Indexed locally for search — headlines, people, teams, and short excerpts from reporting originally published in The Morning Call (1998–2010). Full article text on mcall.com; DRE'S TAKE links out and does not republish Morning Call copy.
Lehigh freshman C.J. McCollum was rewarded for his end-to-end domination and Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon was honored for leading a team not expected to do well to a third-place finish in the Patriot League regular season. McCollum averaged a league-best 27.8 points over the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette guard Jeff Kari did not write a Senior Day script for Sunday’s Patriot League matchup against Lehigh. It just seemed that way during a second-half stretch where Kari, energized by the crowd, drilling three straight 3-pointers. The Kirby Sports Center crowd went crazy.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →F lip a co in in the Patriot League. Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, Navy and defending Patriot league champion American all have a chance to finish the regular season in first place in men’s basketball. Lehigh has the most talent, including the top freshman in C.J. McCollum. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s not all fine and dandy that Lafayette will enter the second half of Patriot League play either in sole possession of first place or tied with Lehigh atop the standings. Never mind that the Leopards were picked to finish last in the league in the preseason. That’s a long…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh forward Zahir Carrington was already working the paint with vengeance. Then, he rocked the backboard with two dunks within one minute, five-second span in the early minutes of the second half at Stabler Arena, rousing the crowd of 3,849. That really got Carrington pumped…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh forward Zahir Carrington was already working the paint with vengeance. Then, he rocked the backboard with two dunks within one minute, five-second span in the early minutes of the second half at Stabler Arena, rousing the crowd of 3,849. That really got Carrington pumped…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →After surviving a scare, Lafayette can now get set for Lehigh. The Leopards, despite blowing a 13-point lead and committing 23 turnovers, clawed out a 61-57 victory over Bucknell Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Jared Mintz, Lafayette’s talented 6-foot-8 junior forward,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Jared Mintz has been smooth in the post ever since he arrived on Lafayette’s campus three years ago. On Tuesday, the 6-foot-8 Canadian unleashed his tough side, along with scoring touch, to key the Leopards’ 86-82 non-league victory over Hartford at Kirby Sports Center.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tipoff to the 2008-09 men’s and women’s basketball season for Lafayette comes Friday in a doubleheader at Kirby Sports Center. On Monday night at Lafayette’s basketball media day, men’s coach Fran O’Hanlon and women’s coach Tammy Smith, shared thoughts on the upcoming season and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The men’s basketball teams at Lehigh and Lafayette both ended the regular season in a way coaches fret about and in a way players wish they could have back. Lehigh, considered a preseason Patriot League title contender, lost its final three games and lost six of its last eight…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has a young basketball team that has been on a seesaw ride all season. Four days after an emotional win over rival Lehigh, the Leopards missed a barrage of jumpers, layups and free throws against Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. The lethargic shooting — not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has a young basketball team that has been on a seesaw ride all season. Four days after an emotional win over rival Lehigh, the Leopards missed a barrage of jumpers, layups and free throws against Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. The lethargic shooting — not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →March is not here yet. It just seemed like it Sunday afternoon as rivals Lehigh and Lafayette played a March Madness-like game at Stabler Arena. It featured a momentum shifts galore, fierce scrambles for loose balls, five ties, six lead changes, and spirited taunts…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s imaginable to go undefeated in conference play. It just doesn’t happen too often on any level in college basketball. Which is why the Muhlenberg women, 16-0 in Centennial Conference play, are determined to win at Dickinson tonight and at Ursinus on Saturday to close out the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Even before Canadian-born Jared Mintz could crawl, his father, Irv, decided what sport his son was going to play. “My dad put the [basket]ball in my crib,” Mintz, now a Lafayette College sophomore, recalled. Mintz was not going to be a great hockey player, even though Canada has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette experienced a 10-minute stretch in the second half of its Patriot League contest against Holy Cross where shots did not fall, where defensive stops were not made, and where a game that was tied just got away Saturday afternoon in Easton. The Leopards, who played…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The final 10 seconds of a wild game between rivals Lehigh and Lafayette was decided by free throws Saturday in Easton. Lafayette’s Jared Mintz missed his two foul shots, but Lehigh’s Zahir Carrington converted his two attempts with 3.0 seconds left to lift the Mountain Hawks to…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh and Lafayette are both winless on the road in Patriot League games and that does not bode well for Lehigh on Saturday afternoon, because that’s when the Mountain Hawks will visit the Leopards at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette is 2-0 at home and beat expected Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette drained the charge out of Navy in final three minutes with clutch shooting