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