LEHIGH MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS GAME TWENTY: LEHIGH VS HOLY CROSS Date Opponent Time/Result Nov. LEHIGH (10-9 4-2 PATRIOT LEAGUE) VS HOLY CROSS (14-5 5-1 PATRIOT LEAGUE) 19 at Penn State L, 73-64 21 at Long Island L, 66-56 STABLER ARENA (5,600) • BETHLEHEM, PA 24 Sacred Heart W, 58-52 JANUARY 30, 2005 • 2:00 27 Dartmouth W, 60-50 30 Albany W, 72-61 Dec. SETTING THE SCENE 4 at Stony Brook L, 56-49 Lehigh and Holy Cross, the two teams that have won the last four Patriot League 6 Columbia L, 75-61 Championships, meet for the first time this afternoon, in a pivotal conference show- 15 Eastern W, 65-39 18 at Harvard L, 67-56 down. The Mountain Hawks got back on the winning track on Friday evening, picking 21 at Xavier L, 69-63 up a 63-45 victory over Army at Stabler Arena to snap their two-game losing skid, 29 at Towson W, 64-61 while Holy Cross comes into today’s contest as hot as any team in the league, having Jan. won six straight, including a 74-57 decision over Lafayette on Friday evening in Easton. 2 at Wagner W, 59-45 4 Cornell L, 55-45 Lehigh is just 1-3 vs. Holy Cross under Billy Taylor, but the Mountain Hawks have 8 at American* W, 56-53 won nine straight league games inside of Stabler Arena, and are 30-5 all-time at home 12 Lafayette* W, 63-55 under their headman, including a 14-2 mark in Patriot League contests. 15 at Navy* W, 72-67 21 at Colgate* L, 61-54 23 at Bucknell* L, 65-63 TODAY’S PROJECTED LEHIGH STARTERS 28 Army* W, 63-45 30 Holy Cross* 2:00 No. Pos. Cl. Name PPG RPG Note Feb. 13 G So. Jose Olivero 12.4 3.5 50 percent on three’s in last two 4 Colgate* 7:00 10 G Jr. Joe Knight 11.8 3.7 (apg) 5.2 assts. in PL play (leads league) 6 Bucknell* 1:00 3 C So. Jason Mgebroff 8.6 4.3 80% on FT’s in league play 11 at Army* 7:00 13 at Holy Cross* 2:00 34 F Sr. Earl Nurse 4.6 5.6 5th in PL in rebounding 19 Navy* 7:00 11 F Sr. Nick Monserez 9.8 4.9 19 ppg, 55% FG’s in last three 23 American* 7:00 Lehigh Top Reserves 26 at Lafayette* 7:00 Mar. 1 G Fr. Erik Smith 2.5 0.6 Career-high 4 assists vs. Army 4-6 Patriot League Tournament TBA 5 G/F So. Kyle Neptune 3.1 2.0 Dbl. figure mins. last four gms. 11 Patriot League Championship 4:30 21 G Jr. Mitch Gilfillan 3.9 1.1 5 points, 4 assists vs. Army *Patriot League Game 40 F/C Sr. Dayne Mickelson 2.5 2.9 Avg. 17 minutes in league play All times Eastern Bold = Today’s Game 44 F/C Jr. Mike Fischman 2.0 1.2 5 rebs. in 9 minutes at Colgate MEDIA INFORMATION LEHIGH HEAD COACH BILLY TAYLOR Billy Taylor (Notre Dame ‘95) is in his third season and has an overall record of 46-32, Contact: earning Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in each of his first two seasons. In his Mike Stagnitta rookie campaign, Taylor led the Mountain Hawks to an 11-game improvement over Office . (610) 758-6631 the season before, the second largest turnaround in America. Last season the Aurora, Cell: . (610) 509-6848 Illinois native led Lehigh to its first ever Patriot League regular season and tournament E-mail: . [email protected] championships, and an NCAA Tournament apperance for the first time since 1988. Press Row: . (610) 758-4903 . (610) 758-4933 MONSEREZ’S MAGIC TOUCH Media Coverage: Senior captain Nick Monserez is enjoying his best season in a Lehigh uniform, having Television: Today’s game will be already surpassed his point total from all of last year by 45 tallies in just 19 games. The televised live on Service Electric 2 Cincinnati native has been outstanding in league play, including a total of 58 points Sports with Mike Zambelli, Nathan and 12 three-pointers in the last three contests. Patriot League Games Only (Rank): Jameson and Rich Baksa. Points - 14.2 (5th), Field Goal% - 51% (6th), Three-point% - 44% (5th), Three-point FG made - 16 (3rd), Rebounds - 5.3 (10th) One key matchup to watch today will be Radio and Internet: Today’s game can Monserez going up against the Crusader’s Kevin Hamilton, who is the leading scorer be heard live on ESPN Radio 1230 in league play at 18.2 per game and dropped 22 points, six rebounds and three assists AM and 1320 AM with Matt Kerr and on Lafayette in Friday evening’s win. Greg Falkenbach beginning at 1:30. The game can also be heard live on PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONS lehighsports.com. 2004 Lehigh