PSAC Men's Basketball Athletes of the Week - 13
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Men's Basketball: East Co-Athlete of the Week |
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Deshawn Curtis
Cheyney (Sr./ F)
Augusta, Ga./ Spalding University
Cheyney's Deshawn Curtis averaged 27.5 points and 11 rebounds per game last week. Curtis posted 25 points and 16 rebounds against Millersville, while tallying 30 points and six boards against East Stroudsburg. Curtis led Cheyney in a down-to-the-wire loss to the PSAC East leading Warriors. The senior forward gave Cheyney a one-point lead with six minutes left in the contest with a put-back jumper, and went on to tie the game at 72 with a pair of free throws at the 1:43 mark. |
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Men's Basketball: East Co-Athlete of the Week |
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Wali Hepburn
Lock Haven (Jr./G)
Philadelphia, Pa./ Neumann-Goretti
Hepburn, the PSAC's leading scorer at 22 points per game help Lock Haven to two important wins last week. He helped The Haven snap a two-game skid at Kutztown with a game-high 25 points and his game-high 21 at Millersville. The 85-72 Millersville victory helped Lock Haven locked-up the No. 4 seed in the PSAC East. It was Lock Haven's first win at Millersville since 1952 and helped Lock Haven secure a home playoff game for the first time since 1990. He notched seven boards, six assists and three blocks to go along with his 25 points at Kutztown. Hepburn averaged 23 points and 5.5 rebounds last week. |
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Men's Basketball: East Freshman of the Week |
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Josh Johnson
Kutztown (Fr./ F)
Norristown, Pa./ Norristown
Kutztown's Josh Johnson helped his team clinch the Eastern Division's final spot in the PSAC Tournament. In an 87-80 win over Shippensburg Johnson scored a high 21 points while bringing down four rebounds, and charting three assists and three blocks. Against Lock Haven, Johnson earned 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and handed out two assists. On the week he went 16-of-21 from the field and 6-of-10 from the free throw line. |
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Men's Basketball: West Co-Athlete of the Week |
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Adam Blazek
Gannon (Jr./ G)
Erie, Pa./ Cathedral Prep
Gannon's Adam Blazek propelled the Golden Knights to a pair of wins last week, securing the West's top seed for the first time since the 2009 season. Showcasing a solid all-around stat line, Blazek netted 17.5 points. 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals, while hitting 50% (11-of-22) from behind the 3-point line in wins over Clarion and Pitt-Johnstown. His top effort came against Clarion, when he hit 5-of-7 3-pointers on his way to 21 points and four assists. |
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Men's Basketball: West Co-Athlete of the Week |
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Marcel Souberbielle
IUP (Sr./ F)
Montevideo,Uruguay/ Uruguayan American School
Marcel Souberbielle led IUP to a 2-0 week by averaging 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per contest. He started the week by scoring 12 points and grabbing three rebounds to lead the Crimson Hawks to a season sweep of playoff-bound Mercyhurst. He finished the week by treating the Senior Night crowd to a career-high 27 points, while adding six rebounds and four steals in a triumph over Edinboro. With the win over Edinboro, IUP clinched a bye as the West's No. 2 seed in the PSAC Tournament. |
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Men's Basketball: West Freshman of the Week |
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Drew Cook
California (Fr./ G)
Beaver Falls, Pa./ Beaver Falls
California's Drew Cook made his 13th-straight start this season against Pitt-Johnstown. He helped the Vulcans earn a 74-67 win over the Mountain Cats, as one of five Vulcans in double-digit scoring. Cook posted 11 points, two assists, and two steals in the victory. Cook shot 57.1% from the floor and 66.7% from the line. |
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Standings | Statistical Leaders | Schedule/Results |
TEAM NOTES
Bloomsburg
The Huskies (15-10, 10-5 PSAC East) split a pair of divisional games this past week, falling at home to West Chester, 81-68 on Wednesday before winning 89-80 at Mansfield on Saturday. Four players scored in double figures led by senior
Dontahe Jordan's 16 points in the West Chester setback. At Mansfield, the Huskies rallied from 16 points down in the second half to secure a win and lock down the No. 3 seed from the Eastern Division in the upcoming PSAC Tournament. Junior
Jon Riles poured in a career-high 26 points while the Huskies unleashed a 23-0 run to seize the lead down the stretch.
