PSAC Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week/Weekly Report - 13
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Lock Haven, Pa. - West Chester's Lance McDowell and Gannon's Adam Blazek both turned in career performances to spur their teams onto two victories each and they are the PSAC East and West Athletes of the Week, respectively.
Mansfield's Joe Bell picks up his sixth East Freshman of the Week honor and his second straight after averaging 20 points once again while Slippery Rock's Chaquille Pratt earns his first West Freshman of the Week honor after posting a pair of double digit scoring performances.
PSAC East Athlete of the Week
Lance McDowell, West Chester
Senior, Center
Philadelphia, Pa./Communications Tech
McDowell helped West Chester not only solidify its hold on fourth place in the PSAC East, but also move to within a game of second place in the division with four games to play as the Golden Rams upset both Kutztown and Bloomsburg - two of the three teams ahead of them in the standings. McDowell averaged 28.0 points and 10.0 rebounds and shot 54.3 percent from the field (19-of-35) and 72.7 percent from the free throw line (16-of-22). He also made 2-of-5 from three-point range. In a 103-88 win over Kutztown on Wednesday, McDowell scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the loss knocked the Golden Bears out of first place. On Saturday, against the team that had entered the week tied with Kutztown for first - Bloomsburg - McDowell followed up his career performance from Wednesday with 27 points and 12 rebounds to notch to his sixth double-double of the season. He converted on a three-point play and then hit a layup with under a minute to play to help seal the road win over the Huskies. West Chester has now won seven of its last eight games.
PSAC East Freshman of the Week
Joe Bell, Mansfield
Freshman, Forward
Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove
Bell enjoyed another tremendous week for the Mountaineers as he averaged 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 60.7 percent from the floor (17-of-28) and 75 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-8). In a narrow 82-77 loss to East Stroudsburg on Wednesday, Bell posted a game-high 26 points and pulled down six rebounds. He followed that up with a 14-point, eight-rebound performance in a 79-57 win over Cheyney on Saturday. In 65 minutes of playing time, Bell committed just three turnovers. He has now scored in double figures in 13 straight contests.
PSAC West Athlete of the Week
Adam Blazek, Gannon
Freshman, Guard
Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep
Blazek, who has been named the PSAC West Freshman of the Week four times this season, earns his first Athlete of the Week honor after a career week in which he averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals in a pair of wins over Edinboro and Clarion that helped keep the Golden Knights alive in the hunt for a PSAC Tournament berth. He made 21-of-33 from the field (63.6 percent), including 6-of-8 from three-point range (75 percent) and 15-of-16 free throws (93.8 percent). Blazek also committed just five turnovers in 79 minutes of action. He started out the week by posting a career-high 26 points along with seven rebounds against Edinboro, going a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, to help lead the Knights to a 77-73 overtime win. He scored 16 of his 20 points in regulation during the second half to help Gannon overcome a 16-point halftime deficit to force overtime. He hit the game-tying jumper with 21 seconds left and secured the trip to an extra period with a steal in the waning seconds before scoring six points - all from the free throw line - in the overtime. Blazek then set another new career high by going for 37 points at Clarion on Saturday while also adding six boards, four assists and three steals. He made 13-of-18 shots from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line to help the Knights to a 91-80 victory. He was clutch at the free throw line down the stretch, making 6-of-6 in the final 1:25 to ice the win. He is the first Gannon player to score at least 37 points in a game since December of 2005.
PSAC West Freshman of the Week
Chaquille Pratt, Slippery Rock
Freshman, Forward
Midland, Pa./Lincoln Park
Pratt helped The Rock to a pair of victories last week as he came off the bench to average 16.0 points and 5.0 rebounds in wins over Lock Haven and Edinboro. He made 11-of-17 shots from the floor (64.7 percent) and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Pratt scored a season-high 12 points in Wednesday's win over Lock Haven and then erased that season-high as he posted a new high of 20 points in Saturday's win over Edinboro. Pratt had previously only scored 10 or more points once in his first 19 games of the season.
