January 1, 2009
Patriot League Men's Basketball Release - 1.1.09 
Center Valley, Pa. - Patriot League men's basketball teams will have very little time to bring in the New Year, as all eight squads are in action on the first weekend of 2009. Six of the teams play on the second day of the year on Friday, with four of those at home. Lafayette and Lehigh open the action with afternoon contests, with both Lehigh Valley schools trying to extend winning streaks. The Leopards have won the first two of their three-game homestand going into their 1 p.m. tilt with Mount St. Mary's, while the Mountain Hawks will try for their fifth win in a row when they face Columbia at 4:30 p.m. Lehigh has a 9-3 record, the best start for the program since 1925 and the first time it has recorded nine non-League victories in a season.
The Patriot League's southern-most schools host Friday night affairs. Navy plays its final non-League home contest and will try to move to 7-0 at Alumni Hall when it faces Wofford, while American has its first home game in more than a month as it takes on Brown. Holy Cross goes on the road to Boston University, while Colgate continues its eight-game road trip and remains in the state of Texas to play UT-San Antonio.
Bucknell and Army complete the weekend action with road games on Saturday, as the Bison go to Ohio University and the Black Knights visit Dartmouth.
Patriot League Notebook
Half of the Patriot League Squads Finish 2008 With a Win
Each Patriot League team played on the final three days of 2008, and half of those teams came away with wins. American earned the first victory of the week on Monday, as it posted a 60-48 triumph at Manhattan. Navy and Lafayette won by the slmmest of margins at home on Tuesday, with each squad posting a one-point victory. Kaleo Kina hit a pair of free throws with 7.3 seconds left to give Navy an 81-80 triumph over Longwood, while Lafayette's defense held on Princeton's final possession for a 54-53 win over the Tigers. Lehigh earned its fourth win in a row with a 66-38 thrashing of NJIT on Wednesday.
Bucknell nearly joined the group in the winner's circle, but the Bison could not hold on to a late lead in regulation and the first overtime in a 90-82 double overtime loss at home against St. Bonaventure on Tuesday. Holy Cross fell at home against Siena, while Colgate lost at TCU and Army dropped its game at Florida Gulf Coast.
Lehigh Off To Best Start Since 1925
Lehigh has won four consecutive games, and it's enough to give the Mountain Hawks their fastest start in nearly 85 years. Lehigh's 9-3 record is its best through 12 games since 1925. The Mountain Hawks reached the mark with a 66-38 win at NJIT on Wednesday. It is the first time the Mountain Hawks have won nine non-League games in a season. Lehigh holds a 4-2 mark at home, and a 5-1 record on the road. The Mountain Hawks will try to extend the string when they play at home against Columbia on Friday.
Eagles, Mountain Hawks Share Division I Road Wins Mark
Only six Division I teams recorded five road victories before the New Year, and two of those squads reside in the Patriot League. Lehigh (5-1) and American (5-5) have each notched five victories on the road, tying Butler, Niagara, East Tennessee State and College of Charleston for the Division I lead. The Mountain Hawks will have a chance to earn their sixth road win on Wednesday at Princeton, while the Eagles are home for their next four contests after being one of eight squads in the country to play 10 of their first 12 games on the road.
Mercer Joins Carr as 1,000-Point Scorer at American
For the first time since 1996, the American Eagles have a pair of players on the floor who have eclipsed 1,000 points in their career. One game after his backcourt partner and classmate, Garrison Carr, hit the milennium mark, senior guard Derrick Mercer joined the 1,000-point club with 12 points in American's 67-51 loss at Maryland on Dec. 22. He became the 67th Patriot Leaguer and 28th American player to record 1,000 career points. The last American teammates to both have 1,000 points were Tim Fudd and Darryl Franklin during the 1995-96 season. Mercer now has 1,019 career points, making him the fourth active player in the 1,000-point club. In addition to Carr, Navy's Kaleo Kina (1,252 points) and Lafayette's Andrew Brown (1,214) are both in the group and among 43 players in League annals with 1,200 or more career points.
Lehigh's Szalachowski Named to Senior CLASS Award List
Senior Matt Szalachowski has been chosen as a candidate for the 2008-09 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in nine sports. Szalachowski is one of 60 basketball players from around the country who was chosen (30 male and 30 female). Based on criteria focusing on the "Four C's" of classroom, character, community and competition, the award winners will be selected by national balloting of head basketball coaches, national media and college basketball fans. Army's Jarell Brown was on the initial list from the Patriot League last season.
