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The Behrend Beacon
Roller-coaster week
Lions score 99 to advance in ECACs after losin
David Hairston (
by Zoe Rose
contributing writer
"They've gone farther then they did last year, and
they're doing it in style. The Lions earned their sixth
postseason appearance in seven years, accepting a
hid into the Eastern College Athletic Conference
Tournament. Behrend hosted Thiel in the first
round. Aside from a slow start, Behrend dominated
it the game entirely.
The Lions had their best offensive performance.
The team had a chance to score 100 points for the
first time this season
With 32.1 seconds left in the game, cheers of 100
swept the crowd as Tom Lulich approached the free
throw line. He missed both, so the crowd had to
settle lot a 99-point pertbrmance. When the buzzer
sounded, the scoreboard read 99-77, a convincing
The Lions dominated Thiel all over the court. The
"foincitts shot just 40 percent from three-point range
while Behrend shot an amazing 81.3 percent. Also,
the I Jons also shot 15 percent higher in total field
goal percentage. Behrend outrebounded Thiel 28-
20 to solidify the statistical blowout.
In semifinal action this Saturday, Behrend will
travel to Franklin & Marshall College to face No. 2
seed Desales. The No. 5 seeded Neumann Knights
u set No. 4 Grove Cit 75-61 to advance to face
ehrend falls
Women lose two playoff games
_mpion; ip game, going .
balls. Behrend's turnovers cost the team dearly in the AMCC championship
by Kevin Fiorenzo
On Friday, the women's basketball team played
up to their No. I seed in the AMCC tournament by
defeating No. 4 Frostburg State in the semifinals.
However, the Lions lost in the finals to Pitt-
Greensburg in an overtime nail-biter.
Coming into the game, the women were
brimming with confidence after beating Pitt-
Greensburg the previous week and claiming the top
seed in the conference tournament. The win also
ensured that the Behrend squad would host the
staff writer
)wing in the ECAC tournament, scoring 29 points.
the No. 1 seeded Franklin & Marshall Diplomats "Eleven turnovers are hard to overcome. We
an impressive
on Saturday
The ECAC title game will take place at 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 9 in Franklin & Marshall's Mayser
Center
The Lions entered the ECAC tournament after
they failed to receive a Division 111 tournament bid.
"There are a lot of great teams that came up just
short of making the NCAA tournament, so we know
we are going to face some tough competition," said
Justin Jennings. "But we feel confident in our abili
ties as a team. We know if we play our game, then
we are an extremely tough team to beat."
The Lions missed the bid due to their hard loss
against Pitt-Bradford last Saturday, 62-59, at the
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference cham
pionship game. The Lions advanced to the title
game after beating Lake Erie on Friday, 47-44.
Leading the Lions in that lackluster offensive per
formance was James Curren, who had 17 points.
Starting the action against the Pitt-Bradford Pan
thers, Steve Merrill hit a three-pointer to help the
Lions obtain a 5-0 lead. They didn't have the lead
for long. By the 12:42 mark, Pitt-Bradford took
over the lead 12-9 and kept increasing the gap
throughout the first half. Plagued by calls in the
first half that seemed to favor the Panthers, Behrend
headed into halftime down 34-23.
tournament. Their opponent in the semifinal was
Frostburg State, a team Behrend beat in two hard
fought contests during the regular season. Frostburg
started out very pumped up, playing some great
defense. They couldn't sustain that intensity,
though, as Behrend started chipping away at the
big lead. Going into the half Behrend had come all
the way back, tying the game 33-33.
Behrend didn't let up once the game resumed.
The momentum they had built at the end of the first
half kept up early in the second half and the women
created a big lead.
Frostburg didn't have any answers and never
_ 4 ..1:
Friday, March 7, 2003
MYR
did a much better job in the second half
which led to us making a comeback."
Another three-pointer by Merrill less
than six minutes into the second half cut
the deficit to 14, 43-29. The Lions didn't
reach a single digit until Casey Ponsoll was
fouled at 7:44 making it , 52-43. This
brought the crowd hack into the game. On
a drive, Tom Lulich was fouled, tightening
the score to 59-52 with 3:36 left to go. Fol
lowing a time-out at I :10, the nail-biting
began on the Behrend side of the court:
Lulich made a crucial three-pointer to bring
the game to 61-57, the closest it had been
since the first few minutes of the first half.
