11 first-half points, including two scores beyond the three-point arc. The Great Danes, who made six of seven long-range jumpers in the period, extended their advantage to 30-16 on Hemlock’s jumper in transition. Ashleigh Durmer came off the bench and scored the final five points of the stanza to pull the Pioneers within 30-21 at the intermission. “I am happy with this win because we did it without major production from our leading- scorer Danielle Hutcheson,” said Albany coach Mari Warner, whose squad has won two straight since an 0-4 start. “Our other players stepped it up, including Shan’tel Ali and Maree Jones.”

Ali and Jones combined for nine points off the bench during several key second-half sequences. Hutcheson, who entered the game averaging 15.4 points, didn’t score her first field goal until the 14:44 mark in the final period. She finished with nine points. Albany committed 25 turnovers, but offset them with 41.5 percent shooting, including 7-of-11 three-pointers.

Indoor Track Teams Finish Second at Boston Meet
Naron Stewart took second in the high jump and qualified for the IC4A championships as both the UAlbany men’s and women’s track teams finished second at a six-team meet held December 8 at the Boston University Armory.

Stewart cleared 6-feet, 9.75-inches in the high jump, qualifying him for the IC4A meet to be held in Boston later this season (March 1-3). Dustin Wilson, fresh off the UAlbany football field, finished second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.73 seconds, also an IC4A-qualifying mark.

The UAlbany men’s team scored 55 points to finish second out of six teams, while America East Conference member Northeastern won the meet with 82 points. Individual winners for the men’s team included Alix Rodriques in the 55-meter dash (6.50 seconds) and Teikyo Aryee in the triple jump, with a distance of 45-feet, 0.5-inches. Senior Jamie Rodriguez was second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:31.65.

In the women’s competition, Northeastern took the women’s team title, and UAlbany was second. The Great Danes swept the top three spots in the 55-meter hurdles, as Raphaelle Jean won the event in 8.83 seconds. She was followed by Tammy Freeman, who also finished fourth in the 800-meter run, and Nierria Jones.

Erin Watson was third in the high jump, clearing a personal-best height of 5-feet, 1.75-inches. Freshman Tequirra Cox was second in the 200-meter dash (26.06 seconds) and finished third in the 55-meter dash (7.39).

Men’s Basketball Falls to Nationally Ranked Syracuse
Senior forward Preston Shumpert scored a career-high 37 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead nationally ranked Syracuse to a 91-65 victory over Albany on December 2 before 8,200 fans at the Pepsi Arena.

The Orangemen, who are ranked 10th by ESPN/USA Today and 12th by the Associated Press, raced to a 27-6 lead in the opening 12 minutes of play. Syracuse (8-0) held an early 6-4 lead, but then ripped off 18 consecutive points. Shumpert, a Wooden Award nominee who made 12 of 24 field goals, canned three 3-point field goals in the span. UAlbany (0-5) made just three of 22 shots from the floor in that opening stretch.

Syracuse, which was making its first appearance in the Capital Region since 1947 and playing a mid-major program on the road for the first time in five years, led 45-23 at halftime, as Kueth Duany scored 10 of his 15 points in the period. The Orangemen led by as many as 34 points in the final stanza.

“They are good, they’re very good,” said UAlbany coach Scott Beeten, whose team shot 23.1 percent before the intermission. “They have talent, and are big, and are deep. I saw some things I like. But we were not able to finish around the basket and didn’t block out well in the first half.”

Junior guard Earv Opong kept the Great Danes respectable with 11 of his season-high 19 points before halftime. Will Brand, a 6-foot-5 senior, added 14 points and eight rebounds, while E.J. Gallup scored 14.

“We knew they would expand their 2-3 zone and play the passing lanes,” said Brand, whose team traveled to Bucknell on December 5. “They are a typical Syracuse basketball team. They have size and height at every position on the floor from the two-guard to the center position.”

Editor’s Note: UAlbany picked up its first win of the season December 5 in a 51-50 victory at Bucknell. E.J. Gallup had 11 points and eight rebounds and blocked Boakai Lalugba’s shot in the lane as time expired. The Great Danes broke a seven-game away losing streak, and won on the road for the first time since January of last year.

Albany took a 49-46 lead with 27.5 seconds remaining on a free throw by Will Brand, who had 12 points. Bucknell (1-6), tied the contest at 49 apiece, when Jordan Hardenbergh buried a three-point field goal from the right corner. The Great Danes, who trailed 24-18 at halftime, went ahead on a pair of free throws by Joe Vukovic with eight seconds to play. Bucknell’s Chris Rodgers was fouled on a drive with 1.6 seconds remaining and made the first of two free throws. Lalugba, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds, gathered in Rodgers’ missed foul shot, but Gallup came up with the game-winning play.

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