Jan. 5, 2009
Center Valley, Pa. - The Patriot League men's basketball schedule tips off on Saturday, so all eight teams have just one more chance to prepare for the League slate this week. American's Garrison Carr was named Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week for the second time this season, while Holy Cross' R.J. Evans earned his fifth Rookie of the Week honor of the year.
Patriot League Men's Basketball Release - 1.5.09 
Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week (Dec. 29-Jan. 4)
Garrison Carr, American Sr., G, 5'11, 165, Bellevue, Wash./Issaquah
Carr earns his second Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week honor of the season, and fifth of his career, after leading the Eagles to a pair of wins last week. He posted 20-point efforts in each of the contests, with 21 points in a 60-48 victory at Manhattan on Monday and 22 points in American's 68-53 triumph over Brown on Friday. Carr made five three-pointers in each of the games, including a 5-for-7 effort in the win over Brown. He also matched a career-high with four assists in Friday's victory. Carr averaged 21.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the two victories, while shooting 48.3 percent (14-for-29) from the field and 55.6 percent (10-for-18) from three-point range. Carr has connected on 44 three-pointers this season, tied for 19th place on the Division I leaderboard. He is five three-pointers away from moving into the Patriot League career top 10, and is currently in fifth place in League annals in career three-point field goal percentage. Carr is second in the Patriot League with 18.0 points per game.
Patriot League/Anaconda Rookie of the Week (Dec. 29-Jan. 4)
R.J. Evans, Holy Cross Fr., G, 6'`3, 200, Salem, Conn./Norwich Free Academy
Evans posted two more solid efforts to pick up his fifth Patriot League/Anaconda Rookie of the Week honor of the season. He led the Crusaders with 21 points in an 83-71 loss to Siena on Tuesday, while also playing a strong floor game with six rebounds, five assists and four steals in the contest. The assist mark was a career-high, while he tied his career best in steals. The 21 points were the second-highest of his career. Evans notched 12 points and six rebounds in Holy Cross' 68-49 win at Boston University on Friday. He has now scored in double figures in eight consecutive games, and 11 times overall this season. Evans leads the Crusaders and is sixth in the Patriot League with 13.4 points per game. Evans receives consecutive Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this season after winning the award on Dec. 8 and 15. He has received four of the last five Rookie of the Week honors.
Patriot League Notebook
Last Set of Non-League Action Begins Monday
The Patriot League men's basketball schedule tips off on Saturday, so all eight teams have just one more chance to prepare for the League slate this week. The final non-League contests before the League schedule begins start on Monday, with Navy looking to match a school record with its 11th non-League win when it visits Elon and American trying for its third straight winning non-League season at home against Columbia. Five teams step on the court on Tuesday, with just Army at home as it plays Fairfield. Holy Cross goes to Central Florida, Bucknell is at Cornell, Lafayette visits Penn and Colgate goes to North Carolina Central. Lehigh tries to extend its school records for overall and road non-League wins in a season when it visits Princeton on Wednesday. Navy, American, Holy Cross and Army are playing their final non-League games of the season, while Lehigh could also have its final contest if its postponed game with Washington is not rescheduled.
Winning Weekend for Patriot League
Five of the eight Patriot League teams earned a victory over the weekend, with three of those wins coming against Ivy League opponents. American and Lehigh each beat an Ivy League foe at home on Friday, with the Eagles knocking off Brown and the Mountain Hawks taking down Columbia. Army rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to win at Dartmouth on Saturday. Navy completed a perfect non-League home record with a win over Wofford on Friday, while Holy Cross won at Boston University. Bucknell, Colgate and Lafayette all fell in their games.
Navy, Lehigh in Search of 11th Victory
Navy and Lehigh are both looking to finish impressive non-League campaigns this week with their 11th win before the start of League action. The Mids have twice won 11 non-League contests, doing so in back-to-back years in 1998-99 and 1999-00. Lehigh has already set school records with its 10 non-League victories and five non-League road wins. The Mountain Hawks are off to their best start since 1925, and will try to extend both school records at Princeton on Wednesday.