Team Notes
Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg's 74-71 loss to West Chester was the first time this season the Huskies have lost a game when scoring at least 70 points. The Huskies had been 13-0 this season ... Trevon Johnson will go into Wednesday's game with Mansfield needing just five points to reach 1,000 for his career ... Larry Webster needs nine more rebounds to reach 700 for his career. He would become just the seventh player in school history to reach that number.
California
Cal U has won three-straight games after claiming divisional victories over No. 13 IUP and Lock Haven last week … The Vulcans snapped an eight-game losing streak to the rival Crimson Hawks on Wednesday with a 65-54 victory … Freshman G Tynell Fortune led the team in scoring last week with 15.5 points/game off the bench after tying his season high with 19 points against Lock Haven … Senior F Steve Swiech is averaging 14.5 points and 8.8 rebounds over the last four games (3-1) … Senior G Douglas Appiah posted a season-high 12 points on Wednesday in his first start since Dec. 4 and tied a season high with five assists on Saturday.
Cheyney
Tyreese Oden scored a career high 13 points while grabbing a career high six rebounds in a loss to Mansfield … Anthony Juene has scored double figures in his last three games and four out of his last five. Deshawn Curtis also posted a career high 19 points in the Mansfield game … The Wolves were 2-19 from behind the arc, a season low, at Mansfield … Cheyney looks to snap a seven game skid with home games this week against Kutztown and Shippensburg.
Clarion
Freshman guard Winfield Willis continues to be the model of consistency. With two more games of at least 15 points, he has now recorded five straight contests of 15 or more points and has done it 16 times on the season including 8 20-point games with a high of 31 ... Bud Teer is 18 rebounds shy of 500 in his 2-year career. He would be the 10th player under 24th year head coach Ron Righter to grab 500 boards and he would join teammate Paul McQueen (629) as the first set of Golden Eagle teammates to each have 500 at the same time since David Shearer and Allen Stevens in 2002 ... Teer has had two seasons of at least 200 boards, the 1st Golden Eagle to do that since Ryan Wells in 2004 and 2005 ... Amazingly, Teer has record double digits in rebounds in over half of the games he has played at Clarion (27 of 48) including 11 this year.
East Stroudsburg
ESU (15-9, 11-7) extended its winning streak to four games, its longest of the year, with an 82-77 win at Mansfield on Wednesday ... Streak ended vs. Shippensburg, 67-63, on Saturday ... Warriors scored 80+ points in each of their four wins, their highest-scoring streak since 1993-94, and shot 51.5% (34-66) from the 3-point line ... Jr. G Gerald Bridges, Jr. tied his career-high with 14 points and Fr. G Matt Tobin scored 13 to lead a bench that scored 37 points in ESU's first win at Mansfield since 2007 ... Warriors shot just 39 percent in loss to Shippensburg ... Jr. F Duane Johnson (12.5 ppg) went over 850 career points this week ... ESU can secure its 6th PSAC Tournament trip in 7 years this week, hosting Millersville and traveling to West Chester ... Warriors have won 15+ games in 7 straight seasons ... Jeff Wilson is 3 wins from tying for 2nd-most in school history (159).
Edinboro
Isaiah Prince continued his scoring spree last week with two more 20-point efforts, giving him four straight games with 20-or-more points. The 6’0” guard scored 26 points against Gannon and 22 vs. Slippery Rock, leaving him with 103 points (25.8 ppg.) over the last four games. He has scored 103 of Edinboro’s 274 points during that span … 6’9” sophomore Bryan Theriot, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, has missed the last five games with a wrist injury, and during that time Edinboro has been outrebounded by 11.4 rpg. during that period. Even with Theriot, the Fighting Scots have been outrebounded in all but six games this year … Clint Nicholson scored 18 points against Slippery Rock to pull within 28 points of 1,000 for his career. The senior guard has 972 career points, including time at Seton Hill and Urbana … Edinboro has now lost four straight games at McComb Fieldhouse for the first time since 1988-89 – the year before Greg Walcavich took over as head coach.
