PSAC Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week/Weekly Report - 3
PSAC Men's Basketball AOW - 3 - 16 Gallery
Can't View the gallery? Click
here.
Lock Haven’s
Wali Hepburn and Millersville’s
Elijah Obade have been selected as PSAC Men’s Basketball Athletes of the Week.
Cheyney’s
Brandon Norfleet and Mercyhurst’s
Beau Samuelson have been selected as PSAC Men’s Basketball Freshman of the Week
PSAC East Athlete of the Week
Elijah Obade, Millersville
Senior, Center
Charleroi/Charleroi
Obade helped Millersville to its first 2-0 start in PSAC play since the 2007-08 season by averaging 19.0 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. Obade dominated both ends of the floor in road wins over Lock Haven and Clarion. Against the Bald Eagles, he scored 19 points, pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds, 10 of which came off the offensive glass. On Sunday, Obade sank each of his eight shots from the field, netted another 19 points and matched a career high four blocks. His Saturday double-double marked his fourth of the season. Obade has recorded 13 or more rebounds in five of seven games, has blocked at least two shots in each of his last four outings.
PSAC East Freshman of the Week
Brandon Norfleet, Cheyney
Freshman, Guard
Virginia Beach, Va. /Landstown
Brandon Norfleet had a great week as he helped the Wolves to an upset of No. 17 IUP to open up PSAC action on Saturday. Norfleet recorded seven points, three assists, a steal and block in the 64-60 victory. Norfleet assisted Mike Drink's jumper that cemented the win for the Wolves and gave them a three point lead, 63-60, with just over two minutes left in regulation. Cheyney’s win against IUP was its first win since the 2009-10 season. The next day, Norfleet recorded 15 points to pull-up his average to 12.5 points per game on the week, and dished out four assists in a 64-59 loss to California.
PSAC West Athlete of the Week
Wali Hepburn, Lock Haven
Sophomore, Guard
Philadelphia/Neumann-Goretti
Wali Hepburn had a huge weekend as he led the team to a 1-1 record taking both games into overtime. In The Haven’s overtime loss to Millersville on Saturday, Hepburn scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, recording his first double-double of the season. On Sunday in an overtime win against Shippensburg, Hepburn scored 40 points, becoming just the sixth Bald Eagle in school history to do earn a 40-point game. It marked the ninth 40-point game performance in program history, with the most recent coming exactly six years to the day.
PSAC West Freshman of the Week
Beau Samuelson, Mercyhurst
Freshman, Guard
Perth, Australia/Kolbe Catholic
Beau Samuelson scored 10 points on Sunday, helping the Lakers beat Kutztown 76-64. He swooshed three from beyond the arc against the Golden Bears. Against East Stroudsburg on Saturday, Samuelson hit two three-pointers and dished out a trio of assists.
Team Notes
Bloomsburg
The Huskies (2-4, 0-2) had some great performances last week, but were unable to get in the win column. Jr.
Dontahe Jordan is averaging a double-double with 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds earlier this year, the first BU player to do so since 1997. Jr.
Lorenzo Christmas has a team-high 15 three-pointers and averages 13.5 points per game. His 4.8 rebounds per clip thus far are a career-best, and he is shooting 43.9 percent from the field. Fr.
Charles Haigler posted career-bests in nearly every category last week and averages 13.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and two steals per game. Fr.
Wes Lyons rounds the quartet of double-digit scorers at 12 per clip. His seven three-pointers are tied for second on the team with
Dan Kusnyer.
California
The Vulcans snapped a three-game losing streak with a 64-59 win at Cheyney on Saturday. The three losses were by only a combined eight points. Senior F
Mitchell Weedon scored a career-high 26 points in a loss to Wilberforce on Tuesday. He recorded the highest single-game point total since Ron Banks scored 27 points in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Fellow senior
Keith Lowe scored a combined 48 points over the weekend after entering PSAC Crossover play averaging 9.3 points per game. He is the first player to score at least 20 points in back-to-back games since Jerial Nixon in January 2010. Sophomore G
Tynell Fortune averaged 15.0 points in three games last week and collected a combined 10 assists over the weekend while making his first two starts of the year
Cheyney
Cheyney pulled off an upset this past weekend downing nationally ranked IUP 64-60 in the Wolves home opener; only to follow up it up with a loss to California. In a mid-week non-league tilt the Wolves fell at Bowie State. The Wolves are at .500; 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the PSAC. Cheyney has four players averaging in double figures. All PSAC selection
Jason Sabb and
Rashaad Slappy are averaging 18 and 17 points per game respectively but has only played in one contest.
