OPENING TIP
* Lafayette faces off against central-division rival Bucknell in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Saturday's winner takes on the winner of No. 2 Colgate and No. 7 Boston U. on Wednesday.
* The Leopards picked up three all-league nods this week with seniors Justin Jaworski and E.J. Stephens earning first and second team spots, respectively, and freshman Kyle Jenkins nothing All-Rookie status.
* The Maroon and White are 11-1 in Patriot League Tournament games at home and have not lost a home PLT outing in the quarterfinal round or later.

THIS YEAR'S PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Lafayette won each of the two previous meetings with Bucknell this season, routing the Bison in Lewisburg on Jan. 9, 83-60 and winning a tightly-contested affair in Easton on Jan. 10, 87-76.

On Jan. 9, five different Leopards scored in double figures in a historic performance. Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens paced an efficient Lafayette offense with a game-high 18 points on the day, followed by 13, 13, 12 and 11 from sophomores Leo O'Boyle and Neal Quinn, freshman Kyle Jenkins and co-captain Justin Jaworski. It was the first five-double-figure-scorer game for the Maroon and White since Jan. 29, 2020 against Colgate.

From the get-go, Bucknell was overmatched with the Leopards leading 46-25 at the break, their largest halftime advantage since a 45-24 lead in a win over Army at Kirby Sports Center on Feb. 7, 2018. Twenty-three points is the largest margin of victory for the Maroon and White in a Patriot League contest since routing Boston U. in the Patriot League Quarterfinals in 2015 and the largest on the road in league play since 2013, a 70-47 win at Navy.

In the rematch on Jan. 10, there was nothing Bucknell could do to stop Stephens as he poured in a career-high 31 points to push the Leopards to a weekend sweep in an 87-76 home victory.

The Plantation, Florida native hit 9-of-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range, while making all 10 of his free-throw attempts. The 31-point effort was the second 30-plus point game for Stephens on the season, scoring 30 in the season opener at Lehigh.

Stephens was one of four Leopards to finish in double-figure scoring as junior Tyrone Perry finished one bucket shy of his career-high with 17 points and Jaworski added 15 points with six boards. Quinn paced another winning effort on the glass (35-30) with 10 boards to accompany six points, five assists and three blocks.

THE SKINNY ON THE BISON
Bucknell, picked to finish sixth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, has had a rollercoaster season to this point, but may be at its best and healthiest heading into tournament play. The Bison dropped four straight games to start the year, but the return of John Meeks was the difference in Bucknell's turnaround. On Jan. 16-17 and Jan. 30-31, Bucknell beat Lehigh four straight times to even up its record at 4-4 and clinch a spot in postseason play. Since, the Bison dropped a pair to American last weekend, its first games after almost a month pause, to finish at 4-6 overall in regular season action.

Meeks was outstanding for the Bison in his four games this season, averaging 24.5 points per outing, but missed the two American games, so his status for Saturday is uncertain. Andrew Funk and Xander Rice are the other consistent scorers for Bucknell at 12.8 and 10.5 points per game. Freshman Andre Screen paces the Bison on the glass at 6.8 boards per outing to accompany 7.6 points per game.

ALL-LEAGUE (ON THE COURT)
Senior co-captains Justin Jaworski and E.J. Stephens were selected to the All-Patriot League First and Second Teams, respectively, the Patriot League office announced on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman Kyle Jenkins also earned a nod on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team.

Jaworski followed the All-League timeline, making it to the first team in his senior season after a second-team nod last season and a third-team placement in his sophomore year. Finishing the regular season second in the Patriot League in scoring at 21.0 points per game, the Schwenksville, Pa. native has been a rock for the Maroon and White this season.

After missing the final seven games of his junior campaign with a leg injury, Jaworski put all of that to bed in the first game of the season, dropping a career-high 37 points at Lehigh in his return. He topped the 25-point mark five times this season and his 21.0 points per night rank him 14th, nationally.

Stephens' progression throughout his career on College Hill culminated in his first career all-league honor as a senior this spring. Averaging just 7.0 points over his first two seasons, he bumped that up to 12.0 per outing as a junior and took yet another step as a senior, second on the 2021 squad in scoring at 16.0 per night and just five points shy of becoming the program's 47th 1,000-point scorer.

