By Jim Stout
D3hoops.com

It was, quite simply, the longest game-and-a-half of his life.

"To be honest," said Babson's Mike Kmiec, "I'd lost track of how many OTs we'd played. We were all pretty much dead. We couldn't run the floor any more. It was almost like a light jog in that fifth overtime."

From there, Kmiec jogged into a place in NCAA history. Last Thursday's 115-107 win by Babson over Wheaton (Mass.) matched the longest game between Division III schools. Capital-Muskingum (in 1980), Carnegie Mellon-Allegheny (1983) and Rochester-Union (1985) also endured five extra five-minute sessions.

Kmiec, the NEWMAC's leading scorer (27.8), had the game of the season in the Northeast, scoring 54 points and grabbing 24 rebounds. He hit 25 of 33 free throw attempts and only turned the ball over once in playing 61 of the 65 minutes.

Remarkably, the 6-4 junior guard was still standing on Saturday, when he scored 35 points (on 15-for-16 shooting) in Babson's win over GNAC member-to-be Suffolk. Obviously he was named conference player of the week yesterday. Player of the year honors are sure to follow.

Does the NEWMAC have an Ironman Award as well?

"I think everybody had the same thing on their minds at Wheaton: let's win and get out of here," said Kmiec. "My whole body was pretty much tired when I woke up (Friday) morning because it was a pretty physical game at both ends of the floor.

"It was hard to believe, that game," he added. "They'd go up in OT, then we'd go up. I think Wheaton was up eight or nine points in one of the OTs. We were ahead five or six in another OT. We'd be ahead, thinking the game was over, and I'm sure they felt the same way at times."

The most overtimes played in any NCAA game is seven, a 1981 game between Cincinnati and Bradley.

The Babson-Wheaton contest marked the second five overtime affair in the Northeast in less than a week. Two weekends ago, Maine-Farmington and Maine-Machias engaged in such a battle.

In addition, Kmiec also set a Babson season record for scoring with 633 points, breaking the record of 598 set in 1996 by Mike Kingsley.

"What (Kmiec) did out there was phenomenal," said Babson coach Steve Brennan. "He'd clear the glass on the defensive end (22 of his 24 rebounds were defensive) and then hit a clutch basket at the other end."

All in a day-and-a-half's work.

NEWMAC MEN: Clark shot a sizzling 71 percent from the floor and converted 13 of 14 free throws in the second half in an 87-64 rout of host Coast Guard Saturday. The win clinched the NEWMAC regular season championship for Clark and earned the Cougars the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which begins Tuesday.

Clark led 35-28 at halftime, but opened it up in the second half on red-hot shooting. Keenan Smith (15.8 ppg) scored 16 of his game-high 20 points after the break to lead the attack. Chris Oroszko added 14 points, while Bernard Young and Rob Robledo netted 10 apiece for the Cougars, who improved to 16-8 (10-2 NEWMAC).

Coast Guard wrapped up its regular season at 9-14, 5-7. The Bears will be on the road at Babson (13-11, 7-5) in a first-round tournament game.

Springfield (17-7) pinned down second place in the NEWMAC by winning three games last week over No. 1 Clark, No. 3 Wheaton and No. 4 Babson. Springfield forward Michael Parker (14.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg) was named conference rookie of the week. The Pride play WPI in the NEWMAC quarterfinals.

MIT plays at Wheaton (16-8, 8-4) in the other first-round game.

NEWMAC WOMEN: Clark (17-5, 7-2) matched the feat of the school's men's team, gaining first place in the conference and the No. 1 seed for the inaugural NEWMAC playoffs.

In her last regular-season home game, senior Courtney Halloran led the Cougars to a 71-67 victory over MIT, scoring 16 points and taking in 10 rebounds. The outside shooting of Marissa Garrity (15 points) and Emily Morgan (11 points, 7 rebounds) played a key role in Clark's comeback win.

"Both teams played the way a conference championship game should be played," said Clark coach Pat Glispin. "I take my hat off to MIT. They are an excellent team. They didn't quit, we had to beat them.

"I'm incredibly proud of the way my team played and with what they have done toward the end of the season," said added.

Clark, however, will have to be wary of Springfield (19-4, 6-3). The Pride finished the regular season with two victories last week and a four-game winning streak. Earlier this month, they lost three times during a four-game stretch after opening the season 14-1.

