Lakers Look to Extend Streak :: Men's basketball hosts Northwood on Thursday and Saginaw Valley State on Saturday

Men's basketball hosts Northwood on Thursday and Saginaw Valley State on Saturday

Jan. 29, 2008

ABOUT THE GAMES
• Mercyhurst returns to the friendly confines of the Mercyhurst Athletic Center after playing four-straight GLIAC games on the road. The Lakers enter the week 10-10 overall and are 6-5 at home. With a 4-6 GLIAC mark, the Lakers currently hold down the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division. The Lakers are also coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since Dec. 16-17.
• On Thursday the Lakers take on Northwood, who enters with a 10-9 overall record and a 5-5 mark in the conference. Northwood has won five of its last six, but has played just five road games (2-3).
• On Saturday, Saginaw Valley State visits the Mercyhurst Athletic Center at 3 p.m. The Cardinals are coming off a 71-49 loss to Grand Valley State, which dropped their season record to 8-10 overall and 3-7 in the GLIAC. Since starting conference play, Saginaw Valley is 1-3 on the road.
• Thursday's game will be broadcast on WMCE 104.9 and 88.5 FM and online at http://wmce.mercyhurst.edu/. Thursday and Saturday's games will also be broadcast on the B2 Networks.
• On Saturday, Mercyhurst will have a "Back to the Future" night, honoring the players from the 1972-73 and the 1977-78 teams that reached the NAIA playoffs.

SCOUTING NORTHWOOD
• Northwood features a balanced scoring attack with three players averaging double figure scoring. Aaron Simpson leads the way with 15.1 points per game. He is also the team's top 3-point shooter, hitting 57-of-122 for 47 percent, which is the third-best percentage in the GLIAC.
• Mark Barnes is the team's top inside option with 13.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. That average ranks second in the GLIAC.
• Northwood is third in the conference in 3-point field goal defense, holding teams .330 percent shooting. It is also one of the top rebounding teams in the league, ranking first in defensive rebounds and second in rebounding offense.

SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY STATE
• The Cardinals have won two of their last three games, and have been led in scoring by Mario Mackey in each of the last two. Mackey is averaging a team-best 17.5 points per game and 18.3 in nine conference games. Four Cardinals are averaging double figure scoring. Lawrence Ross enters the week with a 15.5 point per game average, Dante Williams, the team's top 3-point shooter is averaging 14.7 points per game and is shooting 45 percent from three.
• Mike Zuiderveen is the conference's best rebounder, averaging 12.7 boards per game. He is the only player in the GLIAC to be averaging a double-double, as he is scoring 10.9 points per game.

ABOUT THE SERIES
• Northwood and Mercyhurst have evenly split the 12 meetings with each team winning six. The two teams met twice in 2006-07, with each team winning on its home floor. Mercyhurst has won four of the last six meetings and are 3-2 since Gary Manchel took over in 2003-04.
• Mercyhurst and Saginaw Valley State have met 17 times and the Cardinals hold a slight 9-8 edge in the series. The Lakers have won four of the last six and are 3-2 under the direction of Gary Manchel. Saginaw Valley won the last meeting by a 71-68 score.

THE LAST MEETINGS
• On Jan. 11, 2007 in Midland, Mich., Mercyhurst struggled early, scoring just 20 first half points. Northwood caught fire in the second half, however, shooting 68 percent from the floor to defeat the Lakers 74-66. Avi Fogel paced the Lakers with 25 points. Enrique Hope and Eric Giesow each scored 20 for Northwood.
• The Lakers traveled to University Center on Jan. 13, 2007 to face Saginaw Valley State and was turned away by a 71-68 score. Shelby Chaney scored 25 points for the Lakers and Mercyhurst drew within one in the final minute but could not overcome the Cardinals, who opened the second half with a 21-10 run to pull ahead for good.

THE LAST TIME OUT
• Trailing by three with six minutes remaining, the Mercyhurst men's basketball team went on an 18-7 run to close the game and come away with a 68-60 win at Wayne State on Jan. 26.
• Junior Brian McTear sparked the late Laker charge, scoring 10 of his team-high 20 points in the final six minutes.
• McTear, after hitting a game-winning free throw against Hillsdale Thursday evening, hit 7-of-9 from the field including 3-of-3 from 3-point range Saturday. Smith chipped in 16 points and four assists, and T.J. Mathis tallied 15 points and five rebounds.

TWICE AS NICE
• Terry Smith registered his first double-double of the season and his first since 2005 with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Hillsdale on Jan. 24. Mercyhurst has had five double-double performances from four players this season. Milos Bogetic leads the team with two, and Smith, T.J. Mathis and Brian McTear each have one.
• The team has posted a 4-1 record this season when a player has recorded a double-double.

20 TO WIN
• Mercyhurst's three guards, Terry Smith, T.J. Mathis and Brian McTear have combined for nine 20-point games this season. They are the only players on the roster to have totaled 20 points in a game. Smith leads the team with five 20-point efforts, McTear has three, including two in the last three games, and Mathis has one to his credit.
• When Smith scores at least 20 points, the team is 4-1. The lone loss came along with his season-high 25-point performance against Felecian on Nov. 17. On the year, the Lakers are 6-2 when a player scores at least 20 points.

