January 6, 2024
#13 Lafayette 72, Lehigh 63
The Mountain Hawks love nothing more than to come to the Kirby Center and take us down a notch. They come fairly close to achieving this goal; we know we've been in a basketball game when the final buzzer sounds.
Byron Shores scores 30, going 5-8 from behind the arc, but he also commits 6 turnovers. We have 17 TOs as a team, which is one reason why Lehigh can keep the score close.
Kenton Lashley adds 15 points and
Micah Rodriguez 10, and
Kurt Ritchie is his usual productive self with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Record: 16-1 (1-0).
January 10, 2024
#10 Lafayette 89, Holy Cross 81 (OT)
This matchup of Patriot League blue-bloods is as good as you'd want it to be.
The Crusaders' senior guard,
Rico Peterson, is one of the best players the Patriot League has ever seen. The nation's leading scorer, Rico dropped 54 points on Texas A&M in a 100-99 victory last month, one shy of the all-time record.
Tonight Rico almost singlehandedly saves his team from defeat with his inspired play in the last 30 seconds of regulation time. He rebounds THREE Crusader misses from behind the arc--one of them, his own shot--before he finds
Steve Cao for the three-ball that ties the score as time runs out.
Peterson finishes with 17 points, and his tenacity earns applause from a partisan crowd at the Kirby Center, who are feeling charitable after
Byron Shores (27 points) and
Kenton Lashley (26)enjoy big nights offensively for the home team.
Jeffrey Hampton is the only other Leopard to score in double figures (12), but
Kurt Ritchie collects 13 rebounds and turns back 5 shots.
Lashley adds 5 assists and is named Player of the Game.
Record: 17-1 (2-0).
January 13, 2024
#10 Lafayette 57, Navy 40
More than two-thirds of the shots taken tonight are missed, so unless you particularly enjoy rebounding, you wouldn't enjoy watching this one.
Byron Shores' 19 points leads all scorers.
Kenton Lashley finishes with 11 points, but he shoots 3-for-16 (3-13 from three-point distance). Shores is named the PoG, but I'd have voted for
Kurt Ritchie, on the strength of his 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
A win is, however, still a win.
Record: 18-1 (3-0).
January 14, 2024
Code:
Top 25
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
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1. Illinois (67) 17-0 1795 2 Big Ten Conference
2. Georgetown (4) 16-1 1718 3 Big East Conference
3. Southern California (1) 15-2 1659 5 Pacific-10 Conference
4. North Carolina 14-1 1594 4 Atlantic Coast Conference
5. Florida 15-2 1465 9 Southeastern Conference
6. Oklahoma 13-3 1322 1 Big 12 Conference
7. Lafayette 18-1 1266 10 Patriot League
8. Kansas 15-4 1213 6 Big 12 Conference
9. Pittsburgh 13-2 1187 12 Big East Conference
10. Miami 13-2 1158 13 Atlantic Coast Conference
11. Marquette 13-2 1135 15 Big East Conference
12. Texas 14-4 967 8 Big 12 Conference
13. Mississippi State 14-3 927 19 Southeastern Conference
14. Texas A&M 14-3 923 7 Big 12 Conference
15. Kansas State 14-2 775 22 Big 12 Conference
16. Stanford 14-3 774 20 Pacific-10 Conference
17. UNLV 15-1 726 17 Mountain West Conference
18. Kentucky 13-4 614 11 Southeastern Conference
19. Boston College 13-3 587 NR Atlantic Coast Conference
20. UCLA 14-3 384 NR Pacific-10 Conference
21. Tennessee 13-3 380 14 Southeastern Conference
22. Vanderbilt 13-4 227 18 Southeastern Conference
23. Old Dominion 15-2 209 NR Colonial Athletic Association
24. Connecticut 14-2 122 21 Big East Conference
25. Washington 13-4 122 24 Pacific-10 Conference
Others Receiving Votes:
Memphis 13-3 69 Conference USA
New Mexico 14-3 48 Mountain West Conference
George Washington 13-2 17 Atlantic 10 Conference
Milwaukee 14-3 11 Horizon League
Oregon 12-5 3 Pacific-10 Conference
West Virginia 14-3 2 Big East Conference
Oral Roberts 15-3 1 Summit League
We remain #1 in the Mid-Major poll, again sweeping the 72 first-place votes.
