Dec. 2, 2008

LIVE COVERAGE: LSN-Radio Broadcast

Game Notes

GAME 7
December 4, 2008

Matchup: Lafayette (2-4) at Hartford (2-5)
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m.
Site: West Hartford, Conn.
Arena: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavillion (3,508)
Television: none
Radio: WSAN-AM Fox 1470
Dick Hammer (Play-By-Play), Phil LaBella (Color Analyst)
Internet: LSN-Radio Broadcast

THE MATCHUP: Lafayette returns to the Constitution State for a 7 p.m. tip against Hartford on Thursday in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Leopards are coming off a four-point loss to Central Connecticut State on Sunday in New Britain. Hartford returns home after losing to Niagara University, 103-63, in the championship game of the Liberty bracket at the 2008 Philly Hoop Group Classic on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT: Junior guard Jeff Kari led three Leopards in double figures with a career-high 23 points, but Central Connecticut's steady hands at the free throw line secured an 82-78 win against the Leopards on Sunday afternoon.
Lafayette rallied from a 14-point deficit at 13:55 in the first half to trade the lead four times throughout the game. The Blue Devils converted 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the last minute to squeak out the four-point victory.

WE MEET AGAIN: Expect to see some Leopard lineage on the Hawks' sideline. Drew Dawson is now the top assistant coach for Hartford after spending the past four seasons at Lafayette, including the final two years as the top assistant on Fran O'Hanlon's staff. A 2003 graduate of Lafayette and former point guard, Dawson was the first of O'Hanlon's former players to join his coaching staff. During his time at Lafayette, Dawson was instrumental in involving the Leopards in community service endeavors.
Elliott Broadnax, who spent four seasons on O'Hanlon's staff at Lafayette is also an assistant coach at Hartford. He is in his third year with the Hawks.

CAREER DAY: Even though the Leopards couldn't pull out a win on Sunday, several players had impressive individual performances. Guards Jeff Kari (23 pts), Ben Wheeler (8 pts) and Jim Mower (8 pts) all tallied career highs. In addition to his eight points, Wheeler also dished out six assists, besting his previous high of three.
As for season highs, guard Andrew Brown notched his second-straight game of six assists, two shy of his career best. He also swiped three steals. Center Mark Koltun scored a season-high six points.
As a team, Lafayette committed a season-low 13 turnovers. It was the squad's fewest miscues since Feb. 27, 2008, when Lafayette turned it over 12 times against Army.

MINTZ IS MAKIN' IT WORK: Sophomore forward Jared Mintz is making the most of his time off the bench. In the first six games of 2007-08, Mintz was averaging 3.0 ppg and 2.5 rpg in 12 minutes per game. This year, his time on the court has nearly doubled to 22 minutes per game, and consequently, he is averaging 10.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg. Mintz, who never reached double figures last season, hasn't been held to single digits in scoring since Lafayette's home opener against Stony Brook when he scored four points in 11 minutes -- his season lows for both categories.

KEEP IT UP, KARI: Sunday's game against CCSU wasn't the first time this season that junior guard Jeff Kari smashed his career high in points. In fact, Kari has either set or tied his career high in all but one game so far this season (9 pts; Colorado, 11/25/08). He set his career high with 15 points in the season opener at Wagner. He reset his career high against Stony Brook with 16 points, and again hit for 16 points against Temple. He then bested that mark with a 21-point performance against Rider.
Kari isn't just a scoring threat. He also set a career high in assists (seven) against Stony Brook and a career high in rebounds (nine) against Rider. In the Rider and Temple games, he led the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

INJURY UPDATE: Junior Michael Gruner has missed the last five games with an injury that he suffered in practice. Gruner may be available to play against Hartford. Sophomore Ben Wheeler had been his replacement in the starting lineup until Sunday, when freshman Rob Delaney stepped in for his first career start.
Gruner was a mainstay in the starting lineup last season after he worked his way into the rotation with his defense. He proved to be Lafayette's steadiest ballhandler, dishing out 72 assists to 46 turnovers for a 1.6 assist/turnover ratio. Gruner is also a Marquis Scholar, recipient of the most prestigious academic scholarship awarded to Lafayette students.
Coming out of high school in Bethesda, Md., Gruner led his Walt Whitman squad to the Maryland 4A state title while earning Gazette Co-Player of the Year honors along with the NBA's 2007-08 Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant of Montrose Christian.

NEXT UP: The Leopards finish their four-game road trip with a 7 p.m tip-off against Fordham on Dec. 8 in the Bronx, N.Y. Lafayette will then take a week-long break for final exams before its next game on Dec. 17 at home against Robert Morris at 7 p.m.

