The Mount Union men's basketball team opens the New Year at the Louis Fleming Basinger Memorial Tournament hosted by Lycoming (Pa.) College after an 11-day layoff. The Purple Raiders open play against Immaculata (Pa.) on Monday, January 2nd at 8 pm.
LIVE STATS and AUDIO will be available for both games.
Monday's game against Immaculata will feature a pair of 3-7 teams looking to stop multiple-game losing streaks. After a 3-1 start, Mount Union has lost six straight games. Those six games have been decided by just 37 points. Losers of three straight, the Mighty Macs lost their last game by 40 points to Montclair State on December 20th.
Immaculata has used a seven-man rotation thus far with no other players that average more than four minutes played per game. With only one player in that rotation taller than six-foot-three, the Mighty Macs are led by a trio of veteran guards.
Junior Nelson Torres paces the Mighty Macs at 16.0 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game while fellow junior Todd Stokely contributes 12.3 points per game and a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game. Senior Rob Siter has been in the starting lineup after missing the first four games of the season and is scoring 14.5 points per game while pulling down 4.5 rebounds per game.
On Tuesday, the Raiders will face either host Lycoming or Penn State-Abington. The consolation game begins at 2 pm with the championship to follow at 4 pm.
Lycoming enters the tournament with an unblemished mark of 10-0. The Warriors have the 17th-best scoring offense in the nation, averaging 86.2 points per game. They defeated Penn State-Behrend, 65-58, in their last outing.
Junior point guard Jerald Williams is among the nation's best, ranking first in assists (9.2) and second in steals (4.2) to go with 7.2 points per game. Williams is already the school's all-time leader in steals and will likely claim that title for assists at the end of the tournament. He recorded a school-record 21 assists against Mount Aloysius a week ago, earning a spot on D3Hoops.com's Team of the Week.
An Ohio native from Columbus, 6-5 sophomore Kevin Anthony leads the way for Lycoming at 17.5 points per game. Joining him in double-figures are Anthony Martin (13.4) and Mike Bradley (11.5).
Penn State-Abington (3-6) enters the tournament having lost six of their last seven after a 104-90 loss to Hartwick (N.Y.) Thursday night.
The Nittany Lions are led by 6-0 sophomore guard Mike Colacci, who is averaging 14.9 points per game on the season. Senior point guard William Alton is averaging 11.1 points per game and 5.9 assists per game. Sophomore forward Mike Marvin leads the way with 10.2 rebounds per game to go with 13.0 points per game.
Mount Union comes into the tournament at 3-7 overall after dropping six straight games. Five of those six losses have been by six points or less. The Purple Raiders are scoring 68.6 points per game while allowing opponents to score 68.9 points per game.
Senior forward Jimmy Wood (Wintersville/Indian Creek) leads the Ohio Athletic Conference at 19.9 points per game while shooting 42.9-percent from beyond the three-point arc. If he stays true to his average at Lycoming, Wood will surpass Scott Endsley and Dave Scarpitti to rank 23rd on Mount Union's all-time scoring list. He also grabs a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game.
Freshmen Nate Jacubec (Struthers/Struthers) and Stevie Griffin (Canton/Massillon Jackson) have been among the leading scorers for the Raiders this season. Jacubec has started in all but one game and is averaging 9.7 points per game. Griffin has come off the bench in nine games and is averaging 7.4 points per game. Both players have made 14 three-pointers on the season.
Junior point guard Justen Little has steadied the team since being inserted into the starting lineup seven games ago. Little ranks second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.83:1) and second in the OAC in assists (3.50).
Making a Home in the Keystone State
The Raiders have found success playing in Pennsylvania so far this season. The Raiders earned a pair of wins over Grove City (Pa.) and Geneva (Pa.) at the Coaches vs. Cancer Tip-Off Tournament. All three wins on the season have come over schools from Pennsylvania.
Up Next
The task for the Raiders does not get any easier when they return to Ohio. Five of their next six games are on the road with four of those games coming against teams in the top half of the conference. They will travel to Ohio Northern on Saturday, January 7th for the first game of the trek.