Deshawn Curtis is scoring at a clip of 13.8 per contest and freshman
Brandon Norfleet is chipping in 12.5 points per contest.
East Stroudsburg
Defending PSAC champion Warriors opened conference schedule with 2-0 weekend on the road, winning 67-62 at Mercyhurst and 52-46 at Gannon. In non-conference action, ESU earned a 101-62 win vs. PSU-Lehigh Valley, and is 5-1 on the season. ESU held Gannon scoreless over final 6:12 (0 FG in last 8:23) to grind out win on Sunday. Gannon's 46 points are tied for the fewest by a PSAC opponent vs. ESU in 138 conference games under head coach Jeff Wilson. ESU forced 21 turnovers at Gannon (+9 differential) and lead PSAC at +5.17. A win over Mercyhurst was a rematch of Warriors' 66-58 win in last year's PSAC semifinal. Sr. F
Duane Johnson had 19 points and 9 rebounds and So. G
Whis Grant had 18 points vs. Mercyhurst. Sr. F
Terrance King led Warriors vs. Gannon with 16 points and 6 boards. ESU is at Cheyney on Saturday, looking for a record 8th straight win in the series. The Warriors have won six straight versus PSAC opponents, including last year's tournament run.
Edinboro
Edinboro is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2008-09 squad ran off eight straight wins to start the season. In addition, the Fighting Scots have won their first two PSAC contests for the first time since 2008-09, as well.
Bryan Theriot made it back-to-back 30-point games while leading Edinboro to an 88-85 win over Urbana. The 6-9 junior finished with 31 points, making 13 of 19 field goals and 5 of 6 free throws. Theriot then paced the Scots to a 66-65 win at Mansfield in a game in which the Scots grabbed a 13-point lead in the second half only to fall behind. Theriot ultimately provided the winning points on a jumper with nine seconds remaining. He added a steal to end the game. That capped a 22-point, 16-rebound effort. Edinboro nearly squandered a 30-point second half lead at Bloomsburg, as the Huskies narrowed the gap to eight at one point, but the Scots never trailed in the road contest.
Jay Fletcher paced four players in double figures with a season-high 20 points. Earlier in the week Fletcher clinched the win against Urbana with a pair of free throws with 8.8 seconds remaining.
Isaiah Prince continues to stuff the stat box. The senior guard had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists against Mansfield, then recorded 15 points, 8 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists at Bloomsburg. Edinboro concludes a stretch of three straight road games with its first PSAC West game on Saturday, December 8, playing at California (Pa.).
Gannon
Gannon opened PSAC play with a weekend split, defeating Kutztown (67-56) before losing a physical battle against defending PSAC champion East Stroudsburg (52-46). Gannon has won its first five games for the first time since the 2008-09 NCAA Division II Elite Eight squad won its first nine games. Ironically, East Stroudsburg snapped both season-opening streaks at the Hammermill Center during Sunday afternoon games. Senior
Darrell Blanton averaged 23 points and 7.5 rebounds last week, shooting 81.8 percent (18-22) from the field and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the free throw line in two games. Blanton’s 27 points against Kutztown was one point shy of his career-high. Sunday’s Gannon-East Stroudsburg 52-46 game represented the lowest combined score involving a Gannon team since a 48-45 loss at Mercyhurst on January 28, 2006. Gannon has opened a season by holding its first six opponents under 70 points for the first time since the 2007-08 team went 18 games before allowing an opponent to score that amount.
IUP
The Crimson Hawks hit the road for their first PSAC crossover weekend of the young season and suffered their first loss at the hands of Cheyney. Cold shooting down the stretch doomed IUP in a 64-60 win for the Wolves. The Crimson Hawks bounced back with a 71-52 blowout win over West Chester on Sunday. Jr. G
Mathis Keita led the way with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Keita averaged 19.0 points for the weekend, and shot 66.7% (14-21) from the floor. IUP was excellent defensively in both contests, limiting opponents to just 14.3% (3-21) shooting from behind the arc. Sr. G
Anthony Wells put together a solid all-around performance Sunday, finishing with 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. The Crimson Hawks (5-1, 1-1 PSAC) wrap up their three-game road trip next Saturday at Gannon.
Kutztown
Kutztown dropped three straight games to fall to 1-6 on the year. Micah Fraction had a pair of 20 point games, turning the trick against both Holy Family and Mercyhurst.
Tracy Peal had a double-double against Mercyhurst with 11 points and 12 rebounds, his second of the year. Against Holy Family,
Ryan Connolly had a career-high 15 points and seven rebounds.
