Men look to rebound at home

What: Edinboro Fighting Scots @ Kutztown Golden Bears
When: Saturday, January 10, 2009 @ 3 p.m.
Where: Keystone Hall on the campus of Kutztown University

The KU men’s basketball team will take on Edinboro on Saturday afternoon to open up the home portion of its 2008-09 PSAC schedule. The Golden Bears began this season strong, exploding to 9-0 record, before being swept at the hands of Gannon and Clarion this past weekend. KU was the pre-season pick to win the PSAC East, but there may be some questions now that they are off to a disappointing 0-2 start against teams in the conference. Gannon smoked KU 88-58 on Saturday before Clarion used a last second shot to take Sunday’s game 87-85. Fortunately for the Golden Bears, they still have Saturday’s game against Edinboro and Sunday’s contest at home against Lock Haven to gather some momentum for PSAC East play, which will begin on Jan. 14 at East Stroudsburg.

Meanwhile, the Edinboro Fighting Scots enter the contest at 10-1 and are fresh off a weekend sweep of Mansfield and Bloomsburg. EU took care of MU on Saturday by a score of 86-77 before handing BU a 94-78 loss on Sunday. Edinboro was a regional contender last season and appears to be a threat again this time around. One year ago, the Fighting Scots fell in the PSAC title game to California (Pa.) 73-65 before advancing to the NCAA East Regionals where they were eliminated by Millersville 64-61.

Speaking of last year, these teams did meet once early last season at Keystone Hall. The Golden Bears led 41-38 at the half, but the Fighting Scots battled back and overcame late-game free throw shooting woes to hold on for an 87-84 victory. Stephen Dennis was the game’s high scorer, dropping 30 points, while also hauling in 10 rebounds. Joe Jones scored 23 points to lead the Scots.

Probable Starters:
Edinboro:
F- # 13 – Vlad Kovalevsky
F- # 34 – Justin Moore
G- # 11 – Kyree Brown
G- # 5 – Joe Jones
G- # 2 – Gil Cummings
Kutztown:
C- # 44 – Mark Bower
F- # 52 – Ryan Washington
G- # 34 – Dave Ben
G- # 24 – Andre Woodlin
G- # 14 – Stephen Dennis

Scouting Report:
The Golden Bears are led by the two-headed monster of junior guard Stephen Dennis and senior guard David Ben [Pictured at top of page]. Dennis leads the team with 21.8 points per game and 55 assists and is tied with Ben for the team lead in steals with 30 a piece. Ben averages 21.2 points a game. Both players are shooting above 50% this season and both have exactly 61 rebounds in 2008-09. Sophomore Ryan Washington will start at power forward. He averages 11.8 PPG, fourth best on the team, while hauling in a team-best 7.5 rebounds per game and shooting a team-best 62.5% from the field. He is also third in assists (36), first in blocks (24), and fourth in steals (14). Senior guard Andre Woodlin averages just less than 13 points and just under 4 rebounds a game. He is fourth on the team with 34 assists and third with 25 steals. The fifth starter will be senior center Mark Bower, who replaced junior Jeremy Coombs in the lineup earlier this season. Bower plays just under 19 minutes a game, averaging 5.2 PPG and 3.7 RPG.

Freshman guard Julius Gray is the top reserve for KU this season, playing 22.5 minutes per game. The rookie is scoring 6.5 points a game, has 22 assists, and 12 steals. Sophomore guard Steve Coffey and freshman guard Omar Ford-Bey are also likely to see a few minutes of work in backcourt.

Although he has played sparingly while recovering from injury, Coombs is the top reserve in the frontcourt. Freshman forward Ryan White should see about 10 minutes of action, while freshmen forwards Jordan Wenner and Chris Vrabel could see a few minutes as well.

Edinboro is led by senior guard and PSAC leading scorer Joe Jones, who scores just over 23 points a game. He shoots 52.9% from the field, 37% from long range, and leads the team with 28 steals and 49 assists. Senior guard Gil Cummings is second on the team, averaging 15.7 PPG, while fellow starters junior forwards Vlad Kovalevsky and Justin Moore each contribute 8.3 PPG. Kovalevsky has 18 blocks and averages 6 RPG, both of which lead the team, while Moore hauls in a 5.7 boards a game, which is good for second best. Senior guard Kyree Brown has started the last few games for EU and will likely be the fifth starter. Junior guard/forward Chris Bess and senior guard Larry Bryant are likely to see significant minutes off the bench.

Prediction:
This game should be pretty evenly matched, as both teams are expected to contend for the PSAC title. The Fighting Scots have already proved they are for real this season, while KU disappointed this past weekend against Gannon and Clarion. That said, The Golden Bears are too good to drop three straight against the PSAC West. Expect the Dennis-Ben duo to come up big at home on Saturday en route to a relatively slim victory against a tough Edinboro squad.

Edinboro 81
Kutztown 86