The Oldest College Newspaper in Pennsylvania

The Lafayette

The Oldest College Newspaper in Pennsylvania

The Lafayette

The Oldest College Newspaper in Pennsylvania

The Lafayette

Freshmen filling in for undermanned Leopards

By Michael Kelley

Photos by Bihn Pham/ The Lafayette and Nicole Maselli/ The Lafayette

Three games down, and the Lafayette Men’s Basketball team stands at 2-1. After losing its season-opener to La Salle, the Leopards completed the Francis sweep, beating St. Francis, Penn. and St. Francis, N.Y.

With injuries to starting point guard Tony Johnson ‘13 and forward Levi Giese ‘13, the Leopards have been forced to turn to freshmen. Seth Hinrichs ‘15, Joey Ptasinski ‘15 and Dan Trist ‘15 have stood up to the challenge.

“The freshmen have stepped up,” guard Jim Mower ‘12 said. “But it isn’t something we didn’t expect with their level of talent coming in.”

Through the first three games, the freshmen trio has scored 22, 14 and 25 points, respectively.

In Wednesday night’s home-opener, the Leopards took down St. Francis, N.Y., who took Big East Conference member Seton Hall to overtime.

“We knew going in that they were a team that could shoot the ball,” Mower said. “Closing them out high on the key and forcing tough shots was the main focus.”

The Leopards entered halftime with a comfortable 35-26 lead but went ice cold, not scoring a point for the first six minutes.

The Terriers opened up the second half on a 13-0 run. The Leopards broke out of their slump and regained the lead, draining 3-pointers in three straight possessions.

Clutch free throws by Trist, Willen, Mower and Co-captain Rob Delaney ’12 put the game away and sealed the 79-73 victory.

Four Leopards hit double digits, including Willen with a game high 20, Delaney with 14, Mower with 13 and Ptasinski with 12.

Terriers’ forward Travis Nichols ‘13 dropped 25 points against Seton Hall, but scored only 15 before fouling out with 1:30 remaining.

The Terriers stayed in it through offensive rebounds. Overall, the Terriers got 22 offensive compared to the Leopards’ 11.

“Rebounding is something we are going to need to continue to improve as the season progresses,” Mower said.

In Monday night’s 84-81 win against St. Francis, Penn., the Leopards gave up another halftime lead but were able to hold on for the victory due to 14 3-pointers and 22 made free throws. Two free throws by Les Smith ‘14 sealed the victory.

The Leopards, however, had only 14 points in the paint compared to St. Francis’ 32.

In their season opener against La Salle, the Leopards never led and shot only 36 percent from the field. Out-rebounded 44-26, La Salle had numerous second chances.

Overall, the Leopards are pleased with where they stand three games into the season.

“We have three new freshmen involved in the rotation and a couple of guys playing new positions, so it hasn’t been as smooth as it could be,” Delaney said.

Despite the injuries, the Leopards are playing tough.

“I love the toughness of this team and how we battle with adversity,” Delaney said. “College basketball is such a roller coaster that adversity is half the battle.”

The Leopards take on Wagner at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night at home.

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