PSAC Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week/Weekly Report - 9
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Lock Haven, Pa. - Eric Brennan is the fourth different Kutztown player to be named the PSAC East Athlete of the Week this season after averaging a double-double in two Golden Bear wins. IUP's Julian Sanders also led his team to a pair of wins to earn the PSAC West Athlete of the Week honor.
Mansfield's Joe Bell earns the East Freshman of the Week award for the fourth time this season after two more double-figure scoring performances while Mercyhurst's Callon Dailey is the West Freshman of the Week, earning the award for the first time on the season after a career performance in one of the Lakers' games last week.
PSAC East Athlete of the Week
Eric Brennan, Kutztown
Senior, Forward
Chester, Pa./West Catholic
Brennan nearly averaged a triple-double, instead "settling" for a pair of double-doubles and averages of 13.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 57.9 percent from the floor (11-of-19) to help lead Kutztown to wins over West Chester and East Stroudsburg. He also made 5-of-8 free throws and contributed 1.5 steals per contest. In Wednesday's 87-68 win over West Chester, he posted 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and shot 6-of-8 from the field. Against East Stroudsburg on Saturday, Brennan turned in a career performance with 13 points and a career-high 18 rebounds as well as seven assists and three steals. It was his sixth double-double of the season. Of his 30 rebounds in the two games, 23 came on the offensive end, helping lead to 25 second-chance points for the Golden Bears.
PSAC East Freshman of the Week
Joe Bell, Mansfield
Freshman, Forward
Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove
Bell had another strong week as he averaged 16.0 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 58.3 percent from the field (14-of-24) to help Mansfield to a 1-1 record. He netted double figures in both games, starting with 12 points as well as six rebounds in a loss to East Stroudsburg on Wednesday. On Saturday, he scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and pulled down five rebounds in a 77-73 win over Shippensburg. He also made both free throw attempts against the Red Raiders.
PSAC West Athlete of the Week
Julian Sanders, IUP
Senior, Guard
Medford, N.Y./Shawnee
Sanders averaged 21.0 points and 4.0 rebounds to help lead IUP to a 2-0 week with wins over California and Clarion. He shot 45.2 percent from the floor (14-for-31), including 6-of-17 from three-point range (35.3 percent), and made 8-of-11 free throws (72.7 percent). Sanders scored 19 points in Wednesday's 68-58 win over the Vulcans. Then, in Saturday's 70-65 win over the Golden Eagles, Sanders scored a game-high 23 points and in the process, became IUP's all-time leader in career three-pointers. The fifth-year senior has now knocked down 290 treys in his career, surpassing the old mark of 287 after going 4-of-10 from beyond the arc on Saturday. He also currently sits in seventh place in Crimson Hawk history with 1,397 career points.
PSAC West Freshman of the Week
Callon Dailey, Mercyhurst
Freshman, Forward
Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara
Dailey averaged 11.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in Mercyhurst's 1-1 week. He shot 43 percent from the field (9-of-21), including 3-of-10 from three-point range and made both of his free throw attempts. He put together his best game of the season on Wednesday at Clarion, leading the Lakers with 18 points and four steals - both career highs - while shooting 7-of-12 from the field in a five-point loss to the Golden Eagles. On Saturday, he contributed five points and three rebounds in a two-point win over Slippery Rock.
Team Notes
Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg won its PSAC East opener for the second straight year when it beat the Raiders 67-66. The win was also the fifth this season for the Huskies in the final seconds of play. BU is also now 5-0 in games decided by five points or less ... The Huskies have had back to back games where the bench has scored 30 or more points ... Senior Larry Webster needs 59 points to reach 1,000 for his career ... Webster moved into 13th place all-time in school history in career rebounds. He now has 615 and needs 10 more to pass BU Hall of Famer Glenn Noack for 12th ... Nnamdi Njoku had a career-high 14 points in the win over Shippensburg.
