Patriot League Notebook
by Steve Sheridan
Army FINALLY Wins A Division I Game
Army has finally returned to legitimacy in the world of college basketball…okay, that may be a stretch, but the team did do something this weekend that it hadn’t done all season long. It took the Black Knights 15 games, but Army finally came up with its first win against a Division I opponent this season on Sunday – against a Patriot League foe, no less. The team not only defeated archrival Navy, but it destroyed the Midshipmen, winning the game by 20 points. With the win, the Black Knights are out of the Patriot League cellar for the first time this season. Maybe this win will be the start of a huge run for the service academy…then again, maybe not.
Flannery Takes Leave Of Absence
Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery is taking a temporary leave of absence that began with Sunday’s game against Lehigh. According to Bucknell Athletic Director John Hardt, Flannery has been experiencing some medical developments, including an episode during the team’s game against Lafayette last Friday. Flannery missed the last weekend of regular season play last season due to medical reasons as well, and that may have been a reason for the precaution this season. We wish Coach Flannery a full and speedy recovery, and hope that he can return to guide his Patriot League-leading Bison as soon as possible.
Patriot-Ivy Recap
After 23 games between the two scholarly conferences of Division I college basketball, the Ivy League edged out the Patriot League, winning 13 of 23 games played. Holy Cross has the strongest record on the Patriot League side, winning three of its four games, while on the other side the biggest bullies were Princeton, which went 3-0, and Columbia, which went 3-1. The Patriots were able to destroy the lesser competition of the Ivy League, going a combined 5-0 against Ivy patsies Dartmouth and Yale. But even with those victories, the non-league battling was a little disappointing for the Patriot League, which usually plays well against their Ivy counterparts. For this year, however, the Ivies get the bragging rights as the best scholarly league in the country.
Holy Cross Named In Top 100 College Hoops Programs
The Holy Cross men’s basketball program was named the 68th best program of all-time in Street and Smith’s 100 Greatest College Basketball Programs of All-Time, which comes into bookstores this month. The Crusaders, who have been graced by some all-time great such as Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn, have won one NCAA Tournament and one NIT title it the 86 years of the program, in which the team has compiled a record of 1189-775 (.605).
Player of the Week
Alvin Reed, Colgate
The junior guard from San Bernardino, Calif., receives his first Player of the Week award after leading his Raiders to a 3-0 record, including league wins over Lehigh and Lafayette. Reed averaged 21.3 points per game, including tying a career high with 26 points against Lafayette on Sunday. Reed is currently third in the league in scoring, averaging 14.1 ppg.
Rookie of the Week
Pat Doherty, Holy Cross
Once again, it’s Doherty. In his first three collegiate starts, the freshman from Scranton, Pa., has not disappointed, averaging 12.7 ppg, 5.3 assists per game and 4.0 steals per game, filling in for Torey Thomas as the team’s newest talented guard. In the team’s three games last week, Doherty shot 50 percent both from the floor (10-of-20) and from beyond the arc (7-of-14).
Team Recaps
Bucknell Bison (5-0 PL, 14-4 overall)
The league-leading Bison continue to roll through the first half of the Patriot League season. On Friday, the team’s win gave it sole possession of first place in the league, and Sunday’s last-second victory kept Bucknell sitting pretty atop the standings and increased its winning streak to 11 games.
Against Lafayette on Friday night, the Bison increased the winning streak to double figures and survived a poor shooting night from Kevin Bettencourt to overcome the Leopards, 71-54. Bettencourt shot only 2-of-12 from the field and scored just five points, but that is the thing about this Bison squad: there are so many weapons on the floor that can beat you that it can overcome one bad night. Chris McNaughton scored a game-high 17 points and Charles Lee added 10 of his own, while the Bucknell bench combined to score 33 points in the win. The Bucknell defense exerted its will over the Leopards for most of the contest, holding Lafayette to 32 percent shooting and keeping the lead in double figures for the last 10 minutes of the game. Bucknell, meanwhile, shot the ball at a 45 percent clip from the field.
