Nov. 20, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - Six Patriot League men's basketball teams are in action over the weekend, with five of them playing on Saturday. The one that doesn't go on Saturday will have the most activity, as Holy Cross is the only team to play twice this weekend.

Patriot League Men's Basketball Release - 11.20.09

The Crusaders host Loyola (Ill.) on Friday at 9 p.m., then continue a tough early schedule by starting a three-game road trip at Rhode Island on Sunday. The Crusaders are 0-2 in Head Coach Sean Kearney's first season, and face a daunting early schedule with trips to UNLV and Western Michigan coming up next on the road journey.

Bucknell got used to playing on the road in its first week, and now the Bison are finally entering the friendly confines of Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell plays its home opener against St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday after posting a 2-2 record in road or neutral site games to start the year. The Bison have already topped last year's win total in road/neutral games, as they were just 1-15 away from Lewisburg in 2008-09. Also on Saturday, American hosts Florida Atlantic looking for its first win, while Army is at Princeton, Navy goes to Long Island and Lafayette visits NJIT. The Black Knights and Mids are trying to get their second win, while the Leopards attempt to continue their strong start and move to 3-1.

Patriot League Notebook

Lafayette Off to Fastest Start
Picked to finish eighth in the Patriot League, Lafayette is off to the best start among all teams with a 2-1 record. The Leopards went back over .500 on Thursday with a convincing 88-77 win on the road against St. Francis (Pa.). Jared Mintz scored a career-high 24 points in the game, making all nine of his shots from the field, and leads the Patriot League with 18.7 ppg this season.

The Leopards were one of four Patriot League teams to score a win in the middle of the week. Army gave Head Coach Zach Spiker his first win, as the Black Knights held off Long Island, 63-56, in the home opener at West Point on Tuesday. Lehigh won its home opener as well, as the Mountain Hawks notched their first victory after two defeats with a 79-71 triumph over Quinnipiac on Wednesday. Lehigh had lost at Rider, 86-71, on Monday. Bucknell concluded its early road stint with an impressive win, knocking off Delaware, 82-66, on Wednesday.

Colgate and American each lost a pair of games, with the Raiders falling to No. 12 Connecticut and Yale in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off and the Eagles losing at home against Albany and Mt. St. Mary's. Navy lost its home opener on Thursday against Buffalo, and Holy Cross fell at St. Joseph's on Tuesday.

Seeing Flashes of Red....Again and Again
Comparative scoring is not the best way to determine the strength of teams, but in the first two weeks of the year Patriot League followers will get to see how half of the League stacks up against one opponent. American, Lafayette, Bucknell and Lehigh all face the St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash in the first two weeks. So far, American lost on the road on Nov. 13, while Lafayette won away from home on Thursday. Bucknell hosts the Red Flash on Saturday, while Lehigh goes on the road on Wednesday.

Northeast Rivals
The matchups with St. Francis (Pa.) are just part of a busy schedule against Northeast Conference opponents. The leagues have already faced off eight times, with the Patriot League holding a 5-3 advantage in the meetings. The matchups with the NEC account for most of the non-League wins early in the season, as Patriot League teams have a 7-15 record overall.

Mintz Doesn't Miss
Lafayette's strong start can be attriubted to a few things, but maybe none more so than junior forward Jared Mintz. The Patriot League's leading scorer by nearly two and a half points at 18.7 ppg, Mintz has possessed the golden touch from the field and the line this season. He is leading the Patriot League by hitting 61.3 percent of his shots (19-of-31) and is second in free throw percentage at 94.7 percent (18-of-19). His 19 field goals made lead the League going into the weekend, and his 18 free throws rank second. Mintz has scored 20 points or more in two of Lafayette's first three games, and his 24-point game against St. Francis (Pa.) on Thursday was tied for the top mark in the League this year.

Lehigh's Hall Joins an Exclusive Club
Lehigh senior guard Marquis Hall already has a list of Patriot League honors in his career: Rookie of the Year, Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a pair of All-League nods are pretty nice in three seasons. Now he has hit a statistical milestone that only a handful of Patriot Leaguers have obtained. He went over 400 career assists on Wednesday against Quinnipiac, and now has a total of 405. Hall is 10th in Patriot League in career assists, and one of only four players in League history with at least 1,100 points and 400 assists. Hall has 1,186 career points, 47th in League annals. Hall was named the League's Preseason Player of the Year, and is also a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS award.

Patriot League on CBS College Sports
The Patriot League home for men's basketball coverage moves to the CBS College Sports Network in 2010, with 12 men's games on the slate including a pair from the Patriot League Tournament. The schedule featues regular-season games on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon, as well as the final Saturday of the regular-season. On the final two weekends (Feb. 21 and 27) a "Flex Game" schedule is in place where the televised contest will not be announced until a later date. One Patriot League quarterfinal game will be shown on March 3 at 7 p.m., while a semifinal contest will be televised on March 7 at 8 p.m. CBS College Sports Network is available through cable operators as well as on DIRECTV Channel 613 and Dish Network Channel 152. The Patriot League Championship remains on ESPN2 and will be played on March 12 at 4:45 p.m.