Jordan added a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore
Charles Haigler turned in his first career double-double with 13 points and career-high 10 rebounds. With that win, Bloomsburg assured itself of a home playoff game in first round of the PSAC Tournament this Saturday, March 1 vs. Kutztown. Bloomsburg will play Kutztown twice this week, also wrapping up the regular season against the Golden Bears as the Huskies honor their six seniors on Senior Night this Wednesday.
California
Cal U remains in contention for the sixth and final spot from the PSAC West in the upcoming league tournament. The Vulcans snapped a five-game losing streak with a 74-67 victory over Pitt-Johnstown last Wednesday. Cal U will qualify for the PSAC Tournament with a win on Feb. 26 at Seton Hill or a UPJ by virtue of tiebreaker. Junior
Alonzo Murphy recorded his third double-double of the year against the Mountain Cats on Wednesday, posting 18 points and 10 rebounds. Classmate
Tynell Fortune extended his streak of consecutive free-throws made to 26 before missing his final attempt against Pitt-Johnstown. Fortune has scored a combined 32 points while starting the last two games after playing 12-consecutive games off the bench. Cal U committed just three turnovers in the victory on Wednesday.
Cheyney
Once again the Wolves gave nationally ranked East Stroudsburg all they could handle as Cheyney said farewell to
Deshawn Curtis on Senior Day.
Curtis left it all on the floor as he led all players with 30 points.
Jerrod Johnson recorded his first double double of the season scoring 11 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. Cheyney dropped a hard fought decision to #6 ranked nationally East Stroudsburg. Earlier in the week, despite double doubles from
Deshawn Curtis and
Calvin Brown both coming off the bench, Cheyney fell 78-74 to Millersville.
Curtis scored 25 points while grabbing a season high 16 rebounds. It was his ninth double double of the season.
Brown netted 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Brown has registered seven double doubles. The Wolves close the season on Wednesday night at Lock Haven.
Clarion
Prior to Clarion's game with Mercyhurst Sunday the Golden Eagles honored three seniors:
Mike Kromka,
Anthony Baker and
Corey Bellovich.
Kromka is a 4-year player for the Golden Eagles who became the eight player at Clarion since 1971 and the first since 2002 to go over 700 career rebounds
Wednesday at Gannon. He now has 710 after getting seven Sunday.
Kromka now has 942 career points.
Baker has played two years with Clarion after spending two with Lock Haven. He has 235 points with Clarion and has 727 in four years in the PSAC.
Bellovich has played two years at Clarion and has scored 170 points. Averaging 15.9 ppg, Jr.
DeMarius Miller is tied with Winfield Willis (2012) for the most points by a first year Golden Eagle since Steve Serwatka averaged 20.2 in 2001.
East Stroudsburg
ESU (24-1, 14-1), ranked 5th in last week's NABC DII poll, tied a school record with its 24th victory with an 82-73 win at Cheyney in its only game last week. ESU has secured its second straight PSAC East regular season title and will host Lock Haven or Millersville in the PSAC quarterfinals on
Tuesday, March 4. Warriors host #2 seed West Chester on Wednesday and will recognize their only senior, forward
Zechariah Runkle. Jr. G
Whis Grant scored 24 points at Cheyney, including a stepback 3-pointer with 26.4 seconds left that gave the Warriors a 5-point lead. Grant, last year's PSAC East Athlete of the Year as a sophomore, leads ESU and ranks fifth in the PSAC with 17.5 ppg. He has led ESU in scoring in 12 of its 15 PSAC East games (20+ points in 10 games). Fr. F
Rasheed Moore (14.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg) added 18 points at Cheyney. Jr. G
Matt Tobin leads the PSAC in assists (5.9), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7) and steals (2.2).
Tobin was named the Lehigh Valley Small College Player of the Year last week. ESU led DII in turnover margin last week (+7.9), and has a margin of plus five or greater in 19 of its 25 games this year. ESU won at West Chester, 107-94, in the first meeting on Jan. 25, ending the game on a 22-3 run. ESU's only loss is at Lock Haven (82-80 on Feb. 6) after opening 20-0 (last undefeated team in DII). #4 Lock Haven hosts #5 Millersville on Saturday.
