Men's Basketball

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2004-2005 Men's Basketball Team

Men's Basketball Schedule

2004-2005 Season

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Men's Basketball Roster

2004-2005

Head Coach: Rich Sutter (7th Year)
Assistant Coach: Junior Delgado (4th year)
Captains: Vaso Jaukovic, James Ogbunize, Joe Tomasini
Managers: Vanessa Charlot, Sara Ciechomski

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Men's Basketball Season In Review

2005

The Westfield State College men’s basketball team gets high marks for its play during the 2005 season despite a record of 12-12.

The Owls began the season with a 1-5 record, including a triple overtime loss at Eastern Connecticut State and an overtime loss to Amherst College. Westfield led national power Amherst by 18 points with 13 minutes remaining in regulation.

The Owls also lost to perennial power Williams College in the first game in their new field house, and suffered setbacks to NCAA Tournament teams Elms, Springfield and Salem State.

Westfield finished third in the highly competitive Mass. State Conference and fell to Salem State, 81-74, in the conference tournament semifinals after rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit to take a two-point lead.

Five players averaged in double figures in Westfield’s balanced scoring attack. Vaso Jaukovic – the squad’s only senior – averaged a team-high 12.9 points per game. A first-team all-conference selection, the 6-7 forward also led the Owls in assists and was second in rebounding (6.6). Jaukovic finished his four-year collegiate career with 1,016 points to rank 16th on the Owls’ all-time scoring list.

Freshman guard Tony Collier averaged 11.4 points per game and made a team-high 22 three-point baskets. The Colchester, Vt., native was chosen the conference’s co-rookie of the year.

Averaging just over 10 points per game were sophomore guard Ricky Ogboin (10.7), sophomore guard Gavin Illangakoon (10.5), and junior forward Mike Jurkowski (10.4).

Jurkowski had a pair of breakout games, scoring 33 points vs. Bridgewater State and 30 vs. Framingham State. The muscular 6-3 forward averaged a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game.

Ogboin led the Owls in field goal shooting (58 percent) and was second in steals. Illangakoon shot a team-best 79 percent from the foul line. Starting freshman point guard Steve Martins averaged 5.3 points per game, ranked second in 3-pointers made, and led the conference in steals per game (2.3).

The Owls also received key minutes during the season from sophomore guard Chad Misiuk, freshman guard Andrew Deffer, and junior forward James Ogbunize, who averaged 6.1 poitnts, 4.1 rebounds and compiled a team-high 29 blocked shots.

Men's Basketball Postseason Awards

All Conference First Team
Vaso Jaukovic
Conference Rookie of the Year
Tony Collier

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Men's Basketball Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Rich Sutter

Seventh-year head coach Rich Sutter led the Owls to their third straight non-losing season in 2005. The Owls were 12-12, with six of the losses to NCAA Tournament teams.

The Owls were 13-11 in 2004, and in the previous season (2003), he guided the Owls to a school record 13 straight victories and the No. 2 seed in the Mass. State Conference tournament. Sutter was selected the 2003 conference coach of the year by his peers as he guided the Owls to their best record in nine years.

A New York City native, Sutter has a wide range of coaching experiences,including a six-year stint as an assistant coach at Colgate University from 1991-97. Colgate won three Patriot League championships and appeared in two NCAA Tournaments during that span, and Sutter recruited All American Adonal Foyle, who now plays in the NBA.

Prior to coaching at Colgate, Sutter was an assistant coach at All Hallows High School in the Bronx, which produced standout Olden Polynice, and during the same two-year period worked as the physical education chairman at Holy Spirit High School. In 1998 he was the head coach at The Trinity School in New York City and guided the team to its first state tourney appearance.

In 1989, he served as an assistant for one season under Gary Brokaw at Iona College, and the previous year was at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, which made its first ever NCAA Division III Tournament appearance with a 25-2 record.

Sutter, 43, assisted Jack Curran, one of the top high school mentors in the nation, at Archbishop Molloy, N.Y., High School from 1986-88. During that stretch, Molloy's squad, which featured Kenny Anderson, won a city championship and was runner-up another year.

Prior to that position, he was head coach for two seasons at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y., where he produced back-to-back 15-win seasons, the first winning records at the school in nearly 20 years.

A 1984 graduate of St. Bonaventure University, Sutter earned a bachelor's degree in political science, and was a student assistant coach under Jim O'Brien. He was a second team all-city and all-CSHSAA selection as a scholastic player at Sacred Heart in Yonkers.