Gannon
Gannon moved to 5-4 on the road this season with two critical victories last week, securing a 77-73 overtime decision at Edinboro and a 91-80 win at Clarion … The Golden Knights overcame a 16-point deficit at Edinboro to force the first overtime game between the two rivals since 1994-95 … Freshman Adam Blazek netted a career-high 26 points, including the game-tying jumper with 21 seconds left in regulation and two free throws that snapped a 71-all tie with 49 seconds left in overtime … Blazek then set a new career-high with 37 points at Clarion, the 11th-highest single-game total in school history … Senior Shameel Carty scored 15 second-half points against his former teammates at Clarion … Carty scored seven consecutive points to turn a three-point deficit into a four-point lead with seven minutes remaining … Gannon shot 65.9 percent at Clarion, the highest percentage since February 7, 2004.
IUP
With the 13th-ranked Crimson Hawks win over Mercyhurst on Saturday, they became the first Western Division team to clinch a spot in the PSAC tournament, doing so for the fifth straight season … The big 67-49 win this weekend came over a Lakers squad that is second place in the West with a current 13-5 record … Three players reached double-figures for the Crimson Hawks this weekend, with Sr. G Ashton Smith scoring 20, Jr. G Anthony Wells scoring 17 and Sr. G Julian Sanders adding 10 points … Wells also notched eight rebounds and added seven assists, going 3-5 from three-point range and 6-6 from the foul line … On Wednesday the Crimson Hawks lost to rival Cal 65-54, as Sanders had a team-high 23 points and Smith added 10…IUP now sits at 18-4 overall and 15-3 in the PSAC, first in the West with a two-game lead over the Lakers.
Kutztown
Kutztown (14-8, 11-7) are currently riding a three-game skid after winning ten in a row. It fell to West Chester (103-88) and Millersville (77-67) in back to back road matchups … Devon McBride leads all scorers at 20.8 points per game … Four Golden Bears average double figures followed by Nate Edwards (18.6), Micah Fraction (15.7), and Eric Brennan (13.1) … Brennan is the team’s top rebounder at 9.4 and has nine double-doubles this season … Edwards is KU’s top defensive option with 46 steals, averaging over two per game. He’s also shooting 87.2 percent from the free throw line.
Lock Haven
Lock Haven dropped both of its games last week to bring their overall record to 0-21, 0-18 in the PSAC …. The young Bald Eagle team is getting strong offensive production off of the bench from sophomore guard Anthony Baker … Baker has now scored in double figures in five straight games and is leading the Bald Eagles in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game … The Haven returns to action with two road PSAC West games this week when they travel to Clarion Wednesday before heading to Gannon on Saturday.
Mansfield
Rich Miller became the fourth head coach in Mountaineer men's basketball history to reach the 100 win milestone in Mansfield's win over Cheyney on Saturday ... Miller, who reached his 100th win in his seventh season and 185th game joins an elite group of coaches including Ed Wilson (300), Tom Ackerman (127) and the legendary Bill Gibson (102) in 100-win club ... The victory over Cheyney also snapped a season-long three-game losing streak ... Freshman Joe Bell, who scored 26 points early in the week against East Stroudsburg, extended his streak of scoring in double-figures to 13 straight games with a 14 point effort in the win over Cheyney.
Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst beat Clarion, 91-53, at home February 8, before falling, 67-49, at #13 Indiana (Pa.) February 11 ... Against Clarion, the Lakers recorded their largest point differential in a conference game since joining the PSAC in 2008 ... ‘Hurst used a 44-32 advantage on rebounds to pound the Golden Eagles and extend its home winning streak to six ... In a showdown for first place, Mercyhurst struggled to score against the strong Crimson Hawk defense ... The Lakers shot a season-low 30.5 percent from the field in the loss ... ‘Hurst is now 13-5 in conference action, two games behind IUP and a game ahead of Slippery Rock in the Western Division ... The Lakers now head to downtown Erie for a rivalry game at Gannon on February 15 ... Mercyhurst will be looking for its first season sweep of the Golden Knights since the 2006-07 campaign.