O'Hanlon's spark plug off the bench over the last two seasons, Stephens has posted a pair of 30-point outings this season, scoring 30 in the season opener at Lehigh and adding 31 in a home win over Bucknell on Jan. 10. He's netted double figures in all but two games and recorded at least one assist in every game this year.

Jenkins' minutes have skyrocketed in his rookie season as he's become more comfortable in the Lafayette system. His 16 points on 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in Sunday's victory at Lehigh led the team in scoring, a first for the Higganum, Conn. native as a Leopard.  

Starting each of the last six games and seeing more than 26 minutes per contest, Jenkins has made a significant impact in his inaugural campaign. He earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors twice, this past week and earlier in the season, on Feb. 9, when he scored a season-best 20 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from deep in a home victory over Loyola.

ALL-LEAGUE (OFF THE COURT)
Senior co-captain Justin Jaworski was selected as the Patriot League Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned his third straight nod to the Academic All-Patriot League Team, the league office announced on Wednesday afternoon. He is the fourth multi-year scholar-athlete and eighth three-time academic all-league honoree in Patriot League men's basketball history.

Jaworski, an Economics major from Schwenksville, Pa., carries a 3.81 grade-point average and earned a perfect 4.0 GPA during the 2020 fall semester. A three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll member and a 2019-20 inductee to the NABC Honors Court, Jaworski personifies excellence in both the academic and athletic realms at Lafayette. 

POSTSEASON OUTLOOK
Lafayette earned the three seed in this year's Patriot League Tournament by winning the Central Division over Bucknell and Lehigh. The Leopards finished at 9-5 overall and were placed in the half of the bracket consisting of Boston U., Lehigh, Bucknell and Colgate, avoiding Navy, Loyola, Army and American until the championship round.

The winner of Saturday's contest will go on to play the winner of No. 2 Colgate and No. 7 Boston U., two teams the Leopards have yet to beat this season. Lafayette went 0-2 against the Terriers on Jan. 23-24 and did not match up with Colgate in the regular season.

CLUTCH TIME FOR COACH O
With the win over American on March 11, 2015, Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon passed Pat Flannery (Bucknell, 1995-2008) for the top spot in all-time tournament wins with 20. O'Hanlon currently sits at 22 tournament victories and also holds the record for most tournament games coached at 45. 

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 backed that up with another winning season in 2021 with a 9-5 finish to the regular season, putting together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time 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 763 and currently sits at 352 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 on Feb. 13 checked off the first box of a number of milestones for Lafayette over the remainder of the season. Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens reached the 100-three milestone last weekend against Lehigh  and is just five points from becoming the 47th 1,000-point scorer in program history. Classmate and co-captain Justin Jaworski currently sits 44 points shy of 1,500 points for his career which would make him just the seventh Leopard to accomplish that feat. 

A SIMPLE MAJORITY
Lafayette has been among the best teams in the Patriot League and picked up weekly honors in four of the seven weeks in which it's competed. Justin Jaworski was named the league's Player of the Week on Jan. 6, while classmate E.J. Stephens followed up with the same honor on Jan. 12. Kyle Jenkins added a Rookie of the Week nod on Feb. 9 and March 2.

Jaworski's Jan. 2 performance in the season-opening loss to Lehigh is tied for 12th in Lafayette history for the best single-game effort by a Leopard, matching 37-point efforts from Tracy Tripucka (Dec. 1, 1969 vs. Moravian) and Jim Mower (Nov. 22, 2011 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson). That effort was made even more impressive by the fact that it was his first game back from missing the final seven games of the 2019-20 season with a knee injury.

On Jan. 12, senior co-captain E.J. Stephens became the second Leopard in as many weeks to be named the Patriot League Player of the Week, the first honor of his career. Stephens led five double-figure scorers at Bucknell on Jan. 9 with 18 points on 7-fo-14 from the floor with four steals. The following night, he poured in a career-high 31 points on 9-of-14 from the field and 10-of-10 from the foul line in the Leopards' 87-76 victory to complete the weekend sweep. 

Following a seven-point outing in the loss to Loyola on the road on Feb. 7, Jenkins 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. This past weekend, he paced the Leopards in scoring with 16 points on 4-of-5 from distance in Sunday's victory at Lehigh. His 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per outing through the two victories earned him his second Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor of the season.