Some Odds and Ends

Just wanted to post some odds and ends related to the PL, enjoy!

From today's PL Press Release:

League Squads Dealing with Heartbreak
Patriot League teams have a 23-41 mark in non-League games this season, but nearly a third of the losses have been in games decided by five points or less. The Patriot League has a 7-13 record in games decided by five points or less this season, with Colgate taking the toughest luck with three of those close losses. Bucknell, Lafayette and Lehigh have each lost a pair of games by five points or less, while Navy has one as well as an eight-point overtime loss to MD-Eastern Shore.



They Really are "Free" Throws for Patriot League Teams
Patriot League teams are trying to disprove any notion that standing still and shooting the ball 15-feet away from the basket is a difficult task. Three Patriot League teams rank among the top 40 in the country in free-throw shooting percentage, including Lafayette up at No. 3 nationally at 80.1 percent from the charity stripe. Bucknell comes in 21st at 76.1 percent, with Lehigh at 36th with a 74.7 mark. Colgate also comes in above the 70 percent barrier at 71.4, just outside the top 50.



Three-Man Game Leading the Eagles
American has slowed down with three straight losses after its 5-0 start, but the Eagles still should be in good shape with big men Vlad Moldoveanu and Stephen Lumpkins and outside threat Troy Brewer leading the way. Moldoveanu leads the team and is second in the Patriot League with 20.3 points per game, good for 35th in the country. Lumpkins is 15h in the League in scoring (12.4 ppg) and leads the way in rebounding (8.8), while Brewer is eighth with 13.6 points per contest.

Common Opponents
Patriot League teams have now combined for three matchups against four different opponents in 2010-11, and none of those matchups has produced a sweep in either direction. St. Francis (Pa.) played four games against League squads to open the year. American and Lafayette each won at home against St. Francis (Pa.), while Colgate and Bucknell dropped their contests on the road. Each game except for American was decided by four points or less, with Bucknell taking a heartbreaking 68-67 defeat. Bucknell and Army won but Colgate lost at home against Binghamton and Lafayette and Bucknell fell to Wagner while Lehigh beat the Seahawks. Bucknell's win over Columbia on Wednesday was the first for a Patriot League team after Colgate and American fell to the Lions last week. Patriot League teams have played six opponents twice, and the results have not been as good as No. 12 Villanova, Princeton, Buffalo, Penn and New Hampshire have each beaten a pair of Patriot League squads. American won but Navy lost to Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Team Notebooks: The Eagles dropped their third straight game after winning five in a row to begin the season on Sunday...They were competitive for the majority of the game before No. 18/16 Florida pulled away for a 67-48 win...The Eagles led briefly in the opening minutes and trailed just 22-19 with less than five minutes to go in the first half before Florida stretched its halftime lead to 30-21...American was still down nine with seven minutes to play before Florida closed the game on a 14-4 run to win by 19...Troy Brewer led the Eagles with 17 points, while Vlad Moldoveanu scored 14...Despite giving up an average of 69 points in the past two games, the Eagles continue to lead the Patriot League in scoring defense at 60.2 per contest... Moldoveanu is second in the League with 20.3 points per game, while Stephen Lumpkins is the top rebounder at 8.8 per contest...American is off until Dec. 14 when it visits UMBC...The Eagles play their next six games on the road, and do not return to Bender Arena until after the New Year.

Army In the lead-in to the rematch of last year's national championship game between Duke and Butler, Army was tied at the half but could not keep up after the break in a 68-52 loss to Penn at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Saturday...The teams were even at 28 at halftime, but Army shot just 29.6 percent in the second half while the Quakers hit 66.7 percent of their attempts...Jeremy Hence has scored in double figures in all eight games this year for the Black Knights after putting up 15 points on Saturday, while Julian Simmons scored 10...Simmons is third and Hence is fourth in the Patriot League in scoring...Army has scored under 55 points for two consecutive games after topping 65 in five of its first six contests...The Black Knights are playing seven games away from West Point, with the next six of those on the road beginning on Thursday at New Hampshire...Army beat the Wildcats at home last season.

Bucknell Bucknell won its second straight game by dominating on the defensive end, holding Boston University to just 17 points after the break in a 52-49 victory on Saturday...The Bison trailed 32-31 at halftime, rallying from a 29-19 deficit to trim the gap...Boston University held a lead of five points or less for the first 12 minutes of the second half, but Bucknell went ahead 47-45 on Cameron Ayers' jumper with 4:53 to play...The score was tied at 47 when G.W. Boon hit a three-pointer to put Bucknell ahead for good with 1:32 to play...Darryl Shazier made a pair of free throws for the 52-49 edge with 11 seconds left, and Boston University missed a three-point attempt on the other end as the Bison held on...Bryan Cohen and Mike Muscala scored 10 points apiece, while Boon tallied nine and Shazier had seven with six assists...Shazier leads the Patriot League by more than an assist per game at 5.4 per contest, and totaled 21 assists in Bucknell's three games last week...He is 15th in Patriot League history with 367 assists...Cohen held Boston University's John Holland, who came in averaging more than 18 points per game, to just 11 on 4-of-17 from the field...The Bison now take off nearly two full weeks before returning to action at La Salle on Dec. 17...That contest will open a seven-game road trip that includes the first two Patriot League games at Navy and American, and does not end until the Bison return to Lewisburg to face Holy Cross on Jan. 16.

