Sports News: Spring 2008

Monday, March 3, 2008

MORAVIAN TO HOST JOHN JAY COLLEGE IN NCAA DIVISION III TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND GAME

INDIANAPOLIS, IN --- The Moravian College men’s basketball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament in 25 years as the Greyhounds will host John Jay College in a first round game in Johnston Hall on Thursday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m. Tickets will be $6 for adults and $3 for youth, students and seniors. Click here for the complete bracket.

Moravian enters the game with an overall record of 18-8 after losing three straight games and made the NCAA Tournament as a Pool B team, one of four independent schools to make the field of 59.  Pool B is for schools that compete as independents or those in conferences without an automatic berth to the tournament.  With the Landmark Conference, which Moravian is a member, in its first season, there is no automatic berth to the conference champion.  The Landmark Conference will receive an automatic berth beginning with the 2009-10 season.  The University of Scranton, which won the 2008 Landmark Conference Championship, also received one of the four Pool B berths to the tournament.

The Bloodhounds will come to Bethlehem with an overall record of 13-15.  John Jay enters the NCAA Tournament as the City University of New York Athletic Conference champion and is making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.  The winner of Thursday’s game between Moravian and John Jay will head to defending National Champion Amherst College for a second round game on Saturday, March 8th at 7:00 p.m.

The Greyhounds, who finished the 2007-08 regular season with an overall record of 18-7 and a 9-5 slate in the Landmark Conference, re in the postseason for the first time in five years.  Moravian fell to Scranton, 79-78, in a Landmark Conference Semifinal on February 27th in Johnston Hall.

Moravian head coach Jim Walker has the Greyhounds in the playoffs for the eighth time in his 28 years as head coach.  Walker, who has a record of 371-331 at Moravian and a mark of 386-341 in 29 years of coaching, has the Greyhounds playing at home for just the third time in the postseason in his tenure and in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1982-83 when Moravian lost to Scranton, 73-59, in the first round and then Grove City College, 76-54, in a consolation game.  Walker and his staff were honored last week as the Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year.

Senior guard Ryan Miller (Easton, PA/Easton HS), who was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team, leads a quartet of players in double figures for Moravian, tossing in 16.0 points per contest with a team high 67 three-pointers (the second highest single season total in school history), 64 rebounds, 58 assists, 23 steals and two blocked shots despite having missed two games with an injury.  Miller, who became the 18th 1,000-point scorer in school history, now 16th with 1,077 points, and set the school career record for three-pointers currently with 158, is also ranked second nationally in free throw percentage at 93.9 percent (62 of 66). 

Senior forward Chris Earley (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan HS), who has missed a game with an injury, is netting 14.1 points and grabbing a team high 7.6 rebounds per contest while adding a team leading 65 assists, 30 steals, 22 three-pointers and a team high 23 blocked shots while senior forward Mark Franzyshen (Somerset, NJ/Immaculata HS) is contributing 13.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game to go with 36 assists, 23 steals and 21 blocked shots. Earley was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team and the Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Year while Franzyshen earned a spot on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team.

Senior forward Eric Whitman (Blairstown, NJ/Notre Dame East Stroudsburg {PA} HS) is adding 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game with 54 three-pointers, 34 steals, 26 assists and nine blocked shots.  Freshman guard Maurice Young (Philadelphia, PA/Chestnut Hill Academy), who has missed two games this season, is contributing 7.2 points per contest while adding 46 assists, a team high 38 steals, 44 rebounds, 15 three-pointers and five blocked shots while sophomore forward Eric Weaver (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury HS) is netting 5.0 points per outing to go along with 68 rebounds, 21 assists, 15 three-pointers, eight steals and a pair of blocked shots. 

Freshman forward Chris Cullen (East Islip, NY/East Islip HS) is adding 4.4 points per outing to go with 42 rebounds, 14 three-pointers, six assists, six steals and four blocked shots.  Senior guard Chris Bays (Hackettstown, NJ/Pope John XXIII HS), who has started three games this season, has 44 points, 24 assists, 17 steals, eight three-pointers and 15 rebounds off the bench for the Greyhounds while freshman guard Steve Siracusa (New Providence, NJ/Ne Providence HS) has added 49 points, 49 rebounds, 19 assists, five three-pointers, 11 steals and two blocked shots while starting two contests. 

Freshman guard Ryan O'Donnell (Succasunna, NJ/Roxbury HS) has netted 19 points and added four rebounds, two assists and two steals while sophomore guard Patrick Bray (Neshanic Station, NJ/Somerville HS) has eight points, all at the foul line, and two assists.  Sophomore forward Joseph Munley (Macungie, PA/Emmaus HS) has 13 rebounds and 11 points in limited action this season while freshman forward Alvin Adams (Newark, NJ/Marist HS) has 12 rebounds, three blocked shots, three steals and two points in his debut season.

John Jay, which won the CUNYAC title for the first time with a 68-54 win over York (NY) College, has an overall mark of 13-15 on the season after winning its last four games.  Bloodhound head coach Charles Jackson is in his third year in charge of the program.

Sophomore forward Vaughn Mason leads John Jay on the court, averaging a team high 14.1 points per game to go along with a team high 63 three-pointers, 37 assists, 34 steals, ten blocked shots and 4.2 rebounds per contest.  Junior guard Miguel Garcia is averaging 10.1 points per outing for the Bloodhounds to go along with 43 rebounds, 19 three-pointers, 15 assists, ten steals and three blocked shots.

Senior forward Alex Valerio is contributing 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game to go along with 20 assists, 20 steals and five blocked shots while senior forward Hakeem Kased has an average of 8.7 points per contest to go with a team high 6.2 rebounds per outing, 58 assists and 29 steals. Kased was the Most Valuable Player of the CUNYAC Tournament. 

Sophomore forward Chris Jaeger is also adding 8.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game with team highs of 37 steals and 14 blocked shots to go along with 36 assists while senior guard Emilio Gomez has a team leading 78 assists to go with 35 steals, 73 rebounds, 20 three-pointers and an average of 6.6 points per game.  Sophomore guard Grady Pierce has contributed 125 points, 42 rebounds, 29 steals, 24 assists and ten three-pointers this winter for the Bloodhounds while senior forward Robert Pierce has 70 points, 57 rebounds, 11 steals and six blocked shots this season.