PSAC Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week/Weekly Report - 2
Lock Haven, Pa. - Bloomsburg's Ed Hall averaged a double-double to help lead the Huskies to a 3-0 record last week en route to a 4-1 start to the season while IUP's Julian Sanders made two-thirds of his shots from the floor to help lead the Crimson Hawks to a 3-0 mark over the last week and they are the PSAC East and West Athletes of the Week, respectively.
East Stroudsburg's Matt Tobin, who scored in double figures in two of three games, and California's Jeremy Posey, who missed just two of 12 shots on the week, are the Freshmen of the Week.
PSAC East Athlete of the Week
Ed Hall, Bloomsburg
Sophomore, Forward
Washington, D.C./Paint Branch
Hall averaged a double-double with 10 points and 10.3 rebounds per game to help lead Bloomsburg to wins over USP, Lock Haven and Edinboro to run the Huskies' winning streak to four games. He made 12-of-19 shots from the floor (63.2 percent) and also added five assists, a block and a steal. In last Wednesday's win over USP, he scored six points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds. He then contributed nine points and eight rebounds in Saturday's win over Lock Haven and wrapped up the week with 15 points, which were just two shy of his career high, and nine rebounds against Edinboro.
PSAC East Freshman of the Week
Matt Tobin, East Stroudsburg
Freshman, Guard
Hopatcong, N.J./Hopatcong
Tobin averaged 12.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals to help East Stroudsburg to a 2-1 record last week. Matt, the younger brother of former East Stroudsburg standout Mike Tobin, who graduated last year, made 11-of-19 shots from the field (57.9 percent), including 7-of-11 from downtown, (63.6 percent) and also made 8-of-8 from the free throw line. He started the week by putting in 16 points and dishing out four assists in a win over Penn State-Schuylkill. He then went for nine points in ESU's one-point win over Gannon on Saturday and wrapped up the week with 12 points and four assists in a two-point loss to Clarion on Sunday.
PSAC West Athlete of the Week
Julian Sanders, IUP
Senior, Guard
Medford, N.J./Shawnee
In three wins for the Crimson Hawks last week, Sanders averaged 23.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists while putting up exemplary shooting numbers. For the week, Sanders shot 66.7 percent from the floor (24-for-36), including 12-of-21 from beyond the arc (57.1 percent), meaning inside the arc, he made 12-of-15 shots (80 percent). He also converted on 11-of-15 free throws (73.3 percent). He also committed just a single turnover in 80 minutes of action. He began the week with 17 points in a home win over Thiel. Then, in Saturday's win at Cheyney, Sanders dropped in a career-high 33 points on 10-of-14 shooting, which helped the Hawks rally back after trailing by as many as 13 points. He ended the week with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting in Sunday's win at Shippensburg.
PSAC West Freshman of the Week
Jeremy Posey, California
Freshman, Forward
Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon
Posey, who played only six combined minutes in California's first two games of the season, saw extensive action in the Vulcans' first two PSAC games of the year and responded by averaging 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks to help Cal to wins over Shippensburg and Cheyney. He made 10-of-12 shots from the floor (83.3 percent) and both 1-of-2 three-pointers and free throws. He also added three assists and two steals. He missed a double-double by just one point and one board with nine points and nine rebounds in addition to five blocks in 22 minutes off the bench in a three-point win over Shippensburg on Saturday. Posey then finished with a season-high 13 points and also added five boards in 18 minutes in Sunday's win at Cheyney.
Team Notes
Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg improved to 4-1 on the season with three wins this past week...The Huskies are also on a four game winning streak...Bloomsburg's 32-point win over Lock Haven was the team's largest margin of victory over a PSAC school since the 1994-95 season...Ed Hall grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in the Huskies win over the University of the Sciences....The Huskies defense held Edinboro 38 points below its season average in beating the Fighting Scots 77-68.
California
Cal U has opened the year with a 4-0 record following PSAC Crossover wins at Shippensburg and Cheyney last weekend … The start marks the best for the Vulcans since they started 10-0 in 2003-04 before finishing the year at 23-7 overall … Senior swingman Chad Tipton leads the team in scoring at 14.8 points/game after hitting 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from beyond the arc … Tipton has made a career-high five treys in a game twice this season … After missing last year due to injury, junior guard Travon Vann is averaging 10.8 points/game and a team-high 5.8 rebounds/game off the bench … As a team, Cal U is shooting 72.3 percent (73-of-101) from the free-throw line in four games – its first season at 70-plus percent since 2007-08.