Springfield beat Coast Guard Saturday despite playing without injured regulars Becky Kanupka, Carah Dawe and Jennifer Rea.

In addition to Clark and Springfield, Babson (16-8, 6-3) and Wellesley (15-5, 6-3) will host NEWMAC quarterfinal games Wednesday. Coast Guard-Smith and Mount Holyoke-WPI have to play qualifying contests on Tuesday.

NESCAC WOMEN: By extending its winning streak to five games last week, Bowdoin (16-5) moved ahead of Western Connecticut today for the sixth and final NCAA berth in the region. Barring upsets in the automatic qualifying conferences -- the NESCAC will have three teams in line for NCAA berths: Williams, Bates and Bowdoin.

Lauren Myers averaged 21.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in leading the Polar Bears to wins over Maine-Farmington and Hamilton. Bowdoin should be able to capitalize in the poll on the fact that Western lost a second straight Little East game last week to Eastern Connecticut.

Jenny Russell of Hamilton continues to battle Trinity's Jillian Liese for top rookie accomplishments in the conference. Russell ranks fifth in the NESCAC in scoring (16.0) and seventh in free throw percentage (.731). Liese is ninth in scoring (14.2) and fourth in steals (.25). Lynn St. Martin of Wesleyan (17.2 ppg) still holds a slim margin over Kathleen Higgins of Williams (16.6) and Chris Peterson of Middlebury (16.4) in the conference scoring race. Myers is also averaging 16.4 points per game.

NESCAC MEN: Hamilton All-America forward Mike Schantz became the school's second 2,000-point scorer as he netted 66 points in losses to Bowdoin and Colby. Schantz, a 6-6 senior, leads the conference in both scoring (25.7) and rebounding (13.0). He is also hitting 56 percent from the floor and 76 percent from the line. Hamilton clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament last week as a member of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association.

Connecticut College (22-0) remained the nation's only unbeaten Division III men's team with wins at Williams (a first) and Middlebury. Middlebury (9-14) gave the Camels a scare in dropping a 72-69 decision in Vermont. Senior forward Zach Smith averaged 16.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the 2-0 week by Conn, which still has to get past Amherst and Trinity this week to finish 24-0.

Surprising Wesleyan (14-8) may have busted Williams' NCAA bubble with an 85-52 victory in Williamstown, Mass. Mark Zubko averaged 18 points in the Cards road sweep of Williams and Middlebury. Bowdoin improved to 15-7 with a tough road with at Hamilton. David Baranowski (Bowdoin), Mike Faucher (Middlebury) and Ken Allen (Colby) all had big weeks in conference play.

LEC MEN: It was quite a week for guards at Plymouth State.

On Wednesday, senior All-American candidate Adam DeChristopher scored a career-high 40 points as the Panthers won at Keene and moved to within a game of clinching first place. Then on Saturday at home, guard Todd Steffanides hit a 3-point shot with less than a second remaining in regulation, sending Plymouth into overtime with Eastern Connecticut. The Panthers went onto beat Eastern in OT and clinch their first regular-season championship in the LEC's 13-year history.

Assuming Plymouth (18-6) beats last-place Rhode Island in the conference quarterfinals, it will host the tournament semifinals Friday at Foley Gym. No. 2 Keene, No. 3 Western Connecticut and No. 4 Southern Maine all drew home games for the other quarterfinal games. The latter three visiting teams -- Mass-Boston at Keene, Mass-Dartmouth at Western and Eastern at Southern Maine -- are capable of winning.

Mass-Boston's Sean Harrington had a career-high 38 points in the Beacons' win against R.I. College Saturday, including the 1,000th of his career. He's the eighth player in school history to break 1,000. UMB shot 57.1% from the floor in its three games last week.

In that same R.I. College game, RIC's Will Robinson scored all 32 of his points in the second half.

LEC WOMEN: Though there were no upsets on the final weekend of the regular season, sixth-place Keene's one-point loss (51-50) at Southern Maine caught people's attention. A week prior to that, Keene had ruined Western Connecticut's bid to remain in contention for an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. Western has gone to the last two NCAA tournaments despite finishing second in the LEC, but will have to win the conference tournament this weekend to advance.

