OPENING TIP
* Lafayette closes out its 2021 regular season campaign this weekend with a weekend set against Lehigh. The two sides split their earlier meetings this season with each winning on its home floor.
* The Leopards are looking to lock up the three seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament this weekend. Lafayette needs just one win to take the central division crown and secure that top-three ranking.
* Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens needs two threes and 31 points this weekend to reach the 100-three mark and become Lafayette's 47th 1,000-point scorer. Additionally, classmate and co-captain Justin Jaworski currently sits 76 points shy of 1,500 points for his career.

THIS YEAR'S PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Lafayette and Lehigh split this year's meetings to open the season, with each winning on its home floor.

On Jan. 2, the odds were in Lehigh's favor as Marques Wilson hit a buzzer-beating three from the right hash to out-shine career days for multiple Leopards in a 90-89 defeat.

Justin Jaworski and E.J. Stephens were 75.3 percent of the Maroon and White offense, scoring career-highs of 37 and 30 points, respectively. Jaworski's 37 was the highest scoring output for a Leopard since Jim Mower dropped 37 on Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 2, 2011.

Overtime was dead even throughout before a jumper from Stephens on the right wing put the Leopards in front by two, 89-87, with 2.2 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough as Wilson's heave was true as the horn sounded on a 90-89 final.

Jaworski was 12-of-19 from the floor, 3-of-6 from three-point range and 10-of-11 from the foul line to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals for an outstanding return to the court after missing the final seven games of the 2019-20 season with a knee injury. Stephens accompanied that with an 11-for-20 effort from the floor, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the foul line for his 30 points, coupled with eight boards as well.

In the rematch the following day, Jaworski continued to impress with 28 points to lead the Leopards to their first win of the 2021 campaign, 82-70.

Jaworski's game-high 28 points came on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor and 5-of-10 from the outside. Twenty of his 28 came in the opening half and he added three rebounds and two assists to round out his stat line.

Sophomore Leo O'Boyle, junior Tyrone Perry and Stephens were the other double-digit contributors for the Leopards, tallying 14, 12 and 12 points, respectively. The third tri-captain, senior Dylan Hastings, led a solid effort on the glass with a game-high nine rebounds, while junior Sean Good added four blocks, four assists, six points and six boards in 25 minutes.

THE SKINNY ON THE HAWKS
Lehigh is fighting for one of the final postseason spots this weekend, currently sitting at 1-5 in divisional play. The Mountain Hawks were picked to finish ninth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, but a sweep this weekend would earn them a chance in the eight-team field. 

The Mountain Hawks are led by Marques WIlson and Nic Lynch, averaging 14.8 and 12.8 points per outing respectively. They've gone .500 over their last six games, entering this weekend off a 76-72 victory on the road at Loyola on Feb. 21.

POSTSEASON OUTLOOK
With two games yet to play for all 10 Patriot League teams, the tournament field is still a bit blurry. 

Lafayette can clinch the central division with one win this weekend, which would lock the Leopards into a three seed behind Colgate and Navy. If Lehigh were to sweep this weekend, that would hand the division crown to Bucknell and Lafayette is looking at scenarios between seeds four and five.

TRENDING UP
Lafayette conquered demons in its 2019-20 campaign, going 19-12 to record its first winning season since 2014-15 and 10-8 in Patriot League action, its first 10-win season in conference play since the 2012-13 slate. 

The Leopards are looking to back that up with another winning season in 2021. The Maroon and White have not put together back-to-back winning seasons since winning a pair of Patriot League titles in the 1998-99 and 1999-00 campaigns. 

IN COACH O WE TRUST
Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon is in his 26th year on the sidelines for the Maroon and White. O'Hanlon is the longest-tenured coach in the Patriot League, has won four conference titles and owns three NCAA Tournament appearances, including both feats most recently in 2014-15. The native of Philadelphia holds the overall Patriot League record for games coached with 761 and currently sits at 350 career victories.

O'Hanlon is one of only five head coaches to direct the same Division I program since the start of the 1995-96 season. O'Hanlon is joined on the list by Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Bob McKillop (Davidson) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State).

MILESTONE WATCH
Head coach Fran O'Hanlon's 350th career win last weekend checks off the first box of a number of milestones for Lafayette coming up over the next few games. Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens sits just two threes away from the 100 milestone and 31 points from becoming the 47th 1,000-point scorer in program history. 

Classmate and co-captain Justin Jaworski currently sits 76 points shy of 1,500 points for his career which would make him just the seventh Leopard to accomplish that feat. With two regular season games remaining and, hopefully, at least one tournament game, Jaworski would need to average 25.3 points per night over that stretch, less than four points above his season average of 21.8 per contest.

JENKINS TIME
Freshman Kyle Jenkins got his first four career starts over the past two weekends for the Maroon and White and has made the most of the nod. Following a seven-point outing in the loss to Loyola on the road on Feb. 7, he poured in a season-high 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range in the victory on Feb. 8., earning Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors, the third weekly honor for Lafayette in the 2021 campaign.

In his last weekend played, Jenkins posted his first career double-double in the triple-overtime win over the Greyhounds at home. He paced the Leopards on the glass with 12 boards to accompany his 10 poionts and added two blocks, an assist and a steal to his stat line.

Jenkins is putting up 8.2 points in more than 25.5 minutes per game this season, and those numbers increase to 10.5 and 32.9 in his last four.