Dec. 12, 2008

Center Valley, Pa. - Only Colgate and Army will take the court in Patriot League men's basketball this weekend, with the final exam schedule already started for the other institutions in the League. The Raiders and Black Knights will both play on Saturday, with Colgate visiting Monmouth and Army playing host to Fairleigh Dickinson. The two contests are the only Patriot League games until Wednesday, when Lafayette and American both return from their exam breaks.

Patriot League Men's Basketball Release -12.12.08

Patriot League Notebook

Light Schedule With Exams In Full Swing

Only Colgate and Army will take the court in Patriot League men's basketball this weekend, with the final exam schedule already started for the other institutions in the League. The Raiders and Black Knights will both play on Saturday, with Colgate visiting Monmouth and Army playing host to Fairleigh Dickinson. Both teams could use a win heading into their week-long exam break in the schedules, as the Raiders have dropped six consecutive games after losing to Maine on Monday and Army is at 2-7 after splitting a pair of contests in mid-week action with a win over Bryant and closely contested loss at Penn State.

The two contests are the only Patriot League games until Wednesday, when Lafayette and American both return from their exam breaks. Bucknell and Navy are back in action on December 20, while Lehigh and Army next return to the court on Dec. 21 and Holy Cross and Colgate end their exam breaks on Dec. 22.

Navy, Bucknell, Lehigh Win Last Games Before Break

Five Patriot League teams played their last contest before more than a week break from action during final exams, and three of those squads came away with hotly contested victories. Navy and Bucknell each notched three-point wins on Tuesday, with the Mids continuing their hot start and moving to 8-2 overall and the Bison snapping a three-game losing skid and earning their second victory of the year. The Mids got 26 points, including 20 in the second half, from two-time reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Kaleo Kina to rally from a five-point halftime deficit for a 68-65 win at Mount St. Mary's. The Bison never trailed in a 63-60 home win over Binghamton, but used a big blocked shot and two free throws in the closing seconds from freshman Bryan Cohen to help seal the win. Cohen led Bucknell with 16 points in the contest.

Lehigh earned the most dramatic victory of the week, rallying from a 15-point deficit to top Albany, 65-64, on Monday. The Mountain Hawks closed the game with a 30-14 run, and completed their comeback when Zahir Carrington scored on a putback with one second remaining for the winning basket. Marquis Hall scored 23 points and dished out five assists in the game. Holy Cross and Lafayette fell on the road against Atlantic 10 opponents in their last games before the break, with the Crusaders losing at Massachusetts and the Leopards falling at Fordham.

Navy Named FoxSports.Com Mid-Major Team of the Week

After posting a 2-1 record last week, Navy was honored as the Mid-Major Team of the Week by Jeff Goodman in the FoxSports.com Weekly Wrap. The Mids had improved to 7-2 at the time, and have since moved to 8-2 with their win over Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday. Navy's 7-1 start was its best since the 1983-84 campaign, while the 8-2 record matches the top mark through 10 games since that year. Navy won seven consecutive games before losing to Virginia Tech on Sunday, the longest streak for the Mids since the 1999-00 campaign and the longest non-League stretch since 1984-85.

Lehigh's Hall In select Company

Lehigh junior point guard Marquis Hall has impressive credentials, and now he has a spot among the top players in college basketball. Hall is on the nominee list for the Bob Cousy Award, presented to the top guard in college basketball. The list includes college basketball stars such as Davidson's Stephen Curry, North Carolina's Ty Lawson and Syracuse's Jonny Flynn. Hall also reached select company in Patriot League annals by becoming the 25th player in League history to record 300 career assists this week. Hall has 303 total assists in his tenure with the Mountain Hawks, placing him 24th on the list. American's Derrick Mercer is the active leader and ninth in Patriot League history with 407 assists, while Navy's Kaleo Kina is also on the list and in 21st place overall with 308 assists. Hall is in the top five in the League in points, rebounds and assists this season.

Lucky Sevens?