Tough Schedule in 2009-10
The Patriot League will take on a challenging non-League slate in the 2009-10 season that includes plenty of games against returning tournament teams. There are six games against teams that made the 2009 NCAA Tournament, including Navy's opening matchup with Radford on Friday and Colgate's trips to Final Four participant Connecticut and Sweet 16 entrant Syracuse. Patriot League teams will also play eight games against squads that made the postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT) last year. Defending Patriot League champion American has three of those contests, as the Eagles will visit last year's NIT champion, Penn State, on Dec. 21 and go to Georgetown on Dec. 5 and Florida on Dec. 28. The 2009-10 schedule also contains plenty of games against foes from surrounding conferences in the region. Patriot League teams will play a heavy dose of games against the Northeast Conference and Ivy League, with 24 matchups against the NEC and 20 versus the Ivies. The schedule includes 11 games against both the Atlantic 10 Conference and America East as well as nine against the Big East and MAAC.

Plenty Of Coverage on League Website
The Patriot League is expanding its men's basketball coverage on the League website. The League has already provided a page with video and audio interviews from Media Day as well as preseason articles from around the country. The composite schedule will include all live stat, audio and video links for games throughout the season, and a recap with links to school box scores and recaps will be provided after each night of games.

Keep Track of the Patriot League Through Social Media
In addition to visiting www.patriotleague.org, League fans and followers have plenty of new ways to stay updated and involved during the 2009-10 season and beyond. The Patriot League has accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and has now started a blog to give more information on the action on the field. All three accounts are accessible through the multimedia link at the right-hand sidebar on the front page of www.patriotleague.org.

Team Notebooks

American The Eagles fell to 0-3 on the season after dropping a pair of home games...They lost to Albany, 51-50, on Monday night and dropped a 73-62 final to Mt. St. Mary's on Wednesday..American had a chance to win on its final possession against Albany, but Daniel Munoz' runner in the lane was off as time expired...Stephen Lumpkins led the way with 12 points, while Simon McCormack poured in 10...Lumpkins had a huge day in the loss to Mt. St. Mary's, setting career highs with 17 points and 12 rebounds in the game...It was his first career double-double...Riley Grafft put together a big game in the paint as well by notching a career-high with 17 points and also pulling down five rebounds...The Eagles trailed by just three at the half against the Mount, but gave up the first 11 points of the second half and could not recover...American continues its five-game homestand against Florida Atlantic on Saturday...The Eagles wrap up the busy 10-day home stay by facing MAAC opponents Fairfield on Monday and Manhattan on Wednesday.

Army The Black Knights delivered the first win of Head Coach Zach Spiker's career by holding off Long Island, 63-56, in West Point on Tuesday...Army used an 18-2 second-half run to take control of the game...Long Island answered to cut the Army lead to one with just over four minutes to go, but Julian Simmons came back with a three-pointer to ignite a 7-0 run to put the game away...Simmons led Army with 15 points off the bench, his second straight double-digit game...He hit 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range in only 14 minutes of play...Josh Miller had 12 points, while Tyrell Thompson scored 10...Cleveland Richard had a strong all-around game with nine points, eight rebounds and six assists...The Black Knights hit 56 percent of their second-half shots after making just 26.5 percent in the first half...Army will go for a two-game winning streak when it visits Princeton on Saturday afternoon...The Black Knights lost the matchup at home, 55-43, last year.

Bucknell The Bison already have more wins away from Sojka Pavilion than they recorded in the entire 2008-09 season, as they won a second straight game with an 82-66 triumph at Delaware on Wednesday...Bucknell has a 2-2 record, all in road or neutral site games, after going 1-15 away from home last year...The Bison used a 24-4 run spanning the first and second halves to build an 18-point lead, and led by double digits the rest of the way...Darryl Shazier scored a career-high 24 points, going 6-of-10 from the floor, 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 9-for-9 at the line...His previous career high was 21 points at Army last year...The Bison had an outstanding shooting night as a team, hitting on 61 percent of their first-half shots and 57 percent for the game...They made 5-of-8 three-pointers...Bucknell also hit 29-of-33 foul shots, including 23-of-26 in the second half...Bucknell topped 80 points in a regulation road game for the first time in nearly five years...Patrick Behan added 18 points for the Bison, while freshman Bryson Johnson had his third double-figure scoring night with 12 points...The Bison play their home opener against St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday...They are 14-11 all-time against the Red Flash, but have lost a close matchup in each of the past two seasons.

