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Saturday, February 03, 2007
Holy Cross tries to stay on top while the rest of the league jostles for playoff position in a trio of games today.
The biggest game of the day takes place in the nation's capital, where Lehigh (9-14 overall, 4-3 Patriot) takes on host American (11-10, 3-4) (matchup) in a game (7:30 p.m., Sirius 181) that is close to a must win for the Eagles if they hope to host a first round game in the postseason playoffs.
Lehigh is not mathematically eliminated from the regular season championship, but they are realistically out of contention. Second-place, and the possibility of two home playoff games, is still within the Mountain Hawks grasp. If they can beat the two teams ahead of them in the standings (Holy Cross and Bucknell) at home, and HC beats the Bison in Lewisburg, Lehigh would have a tiebreaker edge (the win over HC) over the Bison should both win out.
For that to happen, though, Lehigh needs to win on the road, something it has done just once in 11 games. It won't be easy in bender, where American's only loss this season came in overtime to Holy Cross.
Senior center Jason Mgebroff out since mid-December with a stress fracture in a leg, has returned to Lehigh's practice, but is unlikely to be available tonight. The Hawks got by without him in Stabler -- barely -- pulling out a 51-49 win on a Phil Andersen putback with less than three seconds to play.
American shot 26.1 percent in that game. Lehigh's seven-foot sophomore John Gourlay scored 10 points. Don't expect either performance to be repeated.
Examiner preview
Lafayette at Holy Cross (matchup) -- The Crusaders, riding a nine-game win streak, are unbeaten in conference play heading into this evening's sold-out Hart Center rematch with Lafayette. Their first league win came in Easton over Lafayette in a game that was still in question late in the second half.
It should not have been. But after building a 15-point lead, the Crusaders exhaled, allowing the hot-shooting Leopards to make a game of it down the stretch. It took HC 84 points to put away Lafayette, an uncharacteristic showing for Ralph Willard's defense first club. That's the most HC scored all season and around 20 more than it has averaged in six other league wins.
The way Lafayette shot the ball (56.8 percent from the field) against the 'Saders zone, it needed nearly all those points to escape with the W.
With Pat Doherty having since returned from his broken hand, HC probably could muster even more offense if need be. But expect a different style at Hart, where Holy Cross is 8-0 this season. Lafayette's only road conference win came at Colgate. They will need to repeat their 56.8 percent shooting to stay in the game in Worcester, something that is highly unlikely.
Colgate at Army (matchup) -- The Raiders won in overtime the first meeting in Hamilton. It won't be easy to repeat that feat in Christl Arena, where the Black Knights are 9-1 this season.
Army (13-9, 3-4) needs a win to stay in the mix for a home playoff game. Colgate (7-13, 2-5) needs a win to try to get into that mix.
The biggest game of the day takes place in the nation's capital, where Lehigh (9-14 overall, 4-3 Patriot) takes on host American (11-10, 3-4) (matchup) in a game (7:30 p.m., Sirius 181) that is close to a must win for the Eagles if they hope to host a first round game in the postseason playoffs.
Lehigh is not mathematically eliminated from the regular season championship, but they are realistically out of contention. Second-place, and the possibility of two home playoff games, is still within the Mountain Hawks grasp. If they can beat the two teams ahead of them in the standings (Holy Cross and Bucknell) at home, and HC beats the Bison in Lewisburg, Lehigh would have a tiebreaker edge (the win over HC) over the Bison should both win out.
For that to happen, though, Lehigh needs to win on the road, something it has done just once in 11 games. It won't be easy in bender, where American's only loss this season came in overtime to Holy Cross.
Senior center Jason Mgebroff out since mid-December with a stress fracture in a leg, has returned to Lehigh's practice, but is unlikely to be available tonight. The Hawks got by without him in Stabler -- barely -- pulling out a 51-49 win on a Phil Andersen putback with less than three seconds to play.
American shot 26.1 percent in that game. Lehigh's seven-foot sophomore John Gourlay scored 10 points. Don't expect either performance to be repeated.
Examiner preview
Lafayette at Holy Cross (matchup) -- The Crusaders, riding a nine-game win streak, are unbeaten in conference play heading into this evening's sold-out Hart Center rematch with Lafayette. Their first league win came in Easton over Lafayette in a game that was still in question late in the second half.
It should not have been. But after building a 15-point lead, the Crusaders exhaled, allowing the hot-shooting Leopards to make a game of it down the stretch. It took HC 84 points to put away Lafayette, an uncharacteristic showing for Ralph Willard's defense first club. That's the most HC scored all season and around 20 more than it has averaged in six other league wins.
The way Lafayette shot the ball (56.8 percent from the field) against the 'Saders zone, it needed nearly all those points to escape with the W.
With Pat Doherty having since returned from his broken hand, HC probably could muster even more offense if need be. But expect a different style at Hart, where Holy Cross is 8-0 this season. Lafayette's only road conference win came at Colgate. They will need to repeat their 56.8 percent shooting to stay in the game in Worcester, something that is highly unlikely.
Colgate at Army (matchup) -- The Raiders won in overtime the first meeting in Hamilton. It won't be easy to repeat that feat in Christl Arena, where the Black Knights are 9-1 this season.
Army (13-9, 3-4) needs a win to stay in the mix for a home playoff game. Colgate (7-13, 2-5) needs a win to try to get into that mix.
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