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03/10/2010 - Hamden, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karon Abraham scored 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and Robert Morris secured its second straight Northeast Conference Tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament with a thrilling 52-50 win over Quinnipiac.
Abraham added three steals for the second-seeded Colonials (23-11), who won their seventh conference championship in school history. Dallas Green and Russell Johnson each provided nine points in the exciting victory.
James Feldeine scored 17 points to lead the top-seeded Bobcats (23-9), who were denied their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since becoming a Division I program in 1998-99. Justin Rutty contributed 12 points and 10 boards in defeat.
This game was played on Quinnipiac's home floor, where the team had been 14-0 this season entering the game.
Feldeine missed a deep two-point jumper with 51 seconds left that would have tied the game, but instead Robert Morris maintained a 50-48 advantage.
Abraham went to dribble up the court but slipped and was called out of bounds with 19.3 ticks on the clock, giving the Colonials another chance. Feldeine again tried a deep jumper, but the shot was blocked and knocked out of bounds by a Quinnipiac player with 9.3 seconds left.
Green and James Johnson traded a pair of free throws, leading to a trip to the line for Abraham with 2.8 seconds left. Normally an 87 percent free throw shooter, Abraham missed both, but a desperation heave from beyond half court fell well short of the basket.
Quinnipiac put together an 11-0 run over about five minutes in the first half to take a 15-10 lead on a pair of Jeremy Baker free throws, but Robert Morris was able to trim that deficit to 25-23 at halftime.
Neither team held more than a four-point lead at any time in the second half, and that margin last came with 16 minutes left on a Feldeine jumper. Robert Morris went back ahead by three, 44-41, on a Rob Robinson basket with 6:12 to play, but Rutty came back to tie the game at 48-all for the Bobcats on a pair from the line with 1:41 on the clock.
Velton Jones followed with a made shot for the Colonials for a 50-48 contest.
Game Notes
Robert Morris beat seventh-seeded Central Connecticut State in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Mount St. Mary's in the semifinals...Quinnipiac defeated eighth-seeded Monmouth in the quarters and fourth-seeded Long Island in the semis...The Bobcats took the lone season meeting, but Robert Morris leads the all-time series, 15-8...Both teams went 15-3 in conference play during the regular season...By virtue of Quinnipiac's regular season conference title, the Bobcats are guaranteed a bid into the National Invitation Tournament if not selected for the NCAA Tournament.
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The Sabres have
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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