Nov. 21, 2008
Center Valley, Pa. - Seven of the eight Patriot League men's basketball teams are set for at least one game this weekend, with Lafayette putting its undefeated record on the line with a pair of home contests. The Leopards open the weekend action by taking on Temple on Friday at 8:30 p.m., and finish up by hosting Rider on Sunday at 1 p.m. Lafayette is at 2-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season after winning at Wagner and at home against Stony Brook to open the season.
Patriot League Men's Basketball Release - 11.21.08 
Most of the weekend games will take place on Saturday, when five Patriot League teams are in action. All five schools will have to take to the road, as Navy visits William & Mary, Holy Cross is at Northeastern, Colgate goes to Dartmouth, American takes on Jacksonville and Bucknell travels to St. Francis (Pa.). Navy, American and Colgate will try to continue their winning ways, as the Mids and Eagles have each won two consecutive games and the Raiders claimed a victory in their only contest so far this season. Holy Cross lost on Wednesday to fall to 2-1, and will play its first road contest of the year. Bucknell goes in search of its first win of the year.
The games wrap up on Sunday, when Army will join Lafayette in playing a home contest. The Black Knights try to snap a two-game losing skid when they face Princeton at 2:30 p.m. Lehigh is off this weekend, but returns to action when it hosts St. Francis (Pa.) on Monday to complete a three-game homestand.
Patriot League Notebook
Six Teams With Winning Records
Six of the eight Patriot League schools boast a winning record through the season's first week, with Lafayette topping the group with its first 2-0 start since the 1998-99 season. Holy Cross and Lehigh both had a chance to go to 3-0, but fell in their most recent contest to drop to 2-1. American and Navy have each won two consecutive games to improve to 2-1, while Colgate won its only contest of the season at Central Connecticut State on Monday and sits at 1-0 for the year.
Home Cooking
Home-court advantage has been a key reason for the early success for Patriot League schools. Patriot League teams are an impressive 8-3 at home so far this season. Navy is a perfect 2-0 on its home court, while Holy Cross is 2-1. Lafayette, Army and American have each won their only matchup at home.
Overpowering a Pair Of Conferences
The Patriot League's winning mark is due in large part to its performance against a pair of Division I conferences. Patriot League schools are a perfect 3-0 against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and 5-2 against the Northeast Conference. The League is also 1-0 against the Atlantic 10 with Holy Cross' win over St. Joseph's, and is 1-1 against the Ivy League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and America East Conference.
Kina Reaches 1,000, Mercer and Carr Up Next?
It only took two games for another Patriot Leaguer to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career. Navy senior guard Kaleo Kina became the League's 65th 1,000-point scorer during the Mids' win over Howard on Sunday. He now has 1,027 points in his career. He joins Lafayette's Andrew Brown as active players on the list, as Brown is up to 1,078 career points. The preseason All-League pair of seniors from American are next on the list to reach the 1,000-point mark, as Derrick Mercer stands with 933 points and Garrison Carr has 907 career points.
Patriot League Rated No. 15 by Rivals.com
Rivals.com believes the Patriot League has a chance to continue to stay strong in the conference ratings, as the organization ranked the League No. 15 in its listing of the 32 conferences coming into the 2008-09 season.
American at No. 23 in CollegeInsider.Com Mid-Major Top 25
American maintained the No. 23 ranking in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major top 25 released on Monday. The Eagles lost their season opener at No. 12/14 Oklahoma, but did bounce back to defeat St. Francis (Pa.) on Monday. Holy Cross moved into the receiving votes category of the poll after its wins against Sacred Heart and St. Joseph's.
Team Notebooks
American The Eagles opened their four-game road trip by holding off Howard, 65-63, on Wednesday in Washington, D.C to improve to 2-1 for the season...American earned its second consecutive win...Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year Garrison Carr had his second straight stellar outing, scoring 29 points on 7-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc...The Eagles rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to earn the victory...They nearly squandered a seven-point advantage with 42 seconds left, but Howard missed a three-pointer at the buzzer...Derrick Mercer dished out a season-high eight assists in the win, and now has 397 assists in his career...Carr is just two three-pointers shy of 200 for his career...He set a League record with 135 three-pointers last year, and leads all players with 13 threes this year...Both players are closing in on the 1,000-point club...Mercer has 933 career points, while Carr has 907...American beat Howard for the sixth consecutive time, and has an 11-3 edge in the all-time series...The road trip continues when the Eagles travel to Jacksonville on Saturday...American won the matchup, 52-50, at home last season, and has a perfect 4-0 record in the series.
Army The Black Knights fell to 1-2 on the year with a 78-68 loss at Long Island on Thursday night...Four players scored in double figures for Army, led by Josh Miller with 15...Cleveland Richard and Marcus Nelson each added 12 points, while freshman Julian Simmons had his first career game in double figures with 10 points...Long Island hit 15-of-27 three-point shots to earn the victory...Army was down by as many as 17 points in the first half, but came back to take a two-point lead with 11 minutes left in the game...Long Island then used an 18-4 run to pull away...Army has now lost 15 straight games when allowing 70-or-more points...The Black Knights have made at least seven three-pointers in each of their first three games...Army has forced 19.7 turnovers per game, while committing just 14.3 of its own...Army will host Princeton on Sunday at 2:30 p.m...It is the first of a three-game stretch against Ivy League opponents, as the Black Knights visit Brown and Harvard next week...Army's lone win came against Dartmouth of the Ivy League...Army is 12-22 all-time against Princeton.
