Jan. 7, 2010
EASTON, Pa. -
Game Notes 
GAME 16• January 9, 2010
Matchup: Lafayette (9-6) vs. Holy Cross (3-12)
Tip-off: 1 p.m.
Site: Easton, Pa.
Arena: Kirby Sports Center (3,500)
Radio: None
TV: Lafayette Sports Network (RCN-4&8, WBPH-60)
(Gary Laubach, John Leone, Dan Mowdy)
Internet: LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com
Series: Lafayette trails 14-30
First Meeting: 02/04/1947 • HC 50, LC 40 at Boston Garden
Last Meeting: 02/07/09 • HC 64, LC 50 in Easton
Last Holy Cross Win: Same
Last Laf. Win: 01/12/08 • LC 60, HC 52 in Easton
Fran O'Hanlon vs. Holy Cross: 13-16
MATCH UP: The "second season" opens on Saturday when the Leopards begin Patriot League play against preseason favorite Holy Cross at 1 p.m. at Kirby. Lafayette (9-6) is coming off a convincing 91-74 win over Columbia on Wednesday night while Holy Cross (3-12) had a tougher time of it at ACC opponent N.C. State, losing 87-70. The two teams will meet in the conference opener for the fifth straight season.
SO FAR, SO GOOD: With nine wins and a minimum of 15 games remaining in 2009-10, Lafayette has already surpassed its season win total for all of 2008-09 (8-22).
LAST TIME OUT: Sophomore Ryan Willen had a standout performance against Columbia, scoring a career-high 27 points in a 91-74 win over Columbia on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Willen shot 9-of-11 from the field (82%) which counted two three-pointers and a 7-of-10 stint at the line. Three other Leopards scored in double figures. Jim Mower finished with 15 while Jared Mintz chipped in 12 and Tony Johnson 11. Lafayette shot 57 percent from the floor and a season-best 53 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the three-point arc.
In the second half, Columbia erased Lafayette's seven-point halftime lead, but Lafayette answered by tearing off a 19-6 run over six minutes when Willen scored 10 points.
PRESEASON POLL -WE'LL GO AHEAD AND PLAY THE GAMES ANYWAY: Lafayette was chosen eighth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. The poll was voted on by the conference head coaches and SID's. Holy Cross was picked to finish first with 13 first-place votes, followed by Lehigh, Bucknell, Army, Colgate, American and Navy.
SCOUTING HOLY CROSS: Holy Cross enters the Patriot League opener with a 3-12 record. The Patriot League preseason favorite is coming off an 87-70 loss at NC State on Wednesday. Holy Cross' three wins this season came against Marist (68-56), Central Conn. State (70-53) and in overtime over Brown (85-79).
The Crusaders' leading scorer is sophomore guard R.J. Evans who is averaging 14.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and is currently ranked seventh in the league in scoring. Classmate Mike Cavataio joins Evans in the backcourt and brings with him 10.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Junior Andrew Beinert, who leads the team with 44 assists (2.9 apg), rounds out the guard rotation. Beinert leads the Patriot League in free throw shooting at 89 percent (32-of-36).
Junior forward Andrew Keister leads the team with 8.0 rebounds per game, third in the league. The final starter for the Crusaders is senior center Eric Meister, who averages 5.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Head coach Sean Kearney (Scranton '81) is in his first season as the head men's basketball coach at Holy Cross in. Kearney came to Holy Cross from Notre Dame, where he served as associate head coach for nine years under Mike Brey.
IF YOU'RE SCORING AT HOME: Lafayette posted its highest scoring output on Wednesday vs. Columbia, ringing up 91 points. The mark topped the Leopards' previous best of 88 they achieved at St. Francis (Pa.) three games into the season.
Lafayette is averaging 77.3 points per game at home and 69.0 ppg on the road.
TAKING CARE OF THE HOME COURT: Coming into the season, head coach Fran O'Hanlon and the team set "taking care of our home court" as a goal for the squad. The Leopards have responded, registering a 6-1 mark thus far at Kirby Sports Center, the only loss a two-point setback vs. St. Peter's on Nov. 30. On the flip side, Lafayette is 3-5 on the road.
NEXT UP: Lafayette takes to the road for a pair of conference tilts against Colgate on Wednesday, Jan. 13 and at Navy on Saturday, Jan. 16. Both games are 7 p.m. tip-offs.
LEAGUE OPENERS: The Leopards are 7-12 in Patriot League openers since beginning play in the conference in 1990-91. The Leopards are 1-5 when playing Holy Cross to initiate the conference slate.