Colgate The Raiders started the year with an 0-2 record in the first set of games in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off, falling at host No. 12 Connecticut, 77-63, on Monday and against Yale, 65-55, on Tuesday...Colgate was within one point at halftime against the Huskies, but gave up a 39-17 run as UConn took control...Mike Venezia led the Raiders with 17 points, and also grabbed six rebounds...Kyle Roemer finished with 12 points in his return to the court after missing the 2008-09 season with an injury...Yaw Gyawu chipped in 12 points...Roemer tallied 18 points in the loss to Yale, but again the Raiders were hurt by an early second half run...Colgate had a two-point lead at the break, but Yale opened with the first 12 points of the second half...The Raiders scored the next nine, but would not get any closer...Gyawu again had 12 points while Venezia scored 11...The Raiders were sent to Fort Worth, Texas, for the next set of games in the tournament...They face host TCU on Monday and Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Holy Cross The Crusaders fell to 0-2 in heartbreaking fashion, dropping a 69-67 final on the road at St. Joseph's...Holy Cross used a 7-0 run to tie the score at 63 with 2:26 remaining, but St. Joseph's went on a 6-2 surge to answer back and go on to the win...Sophomore guards Devin Brown and R.J. Evans led the scoring for Holy Cross, with Brown totaling 17 and Evans notching 16 and nine rebounds...Andrew Keister posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds...Holy Cross held a 50-33 advantage on the boards...The Crusaders will have two chances to get Head Coach Sean Kearney his first career win this weekend...Holy Cross hosts Loyola (Ill.) on Friday at 9 p.m., and then goes to Rhode Island on Sunday at 1 p.m...Holy Cross is 4-2 all-time against Loyola, but has not won the matchup since 1951...The Crusaders lost on the road, 58-53, last year...Holy Cross is 26-12 in the series against Rhode Island as the teams meet for just the second time since 1982...Holy Cross won the last matchup, 51-50, on the road on Jan. 2, 2005...It is the start of a difficult three-game road trip that also takes the Crusaders to UNLV and Western Michigan.

Lafayette The Leopards are the only Patriot League team with a winning record, as they moved to 2-1 on the year with an 88-77 win at St. Francis (Pa.) on Thursday...Jared Mintz had a huge night, going 9-for-9 from the field and 6-for-7 from the line for a career-high 24 points...Mintz leads the Patriot League in scoring (18.7 ppg) by nearly two and a half points per game, and also leads the League in field goal percentage (61.3)...Mintz is also second in free throw shooting at 94.7 percent (18-for-19)...He has already hit for 20 points or more twice this season...Jim Mower also tallied a career-high with 17 points, while Michael Gruner matched that number...Lafayette scored the last eight points of the first half to open up a nine-point bulge at the break, and extended the lead as high as 14 in the second half...The Leopards led by at least five for the entire second half...The Leopards try to move to 3-1 when they conclude their three-game road trip at NJIT on Saturday...Lafayette won the last meeting, 81-56, at home in 2007-08.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks split a pair of games this week, losing at Rider, 86-71, on Monday before claiming their first victory of the season in their home opener against Quinnipiac, 79-71, on Wednesday...Marquis Hall dished out 10 assists in each of the games, and became the 10th Patriot Leaguer to go over 400 career assists with 405 in his tenure...Hall leads the Patriot League with 8.7 assists per game, three per contest ahead of the closest competitor...Freshman C.J. McCollum had a breakout game with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in his first career start in the win over Quinnipiac...McCollum is fourth in the Patriot League with 15.7 points per game...Rob Keefer had 13 and Michael Ojo scored 11 in the win...Ojo led the way with 14 points against Rider, while McCollum scored 13 and Hall tallied 12 for a double-double with the 10 assists...Lehigh is off until Monday when it hosts Monmouth...Lehigh leads the all-time series with the Hawks, 4-1, including an 80-71 win on the road last year.

Navy The Mids fell to 1-2 on the year as they dropped their home opener, 63-53, against Buffalo on Thursday...The loss snapped a nine-game home winning streak against non-League foes and was the Mids' first against a non-League foe since losing to Mount St. Mary's, 62-58, on Dec. 3, 2007...Navy was hurt by 30.8 percent shooting from the field...Navy used a 15-8 run to cut an eight-point deficit to one with 9:52 to play, but Buffalo answered with the next five points and Navy could get no closer than three the rest of the way...Chris Harris led Navy with 15 points, but went just 6-of-21 from the field and is shooting 23.7 percent in the Mids' first three games...Romeo Garcia had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Jordan Sugars totaled nine points and seven rebounds...Navy goes on the road to face Long Island on Saturday evening...Navy has a 3-0 edge in the all-time series, though the teams have not played since 1965.