Bucknell The Bison fell in heartbreaking fashion in the home opener for Head Coach Dave Paulsen, dropping a 71-68 overtime contest to preseason America East favorite Boston University...The Bison led by as many as 16 points in the first half, and held a 12-point lead at the break...Justin Castleberry led Bucknell with 17 points, all coming in the first half...Freshmen Bryan Cohen and Enoch Andoh both scored 10 points to reach double figures for the first time...Zach Evans had career highs with nine points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action...Bucknell led three times in overtime, but Boston U.'s Corey Lowe hit the game-winning shot in the lane with 40 seconds left...Bucknell made four field goals in the second half, then made four in the overtime session...Darryl Shazier had a career-high seven assists, all in the first half...Shazier leads the Patriot League with 5.5 assists per game...Bucknell looks for its first win of the year when it travels to St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday night...The Bison lead the all-time series, 14-10, but lost to the Red Flash, 57-54, in Lewisburg last season.
Colgate The Raiders won their season opener in dramatic fashion, as Mike Venezia's buzzer-beater lifted Colgate to a 58-57 victory at Central Connecticut State on Monday...The Raiders trailed, 57-53, with 1:02 left, but came back on a basket by Venezia and free throw by Ben Jonson to set up the game-winning shot...Willie Morse led the Raiders with 12 points, while Venezia had 10 and Alex Woodhouse notched eight points and 10 rebounds...Woodhouse also had four steals and three blocks, and leads the Patriot League in rebounds, blocks and steals per game...The Raiders are back in action when they travel to Dartmouth on Saturday...The Big Green won at Colgate, 81-76, last season...Colgate opens its home schedule on Nov. 26 against Kennesaw State.
Holy Cross The Crusaders dropped their first contest of the year, falling to 2-1 with a 62-57 loss to Brown on Wednesday...It was the last of Holy Cross' season-opening three-game homestand, which started with wins over Sacred Heart and St. Joseph's last weekend...The Crusaders were up four with six minutes to go before Brown went on a 12-0 run to pull away...Colin Cunningham led Holy Cross with 11 points, eight rebounds and six assists...The Crusaders held a 38-30 edge on the boards...It is the first time since the 2005-06 season that Holy Cross did not start the year with a 3-0 mark...Senior Alex Vander Baan has 26 rebounds through three games this year, and is up to 472 for his career...Freshman R.J. Evans leads the Crusaders with 12.0 points per game...The Crusaders play their first road game of the year at Northeastern on Saturday...It is the first contest of a three-game road trip...It is a return matchup for last year's contest in the ESPNU BracketBusters, which Holy Cross won, 61-47, at home...The Crusaders are 13-4 all-time against Northeastern, and have won the last five meetings in the series...Holy Cross has not lost to Northeastern since 1989.
Lafayette The Leopards moved to 2-0 on the season with an 80-71 victory over Stony Brook on Tuesday...It was the opener of a three-game homestand for Lafayette, which continues this weekend against Temple on Friday and Rider on Sunday...The Leopards are 2-0 for the first time since the 1998-99 season, when they won the Patriot League and advanced to the NCAA Tournament...Senior guard Andrew Brown led the team with 25 points, marking the second consecutive game that he has posted at least 20 points...Brown leads the Patriot League with 23.5 ppg this year...Freshman Ryan Willen had 15 points and 10 rebounds...He became the first freshman since Bilal Abdullah to record a double-double...Abdullah, who graduated last year, had a double-double on Jan. 13, 2005...Lafayette used an early 16-1 run to claim an 18-3 lead...It led by as much as 22 points at nearly five minutes remaining in the second half, and the lead never dropped below nine...Jeff Kari had career highs of 16 points and seven assists...The Leopards connected on 27-of-50 shots in the game... The Leopards are 7-32 all-time against Temple, who made the NCAA Tournament last year and is picked second in the Atlantic 10...Lafayette is 39-35 all-time against Rider.
Lehigh Lehigh fell for the first time this season, dropping a tough 69-68 decision at home against Rider on Thursday...The Mountain Hawks dropped to 2-1 for the year...Lehigh held a 12-point halftime lead, but saw its five-game home winning streak against non-League opponents come to an end...Zahir Carrington led the Mountain Hawks with 15 points...Rob Keefer had 11 points and Phil Anderson added 10 for his third straight game in double figures...Lehigh held a 45-34 edge on the boards and committed just 10 turnovers, but shot 36 percent for the game and 26 percent in the second half...Lehigh held a late 66-65 lead, but Rider converted a three-point play with 11 seconds to go to claim the advantage...Keefer hit a shot at the buzzer, but it was just inside the three-point line to leave Lehigh one point short...Lehigh leads the Patriot League in three-point field goal percentage and rebounding margin...The Mountain Hawks complete their three-game homestand against St. Francis (Pa.) on Monday...Lehigh trails the all-time series, 3-2, but won on the road last year.
Navy The Mids knocked off St. Francis (N.Y.), 75-63, at home on Tuesday to improve to 2-1 on the season...Navy is 2-1 for the third time in Billy Lange's five years...It was Navy's second consecutive win, with both coming at home...Kaleo Kina scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures...Chris Harris (17), Adam Teague (12) and Mark Veazey (10) also had double-digit points...Veazey added 11 rebounds and two blocked shots for his first career double-double...Harris has hit a three-pointer in 24 straight games, an ongoing school record...Navy grabbed a 14-2 lead early in the game...After St. Francis came back to lead by two early in the second half, Navy answered with nine consecutive points to re-gain control...Navy pushed the lead to 10 with under eight minutes to go, and led by at least five the rest of the way...Navy shot a season-best 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the field and shot 40.0 percent (8-of-20) from three-point range...O.J. Avworo had a team-high seven assists...Navy travels to William & Mary on Saturday...The Mids are 39-19 in the all-time series.
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