Eagles, Mountain Hawks Among Nation's Best On Road
Only 10 Division I teams have recorded five or more road victories this season, 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, trailing only the six of Butler for the Division I lead.The Mountain Hawks have a chance to earn their sixth road win on Wednesday at Princeton, while the Eagles are on a four-game homestand after being one of eight squads in the country to play 10 of their first 12 games on the road.
Navy Completes Perfect Non-League Home Record
For the first time in its Patriot League history, Navy will begin League action this weekend with an unblemished home record. The Mids completed a 7-0 mark in their non-League home schedule with a 75-70 victory over Wofford on Friday. It is Navy's first ever perfect non-League home mark, and the Mids have won nine consecutive non-League home games overall.
Patriot League Openers Coming on Saturday
A matchup between the top two teams in the Patriot League preseason poll and a nationally-televised rematch of one of the League's most memorable games highlight the first slate of League contests on Saturday. The schedule opens when Lehigh, picked second in the preseason and with the League's top record at 10-3 thus far, visits defending champion and preseason favorite American at 2 p.m. The afternoon slate of contests concludes with the Patriot League's 2009 debut on ESPNU, with Bucknell visiting Navy at 5 p.m. in a rematch of the triple overtime classic won by the Bison, 87-86, at Navy in last year's Patriot League quarterfinals. Lafayette is at Holy Cross and Colgate visits Army in the other afternoon matchups. All games that are not broadcast on ESPNU are available for a small monthly fee via the Patriot League All-Access package at www.patriotleague.com.
Patriot League All-Access Returns in 2009
Watch the majority of Patriot League Men's and Women's Basketball regular-season League and tournament games on high-speed Broadband on the Patriot League All-Access package. For $9.95 a month, this cutting-edge technology takes you from your seat to the sideline with multi-camera coverage. Visit your school's website or www.PatriotLeague.com for more information.
West Coast Bias
The Patriot League is firmly cemented in the Eastern part of the United States, but a group of players from well outside the region are making sure the Western influence is felt throughout the League. Four of the League's top five scorers come from the Western part of the country, with Navy's Kaleo Kina (Arizona) in first at 19.6 points per game, American's Garrison Carr (Washington) next at 18.0 per game, Lafayette's Andrew Brown (Colorado) in fourth with 15.3 points per contest and Lehigh's Marquis Hall (Oregon) fifth with 14.7 points per game.
Checking Up on the Career Lists
In addition to this season's scoring outburst, the quartet from the west is also carving out impressive numbers in the Patriot League career record book. Kina, Brown and Carr are the top three active career scorers in the Patriot League, and have all joined the League's 1,000-point club. Kina and Brown are both over 1,200 points, with Kina holding the top mark among active players with 1,262 career points. American's Derrick Mercer is the final active member with 1,000 points, and leads all active players and places ninth in League annals with 422 career assists. Hall is next among active players with 326 career assists, with Kina and Brown right behind to join Mercer as players with more than 1,000 points and 300 assists. Colgate's Alex Woodhouse is 10th with 138 career blocks, while Kina places 18th with 159 steals. Brown and Carr both have impressive standing in the three-point career leaderboard. Brown is sixth all-time with 256 three-pointers. Carr's 232 three-pointers leave him five shy of the top 10, but his 40.7 three-point percentage is fifth in League annals.
Patriot League Doing Well Against Regional Conferences
The Patriot League has already clinched a winning record in matchups against four Eastern conferences this season, and can add one more to the list this week. The Patriot League has completed a winning mark against the America East (6-5), Colonial Athletic Association (4-2) and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (4-0), and has clinched a winning record against the Northeast Conference (10-8) with one game to play later in the year. This week, the Patriot League tries to finish above .500 against the Ivy League. Patriot League teams are 8-7 against the Ivies heading into the four contests from Monday-Wednesday.
This and That
Lehigh's Matt Szalachowksi is one of 30 candidates for the 2008-09 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, presented to a student-athlete based on classroom, character, community and competition...American's Derrick Mercer and Garrison Carr are the first set of Eagle teammates to both have over 1,000 career points in the same season since 1996...Army has already had 12 different players score in double figures this season...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....Lehigh's 76-71 win over Rutgers on Nov. 26 was the first for the Mountain Hawks against a Big East team in their Patriot League history, and first for the Patriot League against the Big East since 2005.