Cheyney
Cheyney has started the season 0-3. It is the first time the Wolves dropped their first three contests since 2006-07. That year the Wolves dropped their first four before ending the season with a 15-15 mark and falling in the PSAC Final to Millersville. The Wolves look to regroup over the Thanksgiving Holiday with a tournament in Milwaukee. Cheyney will battle Bowie State on Friday and either Lincoln or Fisk on Saturday. To start the 2011-12 campaign the Wolves played three games in as many days. A trio of newcomers is pacing the Wolves. Jason Sabb and Brandon Baylor are averaging 22 points per contest while Jerrod Johnson is chipping in 11 points per game.
Clarion
Head coach Ron Righter won his 400th career game Sunday over East Stroudsburg. Righter is 400-275 in his 26th year as a head coach including 376-251 in 24 years at Clarion. Righter was 24-24 in two years at Wilkes in the early 1980s before becoming a top Division I assistant prior to coming to Clarion ... Bud Teer had 17 rebounds Sunday, the fourth time in the last 2 years he's had at least 15 in a game and tied for the 2nd most in his Clarion career ... Paul McQueen shot over 60 percent in all three Clarion games during the week despite taking at least 11 shots in each ... Calvin Edwards hit 3 free throws with 2.2 seconds left to beat East Stroudsburg Sunday, the first time since Feb. 12 when Jamar Harrison hit a 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left to beat Edinboro that the Golden Eagles have won a game in the last 10 seconds
East Stroudsburg
ESU was 2.2 seconds away from a 3-0 week when Clarion made three free throws to pull out a 65-63 win on Sunday afternoon ... in 90-89 win vs. Gannon and Clarion game, score was within 3 points for the final 10 minutes of both games (except for part of last 19 seconds vs. Gannon) ... Warriors (2-3) opened week with 107-53 win vs. PSU-Schuylkill, and opened season at Shippensburg last week (L 96-92 vs. No. 6 West Liberty, L 74-66 vs. Charleston) ... G Whis Grant, last week's PSAC East Freshman of the Week, is averaging 17.2 ppg with 30 in career debut ... Freshmen Grant, G Matt Tobin and F Lamont Tillery scored 37% of ESU's points last week ... Juniors Duane Johnson (14.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and Terrance King (12.0, 7.0) were preseason All-PSAC East ... Jeff Wilson is 143-111 five games into his 10th season, guiding the Warriors to consecutive PSAC semifinals and the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Edinboro
Greg Walcavich won his 400th career game at Edinboro with a 101-89 win at Mansfield. Walcavich is in his 23rd year at Edinboro and now has 554 career victories ... Edinboro scored 111 and 101 points in its first two games, marking the first time since 1990-91 that the Fighting Scots opened a season hitting the century mark the first two games ... the 114-111 double overtime loss at Urbana marked the second year in a row Edinboro opened the season with an overtime game ... Bryan Theriot and Clint Nicholson both posted career-highs at Urbana. Theriot had 33 points and added 14 rebounds for his second career double-double, while Nicholson scored 31 points. Theriot broke the school record for free throws made (18) and tied the mark for attempts (22)... junior college transfer Isaiah Prince led the Scots with 29 points at mansfield, going 10 of 14 from the floor and 6 of 6 at the line.
Gannon
Gannon split a pair of road games last weekend at East Stroudsburg and Kutztown, the top two teams in the Preseason PSAC Eastern Division Coaches Poll … the Golden Knights opened the season on the road for only the 16th time in the 67-year history of the program … Gannon began the season with a pair of one-point decisions for the first time in school history, falling 90-89 at East Stroudsburg and winning 80-79 at Kutztown … the Golden Knights shot over 50 percent from the field and from three-point range in both games … 10 different players reached double digits in playing minutes and 10 Golden Knights scored points at East Stroudsburg … 12 players saw game action at Kutztown to offset 11 different Golden Knights picking up fouls while 10 players dented the scoring column and grabbed at least one rebound.