SCOUTING HARTFORD: After starting out the season on a three-game losing skid, Hartford (2-5) has won two of its last four games, including a double-overtime victory over St. Francis (N.Y.).
The Hawks advanced to the America East title game last season for the first time in the program's history. Hartford returns all five starters from that squad, which includes four of the team's top five scorers. Six freshmen have been added to the mix.
The top returning scorer from last season, Joe Zeglinski continues that role with 14.4 points per game this year. He also leads the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg).
The Hawks aren't afraid to launch the ball. Hartford buried a school and conference record 312 treys last season and currently ranks second in the America East for three-pointers made (9.6 per game).

ON THE SIDELINE: The all-time winningest coach in Lafayette history and the longest tenured coach in the Patriot League, Fran O'Hanlon (Villanova, '70) enters his 14th season as the Leopards' head coach. A two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year recipient, O'Hanlon has twice led Lafayette's program to the NCAA Tournament and lays claim to three Patriot League regular-season titles among his credentials.
With a 75-71 double-overtime victory over Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2007, O'Hanlon became the winningest coach in Lafayette history and now holds an all-time record of 188-192 on College Hill.
O'Hanlon's overall record does not necessarily tell an accurate story of the job he has done at Lafayette. The Philadelphia native inherited a 2-25 team when he took over in 1995-96 and won 7, 11, 19, 22 and 24 games over the next five seasons. From 1997-2000, Lafayette was 65-24 overall and 31-5 in the conference with two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1996, the Patriot League, which was originally founded based on the principle of need-based financial aid only, began allowing athletic scholarships. However, it was not until 2006 that Lafayette chose to do so. By no coincidence during that span, Lafayette posted a 79-91 mark and was 38-44 in the league.

SEEING DOUBLE: Freshman Ryan Willen seems to be adjusting to college just fine. The Cape Girardeau, Mo. native posted a double-double against Stony Brook (11/18), tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds.
It was the first double-double performance since Feb. 23, 2008, when Bilal Abdullah '08 tallied 19 points and 13 rebounds against Lehigh. Willen's performance was the first double-double by a freshman since Abdullah achieved the feat on Jan. 13, 2005, posting 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Two games later against Rider, he nearly tallied another double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Willen leads the team in rebounding with 6.2 boards per game and is the fourth-leading scorer with 8.0 points per game.

BRAVO, BROWN: Senior guard Andrew Brown was selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team in late October. Brown was an All-Patriot League Second-Team pick at the end of the 2007-08 season after leading the Leopards in scoring 14 times and averaging a team-best 15.9 ppg. He also led the team in assists (85). As a result, Brown is climbing the all-time career scoring and assists record. His 90 points this season have catapulted him from 35th to 25th among career scoring leaders. His 1,121 career points recently surpassed Mike Bellamy '79, and he needs seven more to take over the 24th spot currently occupied by Matt Roberts '90 (1,127 pts).
With his six assists on Sunday, Brown increased his total to 24 for the season and 287 for his career to tie for the No. 12 spot in Lafayette's record books. Brown's 287 matches Ron Reynolds '87, and he needs five more to surpass Bruce Stankavage '91 at No. 11 on the list.

FROM DOWNTOWN: Senior guard Andrew Brown's hot hands from behind the arc last year helped him cement his name in the Lafayette record books. Brown owns the school record for most three-pointers in a game (9), most three-point field goal attempts in a season (247) and most treys made in a season (99). After sinking 15 treys this season, he now has 234 three-pointers to his name and needs 38 more to break the career record held by Tyson Whitfield '01.

LOOKING BACK: The last time Lafayette started off the season with a 2-0 record was in 1998-99. In that season, the Leopards defeated Dartmouth, 56-41, and Princeton, 63-47. Lafayette went on to earn a 22-8 record, including a 10-2 record in the Patriot League, and secured a berth to the NCAA Tournament after winning its first Patriot League championship (against Bucknell).
Even more impressive, Lafayette achieved all that success despite losing the preseason Player of the Year Stefan Ciosici for the entire season and the 1997-98 Rookie of the Year Tyson Whitfield for seven games in the middle of the conference schedule.

WELCOME TO COLLEGE: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon hasn't been afraid to use the seven members of his freshman class so far this season. Ryan Willen, Jim Mower and Alex Orchowski have played in all six games, while Nick Petkovich has played in five, J.D. Pelham and Rob Delaney four apiece and Andy Moore three. Four of the seven appeared in the Leopards' season opener at Wagner and Willen's clutch free throw shooting may have secured Lafayette's win. In the last four minutes, the Seahawks went on an 8-3 run, closing in on Lafayette's lead 70-67, before fouling Willen with 11.4 seconds remaining. With a rowdy group of Wagner fans doing its best to distract him, the rookie sank both free throws, making it a two-possession game. Willen finished with seven points and three rebounds in his first outing.