Colgate The Raiders tried to put together a comeback for their first victory of the season, but fell short in the 65-60 loss to New Hampshire on Saturday in Hamilton...The Raiders trailed by 12 points at halftime and as many as 18 in the second half before a 32-18 charge cut the deficit to 62-58 with 23 seconds to play...However, the Raiders would get no closer and fell in their second home contest of the season...Joe Hoban led the Raiders with a career-high 16 points, while Yaw Gyawu had 14 and Nick Pascale scored a career-high 12...The return home was a brief one, as Colgate goes back on the road for its next three contests and six of seven before the start of Patriot League action...The Raiders play at St. Francis (N.Y.) on Tuesday, a team they lost to by just one point in Hamilton last season.

Holy Cross The daunting five-game road trip finally came to an end on Saturday, as the Crusaders fell at Wake Forest, 75-64...Holy Cross has started 0-6 for consecutive seasons, but has played a challenging schedule that included visits to Harvard, Boston College, Massachusetts and Wake Forest after a season-opening home date against College of Charleston... Holy Cross was very competitive against Wake Forest, but could not get over the hump...The Crusaders were within five points at the half, and cut a 15-point second-half deficit to six with just over two minutes to play in the game...That was as close as they would get as Wake Forest closed the game with a 9-4 run for the 11-point win...Andrew Keister and Devin Brown shared team honors with 16 points in the game...Holy Cross plays its first home game since the opener against College of Charleston on Nov. 13 when it takes on Stony Brook on Tuesday...The Crusaders lost the matchup by nine points on the road last year.

Lafayette The Leopards snapped a four-game losing skid with a 95-73 win over Susquehanna on Wednesday in Easton...Ryan Willen, Jared Mintz and Nick Petkovich each scored 14 points while Rob Delany and Levi Giese had 10 apiece, with the latter three players setting career highs...Lafayette broke open a close game midway through the first half to take a 47-39 lead at halftime, and led by double digits for the final 13 minutes as it pulled away for the 22-point win...It was the third of Lafayette's five-game homestand, and the Leopards were playing on consecutive nights after falling to Princeton, 82-64, on Tuesday...The Leopards scored the first basket of the game but never led again as Princeton stretched its lead early with a 10-2 run for a 22-12 edge less than 10 minutes into the game...The Tigers carried a 40-31 lead into the half, and led by double digits for nearly the entire second half to earn the 82-64 win...Mintz and Jim Mower shared team honors for the Leopards with 17 points apiece, while Willen scored 10...Lafayette concludes its homestand by taking on Sacred Heart on Monday and NJIT on Wednesday...Lafayette lost to Sacred Heart and beat NJIT on the road last season.

Lehigh Lehigh saw its two-game win streak come to an end with a 74-67 loss to Fordham on Saturday, which also ended the Mountain Hawks' eight-game home-winning streak...It looked good early as Lehigh took an 11-0 lead, but Fordham rallied back to trim the gap to 35-34 at halftime and quickly opened a double-digit lead in the second half...Lehigh trimmed a 14-point deficit to seven with under three minutes to play, but was not able to get any closer...C.J. McCollum had his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but shot just 5-of-16 from the field...Gabe Knutson led the Mountain Hawks with 20 points largely on the strength of a 14-for-15 effort at the foul line, while Michael Ojo scored 16 points...The Mountain Hawks pay a visit to Quinnipiac on Tuesday evening...Quinnipiac was the regular-season champion of the Northeast Conference last season, and the matchup is the last of four where defending Patriot League champion Lehigh takes on a regular-season champ from another conference...The Mountain Hawks defeated Cornell (Ivy League) on Nov. 22 and Stony Brook (America East) on Dec. 1, while losing to Kent State (Mid-American Conference) on Nov. 26...Lehigh defeated Quinnipiac at home last year.

Navy After a 1-5 start to the season, Navy won for the third time in four games and second in a row by beating George Washington, 74-67, on Sunday as part of the BB& T Classic at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C...Each of Navy's last three victories have come away from home... Junior Jordan Sugars made his return from a hand injury with 20 points and seven rebounds...Navy took the lead for good midway through the first half, and held a 31-27 lead at the break...Consecutive three-pointers by Isaiah Roberts and Sugars gave the Mids a 49-40 lead with 6:16 to go, and Navy stretched the advantage to 59-45 with less than four minutes to play... George Washington clawed back as close as five points in the final 30 seconds, but Navy clamped down on the defensive end to maintain the lead...O.J. Avworo scored 10 points, while three other players tallied seven or more... The Mids limited George Washington to 3-of-22 three-point shooting while making 11-of-25 from beyond the arc...The Mids conclude a stretch where they played eight of nine games away from Annapols by visiting Coppin State on Tuesday and Mercer on Friday...Navy beat Coppin State by three points at home last season.

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Onto other AU news. We don't cover the women's team as often as we probably should. They're having a pretty good season so far and are off to a 5-4 start. However, they will face an obstacle going forward as last year's PL POY Michelle Kirk has left the team due to personal reasons. The team has gone 3-2 without her and should still be competitive in the PL. It will just be a bit harder without Kirk's leadership and 13.8 points per game.

I guess that's it for now. Sorry for the lazy update here, but hey, if the PL is going to write it all out for me, I'd be foolish not to take advantage, no?

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!