LEHIGH MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE/RESULTS GAME SIX: LEHIGH AT STONY BROOK Date Opponent Time/Result Nov. LEHIGH (3-2, 0-0 PATRIOT LEAGUE) AT STONY BROOK (2-2, 0-0 AMERICA EAST) 19 at Penn State L, 73-64 SBU SPORTS COMPLEX (4,103) • STONY BROOK, NY 21 at Long Island L, 66-56 DECEMBER 4, 2004 • 1:00 24 Sacred Heart W, 58-52 27 Dartmouth W, 60-50 30 Albany W, 72-61 Dec. SETTING THE SCENE 4 at Stony Brook 1:00 Lehigh takes to the road this afternoon seeking its first victory away from home in 6 Columbia 7:00 2004-05. The Mountain Hawks come in on a three-game winning streak, including a 72- 15 Eastern 7:00 18 at Harvard 7:00 61 win over Albany on Tuesday evening at Stabler Arena. Head coach Billy Taylor is 3- 21 at Xavier 7:30 1 versus teams out of the America East conference in his young career, including 2-0 29 at Towson 7:00 versus the Seawolves. Stony Brook enters today’s contest following a tough 66-57 loss Jan. 2 at Wagner 2:00 at St. John’s on Tuesday in Queens. Mitchell Beauford scored 15 points, while Cori 4 Cornell 7:00 Spencer added 14 for the Seawolves who have yet to lose at home this season. 8 at American* 2:00 12 Lafayette* 8:00 15 at Navy* 7:00 TODAYS PROJECTED LEHIGH STARTERS 21 at Colgate* 7:00 No. Pos. Cl. Name PPG RPG Note 23 at Bucknell* 1:00 13 G So. Jose Olivero 15.8 4.4 Team leader in pts, stls and assts. 28 Army* 7:00 30 Holy Cross* 2:00 10 G Jr. Joe Knight 12.2 4.2 23 points in Lehigh debut vs. PSU Feb. 3 C So. Jason Mgebroff 8.2 3.4 Shooting 55 percent from field 4 Colgate* 7:00 34 F Sr. Earl Nurse 5.0 5.6 25 rebounds in first four games 6 Bucknell* 2:00 11 at Army* 7:00 11 F Sr. Nick Monserez 4.8 4.0 12 pts, 4 rebs, 2 stls. vs. Albany 13 at Holy Cross* 1:00 Lehigh Top Reserves 19 Navy* 7:00 5 G/F So. Kyle Neptune 5.8 2.8 6-10 FG’s, 13 pts., 5 rebs. vs PSU 23 American* 7:00 21 G Jr. Mitch Gilfillan 3.3 1.0. 4th in PL in 3FG% at 50 percent 26 at Lafayette* 7:00 Mar. 1 G Fr. Erik Smith 4.3 1.3 Shooting 60% from 3-point range 4 Patriot League Tournament TBA 20 F Fr. Bryan White 1.8 1.4 Second on team in blocks 11 Patriot League Championship 4:30 32 F Jr. James Anderson 1.8 3.2 Career-high 7 pts vs. Dartmouth *Patriot League Game All times Eastern 44 F/C Jr. Mike Fischman 0.40 0.80 No turnovers this season Bold = Today’s Game LEHIGH HEAD COACH BILLY TAYLOR MEDIA INFORMATION Billy Taylor (Notre Dame ‘95) is in his third season and has an overall record of 39-25, earning Patriot League Coach of the Year honors in each of his first two seasons. In his Contact: rookie campaign, Taylor led the Mountain Hawks to an 11-game improvement over Mike Stagnitta the season before, the second largest turnaround in America. Last season the Aurora, Office: . (610) 758-6631 Illinois native led Lehigh to its first ever Patriot League regular season and tournament Cell: . (610) 509-6848 championships, as well as an appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time E-mail: . [email protected] since 1988. Press Row Phone: . (610) 758-4933 . (610) 758-4903 JOSE LEADS THE WAY Sophomore Jose Olivero has had the touch recently, averaging 23 points per game in On the Radio and Internet: Today’s his last two. The Fairfax, Virginia native had one of the best performances of his young game can be heard live on ESPN career in Lehigh’s game versus Dartmouth lighting up the Big Green for a career-high Radio 1230 AM and 1320 AM and on 29 points, including 3 of 5 from three-point range and 12 of 15 from the charity stripe. lehighsports.com with Matt Kerr Olivero also added a career-high four steals. In the Mountain Hawks victory over beginning at 12:30 pm. Albany, Olivero hit four of eight from the field en route to a team-high 17 points and pulled down a career-high seven boards. Olivero has led Lehigh in scoring in three of the first five games thus far. PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2004 Lehigh Athletic Media Relations Experience• 641 Taylor Street, Lehigh Bethlehem, Football PA • Phone 610-758-3174 2003 • Fax 610-758-4407 GAME SIX: LEHIGH AT STONY BROOK • PAGE 2 STUDENT-ATHLETES AT LEHIGH TODAY’S GAME Once again, Lehigh is ranked in the top-ten nationally in graduation rates. The Mountain Hawks have been ranked in the top-15 nationally in graduation rates