On Sunday, the team played its first game without head coach Pat Flannery, who left the team indefinitely for personal reasons, and the opponent was not an easy one: Lehigh. Two of the best teams in the Patriot League collided in Sojka Pavilion on Sunday afternoon and put on a show, but the home crowd went home happy thanks to a frantic 65-63 win for the Bison. The beginning of the game was not pretty for the home crowd, as the Bison came out flat, hitting only five of their first 18 shots, but a late first-half run allowed Bucknell to head into halftime down only six points. The lead see-sawed for much of the second half, but the Bison appeared to have the game wrapped up, holding a seven-point edge with 1:17 remaining in the game. The Bison then nearly handed the game to the Mountain Hawks, as a turnover and missed lay-up allowed Lehigh to score eight points in 31 seconds to take a lead. Luckily for the Bison, Abe Badmus came to the rescue, hitting a clutch three-pointer with six seconds remaining to give Bucknell the two-point victory. Lee, McNaughton and Bettencourt all reached double figures for Bucknell, while Badmus added nine points – including the most important three of the day.
The Bison, which now hold the sixth longest winning streak in school history, will look to extend the streak to lengths not seen since 1919 this weekend, when they travel from the friendly confines of Sojka Pavilion to face off against American and Navy.
Holy Cross Crusaders (4-1 PL, 13-5 overall)
The Holy Cross Crusaders are getting on a roll at the right time of the season, as the team has now won five games in a row following three wins last week over non-league Iona and league opponents Navy and American.
In the team’s final non-league game of the season, the Crusaders put on a clinic in taking down the Iona Gaels, 78-53. The HC shot the lights out of the DCU Center in Worcester, hitting 59 percent of its shots on the evening, while holding Iona to 42 percent shooting. The team’s weapon of choice in the contest was the three-pointer, as it made 12 of them – including an absurd second half in which the Crusaders did not miss a shot from beyond the arc (8-for-8). Holy Cross also had 18 steals and forced 24 Gael turnovers, as the Crusaders played well in all aspects of the game. Kevin Hamilton led the way with 24 points and five steals, while Keith Simmons added 14 points and Kevin Hyland added 12 of his own, as the home team led by as many as 32 in the second half before ending up a 25-point victor.
The team kept up its momentum on Friday night against the hapless Navy Midshipmen, as five Crusaders scored in double figures to lead Holy Cross to an easy 79-56 win. The Crusaders moved back into their home arena and shot the lights out of the Hart Center too, shooting 56 percent from the field while keeping Navy to 38 percent shooting. In a twist, however, the Crusaders relied not on the three-pointer but on their inside game to dominate the Midshipmen, as the HC outscored the Middies 44-18 in the paint. Freshman Pat Doherty led five Holy Cross players in double figures with 15 points in addition to six assists and five steals, proving himself worthy in his first collegiate start. John Hurley added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds for Holy Cross, which had very little trouble against the last-place team in the league.
In a game that was postponed due to the snowstorm that hit the East Coast hard, the Crusaders played a team that should have posed much more of a problem and yet beat them as easily as they did Navy. On Monday evening, the Crusaders took out the American Eagles with ease, cruising to an 80-56 victory. It was another game, another 50+ percent shooting day for Holy Cross, which shot 53 percent in the win. The Crusaders came out of the game smoking, building up a lead as great as 21 in the first half alone and never fretting about the outcome in the second half. Hamilton once again led the way for Holy Cross, scoring 23 points and adding seven assists and five steals. With his play as of late, Hamilton is positioning himself as a front-runner for the year-end Player of the Year award, as his constant offense has been the propellant behind this explosive Crusader offensive attack. Doherty added 15 points in his second collegiate start, making a late run at the Rookie of the Year himself.
Times are good at the Cross, which is looking like a title contender once again and making the believers forget about the atypical league season-opening loss to Bucknell. The Crusaders make the Pennsylvania trip this weekend, traveling to Lafayette on Friday and Lehigh on Sunday in another pair of league contests.
American Eagles (3-2 PL, 11-7 overall)
The Eagles had two very different games last weekend, an easy win against a struggling Army team and a big loss at the hands of a streaking Crusader squad. After this week, the team will have to find out which team is the real American squad.
The Eagles began the weekend in style, cruising to a very easy 72-37 victory over Army. American, which shot the ball at a 50 percent clip for the game, didn’t have to do too much against the Black Knights, who themselves could not find the basket. American put the game away early, beginning the contest on a 17-2 run and hitting 16 first-half field goals as compared to just four for Army, and never looked back in the second half. The Eagles also did a good job of hauling in all those Black Knight misses, out-rebounding the Knights by 20, 46-26. Raimondas Petrauskas led three Eagle players in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Andre Ingram and Patrick Okpwae each added 11 points. The last time that the Eagles held an opponent under 40 points was during the 2001-2002 season, when UNC-Wilmington couldn’t get past the 39-point mark.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the next game was not nearly as easy. In fact, it was downright impossible for them to win when faced with the flaming hot Crusaders. American was blitzed from the very beginning and never could keep up with the play of the Crusaders. No Eagle player made more than three field goals on the afternoon, as only Ingram and Matej Cresnik reached double figures – and barely, each with 10 points. Whether the team was affected more by the Holy Cross team or the 28 inches of snow that kept them in Worcester longer than expected remains to be seen, but in either case the American squad will have to figure out a way to erase this game from their memory.