"I've known Rich since the early '80s when I was an assistant at St. Bonaventure and we've remained friends," said Boston University head coach Dennis Wolf. "He is a very knowledgeable basketball guy and he knows the players in the New York City area quite well....he has the ability to communicate well with people."

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Men's Basketball School Records

Individual Game Records

Individual Season Records

Individual Career Records

Men's Basketball All-Time Scorers

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2004-2005 Women's Basketball Team

Women's Basketball Schedule

2004-2005 Schedule

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Women's Basketball Roster

2004-2005

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Women's Basketball Season Review

2004-2005

The Westfield State women’s basketball team overcame many obstacles to finish with an 11-12 record in 2005.

The Owls owned a 4-9 record at mid-season, including overtime losses to Amherst College and Worcester State. Westfield then regrouped to post a 7-3 record in the second half of the season.

The highlight of the subpar season was a 55-51 upset victory over Bridgewater State to begin the second half of play in the Massachusetts State College Athletics Conference. The stunning victory avenged a 35-point setback to Bridgewater earlier in the season.

The Owls had two all-conference performers in the seven-team league. Leading the way was junior Amanda Chapin, who was a first-team all-conference selection. The 5-9 forward posted 17 double-doubles during the season and led Westfield in scoring (12.4 points per game) and rebounding (12.3).

Chapin set a single-season school record for rebounds per game average and she tied a school record by grabbing 22 rebounds vs. Newbury College. Chapin led her nearest competitor in the conference by nearly four rebounds per game and ranked eighth nationally in the NCAA Division III in rebounds per game.

“If there’s a better rebounder in Division III, I haven’t seen her,” said former Westfield State coach Steve Marcil. “And she gets every loose ball on the court.”

Freshman point guard Melissa Macchi was a second team all-conference pick and chosen the conference’s rookie of the year. The Peabody native averaged 9.7 points per game and led the Owls in assists, steals, 3-point shooting and field goal shooting percentage.

Junior guard Meghan McCarthy was the second leading scorer (9.9) and closely followed Macchi in steals, assists and 3-point shooting. Sophomore forward Kristen Strole averaged 6.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Freshman Betty Dely – the other starter on the Owls’ all-underclassmen squad – averaged 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds and had a team-high 14 blocked shots. Westfield also received key contributions off the bench from junior forward Natalia Araszkiewicz.

Women's Basketball Postseason Awards

All Conference First Team
Amanda Chapin
All Conference Second Team
Melissa Macchi
Conference Rookie of the Year
Melissa Macchi

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Women's Basketball Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Andrea Bertini

Andrea Bertini is returning to her roots as she was named as the women’s basketball head coach at Westfield State College.

A 1996 Westfield State graduate, Bertini was a four-year standout for the Owls. The 3-point shot specialist helped to lead Westfield State to two NCAA Tournaments and two ECAC postseason bids.

“More than anything, I think it’s a tremendous opportunity to go back and coach where I played,” said the Salem, Mass., native. “Not many players get the chance to do that and I feel fortunate.”

Bertini has been the head women’s basketball coach/assistant athletics director at Newbury College in Brookline, Mass., for the past four years. She also will assume administrative duties in the athletics department in her full-time position at Westfield State College, which officially begins June 1.

Prior to her Newbury stint, Bertini had been an assistant coach at Colby College for two years. She received a communication degree from Westfield State and a master’s degree from Springfield College in counseling psychology, with a concentration in athletic counseling.

“It will be fun to be rivals with Salem again and go back to my hometown and coach,” said Bertini, whose family owns a popular restaurant just down the road from the Salem State field house. “We want to challenge for the MASCAC (Mass. State Conference) title and to do that it goes thru Salem every year; it always does.”

During her playing days at Westfield State, Bertini held six NCAA Division III national records for 3-point shooting. She still ranks second in NCAA Division III for most 3-point shots made in a season (119 during her sophomore year). She presently ranks eighth on the NCAA Division III career list with 287 3-point baskets.

In addition, Bertini holds school career records for 3-point attempts (769) and treys made per game (2.7), and 3-point baskets made in a game (9). She ranks fourth on Westfield’s all-time scoring list with 1,310 points.

“I want to bring the program back to where it was when I played,” said Bertini. “I want to be able to recruit quality student-athletes. And with the new field house (at Westfield State) and the academic programs I believe I can do that.”

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Women's Basketball School Records

Individual Season Records

Women's Basketball All-Time Scorers

History of Westfield State

# - Mass. State Conference Champion
* - Mass. State Conference Postseason Tournament Champion

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