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Patriot League Men's Basketball Weekend Preview - 2.5.09
Feb. 5, 2009
Patriot League Men's Basketball Weekend Preview - 2.5.09
Center Valley, Pa. - The Lehigh Valley is the place to be for Patriot League men's basketball on Saturday, as the League's co-leaders put their position on the line in games separated by less than 15 miles. Holy Cross gets its crack to remain in first place in the afternoon, as the Crusaders pay a visit to Lafayette. American will know that result when it takes the court just to the west at Lehigh in a Saturday evening contest. The Eagles are trying to improve a 7-6 road record this season. Holy Cross and American finished the first half of their League schedules with 6-1 records, giving them a two-game lead on third place Navy. The rest of the field is closely bunched together, with just two and a half games between third-place Navy and eighth-place Bucknell. The Bison will try to close that gap when they host the Mids in Lewisburg on Saturday night. Army and Colgate are both on the cusp of moving into the top half of the standings, and one team will make a step towards that position when they play an afternoon game in Hamilton. Navy is the only squad other than the co-leaders to have a winning record in League play, as the Mids are in third place with a 4-3 mark. Lehigh and Army are tied for fourth at 3-4 in League action, while Colgate is at 3-5, Lafayette holds a 2-5 mark and Bucknell is 2-6. Patriot League Notebook American, Colgate Win at Home Wednesday On a light night of action in Patriot League men's basketball, each of the home teams used excellent defensive performances for double-digit victories on Wednesday. American dominated from start to finish and overwhelmed Army, 58-34, to move to 6-1 in the League and in a tie for first place in the standings with Holy Cross. Colgate overcame an early deficit to earn a 68-57 victory over Bucknell. Lafayette played the only other game in the early part of the week in non-League action, as the Leopards fell at Fairleigh Dickinson, 71-68, on Monday. Plenty of Televised Games Coming Up The Patriot League will not return to ESPNU until Feb. 14, but four of the eight games before that point can be seen on local or regional television. On Saturday, two games are available. The Holy Cross/Lafayette game will be televised by the Lafayette Sports Network and the American/Lehigh contest is on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and Service Electric 2 Sports. On Wednesday, Holy Cross hosts Army on WCTR-TV 3 in Central Massachusetts, and Colgate hosts Lafayette on Time Warner Sports. Bucknell To Host Delaware in ESPNU BracketBusters Bucknell will play host to Delaware of the Colonial Athletic Association in the seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters event on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. The matchup was announced on Monday along with each of the field's other 50 contests. The Bison will represent the Patriot League in the event for the fourth straight season, and will take on an opponent from the CAA for the third year in a row. Bucknell fell at Old Dominion, 65-55, last season after knocking off Towson, 73-63, in Lewisburg in 2007. Bucknell also lost a 65-61, double overtime thriller at Northern Iowa in a nationally televised game on ESPN2 in 2006. Lehigh's Hall Earns Academic All-District First-Team Honors Lehigh junior Marquis Hall was named to the 2009 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District First-Team, it was announced on Thursday. Hall maintains a 3.43 grade point average as a finance major, and is fourth in the Patriot League with 14.1 points per game. He is among the Patriot League all-time leaders in points (1,043) and assists (353), and has been clutch this season with three shots to tie or win a Patriot League contest in the final 30 seconds. Hall now moves on to the ballot for Academic All-America honors. American Tries To Maintain Road Success American begins a brief two-game road trip at Lehigh on Saturday, and the Eagles will try to maintain their status as one of the nation's top road teams in addition to their hold on first place in the Patriot League. American has a 7-6 road record this season, and is one of 18 teams in the country with at least seven road wins. Only seven squads have more road victories than American. Home Cooking Home teams are now 20-9 in Patriot League games after American and Colgate won on their own court Wednesday. Holy Cross and American both have perfect home marks, while Navy, Army, Bucknell and Lafayette are all over .500 on their home floor in League action. No team is under .500 at home, while only Holy Cross and American are over .500 on the road. Exclusive Company For Patriot