Team Notebooks
American The Eagles won their second straight game by double digits, posting a 68-53 triumph over Brown on Friday...It was American's first home game in over a month, and moved their record back above .500 at 7-6...The Eagles improved to 2-1 at Bender Arena in the opener of a four-game homestand...American shot 54.3 percent from the field against the Bears, including a 9-for-18 clip from three-point range...The Eagles limited Brown to 34.8 percent shooting, and a 6-for-20 effort from beyond the arc...Garrison Carr led the way with 22 points, hitting on 5-of-7 shots from long range, and matched his career high with four assists...American used a 16-3 first-half run to take control with a nine-point halftime lead...The Eagles were up by double digits throughout the second half...It was American's first-ever win over Brown, as the Eagles are now 1-4 in the all-time series...Derrick Mercer had 11 points and a team-high six rebounds...Carr and Brian Gilmore were playing in their 100th game at American...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 second-most in Division I...American continues its homestand on Monday against Columbia...It is American's final non-League game of the year, as the Eagles are attempting to finish with a winning regular-season non-League mark for the third straight season...American has won both of its all-time meetings with Columbia, including a 69-56 win in New York City last year.
Army The Black Knights earned a season sweep over Dartmouth with a 61-54 triumph on the road on Saturday...Army's two wins over the Big Green this season evened the all-time series between the schools at 16-16...Army closed the game with a 21-4 run to rally from a 10-point deficit for the win...It was Army's first double-digit comeback of the season, and just its third in the last four years...Cleveland Richard's three-pointer with 1:02 left gave Army a 56-54 lead it would never relinquish...The Black Knights hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to seal the win and score the game's last eight points...Richard finished with a career-high 20 points and did not commit a turnover...He has recorded a career high in two of the last three games...It was the first 20-point game for an Army player this season...Freshman Julian Simmons had 15 points in his first career start...The Black Knights shot 50 percent in the game, and committed a season-low 10 turnovers...Army improved to 4-9 on the season...It closes out the non-League schedule at home against Fairfield on Tuesday...It is the first of a three-game homestand...Army trails the all-time series with Fairfield, 15-7.
Bucknell The Bison dropped their fourth straight game, falling at Ohio, 85-67, on Saturday...It was the first of a four-game road trip for Bucknell, who fell to 0-7 on the road this season....The Bison have lost eight consecutive road games overall since winning at Navy, 87-86, in triple overtime in last year's Patriot League quarterfinals...Justin Castleberry led the Bison with 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range...Castleberry was 9-for-17 from three-point range in Bucknell's two games last week...G.W. Boon had 12 points, while Bryan Cohen added 10...Darryl Shazier had eight points and six assists with no turnovers...Bucknell had 17 assists and only eight turnovers in the contest, but dropped to 3-10 with the loss...The Bison have allowed 80 points or more in three straight games for the first time in 15 years...The Bison continue their road trip on Tuesday at Cornell...It is their last non-League contest before League play begins on Saturday...Bucknell leads the all-time series, 23-21, including an 88-75 win over the Big Red last season.
Colgate Colgate continued its road trip in Texas and fell to UT-San Antonio, 76-66, on Friday...The Raiders fell to 1-4 on the eight-game road trip, and 3-9 for the season...Willie Morse was Colgate's leading scorer with 15 points, while Ben Jonson scored 13 and Mike Venezia added 10...Nick Pascale had a career-high eight points and four rebounds for the Raiders...Colgate played well in the first half, leading by as many as 10 points and taking a two-point advantage into the break...Colgate fell behind by 15 midway through the second half, but came back to cut the deficit to three with 5:17 left after a 15-3 run...The Raiders continue their road trip on Tuesday at NC Central in their last non-League game before the start of League play on Saturday...Colgate won the first meeting between the schools, 77-69, at home last season.
