Dec. 21, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - After extended breaks for exams lightened the schedule in the past two weeks, the Christmas holiday on Friday will cut this week's schedule short. Every Patriot League team is in action on Monday or Tuesday before taking the rest of the week off. The slow schedule last week still featured some strong individual performances, and American junior Vlad Moldoveanu and Bucknell freshman Mike Muscala were honored for their efforts with the Patriot League/Anaconda Player and Rookie of the Week awards, respectively, on Monday.

Patriot League Men's Basketball Release - 12.21.09

Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week (Dec. 14-20)

Vlad Moldoveanu, American Jr., F, 6'9, 215, Bucharest, Romania/St. John's College
In his first action with the Eagles, Moldoveanu led the way in an upset at DePaul on Wednesday by scoring 26 points and grabbing eight rebounds in the 62-57 victory. He made 8-of-15 shots in the game, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, and also converted 5-of-6 foul shots. Moldoveanu also played a strong game in American's 59-57 loss to UMBC on Sunday, as he came off the bench to score 14 points in just 17 minutes of action. He was 5-of-11 from the field with three rebounds, one assist and one block. For the week, Moldoveanu averaged 20.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 2.5 apg. He shot 50.0 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from three and 87.5 percent from the line. A transfer from George Mason, Moldoveanu became eligible for game action after the conclusion of American's fall semester. He is American's first winner of the Patriot League/Anaconda Player of the Week award this season.

Patriot League/Anaconda Rookie of the Week (Dec. 14-20)

Mike Muscala, Bucknell Fr., C, 6'10, 225, Roseville, Minn./Roseville
Muscala receives his second Patriot League/Anaconda Rookie of the Week award of the season after putting up 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in Bucknell's 83-70 loss at La Salle on Saturday. He led the Bison in scoring by making 6-of-10 shots, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, to go with 2-of-3 free throws. The assist total was a career high, and Muscala also had two steals and a blocked shot. In four games in the month of December, Muscala is averaging 13.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.3 bpg, has 6 assists with only 3 turnovers and is shooting 67.6% (23-34) from the field. He is second in the Patriot League with 1.7 blocked shots per game. Bucknell has now received three of the first six Rookie of the Week awards this season, and Muscala joins Lehigh's C.J. McCollum as a two-time winner.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Cleveland Richard, Army Sr., G, 6'3, 196, Houston, Texas/Spring Westfield
Richard scored a team-high 17 points and pulled down five rebounds to lead the Black Knights past Mount St. Vincent, 62-56, on Saturday.

Gabe Knutson, Lehigh Fr., F, 6'8, 210, Urbandale, Iowa/Waukee
Knutson averaged 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in two Lehigh games last week. He grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds with five points in a win over Dartmouth on Thursday, and led Lehigh with 13 points to go with seven rebounds in a loss to St. Joseph's on Sunday.

Patriot League Notebook

All in Action Before the Holidays
After extended breaks for exams lightened the schedule in the past two weeks, the Christmas holiday on Friday will cut this week's schedule short. Every Patriot League team is in action on Monday or Tuesday before taking the rest of the week off. American heads to Penn State on Monday in a game shown on the Big Ten Network at 5 p.m., while the other seven Patriot League teams all play Tuesday. The schedule includes Bucknell at Notre Dame and Navy at Seton Hall in tough matchups against the Big East Conference. Army, Holy Cross and Lehigh are all at home, while Lafayette and Colgate also head on the road.

Army Wins Again
Army scored its third straight win and improved to 8-2 overall with a 62-56 win over Division III Mount St. Vincent on Saturday. The Black Knights were the lone winner over the weekend, as Bucknell returned from nearly a two-week layoff with a loss at La Salle, American fell at home against UMBC and Lehigh lost at St. Joseph's. American's game was postponed from Saturday to Sunday, while Colgate's contest with Texas-San Antonio on Sunday was postponed and has not been rescheduled.

