Friday, January 23, 2009 Men's basketball turns in another big AMCC win DEFENSE IS KEY TO SUCCESS FOR THE BEHREND LIONS By Nick Blake spmis edit°, npbso4l (a pqi.edu On Thursday night the Behrend Lions played host to the La Roche Redhawks at the Junker center in an AMCC conference match up. KEEGAN NICGREGOR/The Behrendßeacon lop: Arkon Potter and Chiis .Saltzman team up to trap a Rathawk player on the defensive end of the Bottom: Athol Kaiser puts his .shoulder down and drives pact a La Roche dclendo Athlete Spotlight: Kelly Nowacinski The Blue and White got out to a very good start, dropping a smothering defensive blanket over the Redhawks. The Lions played a zone defense that kept La Roche scoreless for the first five minutes of the game "Toni Newman was great," Coach Toni Niland said. "Everyone led off of his energy." With great Mensive play. the BI ue and White jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first half. which quickly turned into a 13-2 lead for the Lions. SPORTS Behrend continued great defen sive and offensive play through out the first half. The Lions managed to hold the Redhawks to 16 points in the first half. With only seconds left in the half. Behrend's Steve Piotrowicz buried a three pointer that gave the home team a 33-16 lead at the break. The Lions shot 13-23 from the floor. while La Roche only man aged to make 28 percent of their The Lions continued both great offensive and defensive play in the second half. The La Roche offense began to click, but they were still no match for the Blue and White. Even though the Redhawks got their offense moving. it seemed that the Lion's offense matched them shot for shot. La Roche was never able to get any closer to the Blue and White than 19 points. The Lions did. however, get into a little bit of foul trouble in the second half. but it had no effect on the way the team played defense. "We look to play our defense," said Behrend junior Adam Kaiser. "Our defense is a huge part of this team and we ckm't want to change that.'' Thanks to the team's great defensive play. they were able to By Christine Newby .sports ce n 505 6 (a psu .edu Growing up in Erie, just min utes away from Behrend, basket ball was not the only sport for Behrend sophomore Kelly Nowacinski. In grade school, she played soc cer, swam, and ran cross country in addition to playing basketball. She started playing basketball in fifth grade. At the high school level, Nowacinski attended Mercyhurst Prep where she con centrated on two sports: basket ball and track. Majoring in psychology, Nowacinski chose Behrend for two specific reasons "I chose Behrend because I wanted to stay close to home," Nowacinski looks up the court for an open teammate tally a 25 point win. "We practice hard everyday." Kaiser said. "We work on defense all the time and run a lot of &fen sive drills." Behrend never let up and came away with a 67-42 win creating a four-way tie for first place in the AMCC conference. The Blue and White were able to utilize the shot clock by run ning their offense and looking tbr good shots and getting the ball inside. "We shared the ball a lot, I think," Niland said. "I think we played good together, and when you play good together, you have a good chance to win." Adam Potter had an outstand ing individual pertbnnance post ing 24 points and six rebounds. Kaiser also had a big game with 15 points and three rebounds. Kaiser was able to find the hot hand from behind the arc shooting 3-6 from three-point land. "I have been struggling from behind the arc," Kaiser said. "I had a lot of confidence in my shooting tonight, and my team had a lot of confidence in me.- The Blue and White are having a great season so far. Their defense has been their trademark and it will surely continue to be that way. The Behrend Lions will contin- BEHRENL) STUDENT APPRECIATION DAY EVERY TUESDAY STUDENT MUST SHOW I.D. said Nowacinski. "Also, because of the outstanding academic pro- Nowacinski is now leading the Behrend Lions women's basket ball team to victory. In an AMCC matchup against the Medaille Mavericks on Jan. 14, Nowacinski led the Blue and White with a game high 15 points, while shooting seven of 12 from the field. The Lions defeated the Mavericks, 59-47. Defensively, Nowacinski also contributed with five steals and one blocked shot. Nowacinski played well in the game following Medaille in another AMCC game, this time. against Franciscan on Jan. 17. She ended the night with 17 points, five rebounds, and five teal the 65-29 ue their AMCC play with a battle against Frostburg State at the Rinker Center on Jan. 24. With the AMCC having four teams atop the conference stand ings, the battle against Frostburg State will be very important tOr the Behrend Lions. If the Lions can rack up anoth- KEEGAN MCGREGOR TheticluendWaLon Daly Seker , up .s . nong to block a shot again.st La Roche Nox•arinski stouts and waits for the gain(' to lesion( Franci scan The victory against Medaille at the Junker Center was meaning ful and important to Nowacinski. - My favorite basketball experi ence at Behrend thus far was beat ing Medaille this year on our home court," said Nowacinski. Head Coach Roz Fomari is now in her sixteenth season at Behrend in the head coach posi tion. Fornari has helped Nowacinski on the basketball court throughout her two veins at Penn State. "Coach has helped me overall with my defense and most impor tantly control on the court." said The Behrend Beacon I 9 er win, they can possibk create some space at the top. It should he very interesting to see how the rest of the conference play goes for the Blue and White this season, KEEGAN MCGREGOR/TheßehrendßeaCtlll Nowacinski. The Lions have an overall record of 7-S and are 5-4 in the AMCC. "I feel that the team is doing very well thus far, even though our record may not indicate that.- said Nowacinski. "Also, consid ering the fact this is the first year we are playing together and start ing a whole new offense. every one has adjusted really well and feel as though we will peak at (he right ti me. The Behrend Li ni \‘minens, basketball team will he hack in action on Saturday Jan. 24 at I p.m. against Frostburg State.
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