Army West Point Athletics
Black Knights Head to Lafayette Thursday
January 04, 2017 | Men's Basketball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army remains away from West Point for its second consecutive league road test of the year on Thursday at Lafayette.
That contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip in the Kirby Sports Center.
Army has dropped its last two games and four of its last five outings. During that span though the Black Knights largest margin of defeat was to Monmouth on Dec. 10 by 10 points. Each of the other three losses have come by single digits. Lafayette recently defeated Loyola in Baltimore, 78-69, on Monday. The Leopards rebounded after dropping their conference opener on Dec. 30 to Colgate, 85-75. In Lafayette's last two outings, the Leopards have seen good scoring production from Matt Klinewski and Nick Lindner. The two have combined for 74 of Lafayette's 153 points (48%) during that span.
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV • RCN
VIDEO • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.)
• SiriusXM Satellite Radio
Sirius 132, XM 203
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • www.GoLeopards.com
TICKETS • www. GoLeopards.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Lafayette
ABOUT THE LEOPARDS
Three earned double digit scoring in Lafayette's last outing at Loyola on Monday. Sophomore Paulius Zalys led the way with a team-best 17 points, following by Eric Stafford and Matt Klinewski with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Klinewski and Myles Cherry pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while Nick Lindner dished out a game-high four assists. The Leopards finished the night shooting an impressive 56 percent from the floor.
Overall Klinewski is leading Lafayette, averaging 16.4 points per game. Lindner is a close second posting 13.1 points per outing. Klinewski is also cleaning up the boards, earning 6.2 rebounds per contest. The Leopards have strung together two consecutive wins just once on the year with back-to-back victories over Saint Peter's and NJIT. Lafayette is currently last in the league in scoring defense, giving up 77.4 points per game. The Leopards are however fourth in the league with a .445 field goal percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
Army battled a strong Bucknell squad on Monday night but came up just short, 84-76. Jordan Fox had himself a night though posting a career-best 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead all scorers. The sophomore added 4-of-6 makes from long range, while going a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. His 26 points marked the fourth time this season the Jackson County, Ky., native reached 20-plus points. Matt Wilson added 15 points after finishing the night 7-of-10 from the floor. The rookie went 1-for-3 at the charity stripe and finished as Army's second-best rebounder with seven.
Bucknell led by as many as 12 at the break and 16 with 14:27 left in the game, but the Black Knights slowly started to chip away at the deficit, pulling to within 76-70 with three minutes to play. Unfortunately, Army wouldn't get any closer than six in the remaining minutes as the home team finished the night shooting 50.8 percent from the floor the secure their 10th win of the season.
Lafayette head men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon registered his 300th career victory on Monday evening as the Leopards pulled off a 78-69 win in their Patriot League road opener. O'Hanlon, the Patriot League's all-time winningest coach, moves his career mark to 300-340 with all 640 games with the Maroon and White. Additionally, he owns Patriot League records for games coached (640) and league games coached (298).
Senior captain Nick Lindner came through late with the shot that would eventually seal the game for Lafayette. With the clock winding down under the 30-second mark and the Leopards up by two, the senior pulled up from the top of the key and buried a three to push the lead to five, 74-69, moving the game out of reach from a Greyhound comeback. Sophomore Paulius Zalys was efficient in his 24 minutes of action, leading Lafayette in scoring with a season-high 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. The offense was run brilliantly for the majority of the night as the Leopards went 28-for-50 from the floor (56.0%). They connected on just four of 13 attempts from beyond-the-arc, but made up for that with an 18-for-20 mark (90.0%) from the foul line.
A WIN OVER LAFAYETTE WOULD...
Hand Army its seventh win of the season and make it two straight over the Leopards. It would also hand the Cadets their first win of the early Patriot League season.