that included 8-for-8 perfection from the free throw line Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Senior guard Andrew Brown closed out the Leopards’ 84-69 win with two free throws with 33…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon usually likes to wait until January — when Patriot League games begin — to express what he likes and dislikes about his team and players. The Leopards improved to 2-0 with an 80-71 non-league win over Stony Brook in their home opener at Kirby Sports…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →One senior is better than none. Fortunately for Lafayette, its one senior is fourth-year starting guard Andrew Brown, who is one of the best players in the Patriot League. Brown led the Leopards in scoring last season at 15.9 points per game and he’ll have a bunch of baby-faced…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →So much for playing easy non-league basketball games. The Lafayette College men’s and women’s basketball teams are not doing that. The men, despite losing three senior starters to graduation, will host defending Atlantic 10 tournament champion Temple on Nov. 21 at Kirby Sports…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For a break from March Madness, here’s an important announcement from Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon: Speed, shooters and height are coming to College Hill in the fall. The veteran Leopards coach announced his second scholarship class on Wednesday, and it includes 6-10, 250-pound…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh freshman guard Rob Keefer scored six points in his first game, eight in his second and 12 in his third. Get the picture? He continued to improve, and eventually became a starter, winning six Patriot League rookie of the week awards. A graduate of Abington Friends, Keefer…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University guard Garrison Carr appears to be the leading candidate to win the Patriot League’s player of the year award. How can he not be? Carr, who’s gone from bench warmer in his first two seasons to the most feared guard in the league as a junior, is averaging 18.3…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has to play five more Patriot League war games, which is the way conference games tend to be throughout the country this time of season. Once the surprise team in the league after starting 5-1 for the first time since 1998-99, Lafayette has now lost three straight…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The free throw is the only shot in basketball that’s always uncontested, but it can also be the hardest shot when there’s less than a second left and your team is down by a point. That was the pressure-filled situation Lafayette senior Matt Betley was in after being fouled on…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh picked the wrong Lafayette player to foul Sunday afternoon with 1.6 seconds left in the second overtime. That’s because Lafayette senior guard Jamaal Hilliard is an 81-percent free-throw shooter, and was just waiting for the opportunity to close out his final home game at…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University guard Andre Ingram is one of those players who seems like he’s been playing college basketball for a lot longer than just four years. Lafayette probably wishes Ingram, a senior, had already graduated. That’s because once again the Leopards couldn’t contain…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette won’t be small in the middle next season. Nor the season the follows. Marek Koltun, a 6-10, 265-pounder, will likely be manning the paint, and who knows what towers Leopards coach Fran O’Hanlon will get to commit to Lafayette next spring. After all, O’Hanlon now has…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh coach Billy Taylor is playing a waiting game to see if he’ll be offered the vacant men’s basketball head coaching job at the University of Pennsylvania. Taylor confirmed in a statement released by Lehigh officials on Thursday that he has been contacted by Penn athletic…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Each December, Lafayette men’s basketball coach Fran O’Hanlon schedules a Division III team that he hopes will provide an easy victory. He’s smart for doing it, since the game is scheduled during a period when practice is voluntary because of exams. “For a number of them we…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette’s fun-and-gun style of basketball was enjoyed by those in attendance Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center in Easton. But coach Fran O’Hanlon wasn’t always happy with his trigger-happy, 3-point-launching players, despite the fact that the Leopards’ fire-it-up style made…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Junior guard Jose Olivero didn’t hesitate when he was asked to be Lehigh’s student-athlete representative at the Patriot League’s media day Thursday at the College Sports Television Network, located at Chelsea’s Pier. That’s because the event was in the Big Apple, the one city…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This time of the college basketball season, opinions on teams can vary from week-to-week, depending on how those teams play. Good teams don’t falter, suspect ones do. Last week, I touted Lafayette for having won two straight games. Then the Leopards got wiped out by a 71-33…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh did not die easy. And Lafayette refused to die on its own court. The Leopards had an 11-point lead with 1:48 remaining, which dwindled down to one, before settling for an 81-76 victory Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette had lost its previous game by 19…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Teams that make postseason runs in March usually start to play harder and smarter and win more convincingly at this time of the season. Lafayette has done that in its last two Patriot League games. Teams that have short runs in March usually do what Lehigh has done over its last…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Heartbreak City no longer has Lafayette as a tenant. Jamaal Hilliard, who ranks ninth in the nation in free-throw