Nov. 23, 2003
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THE STORY LINE: After a hard-fought loss on the road to Rutgers, Lafayette returns to Easton to open the home slate at Kirby Sports Center. Monday's matchup with St. Peter's is the first game in a brief two-game homestand that surrounds a Thanksgiving break. Tonight's matchup marks the sixth straight season that Lafayette and St. Peter's have met in basketball.
GUNNING FOR A GRAND: Senior Justin DeBerry needs 18 points to become the 33rd player in Lafayette history to reach the 1,000 point plateau. DeBerry scored 157 points as a freshman, 332 as a sophomore, 474 as a junior and 19 at Rutgers for 982 career points. The last Lafayette player to reach 1,000 points was Tyson Whitfield.
HOME OPENERS: Tonight's game versus St. Peter's is the home opener for Lafayette, the earliest home opener since 1998-99. The Leopards are 70-23 (.753) all-time in home openers, including a record of 23-7 (.767) in Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette last played St. Peter's to open the home season in 2001-02. Lafayette has won five of its last six home openers, beating Cornell in 1997-98, Princeton in 1998-99, Cornell in 1999-00, Albright in 2000-01 and St. Peter's in 2001-2002 before losing to Drexel last season. Fran O'Hanlon has won six out of eight home openers in his career at Lafayette.
THE STARTING FIVE: Four senior players installed themselves into the starting lineup following the 2002-03 season. Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis will fill two of the starting spots in a three-guard offense. Mike Farrell and Rob Dill re-take the floor at the forwards. Pat Betley occupied the starting point guard spot against Rutgers and will vie with freshman Marcus Harley for that fifth starting spot.
ON THE SIDELINE: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon (Villanova, 1970) is in his ninth season as the Leopards' mentor. He has twice been named Patriot League Coach of the Year as head of Lafayette's non-scholarship program and lists two NCAA Tournament appearances and three Patriot League regular-season titles among his credentials. O'Hanlon's career record stands at 123-108, a mark that includes two 20-win seasons.
ABOUT ST. PETER'S: Tonight is St. Peter's season opener. The Peacocks are coming off a 10-19 year when they finished in eighth place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). The Peacocks played one exhibition game in preparation, hosting the GT Express on Nov. 16 and winning 90-89.
One doesn't have to look much further than Keydren Clark to see where St. Peter's scoring originates. The sophomore guard averaged 24.9 ppg as a freshman, the sixth best scoring average in the nation. Clark put up 722 points and set an NCAA freshman three-point record with 109. Clark dropped in 36 points and hit for eight three-pointers in St. Peter's exhibition contest against the GT Express. Joining him in the backcourt is Shane Nichols, a freshman from Radford, Va.
St. Peter's features an experienced frontcourt of senior Amir Ali (1.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg) at center and junior Mark Curry and senior Regis Devonish (5.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg) at the forwards.
St. Peter's is coached by Bob Leckie (St. Peter's '69) who is in his fourth season at the helm of the Peacocks' program. Leckie has posted an 18-69 record at St. Peter's. He is assisted by John Coffino, Dennis Cook and Joe Palermo.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES: Lafayette leads the all-time series, 5-2, in a matchup that dates back to the initial meeting in 1954. Lafayette won the 2002-03 meeting, 64-53 in Jersey City, N.J. (see series breakdown above and most recent recap below). COMING UP: The Leopards will have four days off from game competition before welcoming La Salle on Nov. 29. That day is being billed as Bob Falconiero Day. The Leopards then travel to Drexel on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
CLEANING THE GLASS: Rebounding was not a strength of Lafayette's squad last season and looks to be a focus for Lafayette in 2003-04. The Leopards rebounded well at Rutgers in the season opener, out-rebounding the Scarlet Knights 40-33. Mike Farrell and Sean Knitter did the bulk of the rebounding, pulling down nine and eight rebounds, respectively. From the backcourt, Pat Betley and Justin DeBerry each grabbed five rebounds.
PATRIOT PRESEASON POLL: Lafayette has been picked to finish second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. The Leopards received two first-place votes in the poll voted on by the conference coaches and sports information directors.
IN THE HOUSE THAT THE KIRBYS BUILT: Lafayette has enjoyed plenty of success in Kirby Sports Center. Since the building's inaugural season in 1973-74, the Leopards have posted a 263-113 record in 30 seasons. Twenty-three of those seasons have been winning campaigns. Last season, Lafayette finished 9-5 at home. In 2003-04, Lafayette will play 13 home games.
PRESEASON LAURELS: Senior guards Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis have both been selected to the Preseason All-Patriot League First Team as voted on by the conference coaches and SIDs. DeBerry was tabbed as the Patriot League Preseason player of the year by two publications, Lindy's and Basketball News.
THE LONE CAPTAIN: Mike Farrell is in his second season as team captain. The senior has played in 87 straight games since beginning his career at Lafayette. The only two starts he has missed in his sophomore and junior seasons were to give way to seniors on Senior Day.
BOMBING AWAY: Senior Justin DeBerry needs nine three-pointers to move into sole possession of third place on the career three-point field goals list at Lafayette, a spot currently occupied by Brian Ehlers '00 (162). DeBerry has 154 career trifectas and needs 14 to move into second spot held by Tim Bieg '01 with 167. Tyson Whitfield '01, who had 271 career three-pointers, holds the all-time record...DeBerry's 69 three-point shooting performance in the 2002-03 season ranks him fourth all-time at Lafayette.
PATRIOT LEAGUE TOP SCORERS RETURNING: Lafayette features both of the top two returning scorers in the Patriot League. Justin DeBerry led the team and finished second in the Patriot League last season with a 16.3 ppg average. Winston Davis is the second leading returning scorer this season, having dropped in 13.8 ppg as a junior.