Edinboro
Edinboro dropped a pair of PSAC West contests to 12th-ranked Indiana (Pa.) and Slippery Rock last week to fall to 2-13 in the conference and 9-16 overall.
Bryan Theriot paced the Fighting Scots with a game-high 21 points in a 79-66 loss to The Rock, while
Henri Wade-Chatman and
Jonny Marsh chipped in 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Wade-Chatman followed with a 22-point output to lead the Scots in a 78-65 defeat at IUP. The game marked
Wade-Chatman's fourth 20-point scoring effort of the season.
Xavier Churnac was the only other Fighting Scot to score in double figures against the Crimson Hawks with 10 markers. After connecting on 13 free throws during the week,
Theriot sits second in Edinboro history for free throws made in a single season with 132. The 6'9'' center passed his own mark of 129 free throws made from last season.
Theriot needs eight makes to pass Billy Wade, who made 139 free throws during the 1989-90 campaign. The Fighting Scots host Clarion in the final game of the season this Wednesday at McComb Fieldhouse.
Gannon
Gannon clinched the PSAC West's top seed for the first time since 2009 with a perfect 2-0 week, defeating Clarion (71-54) at home on Senior Night before rallying from an eight-point second-half deficit at Pitt-Johnstown (75-64). The Golden Knights finished the month of February 7-0, recording only the third perfect February in the program's 70-year history. Gannon only scored 37 points during the first 25:53 of Saturday's regular-season finale at Pitt-Johnstown, before scoring 38 points during the final 14 minutes and seven seconds. Gannon has won a season-best seven consecutive games and 12 of its last 13. The Golden Knights have defeated Pitt-Johnstown six consecutive times and have never lost in five all-time trips to UPJ's Sports Center. Junior
Adam Blazek tied a career-high with five three-pointers against Clarion, reaching the 20-point plateau for the eighth time this season and 17th time during his career. Junior
Raphell Thomas-Edwards recorded his second double-double in three games with 12 points and 14 rebounds against Clarion. Gannon has defeated Clarion nine consecutive times overall and 15 straight times at the Hammermill Center. Saturday's verdict at Pitt-Johnstown represented Gannon's sixth victory of the season when tied or trailing at the intermission. Junior
A'Darius Porter recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds at UPJ.
IUP
The 12th-ranked Crimson Hawks clinched the two seed and a first round bye in the upcoming PSAC tournament with wins over Mercyhurst and Edinboro this past week. Both home wins, IUP defeated the Lakers 74-66 and the Fighting Scots 78-65. Sr. F
Marcel Souberbielle had a great week, averaging 19.5 points and a 59.1 field goal percentage. He scored a career-high 27 points against Edinboro on Senior Night. Three other players averaged double-figures, including Jr. G
Devante Chance (14.0), So. G
Brandon Norfleet (14.0) and Jr. F
Jeremy Jeffers (10.5). IUP will travel to rival Slippery Rock for the regular season finale on Wednesday.
Kutztown
The Golden Bears (9-16, 7-8 PSAC East) are locked into the sixth seed for the playoffs. Following their season-finale at Bloomsburg on Wednesday, Kutztown will travel back to Bloomsburg on
Saturday, March 1 to play the third-seeded Huskies in a first round game from Nelson Fieldhouse beginning at 2 p.m. The winner will play second-seeded West Chester on Tuesday, March 4. In the first meeting against Bloomsburg, Kutztown erased a 21-point deficit to win by double-digits. This season,
Tracy Peal leads all scorers at 16.6 points per game to go along with 6.2 rebounds.
Josh Johnson is averaging more than 20 points per game in his last three and averages 13 points and 6.9 rebounds per game on 61.9 percent shooting, second in the PSAC.
Ryan Connolly averages 10 points per game with a team-leading 39 three-pointers. Kutztown has scored 85 or more points in each of its last three games.
Lock Haven
The Bald Eagles have locked up the No. 4 seed in the PSAC East, earning the right to host their first home playoff game since 1990. LHU is 16-9 overall and 9-6 in league play with only a home game vs. Cheyney remaining. The 16 wins are the most since LHU went 26-7 in 1989-90 and it's The Haven's first winning season in 21 years. Lock Haven's last playoff appearance came in 2002-03. Lock Haven will host No. 5 Millersville on Saturday. The Bald Eagles swept the season series with the Marauders and Saturday's win was the first at Millersville since 1952. Junior guard
Wali Hepburn continues to lead the PSAC in scoring with 22 points per game.