California
Cal U remains in a three-way tie for fifth place in the divisional standings after opening PSAC West play with a split last week … The Vulcans suffered their eighth-consecutive loss to rival on IUP with a 68-58 loss on Wednesday … Cal U responded with its fifth-straight win over Gannon on Saturday, 65-59 … Senior F Chad Tipton finished with 15 points on Saturday after hitting five three-pointers (fifth time this season) in his first non-start of the season … After neither team scored more than 25 points in the first half, the teams combined to score 81 points in the second half … The Vulcans have won seven of their nine games this season while playing at home (7-1).
Cheyney
The Wolves have dropped six in a row … Cheyney only played one game last week and was forced to postpone the PSAC East opener against Millersville due to a water main break on campus. That contest will be made up on January 16 at 3:00 pm in Cope Hall … In the only contest of the week, the Wolves fell at Bloomsburg.
Clarion
Clarion went 6-2 on its 8-game home stand ... The Golden Eagles welcomed back point guard Leonard Patterson after a two-game absence and the junior had 14 points, 9 assists and only 3 turnovers in two games ... Freshman Winfield Willis moved into 7th place at Clarion in freshman scoring since 1970. He has 267 points ... So. F Mike Kromka had back-to-back double-digit rebound games last Saturday and Wednesday. It marked the first time in his career he has done that ... The Golden Eagles have played nine games decided by seven points or less this year and are 6-3 in those contests.
East Stroudsburg
ESU (9-7, 5-5) gave 10th-year head coach Jeff Wilson his 150th career win with a 76-56 victory vs. Mansfield on Wednesday ... Kutztown handed the Warriors a 75-61 loss on Saturday in the first meeting between the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in the PSAC East preseason poll ... Jr. F Terrance King tied his career-high with 20 points vs. Mansfield and Jr. F Duane Johnson had 15 ... King scored 16 in the first half as ESU led 40-25 at halftime ... In the last two years, ESU is 11-4 when Johnson and King both score 10+ ... the Warriors shot 27.5 percent, their lowest mark since 2005, vs. Kutztown on Saturday ... Sr. F Eric Bryan will play his 100th career game on Wednesday at Millersville ... Bryan has 489 points, 385 rebounds and 56 blocks in his career ... ESU is at Shippensburg on Saturday.
Edinboro
Edinboro made it four straight wins over local rival Gannon thanks to a 24-10 run to close out the game at Gannon’s Hammermill Center ... Sam Moore came off the bench to key the rally … After Isaiah Prince gave Edinboro its first lead at 66-64 on an assist from Moore, Moore scored the next seven points, then recorded the clinching steal with eight seconds remaining. The transfer from Pitt-Bradford would finish with 11 points, six assists and five rebounds … Jay Fletcher matched his season high with 19 points at Gannon, making 5 of 9 three-pointers … Cory Somerville scored 12 points against Lock Haven to give him 1,002 points for his career. The 6’5” senior played as a freshman at Slippery Rock … Clint Nicholson extended his consecutive free throw streak to 32 in a row, and is now just six shy of the record of 38 … Bryan Theriot recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds in just 24 minutes against Lock Haven.
Gannon
Gannon dropped two games last week against California (Pa.) and Edinboro … It marked the first time the Golden Knights had dropped consecutive games this season … Five of Gannon’s six losses this season have come after leading at halftime … The squad’s six losses have come by a total of 20 points, an average of 3.3 points per loss … Junior Darrell Blanton averaged 19.5 points last week, netting 24 points against Edinboro … Sophomore Brandon Belt scored 16 and 15 points, respectively last week … Belt has scored 15 or 16 points during three consecutive games … Junior Oscar Macias averaged 11.5 points last week and has reached double digits in scoring during 10 of the last 11 contests … Gannon had 17 turnovers against California (Pa.) and was out-scored 19-6 in points off turnovers.