Big Win for the Eagles
American's 62-57 triumph at DePaul on Wednesday was its first over a Big East opponent since beating Georgetown on December 15, 1982. Head Coach Jeff Jones has guided the Eagles to three victories over BCS conference opponents, also including a 2007 victory at Maryland and a 2001 win at Florida State.

Army Doing It With Defense
Army has an 8-2 mark for the season, and has gained success through outstanding defense. The Black Knights are in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense, steals and field goal percentage defense. Army has allowed less than 60 points in all eight of its wins this season and has won 11 straight games when limiting foes to 59 points or less. Army is allowing opponents 57.6 points per game, nearly eight points ahead of second-place American.

Coaching Milestones
Lafayette Head Coach Fran O'Hanlon recorded his 200th career victory on Dec. 12, as the Leopards knocked off Long Island, 77-63. O'Hanlon earlier became the all-time Patriot League leader in overall games coached, and is now at 415. O'Hanlon's not the only Patriot League coach with big numbers on his record. American Head Coach Jeff Jones is within three wins of 300 for his career. Bucknell's Dave Paulsen is two wins shy of 275 for his career, while Colgate's Emmett Davis is two away from 150. Navy's Billy Lange needs two more wins to record 75 victories at the Academy.

Three Teams Have Exceeded Last Year's Non-League Success
Army, Lafayette and Bucknell have all exceeded last year's non-League win total. Army is 8-2 after a 4-10 non-League record last season, while Lafayette is at 6-5 in non-League games after going 4-11 last year. The Bison have four wins after a 3-12 non-League mark last year.

Three-Man Race for Active Lead
Lehigh's Marquis Hall, Colgate's Kyle Roemer, Navy's Chris Harris are engaged in a competitive race for the active scoring lead among Patriot League players. Hall took the lead on Sunday and is at 1,249 points, with Roemer just one behind at 1,248. Harris is next with 1,230 points, but has made up ground on both Roemer and Hall this season. All three players are in the top 45 in scoring in Patriot League history.

Super Sophomores
A strong group of sophomores looks like it will have an impact in the Patriot League through the 2012 season. Five of the top nine and seven of the top 13 scorers in the League are sophomores. Navy's Jordan Sugars and Colgate's Yaw Gyawu are tied for third in the League with 15.0 points per game and Holy Cross' R.J. Evans (13.5), Army's Julian Simmons (13.3) and Lafayette's Jim Mower (13.1) join them in the top nine with more than 13 points per game. American's Stephen Lumpkins leads the Patriot League with 8.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots per game, while Sugars is second with 8.3 rebounds per contest. Mower, Simmons, Sugars, Holy Cross' Devin Brown and Bucknell's Bryan Cohen give sophomores the top five spots in the League in three-point field-goal percentage, with Sugars, Simmons and Mower ranking three through five in three-pointers made.

Northeast Rivals
The Patriot League and Northeast Conference have already faced off 20 times, with the Patriot League holding a 14-6 advantage in the meetings. The Patriot and Ivy League matchups are beginning to crank up with the Patriot League now leading, 7-6, after Lehigh's win over Dartmouth on Thursday. The Patriot and Ivy League match up eight more times this season. The Patriot League plays two games against the NEC and one versus the Ivies on Tuesday night.

Hall, Avworo Up For Cousy Award
Lehigh senior guard Marquis Hall and Navy junior guard O.J. Avworo were named to the initial list for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award last week, which is presented to the top male collegiate point guard across all divisions. There are 73 candidates on the list, which Hall appears on for the second straight year. Hall leads the Patriot League and is among the national leaders with 5.8 assists per game, while Avworo is next with 5.2 assists per contest. Hall has 437 career assists, which is in ninth place in League annals and only 16 off the Lehigh record. He is one of only four players in League history with at least 1,200 points and 400 assists. Hall has 1,249 career points, 42nd in League annals. Hall was named the League's Preseason Player of the Year, and is a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS award.