IUP
The 19th-ranked Crimson Hawks won all three games this week, improving to a perfect 4-0 …After an easy 84-59 win over Thiel on Monday, IUP picked up a pair of wins in its opening PSAC crossover weekend, beating Cheyney and Shippensburg on the road…The win over the Wolves was of the comeback variety, as the Crimson Hawks found themselves down by 12 points with just under 13 minutes left before rallying to take the lead less than six minutes later…Sr. G Julian Sanders scored a career-high 33 points in the 89-80 win…After falling down quickly against the Raiders, IUP made a couple of late first half runs to build a 14-point halftime lead and was ahead by as many as 33 in the second half for the easy 80-64 win over Ship…IUP opened its brand new Kovalchick Complex last week with a 62-54 win over Seton Hill.
Kutztown
Kutztown split its opening two PSAC games this weekend. It opened up with an impressive 96-75 win over Clarion. It nearly overcame a 15-point halftime deficit against Gannon but was unable to take down the Golden Knights as it dropped an 80-79 decision. Earlier in the week, KU fell to Wilmington in a non-conference game, 75-74.
Lock Haven
Terrell Johnson of the Lock Haven University men’s basketball team had a brilliant start to his career this week. The freshman started the week off by scoring 17 points against Ashland University. He added four assists and four steals in the contest. Against Bloomsburg, Johnson netted 11 points and against Mansfield he scored 10 points while dishing out five assists. He is averaging 12.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game in the three games.
Mansfield
The Mountaineers split a pair of PSAC crossover games during the week dropping a 101-89 decision to Edinboro and downing Lock Haven 70-64 ... the 101 points given up to Edinboro was the first time a team scored 100 points against the Mountaineers since West Liberty posted a 101-90 win in 2007 ... Mansfield has had at least five players score in double-figures in each of the Mountaineers first three games this season ... Chuck Harper and Kyle Bradley each recorded double-doubles in the win over Lock Haven.
Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst won two road conference games this weekend, defeating Millersville, 84-75, and West Chester, 90-71...at Millersville, the Lakers rallied from 13 points down in the second half, scoring on 10 consecutive offensive possessions at one point...Andrew Rickard scored a career-high 24 points in the win...against the Golden Rams, Hurst got to the free throw line 44 times, connecting on 34...Matt Lee poured in 27 points, including 4-8 shooting from three-point range...playing without two starters, the Lakers started out 2-0 in the conference for the second straight season.
Millersville
Millersville’s week was all about the second half. In the win over Lincoln, Millersville turned a 10-point halftime deficit into a win, but against Mercyhurst and Slippery Rock, Millersville made a total of one field goal in the final six minutes of both games. Millersville blocked 15 shots in its three games and is averaging nearly six per game. Jaymes Miller totaled seven blocked shots and Elijah Obade blocked six including one in each game. Anthony Coleman has provided efficient play off the bench, shooting 69.2 percent from the field and scoring in double-figures in three of four games. Larry Grant scored 25 against Mercyhurst, marking the first 20-point game by Millersville player in 10 games dating back to last season. Millersville has averaged just 13.5 turnovers and has a +2.3 turnover margin. The team has committed more turnovers than an opponent just once in four games.
Shippensburg
Shippensburg has dropped four games to start the season - two against nationaly-ranked opponents (West Liberty and IUP) and two against opponents picked in the Top 3 of their respective conferences (Charleston and Cal) by just three points in both cases, including one in overtime...the Raiders have six players averaging nine or more points per game...opponents have made 33 three-pointers in four games against the Raiders.
Slippery Rock
The Rock has a balanced scoring attack thus far this winter with five players averaging eight or more points per game but no one averaging more than 12 ppg ... Jr. G Aubin Reeves has scored 10 or more points in all three Rock games this winter ... Sr. F Devin Taylor has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in all three Rock games ... Sr. PG Jon Valeriano had double-figure scoring efforts in both PSAC games last weekend ... SR. C Luiz Santos grabbed a game-high 24 rebounds Sunday at Millersville ... The Rock opens a three-game homestand with its Nov. 26 game vs. Seton Hill.
West Chester
West Chester opens the 2011-12 season 2-2 after four games ... with seven newcomers to the fold, the Golden Rams are showing much more depth than in years past ... junior Jon Breeden brings solidarity to the point guard position while Lance McDowell continues to be a force inside ... Breeden is averaging 14.3 ppg and 4.0 assists per contest ... freshman Corey Blake has shown signs of being a star in this league before his career is out.