FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 2001 To The Edge Housing and Food Service thiete of the Week , . David Hairston Hairston, a freshman forward, hit 5 for 10 from the floor for 13 points and 3 rebounds in the 80-68 win over Allegheny this past week. In the 40-58 loss to Fredonia, Hairston was 3 for 7 from the floor, includ ing 1 of 3 from the three point line with the 7 points. Hairston aver ages 9.1 ppg and 4.0 rpg. Intramural Calendar DEADLINES January 19 - 3-Point Shootout Shootout will be held on January 23 January 26 - Ping Pong (Singles and Doubles, Men's and Women's divisions) Play begins Monday January 29 February 2 - Arena Football (Men's and Women's divisions) Play begins after February 5 getiftend Sp,atting Cucuta, January 13 Women's basketball Alumni Game 4:00 PM Women's basketball vs W &J 6:OOPM Men's basketball at Thiel 8:00 PM January 15 JV Men's basketball at Jamestown CC Olean 7:00 PM January 17 Women's basketball at Frostburg 6:00 PM Men's basketball at Frostburg 8:00 PM January 18 JV Men's basketball at Fredonia 7:30 PM January 19 Men's and Women's indoor track & field at Sparky Adams Invita tional at Baldwin Wallace 5:45 PM PELT STATE LIONS Team still hopeful after mediocre beginning by Mike Bello staff writer The Behrend men's basketball team continued to struggle during the holiday break, compiling a 1-3 record, which dropped them to 4-8 for the season so far. Under the guidance of head coach Dave Niland, the squad has shown promise at times, but at the same time inexperience that is bound to come from a team with three freshmen starters and only one senior on the roster. "With the inexperience we have with our team, we thought that what would be a good thing to do would be to go out and play good people and make ourselves ready for the league [AMCCI," remarked Niland. Over the weekend of Deremher 79 and 30, Behrend traveled to Illinois to take part in the Elmhurst Tournament. In the Friday evening game, the Lions went up against Wabash College. Despite a misleading 1-6 record going in, Wabash was able to take control of the game with a highly lethal offense that led them to an 82-70 win over Behrend. Wabash converted nearly 70% of their shots in the game compared to the Lions' 47%. Chris Banner, who does not start, once again this season provided a strong presence off the bench. He led the way with a personal season high 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting for the Lions. Casey Ponsoll and Bill McKinney, starting in place of injured The team huddles around head coach Dave Niland and assistant coaches Pat Mashuda, Brian Emick, and Jeff Fiolek, to get advice on how to overcome their competition from Pitt-Bradford. guard Matt Keith, both contributed 13 points to the loss. McKinney also had 5 assists while Ashley Orris led the team with 6 total rebounds. In the consolation game, Behrend then played Dominican University, 1- E goirg in. This time Behrend's defense came up with a stronger performance, but the offense sputtered the whole game in a 59-53 loss for the Lions. Behrend could only muster up a 33% shooting average on their way to one of their lowest scoring outputs of the season. Dave Hairston and James Curren each had 12 points on the night, while Steve Merrill, another non-starter, added 10 in a losing cause. Said Coach Niland about the Tournament, "It was a great experience for our team. We gained some exposure on the national level. It gave our group of guys a chance to come together on the road and go up and play against some good competition. I believe that's going to help us down the road." After the tournament Behrend returned home for a contest with Allegheny College on January 2. At first it looked like the Lions had brought their poor shooting home with them on the bus, as they found themselves down by 5 points at the half. However, the players found their scoring touch in the second half by shooting 78% and defeated Allegheny PHOTO BY JEANINE NOCE Chris Banner, a freshman forward fcr the Behrend Lions, works to get around a Pitt-Bradford defender in a Wednesday night game. 80-68. Behrend proved too physically tough for Allegheny, who had to resort to fouling the Lions in attempts to try to stop the Behrend offense. Ponsoll and Curren lcd the way for Behrend with 15 points each. Curren was 7-8 from the free throw line and had a game high 7 rebounds. Hairston had another strong game, adding 13 points on 5-10 shooting. Orris contributed 11 points with four assists for the Lions. Merrill proved his last performance was no