January 17, 2024
#7 Lafayette 71, @American 56
I remember recruiting the Eagles' senior star,
David Poynter, as a high school senior. Now he's a college senior, one of the Patriot League's better players. David scores 17 points and grabs 11 rebounds, reminding me why I thought he'd be a good player one day.
Kenton Lashley and
Micah Rodriguez are good players, too. Lashley scores 21 and Rodriguez nets 16 on a night when
Byron Shores scores only 7, and Micah adds 3 steals.
Once again, we don't shoot especially well (40.4% from the floor), but it's good enough to win when we play good defense.
Record: 19-1 (4-0).
January 20, 2024
@ Colgate 96, Lafayette 75
Ouch.
An away date with the Red Raiders, 3-1 in Patriot League play, was destined to be a tough one, but we completely forget how to play defense, commit way too many turnovers, and end up getting hammered. Is this the worst defeat
Graham Sims has endured? It might be.
Sophomore big man
Elisha Brunelle has his way with the Leopards: 15 points, 14 rebounds. His classmate,
Oscar Joseph, scores 23.
Kenton Lashley scores 17 for us, but he also turns the ball over 5 times.
Byron Shores and
Micah Rodriguez score 13 and 12 respectively, but they also commit 3 turnovers each.
Kamari Stone is more careful with the ball (4 assists, 2 turnovers), but he doesn't score a single point.
We lose the top spot in the Patriot League, too. Let's move on.
Record: 19-2 (4-1).
January 24, 2024
#11 Lafayette 88, Bucknell 54
The boys return to the Kirby Center in a dangerous mood, and exorcise the bad vibes from their trip to Colgate with a thrashing of the visiting Bison.
Tonight we commit only 8 turnovers, shoot 32-for-58 from the field, and sink 13 of our 27 threes. We force Bucknell to jack up crappy shot after crappy shot; they finish 23-for-70. It's a completely different Leopards team.
Byron Shores leads the way with 23 points, while
Kenton Lashley scores 18 with 5 assists.
Micah Rodriguez plays 18 minutes and scores 20 points. But the star of stars is
Kurt Ritchie, who scores 8 points, snags 12 rebounds, and rejects 6 shots.
Record: 20-2 (5-1).
January 27, 2024
#11 Lafayette 62, Army 46
This year's team can be wildly inconsistent offensively. They'll follow a dominant performance with a head-scratchingly uninspiring one...like today's
contest at the Kirby Center.
Kenton Lashley is the primary offender today. He takes 11 shots, 10 from distance, and makes one. Only
Byron Shores, who scores 22 on 8-for-16 shooting, is immune from the team's case of brickitis.
However, when Coach Sims' teams don't shoot well, they often compensate by playing especially rugged defense.
K-Lash epitomizes this trend, too; he steals the ball 3 times and blocks a shot.
Holy Cross beats Colgate, 77-53, so we regain the conference lead at the midway point of the schedule.
Record: 21-2 (6-1).
Code:
2023 Patriot League Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
-------------------------------------------------------------
#11 Lafayette 6 1 .857 21 2 .913 5 76
Holy Cross 5 2 .714 15 6 .714 115 53
Colgate 5 2 .714 13 8 .619 82 35
American 3 4 .429 8 13 .381 241 42
Bucknell 3 4 .429 8 13 .381 120 40
Army 3 4 .429 7 15 .318 146 40
Lehigh 2 5 .286 10 11 .476 117 35
Navy 1 6 .143 11 10 .524 253 32