1990-91 at Navy L, 78-75 1996-97 at Lehigh W, 90-87 2002-03 at Colgate L, 66-64
1991-92 Holy Cross L, 92-85 1997-98 Lehigh W, 79-76 2003-04 Colgate W, 97-86
1992-93 Colgate L, 76-73 1998-99 at Navy W, 72-66 2004-05 Navy W, 90-80
1993-94 Bucknell L, 90-67 1999-00 Navy W, 80-74 2005-06 at Holy Cross L, 86-57
1994-95 Holy Cross L, 91-82 2000-01 Lehigh L, 90-80 2006-07 Holy Cross L, 84-74
1995-96 at Holy Cross L, 85-82 2001-02 at Bucknell L, 65-64 2007-08 Holy Cross W, 60-52
2008-09 Holy Cross L, 81-67
A LITTLE BIT OF STREAKING: Lafayette pieced together a pair of three-game win streaks this season, beating St. Francis (Pa.), NJIT and Hartford the first time around and Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island and St. Francis (N.Y.) in the second three-game stint. With consecutive wins over Penn and Columbia, Lafayette is looking to secure its third three-game win streak of the season.
200 AND STILL GOING: Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon reached the 200-win plateau on Dec. 12 with the Leopards' victory over Long Island. He is the only Lafayette coach to win 200-plus games.
"O" REACHES P.L. LONGEVITY MARK: With his 419th game at the helm of the Lafayette program, Fran O'Hanlon holds the Patriot League all-time mark for games coached. He surpassed retired Bucknell coach Pat Flannery (412).
MOWER'S MAJOR MINUTES: Sophomore guard Jim Mower played the first seven games off the bench and has started the last eight. Mower enjoyed a breakout game vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (12/9), scoring 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting and has been one of the team's most consistent shooters ever since. Mower knocked down a career-high 25 points against LIU (12/12) on 6-of-7 shooting from the three-point range, a performance that helped earn him his first Patriot League Player of the Week nod. In Mower's last outing, he contributed 15 points and three rebounds.
The Harleysville, Pa. native is second on the team in scoring with 13.5 ppg in 25 minutes per game. The number that stands out the most for Mower is his assist/turnover ratio which is +2.4 (33/14).
MINTZ, FROM THE FLOOR: Junior forward Jared Mintz has been the Leopards' leading scorer from the outset of 2009-10. The Toronto, Canada native has been an efficient scorer. Mintz is currently shooting 61.3 percent from the floor after a 5-of-8 game vs. Columbia on Wednesday. His season shooting percentage includes a 9-of-9 night at St. Francis (Pa.), an 8-of-10 stint at NJIT, a 6-of-7 performance vs. Hartford and a 5-for-7 day at Georgetown.
...AND THE LINE: Jared Mintz is just as efficient when he gets to the free throw line. Mintz is shooting a team-best 87 percent, making 55-of-63 attempts. He was 8-of-8 from the line at Delaware and also had an 8-of-8 shooting night to open the season vs. Wagner (11/13).
NATIONAL RANKINGS: The latest NCAA rankings show Jared Mintz ranked ninth in the country in field goal percentage, shooting 61 percent. Sophomore Jim Mower was 11th nationally for three-point field goal percentage, shooting 48.7 percent coming into the week.
ON THE SIDELINE: The all-time winningest coach in Lafayette history and longest-tenured coach in the Patriot League, Fran O'Hanlon (Villanova, '70) is in his 15th season as the Leopards' head coach. A two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year, O'Hanlon has twice led Lafayette's program to the NCAA Tournament and lays claim to three Patriot League regular-season titles.
With a 75-71 double-overtime victory over Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2007, O'Hanlon became the winningest coach in Lafayette history and now holds an all-time record of 203-216 on College Hill.
O'Hanlon's overall record does not necessarily tell an accurate story of the job he has done at Lafayette. The Philadelphia native inherited a 2-25 team when he took over in 1995-96 and won seven, 11, 19, 22 and 24 games over the next five seasons. From 1997-2000, Lafayette was 65-24 overall and 31-5 in the conference with two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1996, the Patriot League, which was originally founded based on the principle of need-based financial aid only, began allowing athletic scholarships. However, it was not until 2006 that Lafayette chose to do so. By no coincidence, during that span, Lafayette posted a 79-91 mark and was 38-44 in the league.
100 AND STILL GOING: Other than Nike sneakers, what do North Carolina basketball and Lafayette basketball have in common? For both teams, the 2009-10 season marks the 100th season of men's basketball. Lafayette's first season was 1900-01, but the school did not field a team from 1903-04 to 1912-13.
A HELPING HAND: Lafayette has dished out assists on 58 percent of its baskets in the 2009-10 season. The Leopards had 22 assists on 26 buckets at St. Francis, N.Y. (85 percent), their best mark of the season, topping the La Salle and St. Peter's efforts of 72 percent. Lafayette's worst performance of the year in terms of assists per basket came in a win against Wagner (9 assists, 25 FG) when the Leopards made up for it by making 26-of-31 free throws. In the last outing, Lafayette had 12 assists on 29 buckets (41%).