League Guards Four of the five active 1,000-point scorers are also among the top assist men in Patriot League annals. Navy's Kaleo Kina, Lafayette's Andrew Brown, American's Derrick Mercer and Lehigh's Marquis Hall are all part of a group of only 14 players in Patriot League history to record at least 1,000 career points and 300 career assists. Kina has even more prestige to his numbers, as he is one of three Patriot Leaguers with at least 1,300 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists and 150 steals in a career. Kina joins Lafayette's Brian Ehlers (1996-00) and Holy Cross' Kevin Hamilton (2002-06) as players to accomplish the statistical feat. Moving Up the Lists A few of the active leaders in Patriot League statistical categories continue to move up the career lists. American's Derrick Mercer is up to fifth all-time with 473 assists, while Colgate's Alex Woodhouse is tied for seventh with 160 blocks. Lafayette's Andrew Brown has 270 three-pointers, one away from the third-highest mark in League annals. Kaleo Kina is the leading active scorer, and recently entered the top 25 in Patriot League history with 1,393 points. Patriot League Back On ESPNU The Patriot League has completed four of its six appearances on ESPNU. The remaining games on ESPNU are Colgate at American on Feb. 14 and Lafayette at Lehigh on Feb. 22. 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. 2009 Patriot League Tournament The 2009 Patriot League Men's Basketball Tournament will once again be played at campus sites, with the quarterfinals on March 4, semifinals on March 8 and Patriot League Championship on ESPN2 at 4:45 p.m. on March 13. All games will be played at the site of the higher seed. Patriot League Games
Holy Cross (11-11, 6-1 PL) at Lafayette (6-16, 2-5 PL) , Saturday, 1 p.m. Two teams on opposite ends of the standings meet in Easton when Holy Cross visits Lafayette on Saturday...The Crusaders are tied for first place with a 6-1 League mark, while the Leopards are in seventh with a 2-5 record...Holy Cross is going for the series sweep after defeating Lafayette, 81-67, to open the League schedule on Jan. 10...The Crusaders have won the last two meetings in the series, but Lafayette earned a 60-52 win in last year's matchup at the Kirby Sports Center as the teams split the season series...Holy Cross has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the schools...Holy Cross holds a 29-14 edge in the all-time series, and a 25-12 advantage in regular-season Patriot League games. Holy Cross The Crusaders won their third straight game and hold a share of first place with a 6-1 League mark with a 67-52 win at Lehigh on Saturday afternoon...The Crusaders are at 6-1 or better through the first half of League play for the second time in three years, and third in five seasons...Holy Cross used a 16-3 run to break open a tie game in the final 10 minutes with the Mountain Hawks...Holy Cross held Lehigh to 34.5 percent shooting (19-for-55) from the field, and a 17.6 percent (3-for-17) effort from three-point range...The Crusaders are allowing just 55.9 points per game in Patriot League action, and outscoring opponents by more than 11 points per game...They lead the Patriot League and are in the top 30 nationally in rebounding margin (+6.8) and steals per game (8.9)..Holy Cross also leads the League with more than 14 assists per game, and is averaging 15.6 assists in Patriot League contests...The Crusaders return to action when they go to the Lehigh Valley to face Lafayette on Saturday afternoon. Lafayette The Leopards fell in non-League action at Fairleigh Dickinson, 71-68, on Monday...Lafayette has dropped 11 consecutive road contests since winning its season opener...The Leopards completed a three-game road trip...Lafayette used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 56 with just over eight minutes to play...Jeff Kari hit a layup with 59 seconds left to give Lafayette a 66-65 lead, but Fairleigh Dickinson nailed all six of its free throws in the final minute to score the win...Andrew Brown had a three-pointer to tie at the buzzer that bounced on the front of the rim and hit the backboard but did not fall...Brown and Jared Mintz led Lafayette with 15 points each, while Kari had 13 and Ryan Willen notched his fourth straight game in double digits with 10...The Leopards sank 14-of-16 foul shots...They lead the Patriot League and are among the national leaders by hitting 75.6 percent from the line this season...In seventh place in the Patriot League at 2-5, Lafayette returns home to face Holy Cross on Saturday...The Leopards are 5-5 on their home court, and 2-1 at home in League games. Army (7-14, 3-4 PL) at Colgate (7-14, 3-5 PL), Saturday, 2 p.m. Colgate hosts Army at Cotterell Court on Saturday afternoon, with