ARMY VS. PATRIOT LEAGUE TEAMS
The Black Knights are 263-377 all-time against current members of the Patriot League. Of the nine other schools in the league, Army has faced Navy (125 times), Colgate (119 times) and Lehigh (105 times) the most. Army leads three series against Patriot League schools in Colgate (61-58), Lehigh (63-42), and Loyola (4-3). The Cadets have also competed against American (10-26), Boston University (8-14), Bucknell (21-52), Holy Cross (21-62), Lafayette (27-43) and Navy (48-77).
SHARP SHOOTIN'
Rookie Matt Wilson is currently leading the Black Knights and league with his .676 field goal percentage. The first-year has converted on 71 of his 105 attempts from the floor. Mac Hoffman is also having a solid senior campaign, holding a .500 field goal percentage to go along with his .703 mark (26-of-37) at the charity stripe.
EFFICIENCY IS KEY
Strong shooting and the ability to spread the ball around are both keys to Army's success. The Black Knights' 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio is second the Patriot League, while their 16.4 assists per game and 44.4 field goal percentage rank first and fifth, respectively. With no one truly dominating the ball offensively, it is helping to create open looks for shooters on the outside, where the Cadets are tops in the conference with 9.9 made 3-pointers per game.
SOPHOMORE SWAG
Jordan Fox has really emerged as a leader for the Black Knights. He currently leads Army and is 11th in the Patriot League averaging 13.5 points per game. What's more impressive though is how he's scoring. The sophomore has converted on 69 of his 141 attempts from the floor. That's good enough for .489 percent shooting, which has him sixth in the league. Things don't stop there, as Fox is first in the conference with a .471 mark from behind-the-arc. He is averaging 2.3 treys per outing, which is third in the league as well. In addition to that, Fox leads the team with a .905 percentage from the charity stripe. Lastly, the Jackson County, Ky., native is second in the conference with a 2.3 assists-to-turnover ratio, recording 64 assists to just 28 turnovers.
NEXT UP
Army is back in the comfy confines of Christl Arena on Sunday for a 1 p.m. tilt with Loyola. The Greyhounds are at Lehigh on Thursday before heading to West Point three days later. Loyola is currently sitting with a 1-1 mark in league play heading into Thursday's contest.
That contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip in the Kirby Sports Center.
Army has dropped its last two games and four of its last five outings. During that span though the Black Knights largest margin of defeat was to Monmouth on Dec. 10 by 10 points. Each of the other three losses have come by single digits. Lafayette recently defeated Loyola in Baltimore, 78-69, on Monday. The Leopards rebounded after dropping their conference opener on Dec. 30 to Colgate, 85-75. In Lafayette's last two outings, the Leopards have seen good scoring production from Matt Klinewski and Nick Lindner. The two have combined for 74 of Lafayette's 153 points (48%) during that span.
TV • RCN
VIDEO • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.)
• SiriusXM Satellite Radio
Sirius 132, XM 203
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • www.GoLeopards.com
TICKETS • www. GoLeopards.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Lafayette
ABOUT THE LEOPARDS
Three earned double digit scoring in Lafayette's last outing at Loyola on Monday. Sophomore Paulius Zalys led the way with a team-best 17 points, following by Eric Stafford and Matt Klinewski with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Klinewski and Myles Cherry pulled down a team-high six rebounds, while Nick Lindner dished out a game-high four assists. The Leopards finished the night shooting an impressive 56 percent from the floor.
Overall Klinewski is leading Lafayette, averaging 16.4 points per game. Lindner is a close second posting 13.1 points per outing. Klinewski is also cleaning up the boards, earning 6.2 rebounds per contest. The Leopards have strung together two consecutive wins just once on the year with back-to-back victories over Saint Peter's and NJIT. Lafayette is currently last in the league in scoring defense, giving up 77.4 points per game. The Leopards are however fourth in the league with a .445 field goal percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
Army battled a strong Bucknell squad on Monday night but came up just short, 84-76. Jordan Fox had himself a night though posting a career-best 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead all scorers. The sophomore added 4-of-6 makes from long range, while going a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. His 26 points marked the fourth time this season the Jackson County, Ky., native reached 20-plus points. Matt Wilson added 15 points after finishing the night 7-of-10 from the floor. The rookie went 1-for-3 at the charity stripe and finished as Army's second-best rebounder with seven.