IUP
The 14th-ranked Crimson Hawks went 2-0 last week, defeating Cal 68-58 at home on Wednesday before going on the road for a come-from-behind victory over Clarion 70-65 on Saturday … With the wins, IUP is now 12-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play, two games ahead of Edinboro, Clarion and Mercyhurst, all of which are 7-3 in the PSAC … Sr. G Ashton Smith scored a game-high 24 points, connecting on 10-12 free throws, while Sr. G Julian Sanders added 19 points for the Hawks…IUP had to rally on Saturday night, as Sanders and Smith led the way again with 23 and 16 points, respectively … In Saturday’s win, Sanders became IUP’s all-time leader in career three-pointers with 290 and also moved into seventh place in school history with 1,397 career points … Smith is right behind in eighth place with 1,379 career points.
Kutztown
Kutztown (9-5, 6-4) opened the Eastern Division portion of its schedule this week with a pair of wins ... In an 87-68 victory over West Chester, Tyler Brooks scored a career-high 22 points … KU shot an impressive 57.1 percent from the field including 67.9 percent in the second half as all five starters finished in double figures in scoring … In KU’s win over ESU, the Golden Bears held ESU to 30.3 percent from the field. It was the lowest for a KU opponent this season … It was KU's first win at Koehler Fieldhouse since the 2009-10 season and was the largest margin of victory since a 93-70 win at home in the 2008-09 campaign … Senior forward Eric Brennan grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds while chipping in 13 points and seven assists … Micah Fraction led all scorers with 20 points … Devon McBride is KU’s top scorer at 19.6 per game followed by Nate Edwards at 18.6. Brennan leads the team in rebounding (9.0).
Lock Haven
Lock opened PSAC West play this week with a pair of losses ... The two losses drop the Bald Eagles to 0-13 overall and 0-10 in PSAC play ... Lock Haven has now lost 32 straight games, which is the longest current DII losing streak … Despite a 22 point loss on Saturday at Edinboro, there were some bright spots for Lock Haven … Anthony Baker netted a game-high 23 points and Armandi Marshall scored a career-high 14 points … Andre Rivers also stood out for LHU as he recorded the second Haven double-double in three games. Rivers had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Eight of his 10 boards came on the offensive side … Freshman Terrell Johnson continues to lead The Haven in scoring on the year with 12.4 points per game … Baker, a sophomore without a start averages 10.8 off the bench as the only other Haven player in double figures.
Mansfield
The Mountaineers picked up a crucial PSAC East win and snapped a season-long three game losing streak by rallying from 9 points down in the second half to beat Shippensburg 77-73 at home Saturday … Mansfield is 6-2 in games played in Decker Gymnasium but 0-6 in games on the road … Freshman Joe Bell continued his sensational play scoring in double-figures in both games during the week including a 20 point effort against Shippensburg … Bell now has scored in double-figures in 10 of 13 games this season including the last five games in a row … The win over Shippensburg was the 98th win for head coach Rich Miller who is in his seventh season at the helm of the Mountaineer program and needs just two wins to become the fourth coach in Mansfield’s 112-year basketball history to reach the 100-win milestone.
Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst split its first two division contest, losing by five at Clarion before bouncing back with a 64-62 win over Slippery Rock ... Freshman Callon Dailey had a stellar game at Clarion, recording a career-high 18 points and four steals ... In the victory over the Rock, two other Lakers posted career highs, as Steven Coleman led with 18 points and Paul Bilbo added 13 ... Each player also grabbed seven rebounds ... ‘Hurst continues its three-game home stand Wednesday, hosting crosstown rival Gannon ... The Lakers and Golden Knights have split two meetings each of the past two seasons ... Mercyhurst is 7-3 in league action, tied for second with Edinboro and Clarion.