Southern Maine, which was bailed out by Tracy Libby's 25 points and 15 boards vs. Keene, will host the LEC Final Four Friday at Hill Gym. Two of the four quarterfinal games -- Keene at Eastern and Plymouth at Rhode Island -- could go either way. Libby, incidentally, became the third USM player in school history to block 200 shots in her career.

Eastern's Jen Zabek is on course to become the school's first player to lead the LEC in both scoring (18.5 ppg) and field goal percentage (60.3%).

MASCAC MEN: For the first time in a decade, the MASCAC regular season ended with co-champs. Salem and Massachusetts College each ended with identical 10-2 records. Salem earned a first-round bye and the host site for this weekend's semifinals and finals by virtue of a better overall record (Tie-breaker No. 5).

The Vikings earned their share of the crown the hard way, winning their final six MASCAC contests. Salem defeated front-runners MCLA, Bridgewater and Worcester in the final week of the season to earn its ninth consecutive league title (8 outright, 1 shared).

A three-pointer by freshman John Bennett with 26.6 seconds remaining helped Salem squeak by BSC 64-61 in front of a sell-out crowd in Bridgewater.

MCLA finished atop the loop for the first time since the 1989-90 campaign. The Mohawks gutted out a pair of MASCAC road wins last week versus pesky Westfield (68-61) and upset-mined Fitchburg (64-50, but down 15 at the half).

Bridgewater's Mark Gonsalves became the Bears all-time leading scorer in grand fashion Tuesday at Worcester. Gonsalves poured in 32 points as he surpassed Joe O'Connor. O'Connor had tallied 1,784 points for BSC in the early 90's.

James Parriott hit five first-half 3-pointers as Bridgewater also defeated Fitchburg, 76-40. Bridgewater forced 19 first-half turnovers to take a 41-18 lead. For Fitchburg, Jason Anderson and Tom Levitt each scored 12 points. Fitchburg (4-20, 1-11 MASCAC) is seeded seventh in the conference tournament. The Falcons will travel to play second-seeded MCLA.

MASCAC WOMEN: Salem finished 12-0 in the conference by defeating visiting Worcester, 68-49. The regular-season title was the Vikings sixth straight and 15th overall. Salem is 23-1 overall and has won 19 consecutive games. The Vikes are also 18-1 in conference playoff history. The women will host the Final Four this weekend, along with the Salem men. Worcester is 11-12 (7-5 MASCAC).

Adrienne Johnson paced Salem with 14 points, while Melissa Smock added 13 and Terri Niles 11. The Lancers' Sherri Kelly led all scorers with 21 points.

Westfield's Holly Maines became her school's all-time assist leader as she hit the 610 mark for her four-year career. The Owls are seeded second and will be aiming for their ninth straight appearance in the title game.

Massachusetts College earned the sixth seed with a convincing 74-50 decision over host Fitchburg last Thursday. The Mohawks have been sparked by sensational sophomore, Bran'De Byrd, and her 15.6 ppg and 11.3 rpg.

Worcester's Renee Marcotte has been dominate in the post as of late. The senior had 20 points and 16 rebounds in a thrilling 55-53 win over Bridgewater that helped the Lancers secure the third seed in the tournament. Marcotte has now been the MASCAC Player of the Week or on the honor roll six consecutive weeks.

UAA WOMEN: You don't hear much about the University Athletic Association in the Northeast, mainly because Brandeis is the region's only school in the nationally-based conference.

Last week, however, the Judges made a name for themselves and did the region proud, losing by only a point to undefeated defending national champ Washington University and beating Chicago. Freshman Jen Curran, who grew up in the shadow of Western Connecticut State, netted 29 points in the two games for Brandeis.

In fairness to Washington, though, the Bears were on the road last Friday in Boston and were undoubtedly looking forward to Sunday's clash in New York with national power and UAA rival NYU. Washington and NYU have won the last two national Division III championships.

Still, it was quite a weekend for Brandeis, which was 9-14 last season.

GNAC WOMEN: First-round tournament pairings: Emerson at No. 3 Suffolk, St. Joseph at No. 1 Emmanuel, Daniel Webster at No. 2 Albertus and Endicott at No. 4 Johnson & Wales. Semifinals and finals at a site to be determined Friday and Saturday.

GNAC MEN: First-round tournament pairings: Rivier at Daniel Webster (winner plays at No. 1 Endicott Saturday); Albertus at Johnson & Wales (winner faces No. 2 Emerson at Endicott).