shooting, made sure of it. Hilliard made two free throws with 6.8 seconds left to clinch a 93-89 Patriot League overtime victory over American Saturday before a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette knew what was coming, but could not stop the Penn Quakers Tuesday night. That’s because the Quakers constantly scored off sharp cuts into the lane, dominated the boards, chalked up their share of steals and flew all over the Kirby Sports Center hardwood as if it were…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Perhaps the person who makes up the Patriot League schedule overlooked the fact that Lehigh and Lafayette are two neighboring teams with a storied rivalry. Otherwise, the first league meeting between the two would not have been scheduled for 8 tonight at Stabler Arena while both…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The excitement is slowly returning to Navy basketball. Though the Midshipmen’s 4-9 start has included a 75-69 loss to Division III Gettysburg on Dec. 18 in Annapolis, first-year coach Billy Lange is not discouraged. A stale offense was the main reason the Midshipmen compiled a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The real Patriot League games began Saturday. For Lafayette, no more top-25 teams like Louisville and Georgia Tech, both of whom drubbed the Leopards by more than 30 points. Lafayette will now only play teams more on its level, but those teams are more familiar with the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s talent pool is not as depleted as the Patriot League’s sports information directors and coaches preseason poll seemed to suggest. The Leopards were picked to finish sixth. It’s too late to change, but Lafayette will finish closer to the top than the bottom in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The speed and leaping ability of No. 9 Georgia Tech was unlike anything Lafayette College contends with in the Patriot League. But for 29 minutes Tuesday night, the Leopards were not overwhelmed by the Yellow Jackets. Lafayette actually held a four-point lead in the first half…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College has a slim chance of pulling off this college basketball season’s biggest upset Tuesday night in a non-league game against No. 9 Georgia Tech in Atlanta. But the Leopards (3-6) may not get too blown out of Alexander Memorial Coliseum, which is located on the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →For the first six minutes of the first half, Division III Moravian was taking it to Division I Lafayette Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Their umpers were falling, they were forcing turnovers, and the Greyhounds built a five-point lead. But then the talent disparity set…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette will experience on Dec. 28 what former Allen High star Ray Barbosa has already experienced when the James Madison sophomore and his teammates played then-No. 3 Georgia Tech Dec. 15 in Atlanta. Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon is in no rush to find out. “They are pretty…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette may be in for a long and frustrating season. And the Leopards’ 78-67 non-league loss to Drexel Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center may not be the worst of their woes. The Leopards (1-3) still have to play at No. 17 Louisville in the Cardinals’ home opener Saturday and…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Defending Patriot League tournament champion Lehigh isn’t worried about preseason predictions. They’ve been wrong the last two seasons. So Lehigh coach Billy Taylor doesn’t consider it a snub that the Mountain Hawks have been picked by the league’s coaches and sports information…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a physical Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal that featured bad shooting and players galore who tumbled hard to the hardwood floor Saturday at The Show Place Arena. Tempers of players and coaches flared. The rugged play never ceased. It was the last game of the day,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College guard Winston Davis left the Kirby Sports Center fans with perhaps a lasting memory of his athletic talent on Saturday. Desperate for a basket with Lafayette trailing by eight points, Davis froze his defender at the top of the key with a delayed dribble before…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College is in a must-win situation entering its regular-season finale at 3:15 today against American at Kirby Sports Center. In the last three games, all losses, the Leopards’ defensive and rebounding weaknesses have been exposed. “I saw them every day in practice,”…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →All that is apparently wrong with Lafayette College needs to get corrected soon. Otherwise, Lafayette won’t be playing too long into March. The Leopards’ weak rebounding, defensive lapses while trying to press and 1-for-13 shooting from leading scorer Justin DeBerry, were too…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College can now focus on its rematch with Lehigh. But the Leopards won’t carry any momentum into the showdown for first place in the Patriot League after being manhandled 79-61 by Bucknell Friday night. A crowd of 3,308, the second-largest at the 13-month-old Sojka…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College coach Fran O’Hanlon couldn’t have been more correct Saturday when he said, “We haven’t won anything yet.” O’Hanlon was responding to Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard’s statement that he had picked Lafayette to win the Patriot League title. Lafayette (18-5) beat…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was an elbow-throwing, body-flying, back-and-forth Patriot League game between Lafayette and Holy Cross Saturday at Kirby Sports Center. It was just like their first meeting on Jan. 17 in Worcester, Mass., which Lafayette won by two points in overtime. This time, Lafayette…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s bid for a 14-0 regular-season record in the Patriot League ended with the Leopards’ 85-77 loss to Colgate on Friday in Hamilton, N.Y. But the the Leopards’ hope to win the league’s regular-season and tournament titles remains alive. Even if Lafayette coach…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Sean Knitter’s mother calls often from Philadelphia to needle her son about the scholarship offer he did not accept from Saint Joseph’s four years ago. “How about Saint Joe’s?” Donna Knitter asks. “Yeah, I know,” Knitter says. Knitter, a junior center for Lafayette, would be a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Temple coach John Chaney will try for his 700th victory again tonight. If the Owls beat St. Bonaventure, Chaney will probably receive a standing ovation, and people closest to him will probably give him a hug, a pat on the back, and maybe even a kiss. And Chaney? He’ll surely…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →There are arenas that are great because of their style, seating capacity, or crowd noise. Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center is not exactly a state-of-the-art facility. It lacks the pizzazz of other venues because of its lack of theater-type seating and has a seating…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →With 56 seconds remaining in Sunday’s game at Kirby Sports Center, Lafayette senior Rob Dill emphatically blocked a Bucknell shot. Winston Davis, his teammate, recovered the ball just before it went out of bounds. But Bucknell, whose physical, defensive-oriented team had held…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center rocked like the Palestra in Philadelphia and all the other famous basketball venues in the country Friday night. Lehigh and Lafayette, both battling to remain undefeated in the Patriot League, went through 19 lead changes, a dramatic close…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Tickets are still available for tonight’s Lafayette-Lehigh men’s basketball game at Kirby Sports Center in Easton. But not many. “The game is almost sold out,” said Phil LaBella, Lafayette’s sports information director. That’s because two hot teams will be battling for first…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →He takes at least two insulin shots a day to help control his diabetes. Sometimes he’s woozy and so fatigued that he could just skip a practice or a game without anybody complaining. But the fire within Lafayette College senior forward Mike Farrell burns too much. He scores,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Games against teams from the PAC-10, Big East, Atlantic-10 and Ivy League are over for Lafayette College. The next 13 will all be against Patriot League opponents. That means the Leopards will likely play with more intensity, because the road back to the NCAA Tournament will…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Most players half-jog to the scorer’s table from the bench before entering the game. But Lafayette College forward Sean Knitter rushed with more intensity each time coach Fran O’Hanlon said, “Let’s go” during Saturday’s nonleague game against Cornell at Kirby Sports Center.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The lane closed quickly and was being clogged by Lafayette College backup 7-foot center Jamie Hughes. With just 3 seconds left on the clock, Drexel guard Jeremiah King had to attempt the shot that would either win or lose the non-league game Tuesday night at the Dragons’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The major changes at Lafayette College this season are in defensive toughness, rebounding and depth. But the one component in the Leopards’ game that has not changed is perimeter shooting. The Leopards are still hot as the desert from the outside, especially seniors Justin…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The game moved faster than Lafayette College probably would have liked Sunday night. So did American. As a result, Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon doesn’t have to worry about trying to get any more miles out of his players. American saw to that, using its speed on both ends of the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette won back-to-back Patriot League Tournament championships in 1999 and 2000 before Holy Cross became the league’s team to beat. So Leopards coach Fran O’Hanlon knows how to win in March. This weekend, he’ll get a chance to prove his astuteness again, as the Leopards try…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College junior Mike Farrell makes banging for rebounds, setting up teammates with pinpoint passes, and scoring inside against stronger and more athletic players look easy because of the consistent way he handles all skills. He doesn’t believe in giving a half effort.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lehigh and Lafayette have split their two regular season meetings, but both need to do better in their final two Patriot League games this week. If both go 2-0, they could end up as the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in the league tournament, which has its quarterfinal and semifinal rounds…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College senior guard Andrew Pleick saved his best scoring game for his final home game at Kirby Sports Center Sunday. He also handled the ball with exceptional care and did a good job distributing it to his teammates, much like he has all season. But when the Leopards’…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →About the only thing that kept Justin DeBerry from practicing in those scorching Tucson, Ariz., summers was a dust storm. Outside of that, the Lafayette College guard shot jumpers in his backyard for hours, unconcerned about heat stroke despite 100-degree temperatures. “You get…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis, two players Lafayette College needs to have solid performances in most games to have a chance to win, both struggled shooting Friday night against Bucknell at Kirby Sports Center. Without either in peak form, Lafayette couldn’t keep pace with a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →In normal games, Lafayette College guard Justin DeBerry could probably keep track of his rebounds in his head. But the 6-3 junior was scrapping so hard to get position and yank down