HANDLING THE BALL: More than a third of the way through the season Lafayette boasts a positive season assist/turnover ratio for the first time since 2000-01
(+1.03 • 434/422). Lafayette is +1.11 (216/194) this season. Lafayette had a 1:1 assist/turnover ratio in 2003-04 (429/429).
LEADING THE LEAGUE: Jared Mintz leads the Patriot League in field-goal percentage (61%), is second in free throw percentage (87%), fourth in scoring (15.0 ppg) and is also 10th in rebounding (5.6 rpg). Sophomore Jim Mower leads the league in three-point percentage (48%) and is fourth for three-pointers made (2.7 per game). Marek Koltun and Darion Benbow rank sixth (0.8 bpg) and ninth (0.7 bpg), respectively, in blocked shots while Michael Gruner is sixth in steals (1.5 spg) and ninth in assists (2.7 apg). Jeff Kari ranks 12th in three-point field goals made (1.5 per game).
Lafayette leads the league in five categories: scoring offense (72.9 ppg), field goal percentage (47%), free throw percentage (74.2%), three-point field goal percentage (38.4%) and blocked shots (3.5 bpg). The Leopards are second in assist/turnover ratio (1.1), assists (14.4 apg), three-point field goals made (7.7 pg) and steals (7.1 spg).
FABULOUS FRESHMAN TO SUPER SOPHOMORE?: Sophomore forward Ryan Willen was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team in 2008-09, the seventh freshman in school history to earn the accolade.
This season, Willen is averaging 10.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and has 22 assists. Willen's had a career-high 27 points against Columbia, 9-for-11 from the field (82%).
In addition to his work on the court, Willen was enrolled in Organic Chemistry, Ethics, Introduction to Psychology, Religions in World Cultures and two labs for the fall semester.
THE HARDWOOD AND THE GRIDIRON: Lafayette's win over Penn on Jan. 3 marked the third time the Leopards defeated the Quakers in both football and basketball. The 77-62 victory over Penn combined with the 20-17 (OT) Lafayette football win at Fisher Stadium on Sept. 26, 2009, marked the third time the Leopards defeated Penn in football and basketball in the same season. In 2007, the basketball team defeated Penn 81-69 and defeated its football team 8-7. In 1999, football won 20-12 at Franklin Field and the basketball notched an 83-72 win.
NEC TITLE?: The Leopards finished a slate of six games against Northeast Conference (NEC) teams with a 5-1 record, beating Wagner, St. Francis (Pa.), Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island and St. Francis (N.Y.) with the only loss coming to Sacred Heart.
WHAT GARDEN STATER IS IN THAT JERSEY?: With its proximity to the Garden State (about two miles away from the border), Lafayette has played four New Jersey schools this season: NJIT, Fairleigh Dickinson, Princeton and St. Peter's. Lafayette was 2-2 in those meetings.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Junior forward Jared Mintz has been the Leopards' go-to guy during the 2009-10 season. Mintz's hard work in the off season has led to increased scoring output and solid work on the glass. The junior has a pair of double-doubles, contributing 20 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener vs. Wagner (11/13) and following up with 18 and 10 against Hartford (11/24). Mintz has four double-doubles for his career. For the season, he has scored in double figures in 13 games.
FACEBOOK/TWITTER: Fans can follow Lafayette basketball on Facebook at
facebook.com/lafayette.leopard and Twitter at twitter.com/goleopards .
IN THE RANKS: Seven of Lafayette's non-conference opponents were picked to finish within the top five of their respective leagues in the preseason polls. At No. 2, Long Island and Princeton were the highest ranked non-conference opponents the Leopards faced. Lafayette tipped off against six opponents from the Northeast Conference -- the most of any one conference on the Leopards' schedule.
FRESH IMPACT: Freshman Tony Johnson has made a positive impact on the court for the Leopards. Johnson is averaging 18.5 minutes per game and has 25 assists to 18 turnovers, solid numbers for a freshman who has been asked to handle the ball often. Johnson is also third on the team in steals (12th in the Patriot League) and fourth in assists. A 6-0 native of Folsom, Calif., Johnson is the only true point guard on the team. Johnson was 7-for-7 from the line and finished with nine points while also adding three assists in 18 minutes against FDU (12/9). In his last outing against Columbia, Johnson scored 11 points for the Leopards.
Fellow first-year player Levi Giese has seen action in 12 games while averaging 1.4 points and 0.7 rebounds per game. A 6-9 forward, Giese comes from Tulsa, Okla. and brings solid perimeter skills. Giese played eight minutes with three points and two rebounds at Delaware.
SOLID START: The Leopards' 4-1 start was the best since 2003-04 when Lafayette began the season 6-1. Lafayette finished 18-10 that season.
