Patriot League Notebook
The American Way
Here’s a plan for all you losing programs out there. Switch your conference affiliation – preferably to one that has competition you can beat. After getting smacked around in the Colonial for years (they finished 7-20 last season), the American Eagles find themselves atop the Patriot League with a 4-1 conference record, 10-8 overall. The DC-school’s proudest moment came on December 22nd, when Jeff Jones’ program upset Florida State (which, by the way, beat Duke, you RPI’ers!), the first time a Pat League team ever beat an ACC opponent. Patrick Doctor (enter medicine or house call joke here) is a big reason for the Eagles’ success. He is averaging a little over 12 points a game (leads team) and brings down 5.5 rebounds a game. American travels to Holy Cross for a 3 PM contest on Saturday, January 26th.
Tight for Two
There is a four-team logjam for second place. Lafayette, Army, Navy and Bucknell all have 3-2 conference records, but sadly, none of these teams has over a .500 overall record. Lafayette and Army are both even at 9-9. Things should loosen up a little bit this weekend, when Army travels to Navy on January 26th.
Foyle Forever
The Colgate athletic department has just announced it will retire forward Adonal Foyle’s number before the Red Raiders’ February 9th game against Holy Cross. Foyle, currently starring in the frontcourt with the Golden State Warriors, is only the fourth player in Colgate history to have his uniform number retired. While at Hamilton, he became the second leading scorer in school history with 1,776 points and the leading rebounder with 1,103. And let’s not forget his blocked shots milestone of 492, which still leads the NCAA to this day. Now if only Foyle stayed for a full four years . . .
Jeanpierre! Il un bon homme!
Navy’s junior guard Jason Jeanpierre was named the Patriot League Player of the Week. This marks the second straight week that a Navy guard has been bestowed with the honor (Jehiel Lewis won it last week). The guard from Clifton Park, NY helped lead the Middies in overtime victories against Lehigh (19 points, 5 rebs, 4 steals) and Colgate (24 points, 7 assists).
Holy Cross’s Nate Lufkin took home the Rookie of the Week award for the third straight week and fifth time this season.
The Leaders of the Pat (Vroom! Vroom!)
Scoring: Chris Spatola, Army; 17.1 points per game, 13.6 in Patriot League play.
Rebounding: Boakai Lalugba, Bucknell (great name to say on a long, dull rainy day) 7.8 rebounds per game, had 15 against Cornell on 11/26.
Assists: Tie, Chris Spatola, Army and Holy Cross’s Jave Meade with 5.2 assists per game.
