Our Tournament

"Our Game Our House Our Court Your Loss" was the slogan for the 2008 Scotty Wood Tournament, perhaps next year the slogan should include "Our Tournament" as well. For the fourth time, and the first since 2005, the Muhlenberg Men and Women's Basketball Teams both won the Scotty Wood championships. Both Mule teams were impressive in their opening games of the year, and both beat a high-quality opponent en route to their 1st place finishes.The roads to the title for the men and women's teams could not have been more different. In their opening game, the women breezed past a weak squad from St. Elizabeth, while the men's team struggled with a team from Hunter College. Then in the finals, the men's team dominated a strong team from Marymount, while the women won a hard fought contest against an impressive Williams Patterson squad.

Leading the way for the women's team was tournament MVP senior Lauren Boyle. In the first round game against St. Elizabeth, Boyle scored 14 points in only 17 minutes of action. The Mules were able to play 14 players and 12 players scored, including an impressive foursome of freshman: Alexandra Chili, Kimberly Mui, Kathleen Naddaff and Katy Rossino. The Mules opened up an early 12-2 lead, and stretched it to as many as 40, before they settled for a 73-36 victory.

Following the women's dominant victory, the men took the court for a dogfight with an undersized team from Hunter College. Against a smaller but scrappy squad, the Mules struggled early with the speed of the Hawks, as Hunter jumped out to an early 10-6 lead. But by halftime, the Mules took the lead by 2. After Hunter regained the lead for the final time in the early parts of the second half, the Mules finally got moving. Back-to-back momentous 3-pointers by junior Ryan Foster, who finished with a team-high 19 points, combined with a few defensive stops and two lay-ups by senior Tim Murray produced a 10-0 run by the Mules, which ended any hopes of a Hunter upset. From that point on, the Mules took advantage of their height inside, and the Mule big men dominated the paint. Junior Pete Barnes was dominant, scoring 18 points on 9-13 shooting, and added 14 rebounds. Junior Obi Nwizugo added 13 points, and freshman Spencer Liddic contributed 8 points and 9 rebounds in his first collegiate game. The Mules out rebounded the Hawks to the tune of a 54-30 advantage; but shot only 3-17 from behind the arc.

In the men's final, the Mules learned from their slow start against Hunter, and came out with all cylinders firing against a big and athletics Marymount squad. The Mules jumped all over Saints, with an 11-0 run to start the game. The Mules won by 21 points, 70-49, and the win was all about defense. The Mules controlled the paint inside, and held the Marymount shooters to 2-16 from behind the arc, as the Mules lead never shrunk to single digits in the second half. Offensively, junior Brian Frankoski led a balanced attack with 12 points, while sophomore Evan Tozer contributed 10 points off the bench. Barnes had his second solid game of the tournament, as his finished with 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks to earn MVP honors. Nwizugbo was also named to the all-tournament team.

Prior to the men's game, the women's team topped William Patterson in an exciting game to capture their fifth Scotty Wood title in six years. Unlike the men's team, the women's team came out slowly and had to fight their way back. Trailing 11-4 after four minutes of play, the Mules turned up the defensive intensity, holding William Patterson to only 25% shooting after the first few minutes of the game. The Mules led 41-32 at halftime, and never looked back in the second half. Boyle finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds, and sophomore Kelly McKeon earned all-tournament honors with her 17 point, 11 rebound, and 6 assist performance. Off the bench, the Mules received a big boost from freshman Alexandra Chili, who added 9 points, as well as junior Maiza. Mock, who also scored 9 on only 5 field goal attempts.