This and That
Navy senior guard Kaleo Kina became the fifth student-athlete in Patriot League history to earn three consecutive Player of the Week awards on Dec. 14. Kina was also one of four finalists for CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Player of the Week honors on the same week....Lehigh junior guard Marquis Hall is on the nominee list for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the top guard in college basketball....After posting a 2-1 record from Dec. 1-7, Navy was honored as the Mid-Major Team of the Week by Jeff Goodman in the FoxSports.com Weekly Wrap. The Mids had improved to 7-2 at the time...Navy has the best single-game shooting performance in the nation. The Mids' connected on 71.4 percent of their shots (25-for-35) in a 78-65 win over UT-San Antonio on Dec. 2.
47 Patriot League Games Set for Broadcast TV
The eight Patriot League men's basketball teams have a combined 47 games set to appear on broadcast television. The television schedule is highlighted by the Patriot League's contract with the ESPN Networks. Six Patriot League men's basketball regular season games will be shown on ESPNU via the League's package. The Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship will be shown on ESPN2 at 4:45 p.m. on March 13. The men's television slate features 18 non-League games and 29 League contests, with games on ESPNU, Comcast Sports Net and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) in the non-League action.
Team Notebooks
American The Eagles moved back to .500 for the season with a 60-48 victory at Manhattan on Monday night...American is 6-6 on the season, and completes its five-game road trip with a 2-3 mark...The Eagles were one of eight teams in the country to play 10 of their first 12 games on the road, and are 5-5 in road contests this season...The five road wins are tied for the most in Division I...It was the first meeting between the schools since 1997...Garrison Carr scored a game-high 21 points, while Brian Gilmore added 17...American opened up an early 12-3 lead and led 22-8 just over eight minutes into the game...The Eagles went up by as many as 18 in the first half...Manhattan closed the gap to six in the second half, but Gilmore and Carr hit jumpers to push the lead back to double digits...Gilmore also grabbed eight rebounds, while Jordan Nichols had 10 boards...The Eagles play their first home game in over a month when they take on Brown on Friday...It is the first of a four-game homestand which includes the first two contests of Patriot League action...American has never beaten the Bears, trailing the all-time series, 4-0...The Eagles lost the matchup on the road, 68-55, last season.
Army The Black Knights dropped their second consecutive game with a 70-61 loss at Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday...Army slipped to 3-9 on the season, with a 1-6 road record...The Black Knights nearly rallied from a huge deficit, cutting a 25-point gap to just five before bowing out...Kenny Brewer and Jeremy Hence both recorded career highs in the game, with Brewer scoring 16 points and Hence tallying 11...Brewer converted all six of his field goal attempts and all four of his foul shots...They became the 11th an 12th Army players to score in double figures this season...It was Army's 17th straight loss when allowing an opponent to score 70 points or more...Army is back on the road at Dartmouth on Saturday in its first game of 2009...The Black Knights beat the Big Green, 63-48, at home to open the 2008-09 campaign are trail the Big Green by just one game, 16-15, in the all-time series.
Bucknell The Bison lost a heartbreaker on Tuesday, falling at home to St. Bonaventure, 90-82, in double overtime...It was the third consecutive loss for Bucknell, which fell to 3-9 for the season....The Bison rallied from a big deficit to force the contest to overtime, as they trailed by 18 points in the first half and 14 at halftime...The Bison hit 7-of-12 three-pointers in the second half to spark the comeback...Bucknell went on a 12-4 run to bring the deficit to one at 56-55...After St. Bonaventure came back with a 6-2 run, Bucknell scored eight consecutive points for a 65-62 lead with a minute to play on a three-pointer by Bryan Cohen...St. Bonaventure tied the score, and Patrick Behan missed a shot as time expired for the game to go to overtime...The Bison scored the first five points of the overtime, but again St. Bonaventure tied it up late...The Bison were outscored, 12-4, in the second overtime...It was Bucknell's fourth overtime game of the year, and its second double overtime contest...The Bison fell to 1-3 in the extra session....Justin Castleberry led the Bison with 23 points, while Cohen added 19...Behan added 12 points, while G.W. Boon had nine points and nine rebounds...The Bison had 15 assists and only 11 turnovers, with just four turnovers after the half...Bucknell is back in action on Saturday when it visits Ohio University to open up a four-game road trip that includes the first two contests of Patriot League play...Ohio won the first meeting between the schools, a 53-47 game at Bucknell last year.