After the loss to Holy Cross, American must regroup this weekend when it returns home to the nation’s capital. There, the team will welcome Bucknell on Friday and Colgate on Sunday to Bender Arena. A win against Colgate, one of the teams currently tied with American for third place in the league, will be a big boost to the confidence of the Eagles squad.
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (3-2 PL, 9-9 overall)
The Mountain Hawks had a tough weekend. After entering Friday’s match-up with Colgate in a tie for first place, Lehigh finished Sunday in a three-way tie for third place after two losses dropped the Hawks in the standings.
On Friday evening, the Mountain Hawks visited Colgate at Cotterell Court, a place where they have had no success in the last 14 games, and came out with the same result: a loss. The Lehigh offense could muster very little against the Raiders, as the team’s top two scorers, Jose Olivero and Joe Knight, combined to shoot 2-of-20 from the field for a total of 11 points. Neither team was able to shoot the ball well over the course of the game, with Lehigh shooting at a 32 percent clip and Colgate not much better at 35 percent. The Hawks could never completely overtake Colgate in the game, tying the game on several occasions in the second half but not once taking a lead after the 10-minute mark of the first half. Senior Nick Monserez picked up some of the slack for Lehigh, scoring a game-high 16 points, but the team was unable to avoid its 14th consecutive loss in Hamilton.
After the loss to Colgate, the Mountain Hawks traveled to Lewisburg for a showdown with the league-leading Bucknell Bison. The team gave a valiant effort against the Bison, but a last-second game-winning attempt by Earl Nurse rattled off the rim and Lehigh was defeated, 65-63. The visitors came out very strong in the first half, shooting 48 percent and keeping Bucknell to 33 percent shooting, and headed into the half with a lead. But the tables turned in the second 20 minutes, as the Bison got hot and Lehigh suddenly went cold on the offensive end, shooting only 30 percent. The team did not quit down the stretch, however, erasing a seven-point deficit in about 30 seconds in the game’s waning minutes. But, Nurse’s last-ditch effort just missed the target and Lehigh went home with its second consecutive league loss. Monserez had another big game for the Mountain Hawks, scoring a career-high 22 points, including six three-pointers, while Olivero added 15. The Hawks may have been done in by another poor outing from Knight, who hit only 1-of-11 shots and scored just four points.
The Mountain Hawks will look to get back into the win column this weekend, when they return home to host two Patriot League opponents. On Friday evening, Lehigh welcomes Army to Stabler Arena and then has another very tough task against the Holy Cross Crusaders on Sunday afternoon. With two consecutive league losses, the Mountain Hawks will need at least one victory this weekend to keep up with the teams tied with them in the league.
Colgate Raiders (3-2 PL, 8-10 overall)
The Colgate Raiders may have started their late-season charge a little early this year. After finishing up their non-league schedule with a win over Dartmouth, the Raiders took out visiting Lehigh and Lafayette over the weekend, propelling the team to a 3-2 league mark and giving the Raiders some momentum as the Patriot League season continues.
In its final non-league game of the season, the Raiders shot the ball well on their way to a 69-61 win over the Big Green. Colgate shot nearly 50 percent in the first half as it jumped out to a 12-point halftime lead, despite spotting the Big Green leads of 7-0 and 11-3 to start the game. Kyle Roemer scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half, spearheading the Raider attack to begin the game. Junior Alvin Reed had an excellent game for Colgate, scoring 23 points to lead all scorers, including 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. The Raiders used two big runs in the first half to take control, a 19-3 run that turned an eight-point deficit into an eight-point edge, and a 12-2 run that gave the team a 39-27 halftime advantage that it never gave back.