boards in the Leopards’ 57-43 Patriot League victory over Army Wednesday night at Kirby Sports…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The 197th meeting between rivals Lehigh and Lafayette tipped off with enough fireworks to light up the city of Bethlehem Friday night. That’s because Lehigh and Lafayette went full-throttle at each other in a Patriot League game before a loud crowd of 3,892 at Stabler Arena. It…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lehigh men’s basketball coach who seemed to be tailor-made for the position will have the opportunity to prove himself and his team to the man who taught and motivated him back in Illinois. Dennis Taylor, whose son Billy is in his first season as Lehigh’s coach, will make…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College scrapped back with a much-improved offense, a hustling defense that forced turnovers, and just about everything else it had left over the final 10 minutes of the second half against the University of Pennsylvania Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center. But…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette College gets a break from its Patriot League schedule tonight, but the Leopards’ 7:30 home game against the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania is a step up in competition. It could be considered a level higher than the Leopards’ games against Arizona State on Nov.…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette threw everything it had at Patriot League heavyweight Holy Cross, except a knockout blow, Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. For Lafayette, there were guards Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis popping 3-pointers from way out. There was 6-10 center Rob Dill…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Coaching on the big-time level has brought big-time thrills to former Lafayette College assistant coach Pat Brogan, who is in his first season as an assistant coach at Penn State. But Brogan has not forgotten the eight seasons he spent coaching at Lafayette, a period that ended…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Going to the playground to play basketball was a chance for “Slim” to throw down dunks that often impressed the older players in Tampa, Fla. “I remember a few times where the old guys would be like, “Slim, you have the highest ups on our team, you have to give us something,’ so…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Those who wondered whether 28-year-old Billy Taylor could rescue the Lehigh men’s basketball team from the cloud it has been under for so long have their answer. Ten games into Taylor’s rookie season as a coach, Lehigh has confidence, better chemistry, and — best of all — a 6-4…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The only person walking around Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center with a mask on was the school’s mascot in Monday nights nonleague game against Albany. But it seemed as if the Leopards’ 6-10 center Rob Dill was also wearing a different face, one that was downright mean,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The losing streak is over. Thank the schedule makers for setting up a date for Lafayette with Division III Ursinus Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Lafayette, winless in its previous five games, took advantage of the many weaknesses from the undersized and overmatched Bears…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Winston Davis, the slasher, and Justin DeBerry, the shooter, are not so concerned that Brian Burke is no longer around to dial up 3-pointers with the game on the line for Lafayette. Neither is point guard Andrew Pleick or forward Mike Farrell, who, like Davis and DeBerry, would…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Billy Taylor was a man trying to adjust to a different environment in his first head coaching job, and to top it all off, he had to win over some of his emotionally depleted players — players who had just lost their coach and agonized through a 5-23 season. He also had a student…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The search for new players to fill the void left by graduating seniors and transfers led Lafayette men’s basketball coach Fran O’Hanlon into the European talent pool. O’Hanlon found two 6-7 forwards who, he said, are athletic but need work. In other words, Miran Omanovic, a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The closest highway is a short walk from College Hill in Easton, and Lafayette College coach Fran O’Hanlon doesn’t mind telling any player disgruntled with his role in to take that highway — Route 22 — and not worry about coming back. Simply put, it’s O’Hanlon’s way or the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This was for Ivy League bragging rights and the chance to make history. Shooting-wise, it was not a classic. Too many clanks off the rim early on to call the regular-season finale between Penn and Princeton that Tuesday night before an emotionally intoxicated crowd of 8,700-plus…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →This was for Ivy League rank and the chance to make history, a classic in the making. Shooting-wise, though, it was not a classic. There were too many clanks off the rim early on to call the regular-season finale between Penn and Princeton a classic. But that didn’t stop the…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →– Lafayette’s Brian Burke didn’t have it until the end. Teammate Winston Davis had it all game, especially when he soared for rebounds. Davis grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds Saturday afternoon, but the Leopards blew a 17-point lead before surviving a suspenseful finish to beat…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →I stopped by Lafayette College’s Kirby Sports Center on Monday and was amazed at the skinny kid with the braids gliding effortlessly through the air, doing windmill dunks and several other impressive slams. It was Leopards sophomore Winston Davis. I said to myself: “Why is this…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →American University hung around close enough to be a total pest to