Holy Cross The Crusaders earned an impressive road victory with a 68-49 thrashing of Boston University on Friday night...It was the first road win of the season for the Crusaders, who improved to 5-9 overall...Sophomores Andrew Beinert and Andrew Keister each had career days in the win...Beinert finished with a career-high 18 points, while Keister notched career highs with 15 points and 11 rebounds...It was Keister's first career double-double...The Crusaders jumped out to a 17-5 lead to start the game, and took a seven-point advantage into the break...Holy Cross went on a 10-0 spurt to build a 15-point lead early in the second half, and led by at least nine points the rest of the way...Colin Cunningham had 13 points in the game, while R.J. Evans added 12...Evans has scored in double figures in eight straight games...Holy Cross held the Terriers to 37 percent shooting...The Crusaders limited Boston University's top scorer, Corey Lowe, to just four points, more than 14 below his 18.8 average...Holy Cross finishes its non-League schedule when it visits Central Florida on Tuesday...It is the first meeting between the schools.
Lafayette The Leopards saw their two-game winning streak come to an end with a 67-62 loss to Mt. St. Mary's on Friday...It was the final contest in Lafayette's three-game homestand, and the Leopards fell to 4-9 on the season...Lafayette closed the game with a 25-14 run, but could not fight all the way back from a 16-point deficit...Lafayette was down six with 5:33 to go but could not sustain the rally...Andrew Brown led the Leopards with 16 points, while Jared Mintz tallied his sixth double-digit effort with 10 points...Marek Koltun recorded his 14th block of the year, surpassing his total from the previous two seasons combined...It was Lafayette's first loss in four all-time meetings with Mt. St. Mary's...Lafayette is back in action on Tuesday when it travels to Penn...It is the final non-League game before League play begins on Saturday...The Leopards have won just four of 41 all-time meetings against the Quakers, but defeated Penn, 81-69, to end an eight-game series losing streak last year.
Lehigh Lehigh earned its fifth consecutive victory with a 73-59 win over Columbia on Friday...The Mountain Hawks improved to 10-3 on the season, marking the first time they have won 10 non-League games...Lehigh also improved to 5-2 at home to go with a 5-1 road record...That mark ties the Mountain Hawks for second in Division I in road victories, and is the first time they have won five non-League road games...Lehigh trailed Columbia, 17-2, in the early going before taking over from that point...Lehigh outscored the Lions, 71-42, after the slow start...The Mountain Hawks claimed their first lead since 2-0 on a Rob Keefer jumper with 4:33 to go in the first half, and took a 31-25 lead into the break...Columbia went back up by one with 13:25 to go, but Lehigh scored the next seven points and went on to the victory...Zahir Carrington matched his season-high with 21 points, while Keefer had a career-high 20 points while making all four of his three-point attempts...Marquis Hall had 12 points and six assists, and is now averaging a Patriot League-best five assists per game for the season...The Mountain Hawks play their final non-League game before the start of League play when they visit Princeton on Wednesday...Lehigh has won just four of 34 meetings against the Tigers, but did score a 68-49 win at home against Princeton last year.
Navy Navy completed its non-League home schedule with a perfect 7-0 mark with a 75-70 victory over Wofford on Friday...The Mids have won nine consecutive non-League home games overall, and finished with a perfect home mark in non-League action for the first time since joining the Patriot League...The Mids improved to 10-4 for the season and won their second consecutive game...It was also the 99th career victory for Head Coach Billy Lange, who has now won 60 games in his fifth season at Navy...The Mids placed five players in double figures for the first time since Dec. 18, 2005...Chris Harris led the way with 17 points, followed by Adam Teague with 16, O.J. Avworo with a career-high 12, Clif Colbert with 11 and Kaleo Kina with 10...Avworo also tied a career-high with eight assists while committing only two turnovers...Navy took a 38-31 lead into the break, and held off Wofford throughout the second half...The Terriers tied the game at 48 with 11:53 to play, but the Mids took the lead from that point...The Mids converted 10-of-11 free throws down the stretch to seal the win...Navy shot 50 percent for the second consecutive game...Navy finishes its non-League slate on Monday with a visit to Elon...A victory would give Navy its most non-League wins (11) since joining the Patriot League in the 1991-92 season, matching the total for the 1998-99 and 1999-00 teams...Lange is also in search of his 100th win as a head coach...Navy and Elon are meeting for the first time.
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