Colgate Colgate played a strong first half but could not keep it up in the second 20 minutes in a 62-37 loss at TCU on Tuesday...The Raiders held a 27-26 lead at the break, but were outscored, 36-10, in the second half....Colgate fell to 1-3 on its eight-game road trip, and 3-8 for the season...The Raiders led at halftime for just the second time this season...Ben Jonson led Colgate with 13 points along with six rebounds...Jonson, a Dallas native, was playing in his home state...He has scored in double figures for four consecutive games...Alex Woodhouse had six points, six rebounds and three blocks for the Raiders....He moved into the Patriot League top 10 with 134 career blocks...Colgate was held without a field goal for nearly seven minutes to start the second half...The Raiders remain in the state of Texas when they take on UT-San Antonio on Friday...The teams are meeting for the first time.
Holy Cross The Crusaders fell at home against Siena, 83-71, on Tuesday...Holy Cross dropped to 4-9 for the season, and 4-3 in home contests...Freshman R.J. Evans had another strong game, scoring 21 points with six rebounds, five assists and four steals to lead the Crusaders...Adam May finished with 15 points, while Devin Brown added 10...Holy Cross fell behind by seven at halftime, and went down by as many as 17 in the second half...It was the last non-League home contest for Holy Cross, which has a pair of non-League road outings before opening the League schedule on Jan. 10 at home against Lafayette...The Crusaders are back on the court Friday at Boston University...Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 50-12, including a 65-62 win on the day after New Year's last season.
LafayetteThe Leopards have won two consecutive games after holding on for a 54-53 win at home against Princeton on Tuesday...Lafayette has won the first two contests of its three-game homestand, and posted its second two-game winning streak of the year after losing eight consecutive contests...Princeton stole the ball with 28 seconds left in the game, but Lafayette's defense forced a missed shot to hold on for the one-point win...Michael Gruner led the Leopards with a career-high 15 points, while Andrew Brown scored 14...Brown made all seven of his foul shots...The lead exchanged hands throughout, but Lafayette took the advantage as Gruner made 3-of-4 foul shots in the final 2:18...It was the 1,200th win in 99 seasons for the Lafayette program...Lafayette concludes its three-game homestand and opens up the 2009 calendar year at home against Mount St. Mary's on Friday afternoon...Lafayette has never lost to Mount St. Mary's, winning all three of the meetings to date...The Leopards scored a 76-72 win over the Mount last year.
Lehigh Lehigh is off to its best start since 1925 after a convincing 66-38 victory at NJIT on Wednesday...The Mountain Hawks are 9-3 on the season, which sets a school record for most non-League victories in a season...It was the fourth straight victory for Lehigh, which also improved to 5-1 on the road...That mark ties the Mountain Hawks for the Division I lead in road victories...Lehigh held NJIT to 11 field goals and just 22 percent shooting...Three players scored in double figures for the Mountain Hawks, led by a career-high 14 points for Michael Ojo...Rob Keefer scored 12 points, while Zahir Carrington added 11...Marquis Hall had six points and led the offense with nine assists...Lehigh held a 46-32 edge on the boards and dished out 18 assists on its 23 field goals...Lehigh opened the game with a 12-0 lead, and never led by less than seven...The Mountain Hawks shoot for their fifth win in a row when they return home to face Columbia on Friday afternoon...Columbia leads the all-time series, 21-12, and beat the Mountain Hawks, 74-64, on the day after New Year's in New York City last season.
Navy Navy surrendered a 15-point second-half lead against Longwood on Tuesday, but pulled out the win as Kaleo Kina hit two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to give the Mids an 81-80 victory...Navy improved its record to 9-4 for the season, and moved its home mark to 6-0...The Mids escaped as Longwood's last-second layup attempt rolled off the rim...Navy held a 44-34 lead at the half, and pushed the advantage to 49-34 before Longwood began to rally...Navy answered a Longwood rally with one of its own to hold a 64-51 lead with 9:15 left, but Longwood came all the way back and took a one-point lead with 11.2 seconds left before Kina's game-winning foul shots...The Mids were playing without sophomore Romeo Garcia, who suffered a hamstring injury in practice during the week...Kina led Navy with 21 points while pulling down four rebounds and dishing out four assists....Chris Harris had 20 points and six boards, while Mark Veazey finished with 12 points and nine rebounds....Navy tries to stay perfect at home when it plays its final non-League home contest against Wofford on Friday night...Navy leads the all-time series, 3-1, with the teams meeting for the first time since 1998.
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