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Username Post: St. Francis - PA Tonight        (Topic#8192)
LU65 
Sophomore
Posts: 133

Reg: 07-30-06
11-24-08 07:24 PM - Post#54159    

The Red Flash invades Stabler. Tip-off is scheduled for 7pm.

For those of you who like to look beyond beyond the present to - shall we say - our marquee games, e.g., Rutgers at the RAC on Wednesday or St. Joe's the following Tuesday (Dec. 2nd) at home, please do not overlook St. Francis - PA. A look at the box score from the other night causes me some concern (more on that later). True, they have only one win to show for their efforts after four attempts, but that came against Bucknell on Saturday in a game that went into overtime with the Red Flash pulling away in the extra frame 69-59. Their losses were to Texas Tech, American U. (by 21), and Duquesne. It should be interesting to see how we fair in comparison to both AU and BU. If there's a conference having a tougher time getting started than the Patriot (see former post entitled, "Patriot League Stumbles Getting Out of the Gate') than it's the Northeast. They are presently ranked by Real Time RPI in 31st place (32 competing conferences in DI) with a 8-29 OOC record. The PL is not much better sitting 2 notches above in 29th place. For what it's worth, both the Northeast Conference as a whole and St. Francis - PA as a team have played a tougher OOC schedule than either the PL or Lehigh through November 23rd. Putting all of that aside, this is a game we should have.

So what's there to worry about? For starters, try depth and experience. The Red Flash will start 3 seniors and 2 juniors tonight and carry in reserve 2 seniors, 2 juniors and 1 sophomore. Secondly, the play of starting G-F, 6'6" Devin Sweetney (#1 on your program). The lanky junior averages 14 points, 8 rebounds and 33 minutes per game. He's been doing the same - or nearly so - since his freshman year. Joining Sweetney down low will be 6'7" Mislav Juric another junior sporting a respectable 10.5 ppg and 5.8 rpg average. Up top, expect to see a pair of speedy senior guards, Marquis Ford and Carl Nelson. While neither shoot the ball particularly well, they each dish the ball off with authority (+1 A/TO ratios). As a whole, the Red Flash should not hurt us from deep but don't give them a chance from the free throw line. There, they dominate clicking on 69 of 80 attempts so far this year (.863%). Nelson and Profeta, another senior guard, are a cool 24 for 25.

PS....Can we get a few hundred vocal, never sit down students I saw at the L-L game on Saturday to stop in at Stabler tonight!? How great would that be.


 
LU65 
Sophomore
Posts: 133

Reg: 07-30-06
11-25-08 09:42 PM - Post#54215    
    In response to LU65

It wasn't pretty but I'll take it - a 61-56 win over the Red Flash to up our record to 3-1. Up next: Rutgers at the RAC on Wednesday (see later post).

Up by 6 at the half and by 17 early in the second, Lehigh put the game on cruise control and loss control taking only 44 shots. The team seemed befuddled by hesitant and slow - tempo setting play of the Red Flash. Had it not been for David Buchberger's steady play (hitting what always seemed to be key three point buckets and going 6 for 6 from the line while scoring a game-high 15) and the rock solid play of Rob Keefer (7 points and 5 key boards in 25 minutes of play) this game might have easily ended up in the loss column. The problems? There were many. Both Carrington and Anderson's production (12 and 6 points, respectively) was limited by early foul trouble, Marquis - for the second straight game - couldn't buy a basked (2-11 in each), the team with a clear height advantage (Lehigh) couldn't enforce itself getting out-rebounded 32-27 and out-scored 18-12 in the paint, gimmies (put backs beneath the basket - I counted at least 4 misses - and free throws from 15 feet away (16 for 26 with 5 misses in a row) were anything but free. You might say we were lucky to hold on. Were the game to lasted another five minutes - something the referring crew (whistling 43 infractions) might have enjoyed - Lehigh might well be looking at at 2-2 record.

A couple of things to ponder: When (not if, hopefully) will Marquis Hall snap out of his funk. He went 12 for 19 (.632%) in games one and two and 4 for 22 (.182) in games three and four when nothing (running bank shots, fade-aways, pull-ups in the lane, and 3-point bombs) seemed to work. Will Phil Anderson ever miss this first three point shot of the game. Presently the big guy is on a roll, hitting .769% of his shots from long range and most likely the nation's leading three point shooter who happens to stands 6'10" or above. As things stand now, Phil is 5 for 13 from in close and 10 for 13 from beyond the arc. Go figure!


 
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