"1 knew as soon as he put it up it was going
down," said Jennings of Lulich's clutch shot. "Tom
has hit a lot of big shots for us this year. When the
game is on the line, he's always willing to take the
big one. The team has a lot of confidence in him."
Next, it was Curren's time to shine. After grab
bing the ball from Pitt's stand-out player Matt
Beacom, Curren brought the game to within two
points with a strong inside presence. The game
looked like it was in anyone's hands after a time
out at 18.3 seconds.
Pitt-Bradford's Antuan Mills was fouled, miss
ing the first but making the second, making the score
m a row
recovered. The nail in the coffin was a technical
foul at the end of the game that gave Behrend a
few easy points. When all was said and done, the
Lions came out with the commanding victory, 72-
58.
Leading the way for Behrend was forward Amber
Krumpe, who had 21 points, six rebounds and three
assists, and guard Danielle Bemis, with 15 points.
Coach Rof Fornari believed that the turning point
came during the intermission.
"We made a decision at halftime to have fun more
and look to run out and kick out rebounds. We
were playing really good defense and rebounding
well.-
Behrend's opponent the next day in the
championship game was a familiar foe. For the
third time, the Lions played Pitt-Greensburg.
Behrend had won the first two contests, the latest
coming just a week before. Not surprisingly, the
contest was extremely hard fought. Neither team
dominated, and the game ended up being a
showcase for great defensive play. Going into the
intermission, the Lions were up by only a single
point, 23-22.
The low scoring trend didn't cease after halftime
and both teams did their best stay in the game.
Behrend had the lead for most of the half and
seemed to he well on their way to the victory. Pitt-
Greensburg, though, never gave up and took the
lead down the stretch. They seemed to have the
game won, hut a clutch three by Behrend guard
Carly Cochran kept the Lions in the game. The
game ended up going to overtime, with the score
deadlocked at 49.
In contrast to the even play of both teams during
regulation, the overtime period showcased a
dominant performance from Pitt-Greensburg. They
made all the important shots they needed and also
continued to play smothering defense that kept
Behrend from scoring. Greensburg went on a 16-2
Scott Soltis, Sports Editor
Lauren Packer, Assistant Sports Editor
AMCC final
62-59 with 12.8 seconds left to play. It wasn't quite
over yet, though. Behrend had one more clear shot.
Lulich took the shot that just missed sending the
game into overtime.
The Lions had a few individual awards. The
AMCC named Curren the 2(X)2-2(X)3 AMCC Player
of the Year, and Niland was honored as Co-Coach
of the Year. Making the first team all-conference
with Curren was Hairston, who made second team
all-conference.
run in the overtime and ended up winning the game
and the championship by a wide margin. 65-51.
"In overtime we could not make a basket," said
Fornari. "They shot poorly all game and we shot
45 percent, then in overtime, we were 0-8. When
you don't make a basket and the other team gets
hot from the floor, it is very difficult to win."
Along with Behrend's scoring drought, one of
the most significant stats from the game was
Behrend's number of turnovers, a key weakness for
the Lions all year long. They turned the ball over
31 times.
Though the Lions were feeling down about the
game, their season wasn't over yet. Behrend got
one of the last bids for the ECAC tournament and
played McDaniel on Wednesday. The women were
still reeling from their loss on Saturday and were
never able to get into the game. Behrend got 16
points from Krumpe, but it wasn't enough to beat
McDaniel, which dominated 67-42. Turnovers
were once again a significant problem as Behrend
turned the ball over 30 times.
"I think we 'hit the wall' during the Greensburg
game and didn't have the stamina to compete at
McDanie," Fornari said.
"We did a poor job of executing our game plan
and had several players not playing well."
So the season for the Lions ended with a
disappointing finish and a 15-13 record. Even
though things didn't pan out the way the team would
have hoped, they see it as a success.
"I am happy with the way our team battled all
year. I am confident that the experiences we had
throughout will help us be successful in the future.
We have a good core of players to build around
and have to use this year to see what we need to
work on," Fornari said.