A few Patriot League teams have endured long losing skids this season, but the seventh game has been the charm to ending those streaks. Army stopped a six-game losing streak with a 59-48 win at Bryant on Monday, two days after Holy Cross did the same thing with a 69-63 victory over Western Michigan. Colgate will attempt to keep the seventh-game luck going on Saturday, as the Raiders try to break their six-game losing streak at Monmouth. Lafayette will do the same when it hosts Robert Morris on Wednesday. Seven was also a lucky number for Navy, which won seven straight games before losing Sunday.

Non-League Appearances on ESPNU

Patriot League teams will have plenty of exposure on ESPNU this season through the League's television agreement with the network, and a pair of teams will even get the spotlight in non-League action. Army played the first of two games against Penn State on ESPNU on Wednesday, falling to the Nittany Lions, 60-45. Lafayette faces Penn State in an ESPNU-televised game on Dec. 21.

Mids Post Best Shooting Night in the Country

Through almost one month of action, Navy has the best single-game shooting performance in the nation. The Mids' connected on 71.4 percent of their shots (25-for-35) in a 78-65 win over UT-San Antonio on Dec. 2, which is the only field goal percentage above 70 for any Division I team this season. It was the fourth-best total in school history, and just off the Patriot League record of 71.7 set by Bucknell against Navy in 2004. Navy shot 84.2 percent in the second half, the third-best Navy shooting performance in one half.

Navy Leads Way in NCAA Statistics

Navy provides the Patriot League with the most representation on the NCAA statistical leaderboard, with three different individuals in the top 50 in one category in the numbers released on Monday. Patriot League leading scorer Kaleo Kina ranked 41st in the country with 20.2 points per game, while Chris Harris was at 41st with 3.2 three-pointers per game. Adam Teague represents the Mids and came in at 28th place in three-point percentage with a 48.0 mark. Holy Cross freshman Devin Brown is the top Patriot Leaguer in any category as he ranked 10th in free throw shooting percentage at 93.3.

Team Notebooks

American The Eagles fell at No. 20/18 Georgetown, 73-49, in their last game action on Saturday...American dropped to 4-4 on the season with the defeat, and has lost three consecutive games after a four-game winning streak...The Eagles are playing a road-heavy non-League slate, with 10 of their first 12 contests away from home...They are 3-3 on the road thus far this season, with four games left on their current five-game road trip...Derrick Mercer and Garrison Carr are both just short of the 1,000-point club with 979 career points each...American will return to action against George Washington on Dec. 17...The Eagles lead the all-time series with the Colonials, 21-19, but have not faced their cross-town rivals since 2003.

Army The Black Knights played a pair of road games early in the week, winning at Bryant, 59-48, on Monday before falling at Penn State, 60-45, on Wednesday in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates...Army snapped a six-game losing streak with the victory at Bryant...John Moonshower had 11 points and four assists in his first start of the season at Bryant...Jesse Steele also provided a career-high 11 points, with a trio of three-pointers...Doug Williams had a season-high 10 points in the game...Army shot 50 percent in the contest, and led by as many as 20 points in the second half...The Black Knights put on a good show for an ESPNU audience in the loss at Penn State on Wednesday...Army was within one point with 11:32 to go, but Penn State went on a 20-4 run to take control...Josh Miller was the only player in double figures with 10 points, while Kenny Brewer had eight points, five rebounds and a career-high four assists...The teams were meeting for the first time since the 1980-81 season...Army is back in action at Christl Arena when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday...The Black Knights trail the all-time series with Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-3...Army lost the last meeting in the 204-05 season.

Bucknell The Bison entered a week and half break from game action on a positive note, as they knocked off Binghamton, 63-60, on Tuesday for their second win of the year...Bryan Cohen had a big day for the Bison, with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds and a couple of huge plays down the stretch...Cohen blocked a shot by Binghamton leading scorer D.J. Rivera and followed it up with a pair of free throws to give the Bison a three-point lead in the final seconds...Binghamton missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, as the Bison held the Bearcats to 0-for-16 shooting from long range in the game...Patrick Behan had 15 points and six rebounds, while Darryl Shazier had 11 points and also pulled down six boards...G.W. Boon had nine points and a career-high nine rebounds for the Bison, who never trailed in the game and led for the final 35:03...It was the first meeting between the teams...Bucknell won its final game before its exam break for the eighth time in the last nine years...Bucknell is off until Dec. 20, when it plays host to Drexel.