Scoring Duos
Navy and Colgate continue to get solid production from their prolific scoring duos. The teams boast the top four scorers in the Patriot League, with Navy's Chris Harris (20.6) first, Colgate's Kyle Roemer (16.9 ppg) second, and Navy's Jordan Sugars and Colgate's Yaw Gyawu tied for third (15.0 ppg).

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.

Plenty Of Coverage on League Website
The Patriot League is expanding its men's basketball coverage on the League website. 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, 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 After getting postponed against UMBC on Saturday, the teams played on Sunday and American fell at home, 59-57...The Eagles dropped to 2-9 on the season, and 1-6 on their home court...American held a seven-point lead at the half, but UMBC scored the first 13 points of the second half to take the advantage...The Eagles would never lead again, but did tie the score on multiple occasions, including Simon McCormack's free throws to knot it at 57 with 36 seconds left...UMBC came back down the court and scored the win on a shot with 1.9 seconds left...Vlad Moldoveanu and Riley Grafft shared team honors with 14 points for the Eagles, with Grafft also pulling down nine rebounds...Moldovenau is averaging 20 points and 5.5 rebounds in his first two games for the Eagles...Nick Hendra and Stephen Lumpkins each recorded seven points and 10 rebounds in the game, as the Eagles held a 41-30 advantage on the glass...Lumpkins leads the Patriot League in rebounds (8.7) and blocked shots (2.0) per game...With the UMBC game getting pushed back, the Eagles have a quick turnaround to play at Penn State at 5 p.m on Monday in the start of a six-game road trip...The game will be shown on the Big Ten Network...Penn State leads the series, 14-1, as the teams play for the first time since 1992.

Army Strong defense carried the Black Knights yet again, as Army won its third straight game by taking down Division III Mount St. Vincent, 62-56, on Saturday...The Black Knights improved to 8-2 on the season, and have held their opponent to under 60 points in each of the victories...They have won 11 straight overall when holding opponents to 60 points or less...Army also moved to 5-0 at Christl Arena, and has won six in a row at home overall...The game was tied at 54 with just over two minutes to play when Army put together an 8-0 run to take control...Josh Miller put the Black Knights in front with 2:08 left, and Cleveland Richard made it a four-point game with a breakaway layup with 1:29 to go...Army hit four foul shots to seal the win...Richard led the Black Knights with 17 points, while Julian Simmons scored 11...Miller totaled eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals...Army limited Mount St. Vincent to 33.9 percent shooting and held a 41-25 advantage on the boards...The Black Knights are home again when they play New Hampshire on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Bucknell The Bison came out strong in their first action in nearly two weeks, but sputtered in the second half to fall at La Salle, 83-70, on Saturday...It was Bucknell's fourth straight loss and dropped its record to 4-7 for the season...Freshmen led the way for the Bison, with 42 of the team's 70 points coming from first-year players...Mike Muscala paced the team with 15 points, while Bryson Johnson had 12 and Colin Klebon scored 11...Bucknell shot just 31.3 percent from the field and three-point range in the second half after hitting 57.1 percent from both distances in the first half to grab a two-point lead at the break...The Bison led by as many as seven points in the first half...La Salle outscored Bucknell, 25-10, to start the second half and the Bison never got closer than eight points the rest of the way...Bucknell has another difficult road game heading into the holiday break, as the Bison will visit Notre Dame on Tuesday evening...The Fighting Irish have won each of the all-time meetings, with the most recent contest in the 2002-03 season.

Colgate Winter weather prevented Colgate from getting on the court over the weekend, as the Raiders' Sunday night home contest with Texas-San Antonio was postponed due to travel problems for the visitors...Colgate is at 0-9 for the season...Kyle Roemer is second in the Patriot League with 16.9 ppg, while Yaw Gyawu is tied for third with 15.0 ppg...Roemer leads the Patriot League with 3.0 three-pointers per game, and is one point off of the active career lead with 1,248 points...Gyawu is second in field goal percentage, hitting 52.9 percent of his shots...Mitch Rolls is fifth in the Patriot League with 3.9 assists per game, and also fifth in assist/turnover ratio...With Sunday's game called off, Colgate will have gone nine days without game action before visiting Dartmouth on Tuesday evening...The Raiders will look for their first win of the year against a Big Green team that they defeated, 65-50, on the road last season...Army and Lehigh have already knocked off Dartmouth this year.