Millersville
Millersville’s first game of the week against Cheyney was postponed to Monday, but the Marauders earned a much-needed 89-83 victory at home against West Chester Saturday … It was the seventh consecutive game in the series that the home team won … Millersville received a career-high 31 points from Anthony Coleman. His previous career high was 13 points. He had made a total of four threes all season heading into the game but made 6-of-7 … Jaymes Miller had a perfect shooting day, going 7-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line for 17 points … Larry Grant registered his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 assists. He is the first Marauder to tally a double-double with points and assists since Greg Testa in 2006 and his 11 assists were the most in a game since Gerald Redding’s 11 in 2001 … Demond Vance, Millersville’s leading scorer in 2010-11, also returned to the lineup for the first time this year and scored 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
Shippensburg
Shippensburg trailed for just 50 seconds on Wednesday but dropped a 1-point decision to Bloomsburg and trailed for less than 11 total minutes against Mansfield but lost a 4-point decision to the Mounties this week ... SU shot 50 percent against Mansfield and continues to be among the Top 20 ranked teams in DII for field-goal percentage ... Senior Craig Van Scyoc scored a career-high 21 points (including a career-high 5 three-pointers) in the loss to Bloomsburg ... Sophomore Dylan Edgar matched his career high with 21 points to go along with 12 rebounds in the loss to Mansfield.
Slippery Rock
The Rock's Jan. 11 win over Lock Haven was the 66th in Kevin Reynolds' four-year reign as SRU's head coach and moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the school's all-time wins list ... Sr. F Devin Taylor recorded his team-best seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in The Rock's win over Lock Haven ... Taylor had a string of three straight double-double performances snapped in the loss at Mercyhurst ... Jr. C Luiz Santos recorded his second double-double with 10 and 10 in the loss at Mercyhurst ... Sr. G Jon Valeriano has scored 10 or more points in three straight games and seven of the last eight ... Valeriano leads the team with 10 double-digit scoring efforts this winter ... The Rock's 9-5 overall record after 14 games this winter is one behind its win total a year ago, when the Green and White claimed PSAC runner-up honors and a berth in the NCAA playoffs.
West Chester
Corey Blake led West Chester with 16 points but Kutztown ran away from the visiting Golden Rams, 87-69, in the PSAC East men's basketball opener for both schools inside Keystone Arena Wednesday evening … West Chester was without starting point guard Jon Breeden for the contest … West Chester put five players in double figures, but host Millersville shot 57.9 percent from the floor in an 89-83 PSAC East men’s basketball victory inside Pucillo Gym Saturday afternoon.
Previous 2011-12 Athletes of the Week
1/9 - East Athlete: Devon McBride, Kutztown
East Freshman: Corey Blake, West Chester
West Co-Athletes: Bryan Theriot, Edinboro & Devin Taylor, Slippery Rock
West Freshman: Winfield Willis, Clarion
1/4 - East Athlete: Dontahe Jordan, Bloomsburg
East Freshman: Joe Bell, Mansfield
West Athlete: Torrance Timothy, Slippery Rock
West Freshman: Adam Blazek, Gannon
12/20 - East Athlete: Terrance King, East Stroudsburg
East Freshman: Joe Bell, Mansfield
West Athlete: Matt Lee, Mercyhurst
West Freshman: Terrell Johnson, Lock Haven
12/12 - East Athlete: Nate Edwards, Kutztown
East Freshman: Joe Bell, Mansfield
West Athlete: Ashton Smith, IUP
West Freshman: Winfield Willis, Clarion
12/5 - East Athlete: Trevon Johnson, Bloomsburg
East Freshman: Jerrod Johnson, Cheyney
West Athlete: Darrell Blanton, Gannon
West Freshman: Winfield Willis, Clarion
11/28 - East Athlete: Lance McDowell, West Chester
East Freshman: Reggie Charles, Shippensburg
West Athlete: Devin Taylor, Slippery Rock
West Freshman: Adam Blazek, Gannon
11/21 - East Athlete: Ed Hall, Bloomsburg
East Freshman: Matt Tobin, East Stroudsburg
West Athlete: Julian Sanders, IUP
West Freshman: Jeremy Posey, California
11/14 - East Athlete: Micah Fraction, Kutztown
East Freshman: Whis Grant, East Stroudsburg
West Athlete: Winfield Willis, Clarion
West Freshman: Tynell Fortune, California