for 17 LEHIGH AT STONY BROOK straight years. This is just the third all-time meeting between these schools, with the ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Mountain Hawks having won both Last semester saw five Mountain Hawks acheive a grade point average of 3.00 or better. contests. Lehigh recorded its first win The list included Dayne Mickelson (Computer Engineering), Nick Monserez (Market- of the season last year versus the ing), Jose Olivero (Arts and Sciences), Steve Callahan (Finance/Marketing), and was Seawolves at Stabler Arena by a score topped off by the two-time Scholar Athlete of the Year award winner, Kevin Tempest, of 64-49. In 2002, Lehigh defeated who registered a 3.83 in chemistry. Stony Brook 54-48 in New York as Matt Logie and Zlatko Savovic combined for CALL IN THE RESERVES 48 points. Lehigh has been able to look to its bench in the early going this season, and not lose a beat on the court. The Mountain Hawks top reserves (Neptune, Smith, White, Gilfillan LEHIGH LEADERS IN ‘04-05 and Anderson) are averaging 56 minutes per game, while contributing 14.6 points, 9 Jose Olivero 15.8 points/game rebounds and 4.2 assists. Earl Nurse 5.6 rebounds/game Jose Olivero 2.6 assists/game Jose Olivero 1.6 steals/game THE TAYLOR TRANSFORMATION Nurse/Mgebroff 0.60 blocks/game In just two years at the helm of Lehigh, Billy Taylor has taken the Mountain Hawks to new heights, including the 2004 Patriot League Championship: THE LAST TIME... • Two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year (2002-03 and 2003-04) LEHIGH VS STONY BROOK • Most wins in first two seasons in Lehigh history (36) Bethlehem, PA - Lehigh picked up its • 27-3 record at Stabler Arena - best in school history first victory of the 2003-04 season by • Has coached one Patriot League Player of the Year, three All-Patriot League selec- defeating the Seawolves 64-49 at tions, two All-Rookie team selections, and one All-American Stabler Arena. Austen Rowland led the • 2002-03: 11-game improvement, 2nd largest turnaround in Division I Mountain Hawks with 19 points, while • 2003-04: Led Lehigh to first ever Patriot League regular season and tournament Earl Nurse chipped in with 10 points championships and into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988 and seven boards. Stony Brook was led in scoring by Mitchell Beauford with 13 ON GUARD tallies. Lehigh’s starting guard tandem of Joe Knight and Jose Olivero are averaging 28.0 points this season, first among all starting backcourts in the Patriot League. Here is a LAST TIME OUT look at the rest of the league’s starting guards: LEHIGH VS ALBANY 1. LEHIGH (Olivero, Knight) - 28.0 5. Bucknell (Bettencourt, Lee) - 23.0 Bethlehem, PA - Lehigh placed four 2. American (Ingram, Lekavicius) - 25.5 6. Colgate (Reed, Roemer) - 20.6 players in double figures, led by 3. Army - (Bell, Oswley) - 24.6 7. Navy (Matthews, Greeene) - 15.8 sophomore Jose Olivero’s 17 points, as 4. Holy Cross - (Hamilton, Thomas) - 23.5 8. Lafayette (Harley, Betley) - 12.0 Lehigh won its 16th consecutive game at Stabler Arena 72-61 over Albany. Nick Monserez scored 12 points, while WELCOME TO LEHIGH Kyle Neptune and Joe Knight added 11 The Mountain Hawks four newcomers (Knight, White, Smith and Anderson) have fit in and 13 respectively for Lehigh in the perfectly with Lehigh right from the beginning. The quartet of Lehigh rookies are win. The Great Danes were led by getting over 57 minutes of action per game and are averaging 18 points, 9.6 rebounds, Lucious Jordan’s 19 points on the night. 3.8 assists and 2 steals in their time on the floor. TALE OF THE TAPE 2004-05 Statistics THIS SHOULD TURN INTO A WIN LU SB Lehigh was at its best last season when holding onto the basketball. The Mountain Points 62.0 66.2 Hawks were 19-8 when commiting less than 20 turnovers in a ballgame and just 1-3 FG% .394 .435 when turning it over more than 20 turnovers. In games played at Stabler Arena in Rebounds 36.6 28.8 which the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over fewer than 20 times, Lehigh registered Assists 12.4 11.0 a record of 13-1. Lehigh has turned the ball over less than 20 times an amazing 56 times FT% .664 .713 in Billy Taylor’s reign, putting together a record of 35-21 in those contests.