Colgate Colgate dropped its sixth consecutive game with a 67-56 loss at Maine on Monday...It was the first of an eight-game road trip for the Raiders, which fell to 2-6 on the season...Ben Jonson had his first career double-double in the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds...He tied a career high for points and set a new career best for rebounds...Mike Venezia tallied 12 points for the Raiders...Colgate rallied to cut its deficit to 47-45 after trailing by 20 in the first half, but Maine closed out the game with a 20-11 run...Colgate was outrebounded, 34-17, in the contest...The Raiders are back on the road on Saturday at Monmouth...It is their last game before a nine-day break for exams...The series between Colgate and Monmouth is tied, 1-1, with the Raiders notching a 63-60 victory in last year's season opener.

Holy Cross The Crusaders started strong but fell down the stretch in a 73-59 loss at Massachusetts on Wednesday...Holy Cross goes into an 12-day break for final exams with a 3-7 record, including an 0-5 mark on the road...The Crusaders were led by freshman R.J. Evans, who matched a career-high for the second consecutive game with 17 points...Evans also chipped in eight rebounds and three steals...Fellow freshman Devin Brown followed with 14 points...Evans leads the Crusaders with 11.5 points per game this year, while Brown is next with 8.4 points per contest...Holy Cross had a 32-29 lead at the half, and extended the advantage to 36-29 before the Minutemen heated up in the second half...Holy Cross held a 45-43 lead before UMass went ahead for good...Andrew Keister chipped in with 10 points...The Crusaders will return to action on Dec. 22 when they visit Ohio.

Lafayette The Leopards entered their exam break with a 79-58 defeat at Fordham on Monday...It was Lafayette's sixth straight loss, and dropped the Leopards to 2-6 for the season...It was also the final contest on a four-game road trip...A pair of freshmen had career-high performances for Lafayette, with Jim Mower hitting four three-pointers on his way to 14 points and Alex Orchowski contributing a career-best seven points...Junior guard Michael Gruner made his return from injury, playing five minutes all in the first half....Gruner had not played since the season opener at Wagner...The Leopards complete their break in action and return to their home court when they play Robert Morris on Wednesday.

Lehigh Lehigh snapped a brief two-game losing skid in dramatic fashion, ending the game on a 30-14 run to record a 65-64 victory at home against Albany on Monday...Zahir Carrington scored the winning points on a putback with one second remaining to complete the comeback...Lehigh improved to 6-3 on the season, and went back above .500 at home with a 3-2 mark...Marquis Hall led the Mountain Hawks with 23 points, and also dished out five assists...Hall now has 303 career assists, making him the 25th player in Patriot League history with more than 300 career assists...Michael Ojo helped ignite the Lehigh rally with 12 points on four second-half three-pointers...Ojo hit consecutive three-pointers to tie the score at 60 with 2:15 remaining...Carrington's winning basket came on his second putback attempt after a Rob Keefer miss...The Mountain Hawks now have nearly two weeks off before they return to action at Monmouth on Dec. 21.

Navy After having their seven-game winning streak snapped on Sunday against Virginia Tech, Navy bounced back with a 68-65 victory at Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday...Navy is 8-2 through 10 games, matching the best start for the program since the 1983-84 team was 9-1...Navy was also 8-2 in 1998-99 and 1984-85...Kaleo Kina scored 26 points in the contest, with 20 coming in the second half as Navy overcame a five-point deficit at the break...Kina, who leads the Patriot League with 20.8 points per game, has scored at least 26 points in five of the last seven games...He scored 16 of Navy's last 25 points in the final 13 minutes of the contest...Navy took the lead for good on an Adam Teague three-pointer with 5:42 to go...Chris Harris hit a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds left to push the Navy lead to three, and Mount St. Mary's could not get off a shot before time expired...Harris had 14 points, while Teague had nine on three three-pointers...Navy shot 59 percent in the second half, led by Kina's 7-for-10 effort...Navy has an 11-day break before continuing its five-game road swing at Canisius on Dec. 20...The Mids are 2-1 on the trip thus far, with the lone loss coming on a neutral court against Virginia Tech.