November 25, 2014

Lafayette at Yale Wednesday, Nov. 25 | 7 p.m. New Haven, Conn. | Lee Amphitheater Game Notes

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Dan Trist scored 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting to help Lafayette withstand a second-half rally and beat Penn, 83-77, on Saturday night. Classmate Joey Ptasinski added 18 points for the Leopards, connecting on 5-of-8 three-point attempts.

Senior captain Seth Hinrichs chipped in with 10 points and led on the glass with seven rebounds. The team hit 55.3 percent from the field overall, 73.3 percent from the line and 56.3 percent from three-point territory. The Leopards jumped in front early and led by 15 points, 45-30, at the break. But the Quakers rallied in the second half on a 12-2 run punctuated by a Mike Auger dunk to close the gap to two, 62-60, with 9:28 left to play. Then it was Lafayette's turn to surge with a 9-1 run to make it 71-61 with 2:32 left and the Leopards held on for the seven-point win.

SCOUTING YALE
Yale, looking to improve upon a 19-14 record a season ago, has opened the year strong, falling to Quinnipiac in the opener in double overtime, 88-85, and rolling off four straight wins entering Wednesday's contest over Newbury (97-51), Illinois-Chicago (70-58), Southern Illinois (53-46) and Kent State (66-59). The Bulldogs are led by by a quartet of double-figure scorers, the most coming from Justin Sears at 14.4 points per game. Javier Duren, Jack Montague and Matt Townsend average 13.2, 13.0 and 10.3 points per contest, respectively. Sears paces Yale on the glass with 8.8 boards per game, helping the Bulldogs to a +5.8 advantage in rebounding margin. Yale gets just 28.7 percent of their scoring from beyond the arc.

ALL DECIDED BUT THE FINAL STATS
Against Penn, the Leopards finally played in a game that wasn't essentially decided coming out of the final media timeout. In its first three contests of the year, Lafayette pulled out a 27-point win over Robert Morris in the opener and West Virginia pulled away for an 83-56 win over the Maroon and White in game two. Lafayette returned home and routed Princeton by 17 in the home opener.

MANNING THE BENCH
Lafayette's Fran O'Hanlon has posted 272 wins in his career in his 20th season on the sideline for the Leopards, while Yale's James Jones is in his 16th year, holding a career overall mark of 213-222, all with the Bulldogs.

LAFAYETTE VS. THE IVY LEAGUE
Yale is the third of three straight Ivy League opponents the Leopards have faced over the past week. All-time, Lafayette is 88-132 against Ivy League opponents, holding winning records over Brown (11-8), Cornell (11-7), Dartmouth (3-2) and Columbia (27-14).

DOESN'T HAPPEN EVERY YEAR
With the win over Penn on Saturday, Lafayette beat Princeton and Penn in the same season for just the second time in its history and the first since the 2007-08 year. That season, the Leopards finished with an overall record of 15-15, going 6-8 in Patriot League play and falling to Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.

JOEY P FOR THREE
Senior Joey Ptasinski has been on fire from three-point range in his last two contests, garnering him Patriot League honorable mention honors for Player of the Week, announced on Monday. Ptasinski hit five shots from distance in each of the wins over Princeton and Penn last week and is 14-for-25 on the year (56.0%), good enough for third in the Patriot League and 31st in the national rankings. The Highlands Ranch, Colo. native is also first in the league and 15th in the nation in three-point field goals (14), as well as 15th nationally in three-pointers per game.

MAKE MORE THAN YOU MISS
Offensive efficiency has been a key to the Leopards' success recently as Lafayette has shot better than 50 percent from the field in 16 of its last 35 contests and three of its four games this season. In those games, the Maroon and White hold a record of 10-6. On Saturday, Lafayette went 26-for-47 from the floor (55.3%), 9-for-16 from distance (56.3%) and 22-for-30 (73.3%) from the free-throw line. The Maroon and White are first in the league in field-goal percentage as a team (51.3%) and 29th in the national rankings.