Lafayette Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. But Lafayette controlled the clock, the tempo, and in the end, the scoreboard thanks to a game-winning 3-pointer by Brian Burke. Burke’s 25-footer with 1.3…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Some may remember the ugly stuff — the errant passes, wild shots, hard falls and maybe even the Lehigh University mascot crawling underneath the back stage at one point. Others may remember the seven ties and five lead changes in the second half of the Lehigh-Lafayette Patriot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The noise level is more boisterous and the atmosphere more lively at the University of Pennsylvania’s Palestra than at any other college gymnasium in Philadelphia, especially in matchups between Big 5 teams. “This is a great place to play when it is filled,” Penn junior Ugonna…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The Lafayette Leopards got a break from Patriot League play, but that warranted no thanks to the schedule makers. Not even for Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon, who patroled the sidelines and matched wits against his former boss, Penn coach Fran Dunphy, throughout an exhilarating…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It’s mid-January now, the third week of league play all over the land. More rivals are hooking up, intensity escalating. What happened in November and December, setting the record straight, still matters. Just not as much. Win the league regular season title and gain extra…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →At times, the Patriot League opener between Lafayette and Bucknell seemed to be a battle of who could play the ugliest Wednesday night at Davis Gymnasium. There were hard falls, sloppy handling of the ball, and so many stretches where neither team seemed to know what to do with…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Rich Baker, the ex-Stroudsburg High star making his first homecoming appearance as a starting guard for Rider, swished a 3-pointer from deep in the corner for his first basket Wednesday night. For Baker, what happened after that was just as he had hoped. First, Rider used its…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Howard University coach Frankie Allen stood in stunned silence after a 3-pointer was made by Lafayette College senior guard Brian Burke late in the second half. Allen did a lot of the same throughout the Leopards’ 93-84 non-league victory Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 2,021…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Mini runs, that’s what Lafayette and Princeton had all game. Neither team could pull away until the final four minutes. Then the Leopards went cold from the outside and Princeton ran valuable time off the clock, punctuating their stall-offense possessions with layups as the shot…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →What happens when the head basketball coach goes on a rampage, criticizing one player in particular in front of everybody in the gymnasium? Both are boiling, the coach from repeating himself and not getting expected results, and the player from being berated by a man other than…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The night started with Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon, a Philadelphia native, having to listen to Drexel coach James “Bruiser” Flint being cheered by Dragons fans after receiving an Internet award for being the best-dressed coach in college basketball. “I knew I wasn’t even in…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was a game that was lost in a crushing way, kind of like The Grinch waiting for everybody to go to sleep before stealing gifts. Only this was a game Lafayette had control over, holding leads of seven points in both halves. But carelessness with the ball and missed layup…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Fear in the form of 6-foot-6, 320-pound St. Peter’s center Kamaal McQueen was hustling toward Lafayette College’s Brian Burke. Not much would have been left of the skinny Burke had McQueen landed on him. Burke was thinking the same thing before using a swift move to avoid a…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Lafayette has been close. Really close to Miami of the Big East in the second half on Saturday. The Leopards also led Penn State by 13 points in the first half last Wednesday. The two road games ended in defeats, 75-66 to Penn State and 79-69 to Miami. Lafayette beat Albany,…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →They wait. They think, visualizing as best they can how the season-opening college basketball game will go. Winning big, yes that’s it, but the butterflies are still there. So are the what-ifs, like “What if we lose?” Like us, the nationally ranked team getting upset by the team…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →Opening the basketball season with opponents his team would be favored to beat is not something that entices Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon, even if that decision ultimately leads to the Leopards getting blown out. After opening its season at Albany of the lightly-regarded…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →The guessing game doesn’t work on College Hill. So don’t ask Lafayette men’s basketball coach Fran O’Hanlon to pick a number of games he might win in the 2001-02 season. He can’t do it. He doesn’t want to do it. Besides, a fair prognostication cannot be made now. The Leopards…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →You can look at the 102 losses in five seasons and wonder why Sal Mentesana continues to have passion for his job as coach of the Lehigh men’s basketball team. “I’ve never questioned what I do,” the 53-year-old Mentesana said. “I love this. My passion for the game has not…
· Andre D. Williams
Read on mcall.com →It was the 11th day of December last year, a trial-filled day that Lafayette senior guard Brian Burke couldn’t stop thinking about as he stood at the podium accepting the ECAC Award of Valor on Oct. 2 in Hyannis, Mass. Stories of players returning to play Division I basketball…
· Andre D. Williams
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