Bucknell led by as many as 12 at the break and 16 with 14:27 left in the game, but the Black Knights slowly started to chip away at the deficit, pulling to within 76-70 with three minutes to play. Unfortunately, Army wouldn't get any closer than six in the remaining minutes as the home team finished the night shooting 50.8 percent from the floor the secure their 10th win of the season.
Lafayette head men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon registered his 300th career victory on Monday evening as the Leopards pulled off a 78-69 win in their Patriot League road opener. O'Hanlon, the Patriot League's all-time winningest coach, moves his career mark to 300-340 with all 640 games with the Maroon and White. Additionally, he owns Patriot League records for games coached (640) and league games coached (298).
Senior captain Nick Lindner came through late with the shot that would eventually seal the game for Lafayette. With the clock winding down under the 30-second mark and the Leopards up by two, the senior pulled up from the top of the key and buried a three to push the lead to five, 74-69, moving the game out of reach from a Greyhound comeback. Sophomore Paulius Zalys was efficient in his 24 minutes of action, leading Lafayette in scoring with a season-high 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. The offense was run brilliantly for the majority of the night as the Leopards went 28-for-50 from the floor (56.0%). They connected on just four of 13 attempts from beyond-the-arc, but made up for that with an 18-for-20 mark (90.0%) from the foul line.
A WIN OVER LAFAYETTE WOULD...
Hand Army its seventh win of the season and make it two straight over the Leopards. It would also hand the Cadets their first win of the early Patriot League season.
ARMY VS. PATRIOT LEAGUE TEAMS
The Black Knights are 263-377 all-time against current members of the Patriot League. Of the nine other schools in the league, Army has faced Navy (125 times), Colgate (119 times) and Lehigh (105 times) the most. Army leads three series against Patriot League schools in Colgate (61-58), Lehigh (63-42), and Loyola (4-3). The Cadets have also competed against American (10-26), Boston University (8-14), Bucknell (21-52), Holy Cross (21-62), Lafayette (27-43) and Navy (48-77).
SHARP SHOOTIN'
Rookie Matt Wilson is currently leading the Black Knights and league with his .676 field goal percentage. The first-year has converted on 71 of his 105 attempts from the floor. Mac Hoffman is also having a solid senior campaign, holding a .500 field goal percentage to go along with his .703 mark (26-of-37) at the charity stripe.
EFFICIENCY IS KEY
Strong shooting and the ability to spread the ball around are both keys to Army's success. The Black Knights' 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio is second the Patriot League, while their 16.4 assists per game and 44.4 field goal percentage rank first and fifth, respectively. With no one truly dominating the ball offensively, it is helping to create open looks for shooters on the outside, where the Cadets are tops in the conference with 9.9 made 3-pointers per game.
SOPHOMORE SWAG
Jordan Fox has really emerged as a leader for the Black Knights. He currently leads Army and is 11th in the Patriot League averaging 13.5 points per game. What's more impressive though is how he's scoring. The sophomore has converted on 69 of his 141 attempts from the floor. That's good enough for .489 percent shooting, which has him sixth in the league. Things don't stop there, as Fox is first in the conference with a .471 mark from behind-the-arc. He is averaging 2.3 treys per outing, which is third in the league as well. In addition to that, Fox leads the team with a .905 percentage from the charity stripe. Lastly, the Jackson County, Ky., native is second in the conference with a 2.3 assists-to-turnover ratio, recording 64 assists to just 28 turnovers.
NEXT UP
Army is back in the comfy confines of Christl Arena on Sunday for a 1 p.m. tilt with Loyola. The Greyhounds are at Lehigh on Thursday before heading to West Point three days later. Loyola is currently sitting with a 1-1 mark in league play heading into Thursday's contest.
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Forward/Center
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