HOLDING THEM DOWN
• Mercyhurst is averaging 64.5 points per game, but the team is playing excellent defense, holding opponents to just 65 points per outing. The Lakers have held opponents to fewer than 70 points 16 times this year. Nine of Mercyhurst's last 11 opponents have failed to score more than 67 points. The Lakers are 9-5 when they hold opponents to 67 points or less.

A HELPING HAND
• While leading the team in assists per game, Brian McTear has been showing a knack for scoring, dropping 20 points three times in the last six games. Still, he ranks first on the team and fifth in the conference in assists with 80 total and an average of 4.0 per game. He also ranks fourth in assists/turnover ratio at 1.48. Nine times this season he has totaled four or more assists. McTear has recorded at least two assists in 18 of 20 games.
• Against Ashland, he handed out 10 assists and committed just one turnover.
• Mercyhurst has recorded 20 or more assists three times this year, including 22 assists to just 11 turnovers against Ashland on Jan. 10. When the Lakers record at least 16 assists in a game, they are 5-1.

BLOCK PARTY
• Freshman Iddo Cohen has quickly made his presence felt on the defensive end, as he ranks fifth in the GLIAC in blocks per game (1.35). His most impressive outing of the season came against Edinboro, when he totaled a career-high five blocks. It was the best single-game total by any Laker since Jeff Daisley tallied eight against Ferris State on Jan. 19, 2006.
• Cohen has recorded at least two blocks in seven of the team's 20 games.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
• On Jan. 10 against Ashland, Terry Smith made four 3-pointers, tying him with Jason Ioppolo for first in career 3-pointers made. Two days, later, against Findlay, Smith hit two more, giving him 174 3-pointers on his career and a new school record. He now has 179 in his career. Smith also has attempted 477 3-pointers and is 61 shy of Richard Bradley's record of 538.
• With two second half free throws against Michigan Tech on Nov. 29, Terry Smith totaled his 1,000th career point. He became just the 15th player in school history to accomplish the feat.
• In 20 games this season, he has moved from 24th to 8th on the all-time scoring list. With 1,217 points, he now trails Rashe Raviere by 17 points for seventh.
• Smith, with 57 made 3-pointers this season, needs 20 to tie Kerry Baker's (1992-93) single season record of 77.
• Along with being a standout scoring threat, Smith ranks sixth in career steals with 180 and needs two to pass Todd Lee (1983-87) for fifth place. Also, with eight more assists, Smith will crack the school's career top-10 list. He currently has 263 in his career.

MERCYHURST MILESTONES
• By defeating Ashland on Jan. 10, Laker head coach Gary Manchel earned his 200th career victory, improving his career record to 202-186 in 14 seasons. In just four seasons at Mercyhurst, Gary Manchel has moved into fourth place on the school's list of all-time winningest coaches with 71 total victories. He ranks third in winning percentage.
• On Saturday, Dec. 1, the Lakers picked up the 500th victory in the history of the program with a 63-55 win over Northern Michigan. The program has averaged nearly 14 wins a year throughout its history and has a winning percentage of .516.

BOMBS AWAY
• Through the first 20 games of the season, the Lakers have hit an average of 7.75 3-pointers per game, which ranks sixth in the GLIAC. The team has drilled 155-of-457 3-point shots and has made at least five in all but one game. Terry Smith leads the team with 57 threes and is shooting 39 percent. He also ranks second in the conference in 3-pointers made per game.
• With 155 makes, the Lakers are on pace to hit 210 by the end of the regular season. That would be just the second time in school history that a team made more than 200 3-pointers in a season. The only other time came in 1991-92 when the Lakers hit 226-of-587 from long range.
• Four times this season, the Lakers have hit 10 or more 3-pointers, and against Ohio Valley, the Lakers knocked down 14-of-25 from long range, falling one shy of the school record that was set against Lake Superior State in 2006.
• Against Ashland on Jan. 10, the Lakers fired 38 3-pointers, setting a new school record for attempts in a game.
• Individually, Terry Smith is on pace to make 77 3-point field goals (averaging 2.75 per game). The current single season record is 77 and is held by Kerry Baker (1992-93). Smith is also on pace to attempt 194 3-pointers, which would come close to Richard Bradley's record of 200 that he set in 1998-99.

GRAND THEFT
• Mercyhurst's guards have been pestering opponents this season, with two players ranking in the top three in the conference in steals.
• Terry Smith leads the GLIAC with 52 steals, averaging 2.6 per game. He has totaled six in a game twice this season. He needs only four more to match his career single-season best of 52, which he posted in 2005-06. Smith has totaled at least four steals six times.
• T.J. Mathis has totaled 49 in 20 games for an average of 2.45 per game, ranking him second in the GLIAC in steals per game. He has recorded five steals three times this season.
• In the first 4:27 against Gannon, he totaled four steals.