Jan. 15, 2004
HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) - Alvin Reed had 19 points and seven assists to lead
Colgate (8-6, 1-1 PL) over Holy Cross 71-65 Wednesday night, knocking the three-time defending Patriot League champion Crusaders (7-8, 1-1 PL) out of a tie for first place in the standings.
Three teams remain tied in the top spot after two of 14 League games. Lafayette downed visiting Army (76-40) American won at Navy (80-58) and Lehigh held off Bucknell (75-70) to all remain tied for first place in the standings with 2-0 League records.
The outstanding performance from Wednesday has to go to American senior guard Andres Rodriguez, who crushed the League record for assists in a game with 19 helpers in the Eagles' win at Navy. That breaks the PL record of 16 helpers in a game, set by Bucknell's Russell Peyton vs. UMBC in 1991. It is also just three assists off the NCAA record, shared by Tony Fairley of Charleston Southern (1987), Avery Johnson of Southern University (1988) and Sherman Douglas of Syracuse (1989).
Two key contests Saturday have the 11-4 Leopards traveling to Worcester, Mass., to face the 7-8 Crusaders. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., either Lehigh (9-6) or host American (8-8) will suffer its first loss of the season. Saturday's other two games pit Colgate at Army (3-11) and Navy (3-12) at Bucknell (3-11).
Wednesday in Hamilton, N.Y., after trailing 35-31 at halftime, Holy Cross took a 46-42 lead with 13:29
left before Colgate tied it at 48-48 on Mark Linebaugh's 3-pointer. The Raiders
scored the next 11 points to take the lead for good. Linebaugh had 13 points for Colgate (8-6).
Nate Lufkin led Holy Cross (7-8) with 15 points, and John Hurley added 14
points and seven rebounds. Kevin Hamilton (13 pts.) and Keith Simmons (10) also hit double-digits for the Crusaders.
At Lafayette, the Leopards gained a 76-40 victory over Army in Kirby Sports Center on Wednesday. The Leopards are off to their first 2-0 start in League play since the 1999-2000 season and are also 8-0 at home this season.
The 40 points allowed were the fewest by a Lafayette team since a 47-40 win at Colgate on Jan. 2, 1985. The 36-point difference was Lafayette's largest margin of victory all-time over Army.
After Lafayette opened a 10-0 lead in the early going, Army put together an 18-3 run in just over five minutes to take an 18-13 lead with 10:06 left in the half.
Senior guard Winston Davis then sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a Pat Betley triple, accounting for all the points in a 9-0 Leopard run, to send the Leopards back in front, 22-18. Army (3-11, 0-2) scored five straight, but Justin DeBerry connected from beyond the arc to put Lafayette in front for good, 25-23. Davis banked in a running, 35-footer at the first-half buzzer to stretch the lead to 34-25 at the break.
The Leopards outscored Army 30-4 over the first 12 minutes of the second half to blow the game open. The lead swelled to as many as 38 points as the Leopards out-scored the Black Knights 42-15 in the second stanza.
Lafayette held a 37-27 edge on the boards and forced 23 Black Knight turnovers.
Josh Wilson led Army with 19 points, 15 in the first half alone. Sean O'Keefe was also in double figures with 10 points.
Davis led the Leopards with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three. His five three-pointers are a new career high. Mike Farrell was 5-of-5 from the floor for 11 points, while DeBerry and Marcus Harley added 10 apiece.
At Stabler Arena, Lehigh overcame strong efforts from Donald Brown and Charles Lee to earn a 75-70 victory over Bucknell. Jose Olivero scored 20 points to lead Lehigh while Austen Rowland added 18 points for the Mountain Hawks.
Lee scored 23 points to pace Bucknell while Brown scored 22 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the floor for the Bison. Chris McNaughton and Kevin Betterncourt each added 10 points for Bucknell.
Balanced scoring helped Lehigh to the win, with 10 of the 11 players who took the floor for the Mountain Hawks scoring at least two points. Earl Nurse added 5 blocked shots for Lehigh.
At Annapolis, freshman guard Andre Ingram scored a game-high 27 points to lead American to a 80-58 victory over Navy.
Andres Rodriguez had 19 of 26 assists for American and scored 11 points. He and Matej Cresnik each grabbed six rebounds.
David Hooper led Navy (3-12) with 21 points.