LEOPARD LEADERSHIP: Senior guard Andrew Brown and junior guard Jeff Kari are serving as the team captains. Brown is the lone member of the class of 2009 and is the team's top returning scorer (15.9 ppg). He has played in 93 games in his career. Kari played in 30 games in his first season on College Hill after transferring from East Carolina and is the leading scorer this season with 16.7 points per game.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?: Andrew Brown can distribute the ball. The Littleton, Colo. native led the team in assists his first three years on College Hill. Brown dished out 94 assists (3.1 apg) as sophomore and started 27 of 30 games. He had 84 assists as a freshman, starting all but three games, and was the first freshman during the Fran O'Hanlon era to lead the team in assists. Brown finished his junior year with a team-high 85 assists in 30 games (2.8 apg), despite taking a more active scoring role. This season, Brown has 24 assists through six games (4.0 apg).
Brown can shoot the ball too. He averaged 9.3 ppg as a freshman when he hit 51 three-pointers and followed that by scoring 10.4 ppg while netting 69 three-pointers in his second season on College Hill. In 2007-08, Brown led the Leopards in scoring 14 times and has continued that trend three times this season, averaging 15.0 ppg.
Brown is stellar from the line. In his sophomore year, he shot 91 percent from the charity stripe, connecting on 42-of-46 attempts. Last season, Brown went to the line 82 times and hit for 83 percent. He reached the line a career-high 10 times in the season opener, connecting on eight, and is shooting 76 percent this season.
Brown makes big shots. Last year at Stony Brook, Brown went 7-for-8 at the line with five of those makes coming in overtime. Brown was responsible for the tying baskets that sent the Stony Brook and UMBC games to overtime. At Mount St. Mary's, Brown's ninth three-pointer of the game came in overtime and gave Lafayette a 76-72 win. With 48 seconds left in overtime at Navy, a Brown three claimed the lead for the Leopards (97-94) before they went on to win it 103-99.

LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: The Leopards have 15 games televised at home. Fourteen telecasts will be produced by the Lafayette Sports Network (LSN). The Leopards will also garner national exposure on ESPNU when they visit Penn State on Dec. 21 for the first time in seven years, and again when they travel to Bethlehem for a matchup against their archrival, Lehigh, in late February. Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of Lafayette's play-by-play duties for the 12th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season.

D.C. DANDIES: Though players from 11 states and three countries are represented on Lafayette's roster, the Leopards do have a preference for the D.C. area. Prior to arriving on College Hill, three of Lafayette's guards attended schools within 25 miles of the nation's capital. Michael Gruner shined at Walt Whitman High School, where he led his team to a state championship. Sophomore Ben Wheeler played at Chantilly where he garnered first team all-district and second team all-region accolades his senior year. Freshman Nick Petkovich is the most recent addition from the D.C. area, an All-IAC Conference First-Team selection from Bullis Prep.

THE PRESEASON POLL: Lafayette was picked eighth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll voted on by the conference head coaches and sports information directors. Defending champion American was selected to repeat followed by Lehigh, Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell, Navy and Army.

WORKING OVERTIME IN 2007-08: The Leopards set an NCAA single-season record with five overtime wins on the road (at Navy -- 103-99 on Jan. 19, at Colgate 69-68 on Jan. 16, at Princeton -- 76-71 on Jan. 9, at Towson -- 79-69 on Dec. 19 and at Stony Brook -- 78-67 on Nov. 12) in 2007-08. The lone win at home in overtime came Nov. 20 vs. UMBC (87-84) to give the team a total of six overtime victories and tie the NCAA team record for overtime victories in a season. Wake Forest (6-1 in 1988-89) and Chattanooga (6-0 in 1983-84) share the mark. Fran O'Hanlon is 16-10 in overtime.

IN THE RANKS: Seven of Lafayette's non-conference opponents were picked to finish within the top five of their respective leagues in the pre-season polls. At No. 1, Mount St. Mary's is the highest ranked nonconference opponent the Leopards will face. Lafayette will tip off against five opponents from the Northeast Conference -- the most of any one conference on the Leopards' schedule.

BASKETBALL IQ: Lafayette placed a program-best five student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during the 2007-08 season. The distinction recognizes those who have earned a varsity letter and maintained a 3.2 GPA during the spring semester. Junior Michael Gruner and sophomores Deirunas Visockas and Ben Wheeler along with graduated players Matt Betley and Paul Cummins earned the nod.

ON THE RADIO: The entire 2008-09 Lafayette men's basketball season will air on WSAN-AM 1470 "The Fox." Entering his 42nd season as the radio voice of Lafayette athletics, Dick Hammer will continue to call the play-by-play action. Joining Hammer courtside will be Lafayette Sports Information Director Phil LaBella.