fluke, adding 9 points off the bench in an all-around confidence-building effort for Behrend. Next up for the Lions was a road game versus Fredonia State. Behrend had another strong defensive game, but in the midst of their celebration for the win over Allegheny must have forgotten to pack the offense they found in the second half of that game. Fredonia limited them to their lowest scoring output of the season, defeating the Lions 58-40. Behrend limited Fredonia to a 44% shooting percentage, but on their side the Lions could only make 33% of their shots. They found themselves down by 19 points at the half, in which they could only come up with 14 points on the scoreboard. Behrend was able to outplay Fredonia in the second half but it was too little too late for the Lions. The lone bright spot (more like a star) was Curren. The freshman from Warren, PA had a game high 19 points on 9-16 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds. This was Curren's third game in a ro‘‘ that he hit double digit in points, hut v , as not enough as the next highest scoter vas I lairston with only 7. So tar this season liehrend has scored an average of 64 points per PHOTO BY JEANINE NOCE game while yielding 68 points per game. Opponents are shooting 48% A Penn State Behrend men's basketball player jumps high above Pitt-Bradford in an attempt to add another two points to the men's efforts. for the year on the Lions compared to Behrend's 42% shooting. Behrend is also averaging nearly 31 rebounds per game against opponents' 33 rebounds per game. At the halfway point of the season Curren is averaging 13.6 points per game, tops on the team. Ponsoll is the only other Cr averaging in double digits, contributed 10.4 points per game. Next up is Orris with 9.8 ppg, Billowed by Hairston with 9.1. Matt Keith, struggling with an ankle sprain, has managed to average 7.1 Keith is expected hack Wednesday for Behrend when they play Pitt- Bradford at Erie Hall. Keith missed the Flmhurst Tournament and saw only limited action in the win over Allegheny while sitting out the Fredonia game. Keith's experience on the court has been sorely missed, but with the type of sprain he suffered, he is not expected to be 100(;; for the rest of the season. On Wednesday, January 10, Behrend hosted Pitt-Bradford in Erie I fall. It proved to he another close game for the young players. Despite their efforts Pitt-Bradford came out on top by a score of 72-68. Concerning the second half of the season. Coach Niland remarked, "we're looking forward to getting into the meat of our conference schedule. We've had a real tough non-conference schedule and we're hoping that will prepare us for league play.- The Lions play host to Thiel College on Saturday, January 13, at Eric Hall. Thiel has played .500 ball for the season (6-7 at the present), but couldn't do what Behrend accomplished, dropping a decision to Allegheny 89-85 on December 9. They did however beat Pitt-Bradford, Behrend's Wednesday night opponent, 86-83. Thiel is led by sophomore forward A.H. Davis, who is averaging 20.1 ppg, second most in their conference, the Presidents' Athletic Conference. On Wednesday January 17, Behrend travels to play AMCC opponent Frostburg. Frostburg is 7- 4 overall, and has defeated Pitt- Bradford earlier this year but lost to Thiel College by one point on December 29. If Behrend is able to get past Frostburg, then competing in the AMCC conference could turn out to be not such a difficult task as the Lions' record shows. However, it is still a young team, and this is the main thing Coach Niland has had to work on so far this season in order to achieve future success. "We have to pay very close attention to how we're progressing as a unit and to take care of little things in our skill development. We're trying to develop players for the future too. You can't sacrifice now for later. You've got to keep working on guys to get better. It's just a matter of getting our individual talents to PHOTO BY JEANINE NOCE David Hairston, a freshman forward from Cathedral Prep, overcomes the defense in order to help the Lions' offense. develop as a team," said Ni land. "Our goal is to get better and develop a consistent work ethic and just to get better as a group. You want it to reflect in wins and losses, but that's not always the case. You just want to get better as a team. You've got to try to stay the same with what you're doing and keep working on fundamentals and basics because this is all a building process." PHOTO BY JEANINE NOCE
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