Holy Cross The Crusaders will return to action after nearly a two-week break when they host Sacred Heart on Tuesday...Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 3-2, with a 67-58 win at home in last year's season opener...In its most recent game, Holy Cross dropped its second straight contest and fell to 2-8 on the season with a 73-54 loss to Fairfield on Dec. 9...R.J. Evans leads Holy Cross and is seventh in the Patriot League with 13.5 ppg, while Mike Cavataio (11.5) and Andrew Keister (10.9) also average in double figures scoring...Keister leads the Patriot League with four double-doubles, and is third in the League with 7.7 rebounds per game...Keister leads the League with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game...The Crusaders lead the Patriot League 12.2 offensive rebounds per game.

Lafayette Lafayette steps back on the court after a nine-day layoff for final exams when it visits St. Francis (N.Y.) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m....The Leopards hold a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series...Lafayette Head Coach Fran O'Hanlon earned his 200th victory as the Leopards put together a strong performance in a 77-63 win over Long Island on Dec. 12, the last action for the team...Lafayette has won two straight after a four-game losing streak, and is back over .500 at 6-5 on the season...O'Hanlon is the second Patriot League coach to win 200 games at his school, with his win total placing behind only former Bucknell Head Coach Pat Flannery (234) in League annals...The Leopards lead the Patriot League in five different categories: field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, three-pointers made, blocked shots and assist/turnover ratio...They are second in the League in scoring offense, scoring margin, assists, steals and turnover margin.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks had an early lead and also built a second-half advantage, but could not hold on down the stretch and fell at St. Joseph's, 77-66, on Sunday...Lehigh dropped to 4-6 on the season, and 1-5 on the road...Lehigh jumped out to a 10-0 lead but the Hawks came back to take a two-point lead by halftime... The Mountain Hawks started the second half strong as well to open up a 52-45 advantage with 10:37 to go...But St. Joseph's scored the next 15 points over a four-minute span to pull in front by eight points, and Lehigh never got closer than six down the stretch. Dave Buchberger and Gabe Knutson each scored 13 points, while Michael Ojo had 12...Zahir Carrington pulled down eight rebounds in the game, making him the 47th Patriot Leaguer to go over 500 boards for his career...Marquis Hall recorded four assists to move up to ninth in League annals with 437 career assists, and Hall also re-gained the active Patriot League career scoring lead with 1,249 points...Lehigh returns home to face Marist on Tuesday evening...The Mountain Hawks lead the all-time series, 2-0, though the teams are playing for the first time since 1990.

Navy The Mids have dropped three straight games to fall to 4-7 on the season, and return from a nine-day exam break with a very tough test at Seton Hall on Tuesday evening...The Pirates are 8-1 on the season...The all-time series between the schools is tied, 1-1, with Seton Hall winning two years ago in a competitive 79-75 game played in Philadelphia...In its last action, Navy faltered down the stretch for the third game in a row, getting outscored 23-12 in the final eight minutes of a 73-62 loss at Wofford on Saturday...Jordan Sugars scored 21 points in the game, and is now tied for third in the Patriot League with 15.0 ppg while placing second with 8.3 rebounds per game...Sugars has three double-doubles and three 20-point games this season after not recording any of either last year...He is averaging 17.5 ppg and 9.8 rpg in Navy's last four games...Chris Harris has finished in double figures in all 11 of Navy's games this season...He leads the Patriot League with 20.6 points per game...In five of its seven losses this year, Navy was tied or within one possession of the lead with under eight minutes to go.