both teams trying to work their way into the top half of the standings...Army is tied for fourth with a 3-4 mark in Patriot League play, while Colgate is in sixth with a 3-5 record...The Raiders earned an easy victory when the teams faced off at Army on Jan. 10, knocking off the Black Knights, 64-42...That gave Colgate eight victories in the last nine games in the series, and a 52-51 lead in the all-time matchups with the Black Knights...The Raiders have also won four consecutive home games against Army...Four of the last five meetings have been decided by six points or less...Colgate holds a 31-6 edge in regular-season Patriot League games against Army Army The Black Knights saw their three-game winning streak come to an end with a 58-34 loss at American on Wednesday...Army fell into a tie for fourth place in the standings with a 3-4 League mark...It has still never won at Bender Arena in Patriot League action, and fell to American for the fifth straight time...The Black Knights have dropped both of their Patriot League road games this season...The 34-point total was a season-low for Army, and the fewest in a game since a 75-25 loss to Bucknell during the 2003-04 season...Army also shot 31.8 percent and was outrebounded, 38-19...It was trying to win four straight Patriot League games for the first time...Cleveland Richard led Army with nine points...Army continues its three-game road trip at Colgate on Saturday, trying to split the season series with the Raiders...Army plays five of its final seven League games on the road. Colgate The Raiders notched a 68-57 victory at home against Bucknell on Wednesday to pull into sole possession of sixth place in the Patriot League with a 3-5 mark...They also snapped a three-game losing streak...Colgate earned its second home win of the year, improving to 2-6 overall and 2-2 in Patriot League play at Cotterell Court...The Raiders split the season series with Bucknell, and defeated the Bison in Hamilton for the second straight time...Colgate fell behind Bucknell by 13 points in the early going, but took over the game from there...They used a 17-2 run to get back in the contest right away...After falling behind by five points early in the second half, the Raiders scored 13 consecutive points to take control...The Raiders led by nine with 3:55 left, and posted a 13-for-16 effort at the foul line down the stretch to seal the win...Anthony Hill scored a career-high 14 points to lead the Raiders, while Alex Woodhouse scored all 13 of his points in the second half and also totaled eight rebounds and five blocks...Woodhouse leads the Patriot League and is among the national leaders with 2.52 blocked shots per game...That average is better than five Patriot League teams and helps Colgate to a League-best 3.48 blocks per contest...Mike Venezia and Yaw Gyawu each tallied 10 points for Colgate...The Raiders held a 42-29 edge on the glass and made 28-of-35 foul shots to overcome a 34 percent shooting effort...Colgate continues its four-game League homestand when it takes on Army on Saturday...The Raiders have split the first two games of the homestand...They are trying to sweep the season series with the Black Knights. American (14-7, 6-1 PL) at Lehigh (13-8, 3-4 PL), Saturday, 7 p.m. American puts its share of first place on the line when it visits Lehigh, which is tied for fourth, on Saturday night...The teams played an outstanding game in their first meeting, with the Eagles outlasting Lehigh, 76-66, in overtime to open the League schedule on Jan. 10...That was American's third straight win in the series...Lehigh had won the previous four contests before that stretch...The Eagles hold an 18-11 mark in the all-time series, and an 8-7 edge in regular-season Patriot League games. American The Eagles improved to 6-1 in Patriot League play and tied Holy Cross for first place in the League standings with a 58-34 thrashing of Army at Bender Arena on Wednesday...American won its third consecutive game and beat Army for the fifth straight meeting...The Eagles also won their 11th straight home game against a Patriot League opponent, and improved to 4-0 at home against League foes this season and 7-1 overall at Bender Arena...It was one of the best defensive performance in American annals, as the 34 points allowed were the fewest for the Eagles since the 1960-61 season...The Eagles also held a commanding 38-19 edge on the boards, and limited Army to 31.8 percent shooting from the field...Nick Hendra led the Eagles with 14 points, while Derrick Mercer totaled 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists...American hit 48 percent (24-of-50) of its shots in the game...The Eagles put together a 15-2 spurt for a 17-7 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest, and took a 14-point