Mansfield
The Mountaineers season-ending loss to Bloomsburg ended the Mountaineers playoff hopes marking just the second time in the last six years Mansfield has failed to advance.
Joe Bell ended the season with 567 points ranking second in school history for points in a season.
Bell completed his junior year with 1479 points and is just 300 points shy of breaking Tommy Harvey's (1778, 1997-2000) school record. Junior
Charles Pemberton threw a block party in the season finale rejecting six Bloomsburg shots to break the school record for blocks in a season with 63.
Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst clinched the third seed in the PSAC Tournament last week. It lost at #12 IUP, 74-66, on Wednesday, as the Lakers shot a season-high 54.3 percent from the field. Indiana converted 25-27 free throws in the contest. Mercyhurst rebounded with a 52-43 win at Clarion Sunday as
Jean Onana scored 22 points. The Lakers went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take the lead. They allowed a season-low 43 points and have given up fewer than 50 points three times this season. Mercyhurst hosts Pitt-Johnstown in the regular season finale
on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Lakers will host either UPJ or Cal in the first round of the PSAC Tournament
on Saturday.
Millersville
Millersville lost a must-win game at home against Lock Haven Saturday, dropping it into the No. 5 seed and making the first round of the PSAC Tournament a rematch with Lock Haven. Lock Haven's win on Saturday was its first in 16 tries inside Pucillo Gymnasium.
Brandon Brown scored season-high 18 points on his senior day. Millersville averages 10 3-pointers made per game but Lock Haven has held Millersville to just four makes in each of the two meetings. Millersville topped Cheyney on Wednesday behind 20 points from
Carl Wallace. It was
Wallace's second consecutive 20-point performance, and he also led the team in rebounds and assists in the game.
Pitt-Johnstown
Pitt-Johnsotwn will look to end an four-game losing streak at Mercyhurst in Wednesday's regular season finale
Seton Hill
Seton Hill taking part in just one game last week fell short to Slippery Rock. The Griffins will be in action next when they host California Wednesday.
Shippensburg
Shippensburg dropped a pair of close games this week, an 80-77 loss vs. Mansfield on Wednesday and an 87-80 loss at Kutztown on Saturday. Against Mansfield, the Raiders lost their sixth game of the season by four points or less despite committing just seven turnovers (their second-fewest this season). SU capitalized on MU's miscues with 27 points off its 16 giveaways. Sophomore
Joe Lococo's potential game-tying three-pointer on the game's final possession rattled in and out. SU nearly completed a miraculous comeback at KU, trimming a 24-point early second-half deficit to as few as six points with 2:12 left but fell just short. SU's comeback was thanks largely in part to its 55 second-half points, its highest-scoring half this season. SU's 80 points are its second-most in a game this season.
Slippery Rock
Rock locked up PSAC West's #4 seed with a win last Saturday at Seton Hill. Rock will make their fourth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament and host a game for the second consecutive season and third time in Kevin Reynolds' six seasons as head coach. The Rock is one win away from a third consecutive 20-win season, the fourth in six seasons under Reynolds and only the seventh in school history. This year's team is only the eighth to record 19 or more wins in a season. Sr. C
Maurice Lewis-Briggs has scored 10 or more points in the last 16 games and 23 of 27 games this winter
. Lewis-Briggs is averaging 19.4 ppg in last 16 games. Sr. G
Josh Martin averaged 16.5 ppg in Rock's two wins last week.
Lewis-Briggs and
Martin will be among five seniors The Rock will honor prior to their final regular-season game against defending PSAC champion Indiana. Also being honored will be
Sa'Quan Davis,
Daivon Jackson and
Tabari Perry.
West Chester
West Chester only had one game last week, but made it count with an 81-68 triumph at Bloomsburg to secure second place in the conference, and a first round bye in the PSAC Tournament.
Cory Blake scored 20 points to match his season high, and raise his average to 13.2 a game putting him second on the Golden Rams, to
Troy Hockaday who leads the squad at 16.2 a contest. West Chester travels to No.5 East Stroudsburg on Wednesday to close out the regular season, in a battle between the league’s top teams.