Hamilton, NY — When the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Raiders (14-13, PL 6-8), seeded sixth, begin play in the 2004 Patriot League Basketball Tournament, they will have a familiar opponent. For the third straight year, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and Lafayette (18-9, PL 9-5), seeded third, will face each other in the quarterfianl round when the tournament tips off on March 6 at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Game time is 7:30 p.m.'xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø-Lafayette winner will meet the winner of the American-Army game on Sunday night, March 7, at 7:30 p.m.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø will be looking for a reverse of fortunes. Lafayette has won the previous two quarterfinal round matchups – 74-71 in 2002 and 89-76 in 2003.
During regular season, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and Lafayette split their series with both teams winning on their home floor. The Leopards took a 97-86 decision in Easton, PA., before 51³Ô¹ÏÍø knotted Lafayette from the undefeated ranks in league play 75-66 in Hamilton.
This is the 72nd meeting between 51³Ô¹ÏÍø and Lafayette with the Raiders leading the overall series, 39-33.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø comes into the tournament with three players averaging in double figures led by senior forward Howard Blue with 13.6 points per game – fifth in the Patriot League. After missing six straight Patriot League games with a knee injury, Blue has seen action in the last five games. Also in double-digits are senior guard Mark Linebaugh (12.9) and sophomore guard Alvin Reed (11.2). Linebaugh is 7th and Reed 11th in the Patriot League in scoring.
Junior center Andrew Zidar is the leading rebounder in the Patriot League with 6.6 caroms per outing and is averaging 9.4 points per game (18th in PL).
Reed leads the team in assists with a personal season-best 91 and steals with 35. Linebaugh is second in assists with 79, followed by Zidar with 51. Freshman Kendall Chones, three-time Patriot League Freshman of the Week, leads in blocked shots with 11.
Linebaugh is 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s top free throw shooter making .806 percent of his shots.