Conference basketball is in full swing in the States and a number of Harbour players have put in strong performances in the past week including career highs for Joel Coffey and Yanni Wetzell. 

Joel Coffey put together his best performance of the season to date as Webber International ground down Welch College to win 103-62. Joel, who played for Harbour U23 in 2019, recorded his first double-double for Webber with a career high in both points (12) and rebounds (14). He also produced 3 blocks to cap off a fine all-round performance.

Yanni Wetzell produced a couple of monster performances to help San Diego State remain unbeaten. He scored 17 points on a perfect 7 from 7 from the field as the Aztecs defeated Wyoming 72-52. He followed that with a career high equaling 20 points (9/12FG) and added 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the No7 ranked Aztecs. That’s the eleventh time this season the former Westlake big man has scored in double figures

Sam Waardenburg, far from fully fit with tendinitis in the knee, was still a force for Miami in their 74-58 road loss at Top 20 ranked Louisville. Waardenburg led the Miami defensive effort with 10 boards, a block and a steal in addition to scoring 5 points. The former Rangitoto College forward repeated the 10 rebound dose against Pittsburgh and the outcome was better as Miami won 66-58. Waardenburg played all 40 minutes and also notched 7 points, 3 assists and a couple of blocks. Miami now 2-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

St Mary’s, California bounced back from the loss at Pacific that went to four periods of overtime with an 87-84 win against BYU. Again the tie went to overtime but this time St Mary’s were victorious, Dan Fotu played a major hand as he accumulated 17 points (7/9FG), 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.

Matt Freeman scored 8 points and added 4 rebounds and a couple of assists as UC Santa Barbara opened Big West Conference play with a convincing 63-45 win against Cal Poly. It wasn’t such good news a couple of days later as the Gauchos lost 55-52 on their home patch to Long Beach State – 7 points for Freeman in that one.

Akiene-Tera Reed was stats stuffing as Virginia Commonwealth made it three from three in Atlantic 10 Conference play with a 65-52 win against St Louis. Reed scored a game high 24 points (10/19FG) secured 7 rebounds as well as grabbing 3 steals and dishing 4 assists. The points haul also took Reed past the 200 points mark for the season at an average of over 14 points per game.

Charlotte Armstrong had a productive outing for Barry University in the 66-43 defeat of Palm Beach. Charlotte had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists with the Buccaneers currently 2-6 in Sunshine State Conference play.