Tyler Brooks led the Golden Bears with 18 points at Gannon and had a pair of three-steal games last week.
Anthony Butler came off the bench to score a dozen points on Sunday.
Mamadou Diakite had seven points in just nine minutes against the Lakers. It's the team's slowest start since opening 2001-02 at 1-8.
Lock Haven
The Lock Haven University men’s basketball team went 1-1 this weekend in a pair of overtime games to kickoff its PSAC schedule. LHU dropped a tough overtime decision to Millersville on Saturday, 87-79, but bounced back and downed Shippensburg in overtime on Sunday, 94-87. LHU got a big weekend from sophomore guard
Wali Hepburn, who scored 30 points Saturday and 40 points on Sunday. He became the sixth Bald Eagle in school history to score 40 points in a game. Hepburn is now averaging 25.8 points per game this season, which leads the PSAC. Lock Haven’s win over Shippensburg was its first conference win since February 6, 2010 when LHU defeated Edinboro. The Haven opens PSAC West play this weekend when they travel to Mercyhurst on Saturday (December 8).
Mansfield
Mansfield -- The Mountaineer dropped a pair of last minute games to undefeated Edinboro and Slippery Rock over the weekend. Mansfield got an exceptional performance from
Joe Bell. Last year's PSAC East Rookie of the Week posted double-doubles in both games during the week averaging 23.0 points and 11.0 rebounds over the two game span.
Mercyhurst:
The Lakers split two PSAC crossovers last weekend. They lost, 67-62, to East Stroudsburg before bouncing back with a 76-64 win over Kutztown. Senior
Luis Leao led the way, scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds vs. ESU and then posting 18 points and eight boards against Kutztown. Mercyhurst held KU without a field goal for 7:23 in the second half as it scored 51 points in the final 20 minutes. The Lakers head to Notre Dame College for a non-league contest Wednesday, December 5.
Millersville
Millersville has won five in a row and has started 2-0 in PSAC play for the first time since 2007-08. The Marauders overcame an 18-point deficit to win in overtime an capture their 12th-straight win over Lock Haven. The following day, Millersville rolled past Clarion, 84-57. The 27-point margin of victory was the largest in a road game since defeating West Chester by 30 in 2008.
Elijah Obade averaged a dominating 19.0 points, 15.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game. He registered a career-high 21 rebounds against Lock Haven and sank all eight of his shots from the field against Clarion, scoring 19 in both games.
Larry Grant, who scored 31 against Lock Haven and 21 against Clarion has four 20-plus point games this season.
Brandon Brown recorded career highs in points (19), rebounds (8), and steals (4) against Lock Haven.
Shippensburg
Shippensburg (2-3, 0-2 PSAC) dropped its PSAC openers on the road at Clarion (48-66) and Lock Haven (87-94, OT). Sophomore
Reggie Charles scored a career-high 34 points at Lock Haven, the most in a single game for a Raider since Chuck Davis scored 37 points for Shippensburg in a loss at West Chester on Jan. 6, 2007. Charles is averaging 14.4 PPG while freshman
Joe Lococo is averaging 14.0 PPG. SU has had freshmen or sophomores as 4 of its 5 starters in every game this season.
Slippery Rock
Rock successfully opened their PSAC schedule with back-to-back wins at Bloomsburg and Mansfield. Jr. G
Tabari Perry scored career-high 24 points and grabbed team-high 12 rebounds in the buzzer-to-buzzer win at Bloomsburg. Sr. G
Darious Clark came off the bench to hit five 3-point shots and score team-high 17 points in come-from-behind win at Mansfield. Rock had four players score in double figures at Bloomsburg and five players score in double figures at Mansfield. Rock head coach Kevin Reynolds, a 1991 Bloomsburg graduate, is now 4-1 against his alma mater as The Rock's boss and is 3-1 all-time against Mansfield. Rock end four-game road trip Dec. 8, with PSAC-West opener at Clarion, then open three-game homestand Dec. 19 vs. PSAC "crossover" rival West Chester.
West Chester
West Chester opened PSAC play with a split of its two games this past weekend against Western Division foes California (Pa.) and Indiana (Pa.). The Golden Rams defeated the Vulcans on Saturday, 83-78, while dropping a 71-52 decision on Sunday. So., F,
Corey Blake continues to lead the team in scoring, averaging 14 points per game. The 52 points against IUP was the lowest output of the season and the lowest since a 52-49 win over Phila. U. in 2010-11. The win over Cal was the first time that WCU beat the Vulcans since 2009 and upped the team's overall mark against CAl to 6-13.