Sports News: Winter 2007-08

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

MORAVIAN’S MILLER, EARLEY & FRANZYSHEN NAMED TO MEN’S BASKETBALL LANDMARK ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS;
GREYHOUND STAFF RECOGNIZED AS LANDMARK CONFERENCE COACHING STAFF OF THE YEAR & EARLEY NAMED DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF YEAR

MADISON, N.J. --- Seniors guard Ryan Miller (Easton, PA/Easton HS) and forward Chris Earley (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan HS) of the Moravian College men’s basketball team have been named to the 2008 Landmark All-Conference First Team while senior forward Mark Franzyshen (Somerset, NJ/Immaculata HS)  earned a spot on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team.  Greyhound head coach Jim Walker and his staff were honored as the inaugural Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year while Earley was named the Defensive Player of the Year as released by the conference office.

Moravian has posted an 18-7 record this season including a 9-5 mark in the inaugural Landmark Conference campaign to earn the second seed in the upcoming Landmark Conference Tournament.  The Greyhounds will host The University of Scranton for a semifinal game on Wednesday, February 27th at 7:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.

Walker, pictured at right, and his assistant coaches of Ken Greb, Tyler Tripucka, Dennis Robison and Jeremy Walker have the Greyhounds in the postseason for the first time in five years and the eighth time in Walker's 28 seasons as Moravian’s coach.  This is the second time in his career that Walker has been honored by a conference for his work on the court during the season.  Greb, Tripucka and Walker are former players under coach Walker while Robison also played at Moravian as an undergraduate.

Miller, pictured at left, is tossing in 16.1 points per contest with a team high 65 three-pointers (the second highest single season total in school history), 62 rebounds, 56 assists, 22 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 1,063 points, and set the school career record for three-pointers currently with 156, is also ranked second nationally in free throw percentage at 93.9 percent (62 of 66). 

Earley, who has missed a game with an injury, is netting 13.8 points and grabbing a team high 7.6 rebounds per contest while adding a team leading 60 assists, 28 steals, 20 three-pointers and 22 blocked shots.  Earley, pictured at right, was also named to the Lehigh Valley Small College Men’s Basketball Team of the Year.

Franzyshen is contributing 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game to go with 34 assists, 22 steals and 21 blocked shots.

Joining Miller and Earley on the Landmark All-Conference First Team were guard Randy Arnold and forward Tom Bicknell from Scranton, guard Josh Robinson and forward Kevin Cuff from Susquehanna University and forward Brian Cannon of Juniata College.

Alongside Franzyshen, pictured at left, on the Landmark All-Conference Second Team were guard Zach Ashworth of Scranton, guard Chris Lopez from Drew University, forward Jason Banzhaf of The Catholic University of America and guard Kyle Opitz from Juniata.

Robinson was named the first-ever Landmark Conference Player of the Year while Banzhaf garnered the Rookie of the Year award.