Heading back to Patriot League action, the Raiders knocked off the then-first place Mountain Hawks of Lehigh for the second consecutive season on Friday evening, winning 61-54. Reed again led the way for Colgate with 15 points, while Andrew Zidar had his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Raiders did not shoot the ball very well for the game, but did a solid job of containing Joe Knight and Jose Olivero, who combined for 11 points, while providing just enough offense themselves to overtake the Mountain Hawks. Colgate’s free throws almost allowed Lehigh to get back into the game late, as Colgate missed 4-of-9 attempts in the final 90 seconds, but the Raiders responded by allowing Lehigh to make only one free throw during that span.
On Sunday afternoon, the Raiders increased their modest winning streak to three after holding off a pesky Lafayette squad, 80-72. Neither team was able to gain a big advantage in the first 20 minutes, with both teams making runs to keep the game close. Coming out for the second half, however, Colgate went on an initial 17-3 run, aided by all Roemer’s nine points, to take an 18-point advantage. In the second half, Colgate shot 58 percent from the floor to keep the Leopards at bay, despite not making a field goal after Alex Woodhouse’s dunk with 4:48 remaining in the second half. Colgate instead finished the game off at the free throw line, where the team scored its last 14 points. Reed equaled his career-high with 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, as the junior guard was the catalyst for the Raider offense all afternoon. Zidar recorded his second consecutive double-double, registering a career-high 15 rebounds and 13 points.
Coming off two very important league victories, the Raiders must keep the momentum going in the right direction. The team first gets a crack at league cellar-dweller Navy on Friday afternoon in Annapolis, and then travels to Washington, D.C. for an important league match-up with American on Sunday afternoon.
Lafayette Leopards (1-4 PL, 5-13 overall)
As been the case all season long, the Lafayette Leopards are still searching for a complete team effort. In so many games, one player has stepped up his play while the rest of the squad watches, resulting in solid individual performances but not many victories. This was the case yet again this weekend, as the Leopards fell to Bucknell and Colgate.
In the team’s final non-league game of the season, the Leopards welcomed Penn to Easton and gave the Quakers a nice parting gift: an 85-63 win. Lafayette’s main culprit in this game was its lack of defense, as the hosts were way too generous to their Quaker visitors, allowing Penn to shoot 50 percent from the field for the game. The Leopards hung with the visitors in the first half, shooting 54 percent from the floor, but the team cooled off considerably in the second half, shooting only 32 percent. Lafayette was basically dominated in all aspects of the game, having considerable deficits in rebounding (41-26) and all three types of shooting percentages. Marcus Harley led the Leopards with 14 points and was aided by 11 from Andrei Capusan, but the team simply could not keep up with Penn on the offensive end.
Against the league-leading Bison, the Leopards had a poor shooting night and saw only Bilal Abdullah reach double figures in the team’s 71-54 loss. The team shot only 32 percent for the game, and yet still found itself within five points of Bucknell early in the second half. It was then that Lafayette’s poor shooting finally caught up to it, as the Bison rolled off a 14-3 run that put the lead in double figures and put the game away for the home team. Lafayette allowed the Bison to shot the ball at a 45 percent clip, including 50 percent in the decisive second half. Only Capusan had more than two field goals for the Leopards, who once again were unable to find a go-to player when they needed one most. Abdullah led the team with 11 points, but the points were spread out among 10 Leopard players.
Following the loss to Lehigh, the Leopards traveled to Cotterell Court to take on the Raiders, but the team’s poor shooting continued in the 80-72 loss. The team shot only 35 percent from the field for the game, including 7-of-30 from beyond the arc. Despite the off shooting night, the Leopards would not quit against Colgate, despite being down by as much as 18 early in the second half. Leading the charge in the second half was Abdullah, who scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime, and Jamaal Douglas, who scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed a team-best 10 boards. The team’s second-half surge came on the backs of the Leopard underclassmen, as senior Sean Knitter and junior Capusan had little impact on the contest at all for the visitors. The focal point for the Leopards was its outside shooting, as the team launched three after ill-advised three (especially Knitter and Douglas, the big men) throughout the afternoon that never let Lafayette get fully back into the game after a slow start.
The Leopards return home this weekend for two home games, during which the team hopes to get its elusive second league victory. On Friday evening, the Leopards welcome Holy Cross to Lewisburg for a 7 p.m. match-up, and then take on visiting Army on Sunday afternoon.
Army Black Knights (1-4 PL, 3-14 overall)
The Black Knights had a breakthrough weekend, at least for their low standards. Despite being beaten up by American on Friday afternoon, the Army men snapped their eight-game losing streak and defeated their first Division I team of the season on Sunday, taking down Navy.