lead into the break...American started the second half with a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach...American plays its next two games on the road, starting with a visit to Lehigh on Saturday...The Eagles are 6-1 in Patriot League action for the first time, and are trying to match their best start in any conference since beginning 7-1 in the East Coast Conference during the 1981-82 season. Lehigh The Mountain Hawks saw their two-game winning streak come to an end with a 67-52 home loss to Holy Cross on Saturday...Lehigh dropped to 3-4 through the first half of League play, good for a tie for fourth place in the standings...Lehigh was in the game most of the way, but Holy Cross pulled away with a 16-3 run with less than 10 minutes to go...Marquis Hall was the only Lehigh player to score in double figures with 14 points... Zahir Carrington just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds, but the Mountain Hawks were hurt by 16 turnovers and a poor shooting performance...Carrington paces the League with eight rebounds per game and is fifth in scoring with 14.0 points per game, just a spot below Hall who is averaging 14.1...Carrington still leads the Patriot League with six double-doubles this season...The Mountain Hawks lead the League and are in the top 20 in the country by allowing opponents to shoot just 38.3 percent from the field this season...Lehigh has split the first two games on its three-game homestand...Lehigh is 2-2 at home in Patriot League action, and 7-4 overall at Stabler Arena. Navy (15-7, 4-3 PL) at Bucknell (5-17, 2-6 PL), Saturday, 7 p.m. Navy and Bucknell square off in Lewisburg in a series that has featured competitive games of late...Navy earned a 71-67 win at home to open the League schedule on Jan. 10, and the four games the teams have played in the last two seasons have each been decided by eight points or less...That includes Bucknell's triple overtime win at Navy in the 2008 Patriot League quarterfinals...Bucknell holds an eight-game home winning streak against Navy, which has never won at Sojka Pavilion...The last Navy victory at Bucknell was in 2001..Navy has won two of the last three in the series after Bucknell won seven in a row...The Mids come into the game in third place, while Bucknell has slipped to eighth...Navy holds a 31-25 lead in the all-time series, with Bucknell up, 19-16, in regular-season League games. Navy The Mids snapped their two-game losing streak with a 75-64 win at Colgate on Saturday night...They moved back over .500 at 4-3 in the Patriot League, and into sole possession of third place...It also ended Navy's seven-game skid against the Raiders...The Mids trailed by six points early in the second half, but used a 13-4 run to claim a 47-42 lead with 12:45 to go...Navy held the lead the rest of the way...Mark Veazey scored 17 points, all in the second half, and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Mids to victory...It was his second career double-double..Kaleo Kina had 15 points and moved into the top 25 in Patriot League history and ninth place in Navy annals with 1,393 career points...Kina continues to lead the Patriot League with 18.5 points per game...The Mids lead the League with 72.5 points per contest, while also pacing the League in three-point field-goal defense...Chris Haris and Adam Teague are both among the national leaders in shooting categories, with Harris ranked in three-pointers per game and free throw percentage and Teague in three-point field-goal percentage...The Mids finish their brief two-game road stint at Bucknell on Saturday. Bucknell Bucknell lost its third consecutive game and fell to eighth place with a 2-6 Patriot League record with a 68-57 loss at Colgate on Wednesday...The teams split the season series, as the Bison won at home in overtime on Jan. 24...Bucknell dropped all three games on its road trip, and is 0-13 on the road this season...The Bison fell to 0-5 in Patriot League road games...Bucknell jumped out to a 17-4 lead, and had a five-point edge early in the second half before Colgate started to take control...Patrick Behan led the Bison with 18 points, while Justin Castleberry added 13 and Bryan Cohen 11...Bucknell shot 43 percent from the field, but was outrebounded, 42-29...The Bison held Colgate to 34 percent shooting...Bucknell found out Monday that it will host Delaware in an ESPNU BracketBusters matchup on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m...The Bison begin a two-game homestand when they face Navy on Saturday...Bucknell plays four of its final six Patriot League games at Sojka Pavilion, and five of the last seven overall with the Delaware matchup...The Bison are 5-4 at home this season, and 2-1 in home League games.
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