DILL ON THE BLOCK: Senior forward Rob Dill entered the season with 112 career blocked shots. Dill ranks second all-time in blocks behind Frank Barr '01, who is currently playing professional basketball in Syria. Dill blocked 54 shots as a junior, the second-best single-season effort at Lafayette, and had two swats in the opener.
THE REAL "IRON MIKE": Despite having to deal with the daily physical challenges posed by diabetes, senior forward Mike Farrell has never missed a game in his three full seasons on College Hill. Farrell played in 28 games and started four as a freshman, played in 29 games and started 28 as a sophomore and started 28 or 29 games in his junior season. Monday's home opener will mark the 88th straight game.
LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT: Junior center Sean Knitter is looking to make an impact on the Lafayette offense this season. Knitter is eligible in 2003-04 after transferring from Delaware. The Philadelphia native averaged 5.2 points per game as a sophomore at Delaware in 2001-02. He brings added size to the frontcourt and is able to extend the post defense by knocking down jumpers.
THE HALF OF IT in 2002-03: Getting a strong start from the opening tap was a key in Lafayette wins in 2002-03. Lafayette was 9-2 when leading at halftime, the only losses coming against Holy Cross (1/18/03) after holding a five-point lead at intermission and at Navy (2/27/03) after leading 41-31.
BOMBING AWAY UNDER O'HANLON: Perimeter shooting, specifically from three-point land, has been a hallmark of Fran O'Hanlon's offenses. O'Hanlon squads have hit at least one three-pointer in every one of O'Hanlon's 231 games. In his first season, Lafayette connected for 201 three-pointers, surpassing the previous team record by 54 three's. Lafayette has since eclipsed the 200-three-pointer plateau in all but one of his eight seasons. The Leopards have set three new season marks, with the top one coming in 1999-00 when Lafayette dialed up long distance 249 times. In 2002-03, Lafayette hit 209 three-pointers and is averaged 7.2 three-pointers per game. In their opener, the Leopards hit seven three-pointers at Rutgers.
ACCURATE THREATS: Lafayette's post players were extremely accurate in 2002-03. Rob Dill led the team and finished second in the Patriot League in field goal percentage while shooting 56.7 percent. Mike Farrell ended fourth in the Patriot League, shooting 55 percent.
INJURY REPORT: As a team, Lafayette has been banged up in the preseason. Through the first three weeks of practice, just three of the 16 players on the roster had participated in every practice due to a combination of injuries and illness. The majority of the squad is healthy as the team enters its first game.
- Grant Gibson (Fr.,G) - Out indefinitely, lower back
ALL-TIME AT LAFAYETTE: In the 94 seasons of men's basketball at Lafayette College, the Leopards hold an overall record of 1133-983 (.536). Lafayette's first season of basketball was in 1900-01.
CoSIDA HONORS FARRELL: Senior Mike Farrell was named to the 2003 CoSIDA Academic All-District II Men's Basketball Team, one of just five student-athletes selected. Farrell maintains a 3.29 GPA while majoring in American Studies. Nominees for the award must have a minimum GPA of 3.20 and be a starter or key reserve. The All-District II team is selected by a vote CoSIDA membership in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington D.C.
INTERNATIONAL FEEL: Lafayette has two players who hail from foreign countries on the roster. Senior Rob Dill is a native of Isernhagen, Germany. Sophomore Andrei Capusan comes from Bucharest, Romania, home country of former Patriot League Player of the Year Stefan Ciosici '00 who was from Timisoara, Romania. Capusan spent the 2001-02 academic year attending a school in the United States as Dill had two years prior.
FARRELL ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB: For the second straight season, Mike Farrell will be writing a weekly journal for Lafayette's official athletics website www.GoLeopards.com. Farrell runs down the season and gives insight into the life of a student-athlete. His first journal entry discusses his summer and also Jamie Hughes' Karaoke exploits.
LAFAYETTE ATHLETICS ON THE WEB: The quickest and most comprehensive source for information on Lafayette athletics is the world wide web. Go to www.lafayette.edu and click on "Sports." The athletics site is continuously updated with gameday press releases, schedules and results, rosters, statistics, player features, photos and more. On gameday, you can listen to the radio broadcast of all of Lafayette's men's basketball games and watch a live stats feed of home games.
LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: For the seventh-straight season, Lafayette features the most expansive television package in the Patriot League. The Leopards will have a minimum of 14 games televised with the possible addition of three more television contests in the Patriot League Tournament. The Lafayette Sports Network will air 13 games to more than 9.1 million viewers in the Lehigh Valley, Pocono region and Philadelphia, central New Jersey, New York City and Boston. Locally the telecasts can be seen on RCN Cable channels 4 and 60, Service Electric Cable channel 51, Blue Ridge Cable channel 5 and broadcast channel 60. Several of Lafayette's games that appear on the Lafayette Sports Network will also be picked up by Empire Sports Network which reaches more than 17.5 million viewers in Upstate and Western New York as well as more than 59.5 million potential viewers on DIRECTV (626) and Dish Network (432). Lafayette will have two games televised on the Patriot League Television Network on Jan. 23 vs. Lehigh and Feb. 6 at Colgate which will be available on DIRECTV and will be carried locally by WFMZ-69.
ON THE RADIO: Today's game can be heard live on WEST-AM 1400, the 66th year of broadcasting Lafayette Athletics. Dick Hammer is in his 36th year of calling the play-by-play for Lafayette men's basketball. Hammer is joined by Carl Schumacher at home games and select road contests by Phil LaBella (Lafayette SID).