Millersville
Millersville won back-to-back games for just the third time this season by defeating Cheyney and Kutztown last week … After going 1-7 against the PSAC West, the Marauders are 6-4 against the PSAC East and are 5-1 at home against the East … Jaymes Miller led Millersville in scoring in both games, averaging 19.0 points per game while shooting 63.6 percent from the field … Millersville is 4-1 when Miller leads the team in scoring … Elijah Obade notched two double-doubles with 14 points and 11 rebounds against Cheyney and 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against Kutztown. He has a double-double in six of the last seven and has double-digit rebounds in seven consecutive games … Larry Grant also registered a double-double against Cheyney with 16 points and 10 assists, and he did not commit a turnover in the game … In two games against Cheyney this season, Grant has 35 points, 20 assists and just one turnover.
Shippensburg
Shippensburg edged East Stroudsburg on Saturday for its first road win in PSAC Eastern Division play this season ... SU had been 0-8 this season in games decided by five points or less prior to its win over ESU ... Six of the last nine meetings between the Raiders and Warriors have been decided by five points or less ... Senior Dane Lauber scored 18 points off the bench for the Raiders and hit what proved to be the game-winning three-pointer in the final minute of play ... SU posted a season-best 84.6 percent (11-of-13) effort from the free-throw line against ESU, making all four of its attempts in the final minute ... Sophomore Dylan Edgar had a combined 27 points in two games this week on 11-of-19 shooting.
Slippery Rock
Fr. F Chaquille Pratt’s 20-point scoring effort last Saturday at Edinboro bettered his previous best of 12 points set last Wednesday in Lock Haven ... Pratt had only scored 10 or more points in one of his first 19 games played this winter (10 points at Mansfield 12/10/11) ... Sr. F Devin Taylor recorded his team-best 10th double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds last Saturday at Edinboro ... Taylor has now scored 10 or more points in a team-best 14 of 22 games this winter ... The only PSAC player to average a double-double this winter, Taylor has also grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 14 games this season ... The Rock is closing in on its second consecutive PSAC tournament berth and third in Kevin Reynolds' four seasons as head coach ... The Rock, after hosting California Wednesday, travel to Indiana next Saturday. That will be the final regular-season road game of the season for SRU, which closes out its schedule with back-to-back home games vs. Gannon and Clarion.
West Chester
West Chester took down the first place team in the East on two occasions last week, topping Kutztown (103-88) at home on Wednesday and then beating Bloomsburg (74-71) on the road Saturday ... The Golden Rams have now beaten the division leader in the East three times (both wins over Bloomsburg and Wednesday's in over Kutztown) ... Lance McDowell averaged 28 ppg and 10 rpg while recording his sixth double-double of the year in the win over the Huskies Saturday ... He now has 1,474 career points and 706 career rebounds, including his two junior college seasons at Delaware Tech ... WCU's 103 points against Kutztown marked the most points the Rams have scored this season, the most points they have scored in the Damian Blair era and the most points they have scored against Kutztown in the history of the series ... It also marked the first time WCU reach the century mark against a PSAC opponent since 2005.
Previous 2011-12 Athletes of the Week
2/6 - East Athlete: Duane Johnson, East Stroudsburg
East Freshman: Joe Bell, Mansfield
West Athlete: Isaiah Prince, Edinboro
West Freshman: Winfield Willis, Clarion
1/30 - East Athlete: Devon McBride, Kutztown
East Freshman: Whis Grant, East Stroudsburg
West Athlete: Matt Lee, Mercyhurst
West Freshman: Adam Blazek, Gannon
1/23 - East Athlete: Jason Sabb, Cheyney
East Freshman: Whis Grant, East Stroudsburg
West Athlete: Darrell Blanton, Gannon
West Freshman: Adam Blazek, Gannon
1/16 - East Athlete: Eric Brennan, Kutztown
East Freshman: Joe Bell, Mansfield
West Athlete: Julian Sanders, IUP
West Freshman: Callon Dailey, Mercyhurst
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