Burke
George Tinsley began the New Year with a season-high in scoring at Mount St. Mary’s where he is playing his first season after three years at Binghamton University.
Tinsley
The seasons have reached a high point for the two Abington Heights graduates active on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level in basketball.
George Tinsley began the New Year with a season-high in scoring at Mount St. Mary’s where he is playing his first season after three years at Binghamton University.
Becky Burke ended 2022 on a winning streak at the University of Buffalo where she is in the first season of her second head coaching job on the Division I level.
Tinsley scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out three assists and made three steals Jan. 2 while helping Mount St. Mary’s to a 64-60 victory over Canisius in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.
The Mounts improved to 2-2 in the MAAC and 6-9 overall with the win, which was helped by a 16-0 run spanning the two halves. Tinsley scored seven points in the run.
Tinsley has resumed his role as a workhorse this season, frequently playing all but a few minutes, but has not been one of the main offensive options with his new team. In the Canisius game, Tinsley went 7-for-13, including 2-for-4 on 3-pointers.
The 13 shots were a season-high for Tinsley while the four 3-point attempts matched his high for the year. Tinsley made two 3-pointers in a game for the first time this season.
Tinsley played 39 and 37 of the 40 minutes in the last two games. One of just two Mounts to start every game, he is playing a team-high 32.5 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-6 senior forward is averaging 6.9 points and is second on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game. Tinsley shares the team lead with 16 steals and is second in blocked shots with 10.
Tinsley is shooting 42.9 percent from the floor, 14.7 percent on 3-pointers and 77.8 percent from the foul line.
Buffalo went through major personnel changes after a successful 2021-22 season, then got off to a 1-4 start under Burke.
The Bulls have won their last four, defeating Niagara (63-58), Long Island University (91-59), Bucknell (58-51) and St. Bonaventure (58-49). They take that winning streak into the start of Mid-American Conference play Jan. 4 against Kent State.
“I am just incredibly proud of how much toughness this team continues to show on a nightly basis,” Burke said, according to Buffalo’s athletic website, following the Dec. 29 win at St. Bonaventure. “We are really starting to form an identity and I’m really excited to see us keep improving.
“We are trending in the right direction and ready for MAC play.”
Among the other highlights for local alumni in college basketball:
NAIA MEN
Seth Maxwell, a 7-foot center from Abington Heights, continues to excel at Indiana Wesleyan where the graduate student is extending his career with the nation’s 11th ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Maxwell was a first-team NAIA All-American last season as well as Crossroads League Player of the Year and, for the third time, Crossroads Defensive Player of the Year.
After finishing third in the nation in blocked shots last season, Maxwell is averaging 15.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots while starting every game. He is shooting 54.3 percent from the floor and 74.5 percent from the line.
Indiana Wesleyan is 12-3.
DIVISION III MEN
Jackson Danzig is averaging 18.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.3 steals for the University of Scranton (9-2).
The 6-5 graduate student is climbing through the ranks of the school’s all-time leaders in multiple career statistical categories. This season, he is Scranton’s top scorer while ranking second in rebounds and assists.
Danzig is shooting 48.8 percent from the floor, 46.3 percent from beyond the arc and 83.3 percent from the foul line. He earned Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week honors in early December after going 7-for-11 on 3-pointers and scoring 29 points in an 83-57 victory over Penn State Harrisburg.
DIVISION III WOMEN
Clair Marion continues her offensive tear at Dickinson where she is averaging 20.5 points over the last four games, including a career-high 28 points on 6-for-11 shooting from 3-point range against Susquehanna.
The 5-10 sophomore guard/forward from Abington Heights is averaging 15.0 points on the season.
Rachel McDonald is the leading 3-point shooter at Marywood, which is enjoying one of its best seasons ever with a 10-2 start.
McDonald has made two starts and appeared in all the other games. She is 17-for-49 (34.9 percent) and averaging 6.8 points in 18.9 minutes per game.