Projected Mount Union Starters
- #22 Clayton Patton, 6-3, Fr., G – 5.1 ppg
- #4 Jimmy Wood, 6-6, Sr., F – 19.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 42.9% 3FG
- #45 Matt Kiger, 6-5, Jr., C – 6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
- #20 Nate Jacubec, 5-11, Fr., G – 9.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg
- #3 Justen Little, 5-11, Jr., G – 1.7 ppg, 3.5 apg, 2.4 rpg
Mount Union Player Notes
Tom Berlekamp - Jr., F, North Royalton/Holy Name
- Played and started in 7 games this season
- Averaging 2.6 ppg and 5.7 rpg
- Career-high in points (7), rebounds (14), and assists (4) vs. Grove City (11/18/11)
- Career-high 5 steals at Geneva (11/19/11)
- Transferred from Lakeland Community College
Jimmy Darnley - So., F, Canton/GlenOak
- Averaging 1.2 ppg in 5.6 mpg off the bench
- Career-high 5 points at Ohio Northern (2/12/11)
- Career-high 4 rebounds vs. Wilmington (2/5/11)
T.J. Gillespie - So., G, Toledo/St. John's
- Averaging 6.6 ppg
- Has scored in double-figures twice this season
- Missed 2 games earlier in the season due to an injury
- Season-high 19 points vs. Grove City (11/18/11)
- Career-high 20 points vs. Ohio Northern (1/8/11)
- Career-high 5 assists vs. Otterbein (1/22/11)
Stevie Griffin - Fr., F, Canton/Massillon Jackson
- Third on team in scoring (7.4) and second in 3-pointers (14) in 9 games off the bench
- Has scored in double-figures twice this season
- Coaches vs. Cancer Tip-Off Tournament MVP
- Career-high 22 points and 6 three-pointers off the bench at Geneva (11/19/11)
- Career-high 8 rebounds and 4 assists vs. Westminster (11/22/11)
- Played for Coach Fuline and won 2010 OHSAA Division I state title at Massillon Jackson High School
Nate Jacubec - Fr., G, Struthers/Struthers
- Second on team in scoring (9.7) and assists (21)
- Has scored in double-figures five times this season
- Career-high 17 points vs. Westminster (11/22/11) and vs. John Carroll (12/10/11)
- Career-high 3 three-pointers vs. Grove City (11/18/11)
- Career-high 8 rebounds vs. Wilmington (12/17/11)
- Career-high 5 assists vs. Hiram (11/15/11)
Matt Kiger - Jr., F, Williamstown, W.Va./Williamstown
- Averaging 6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg
- Leads the team in field goal percentage (.758)
- Made first start of the season against Muskingum (12/21/11)
- Season-high 11 points at Geneva (11/19/11), vs. Otterbein (12/3/11), and vs. Muskingum (12/21/11)
- Season-high 6 rebounds at Waynesburg (11/26/11)
- Career-high 20 points at Otterbein (12/4/10) and vs. Waynesburg (12/30/10)
- Career-high 9 rebounds vs. Waynesburg (12/30/10)
Justen Little - Jr., G, Galion/Galion
- Has started the past 7 games at point guard
- Ranks second in the nation and first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.83:1)
- Ranks second in the conference in assists (3.5)
- Career-high 5 points vs. Westminster (11/22/11)
- Career-high 5 rebounds at Geneva (11/19/11)
- Career-high 7 assists vs. Otterbein (12/3/11) and vs. Wilmington (12/17/11)
Clayton Patton - Fr., G, Bolivar/Tuscarawas Valley
- Averaging 5.1 ppg
- Made first career start vs. Muskingum (12/21/11)
- Career-high 11 points at Capital (12/10/11)
Colton Troyer - Jr., F, Millersburg/Berlin Hiland
- Averaging 5.9 minutes off the bench
- Transferred from Hesston College (Kan.)
Matt Wier - Sr., F, New Castle, Pa./Mohawk
- Averaging 6.8 ppg and 4.1 rpg
- Season-high 19 points vs. Hiram (11/15/11)
- Career-high 28 points vs. Ohio Northern (12/12/09)
- Career-high 9 rebounds at Hiram (11/15/10), vs. Waynesburg (12/30/10), and vs. Hiram (11/15/11)
- Played one season on a baseball scholarship at West Virginia
Keith Williams - Jr., G, Louisville, Ky./Brown
- Averaging 4.7 ppg off the bench
- Leads the team in steals (14)
- Career-high 13 points to go with 4 steals and 3 assists in season debut vs. Westminster (11/22/11)
Jimmy Wood - Sr., F, Wintersville/Indian Creek
- Has scored 1,017 career points
- Scored 1,000th career point on three-pointer to go ahead by 2 points with less than a minute remaining in regulation vs. Wilmington (12/17/11)
- Leads the conference in scoring (19.9)
- Leads the team in rebounding (6.1) and 3-pointers (27)
- Recorded second career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds vs. Westminster (11/22/11)
- Season -high 10 rebounds vs. Westminster (11/22/11)
- Career-high 32 points vs. Wilmington (12/17/11)
- Career-high 12 rebounds at John Carroll (2/22/11)
- Father, Jim, played basketball at Georgia Tech