Athletic Media Relations Experience• 641 Taylor Street, Lehigh Bethlehem, FootballPA • Phone 610-758-3174 2003 • Fax 610-758-4407 GAME TWENTY: LEHIGH VS HOLY CROSS • PAGE 2 THERE’S A HEAT WAVE IN JANUARY TODAY’S GAME Lehigh has enjoyed its most success under Billy Taylor in the first month of the year. The Mountain Hawks are 18-7 in January under Taylor, good for a winning percentage LEHIGH VS. HOLY CROSS of .720. It is by far Taylor’s best month, when compared to November (.500) December (.555) February (.600) and March (.500). Lehigh is 11-1 at home under Taylor in January, Holy Cross leads the all-time series 23- with a twelve-point average margin of victory. 9, having won four of the past five contests inside of Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks broke through last POINTS AT A PREMIUM year however, picking up a hard Today’s game figures to be a rugged, grind-it-out battle, featuring two of the toughest fought 63-53 victory on Jan. 30, behind squads to score on in all of college basketball. Both Lehigh and Holy Cross rank in the 21 points from Jose Olivero on the upper echelon of several major defensive categories. The Mountain Hawks are ninth in strength of a 10-12 showing at the free the country in field goal percentage defense and 18th in scoring defense, while the throw line. The two teams combined Crusaders rank third in the land in steals per game, fourth in scoring defense and 42nd for just 30 field goals and 34 percent in field goal percentage defense. shooting overall. WHO WILL BE NEXT? LEHIGH LEADERS IN ‘04-05 Lehigh has gotten contributions from many players this season, including some in an Jose Olivero 12.4 points/game unlikely manner. The Mountain Hawks have been led in scoring by five different Earl Nurse 5.6 rebounds/game players, in rebouding by six different players and in assists by six different players. Joe Knight 3.72 assists/game Versus Navy, point guard Joe Knight grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, center Jason Joe Knight 1.72 steals/game Mgebroff dished out a career-high five assists, and swing forward Nick Monserez Earl Nurse 0.89 blocks/game rejected a career-best three shots. LAST TIME OUT 50 SHOULD DO IT LEHIGH VS ARMY Under Billy Taylor, Lehigh is a combined 16-2 in games when it shoots at least 50 Bethlehem, PA - In its first game percent, including 2-0 this season. The last time the Mountain Hawks shot at least 50 following a three-game road trip, percent and failed to win a game, was on January 6, 2004 in Ithaca, New York when the Lehigh defeated Army 63-45 on Friday Brown and White sunk 53 percent of its shots, but fell to Cornell by a score of 89-76. evening. Nick Monserez and Jose Olivero provided all of the offense with 20 and 19 points respectively, NEPTUNE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD while Olivero also grabbed a career- Sophomore Kyle Neptune played some of his best basketball last season vs. Holy high nine rebounds. The Mountain Cross. In two games, the Brooklyn native averaged 13.5 points, three rebounds and 2.5 Hawks held the Black Knights to 7 of steals, while shooting 62 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. 24 shooting in the second half and just Neptune scored his career high of 17 points in Worcester last season on Feb. 29. 35 percent for the game. SCOUTING HOLY CROSS... HOLY CROSS AT LAFAYETTE Easton, PA - Junior guard Kevin Holy Cross and Lehigh have two common out of conference opponents (Harvard, Hamilton totaled 22 points, six Darmouth) ... Kevin Hamilton was a Second-Team All-League pick last season and a rebounds, three assists and two steals preseason All-League selection this year ... the Crusaders rank fourth in America in as the Crusaders routed Lafayette 74-57 steals per game at 11.4 ... Ralph Willard (Holy Cross ‘67) has enjoyed stints as head on Friday evening. Holy Cross went coach at Western Kentucky and Pittsburgh and as an assistant at Syracuse, Kentucky up 13-3 after nine minutes of play and and with the New York Knicks ... Holy Cross’s senior class has won 71 games, two went to the locker room in front by 13. Patriot League Championships and advanced to two NCAA Tournaments The Cruasaders shot 56 percent from the field, while the Leopards PROBABLE STARTERS: connnected on only 37 percent.