When the Black Knights welcomed American to Christl Arena, the Eagles went right to work and never let the game be in doubt. As is becoming custom with Army, the Knights shot the ball horrendously in the first half and, to add to the frustrations, forgot how to play defense as well. The team hit only 4-of-26 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes – including 1-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc – and the Eagles were off and running without any opposition. Thanks to their terrible shooting, the Black Knights entered halftime down by 27 points – the team would not have made up the deficit in the second half if American has not scored a single basket. Reserve Steve Stoll led Army in scoring with 11 points and was the only Black Knight in double figures, as Army once again proved that it is very difficult for the team to have more than one player playing well at the same time.
But don’t mind that, because Army came back on Sunday to finally drag itself out of the Patriot League cellar, thanks to a 63-43 drubbing of fellow service academy Navy. In the first half, the two teams played evenly until a 12-4 run by the host Knights gave them an eight-point lead headed into the intermission. The second half was, dare I say, all Army. Matt Bell scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the second stanza, as the Black Knights held the Middies to 26 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, including not allowing a single three-pointer in 13 attempts. Army, meanwhile, shot 38 percent for the game – not exactly a pretty number, but nonetheless effective against a team that has as many offensive worries as the Knights. Cory Sinning and Grant Carter also scored in double figures for Army – only the second time this season that three Army players reached double figures against a D-I opponent, as the Black Knights handed the Midshipmen their worst loss in the rivalry between the schools since 1970.
Coming off the team’s biggest victory of the season (not saying much, but work with me here), the Black Knights head on the road for league games against Lehigh and Lafayette. If the team can pull out a win over the Leopards, it would rocket all the way up to sixth in the league standings, so the Black Knights will surely be ready for Sunday’s contest.
Navy Midshipmen (0-5 PL, 4-14 overall)
One team’s gain is another team’s loss, and now the Navy Midshipmen are all alone in the basement of the Patriot League. The team’s three games last week were not exactly promising for the Navy men, as they were blown out by Holy Cross (expected) and Army (certainly not), while also losing a close game to non-league foe Columbia.
In the team’s one game of the week that didn’t matter in the league standings, Navy played its best, which isn’t exactly saying much. The Midshipmen hung around with the Lions for the majority of the game, although they never made a second-half move and lost to Columbia, 69-63. The Middies seemed to rely too heavily on the three-point shot, one that they didn’t make too often, as the team hit only 5-of-25 attempts from downtown. Despite the fact that Navy shot 53 percent from the free throw line and allowed Columbia to shoot around that percentage from the field in the second half, it was still somehow close down the stretch. If those statistics didn’t give up the game for the Middies, it was the team’s 22 turnovers, which gave up many opportunities to take the game from the Lions. Matt Fannin led Navy with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, but the team still can’t hear the calls of head coach Billy Lange to get Fannin the ball more often.
The team returned to league play on Friday against the Crusaders, and were met with stiff opposition. Navy once again allowed its opponent to go wild on the offensive end, as Holy Cross shot 56 percent from the field on the way to an easy 79-56 win over the Middies. Navy, in comparison, shot only 38 percent for the game, thanks in large part to the Crusaders’ dominance in the paint, where they outscored Navy 44-18. The Midshipmen attempted to stay with Holy Cross throughout, making some runs once the lead got too out-of-hand, but one final HC run in the second half proved to be too much for the Navy team to handle. Corey Johnson led Navy in scoring with 13 points, but the Middies were physically unable to keep up with the Crusaders shooting, both in the paint and in general.
And then, in what is to this point of the season the team’s lowest point, the Midshipmen were sunk by the rival Army Black Knights, losing in embarrassing fashion, 64-43. After the Middies jumped out to an early lead, the team scored just nine points in the final 13 minutes of the first half and went into the break down by eight points. The second half played out like the end of the first, as Navy was only able to cut the lead below double figures once in the final 20 minutes of play. The team once again struggled mightily from beyond the arc, hitting only 3-of-27 three-point attempts, including an 0-for-13 streak in the second half. Fannin again led the team, this time with 17 points, but at this point in the season should be getting even more of the ball, since he is the team’s only reliable scorer. Fannin shot 60 percent for the game, while the rest of the Navy team combined to only shoot 21 percent – not a good sign for Billy Lange and his boys.
After settling into its position at the bottom of the Patriot League barrel, the Midshipmen will look to right the ship and halt their eight-game losing streak this weekend, when they play host to Colgate and Bucknell on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
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