Meet the Captains: Senior guards Jeff Kari and Mike Gruner are holding leadership roles for the 2009-10 season. Kari, who served as a co-captain last season, played in all 30 games as a junior, starting 27 and was second on the team in scoring. This season, the Lisle, Ill. native is averaging 9.8 ppg and 2.3 apg. Coming out of high school, Kari was an all-state selection at Lisle Senior High School where he set seven school records and was a two-way player on the football team (wide receiver and defensive back).
Gruner is averaging 7.1 ppg and leads the team with 41 assists (2.7 apg) and 22 steals (1.5 spg). He was a mainstay in the lineup the past two seasons. In 2008-09, he was the team's steadiest ballhandler, dishing out 61 assists to 44 turnovers for a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio and 196 points (8.2 ppg). Gruner is also a Marquis Scholar, the college's most prestigious academic scholarship. Coming out of Bethesda, Md., Gruner led his Walt Whitman high school squad to the Maryland 4A state title while earning Gazette Co-Player of the Year honors along with the NBA's 2007-08 Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant of Montrose Christian.
LAFAYETTE VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Lafayette has played 639 games against the seven members of the Patriot League, and has a 346-293 record in all games against them. In Patriot League play, Lafayette is 105-151 in the regular season and 10-17 in the Patriot League Tournament. Under Fran O'Hanlon, the Leopards are 90-98 in conference regular-season play.
American 16-24
Army 34-22
Bucknell 84-59
Colgate 38-45
Holy Cross 14-30
Lehigh 137-73
Navy 23-40
SIX...IS GOOD: The Leopards had six players score in double figures against Hartford on Nov. 24. Jared Mintz led the way with 18, followed by Darion Benbow (career-high 15), Michael Gruner (13), Jim Mower (13), Jeff Kari (10) and Ryan Willen (10). The last time Lafayette had six players score in double figures, including all five starters, was Nov. 28, 2007 in an 81-69 win over Penn. Gruner is the only Lafayette player to have scored 10+ in both of those games.
D.C. DANDIES: Though players from 11 states and three countries are represented on Lafayette's roster, the Leopards feature three from the geographic cluster that is the D.C. Metro area. Prior to arriving on College Hill, three of Lafayette's guards attended schools within 25 miles of the nation's capital. Michael Gruner shined at Walt Whitman High School, where he led his team to a state championship. Junior Ben Wheeler played at Chantilly where he garnered first team all-district and second team all-region accolades his senior year. Sophomore Nick Petkovich was an All-IAC Conference First-Team selection from Bullis Prep.
FRESH FACES: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon added two new coaches to his staff this season. Pat Doherty is a familiar face to the Lafayette program, graduating from Lafayette in 2004. Doherty was an assistant coach at Williams College in 2008-09, helping lead Williams to a 17-9 overall record. In 2007-08 Doherty served as an assistant coach at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Matt Blue holds down the final assistant coaching spot. Blue, a 2007 graduate of St. Lawrence comes to Lafayette after spending the 2008-09 season at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. He helped lead the Crusaders to an 18-8 overall mark and a 13-3 finish in the Landmark Conference.
BASKETBALL IQ: Lafayette placed a program-best three student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during the 2008-09 season. The distinction recognizes those individuals who have earned a varsity letter and maintained a 3.2 GPA during the spring semester. Senior Michael Gruner and sophomores Rob Delaney and Andy Moore each earned a nod.
AROUND THE WORLD: Three international players are featured on the roster for tonight's matchup. Lafayette boasts three international players in Jared Mintz (Toronto, Canada), Marek Koltun (Krakow, Poland) and Deirunas Visockas (Lithuania).
ABOUT LAFAYETTE COLLEGE: Located in Easton, Pa. (70 miles west of New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia) on the banks of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, Lafayette is a small liberal arts school with a renowned engineering program. Lafayette, which has 23 Division I sports with a student body of 2,403 undergraduates, competes in the Patriot League with Army, Navy, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Colgate, American and Lehigh. Lafayette is the alma mater of Pete Carril and Tampa Bay Rays' manager Joe Maddon.
ON THE RADIO: The road games of the 2009-10 Lafayette men's basketball season will air on WSAN-AM 1470 "The Fox." Entering his 43rd season as the radio voice of Lafayette athletics, Dick Hammer will continue to call the play-by-play action. Joining Hammer courtside for most contests will be Lafayette Sports Information Director Phil LaBella.
LAFAYETTE ON TV: The Leopards will have 13 of their regular-season games televised during the 2009-10 season. The Leopards will also lead the Patriot League with seven nationally-televised games, as MASN (available through both DIRECTV and DISH Network) will air Lafayette's entire slate of home league contests on a tape-delay basis. Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of Lafayette's play-by-play duties for the 13th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season.
