Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Notebook

The first Atlantic 10 Conference's men's basketball notebook for year 2007 sees the Bonnies' Zarryon Fereti and GW's Maureece Rice sharing player of the week honors and a Duquesne nemesis, D.J. Rivera of St. Joe's, the league's top rookie.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Zarryon Fereti - St. Bonaventure
Junior, Guard, 6-4
New South Wales, Australia/Terrigal HS

Fereti shot 8-of-12 from the field, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, en route to scoring a career-high 26 points in St. Bonaventure’s 74-69 win versus Saint Louis on Jan. 3...knocked down 5-of-6 free throw attempts...added two rebounds and an assist...helped the Bonnies snap their eight-game losing streak...leads Bona in scoring (12.7 ppg.).

Maureece Rice - George Washington
Junior, Guard, 6-1
Philadelphia, PA/Lutheran HS

Rice averaged 20.0 ppg. and 8.0 rpg. in a pair of victories by George Washington...scored a career-high tying 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added 10 rebounds for his second career double-double in the Colonials’ 74-65 victory over Marshall on Jan. 6...scored a team-high 17 points and added six boards as GW downed Fordham on Jan. 3, 70-59...shot .571 (16-28) from the field on the week and added six assists and five steals.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

D.J. Rivera - Saint Joseph’s
Freshman, Guard, 6-2
Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti HS

Rivera scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting in just 18 minutes of action on Jan. 3 in Saint Joseph’s 89-41 victory over Duquesne...added two rebounds, two steals and an assist...marked his second double-digit scoring performance of the season...leads the Hawks in steals (1.8 spg.).

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A-10-SHUN
NEWS FROM AROUND THE ATLANTIC 10

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

• Senior De’Angelo Alexander of Charlotte averaged 19.0 ppg. and 9.0 rpg. in two contests on the week. Freshman Ian Anderson matched his career high with 11 points in the 49ers’ 83-62 win over Wofford on Dec. 31
• Dayton junior Brian Roberts averaged 19.0 ppg. and 2.5 rpg. in two games and reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career
• Sophomore Aaron Jackson averaged 12.5 ppg. and 2.5 rpg. in a pair of contests for Duquesne
• Fordham junior Marcus Stout averaged 18.0 ppg. and 3.5 spg. in two games and surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for his career
• Junior Darnell Harris of La Salle averaged 11.0 ppg. in two games and shot 7-of-13 from beyond the arc. La Salle freshman Kimmani Barrett averaged 13.0 ppg. and 4.0 rpg
• Massachusetts senior Rashaun Freeman recorded a double-double in both of the Minutemen’s contests on the week and averaged 17.0 ppg. and 10.5 ppg. while connecting on 67 percent (15-25) of his field goal attempts
• Junior Will Daniels of Rhode Island scored a career-high 26 points and added six rebounds in the Rams’ 69-66 win over La Salle on Jan. 3
• Richmond freshman Brian Morris averaged 11.5 ppg. and 5.0 apg. in two contests and connected on 6-of-11 three-point field goal attempts
• Junior Rob Ferguson equaled his career highs in points (22) and rebounds (eight) in Saint Joseph’s 89-41 win versus Duquesne on Jan. 3
• Saint Louis sophomore Tommie Liddell averaged 25.5 ppg. and 6.0 rpg. while shooting 8-of-13 from beyond the arc in a pair of games
• Senior Dion Dacons of Temple averaged 10.0 ppg. and 9.5 rpg. in two games
• Xavier junior Stanley Burrell averaged 22.0 ppg. and made 15-of-17 free throw attempts in a pair of victories.

CENTURY CLUB

George Washington's 70-59 win over Fordham on Jan. 3 marked the 100th career victory for head coach Karl Hobbs. Now in his fifth season at GW, Hobbs boast a career mark of 101-59. He is the tenth active A-10 head coach with at least 100 career wins, along with Bobby Lutz (CHA), Ron Everhart (DUQ), Dereck Whittenburg (FOR), John Giannini (LAS), Travis Ford (UM), Jim Baron (URI), Brad Soderberg (SLU), Phil Martelli (SJU) and Fran Dunphy (TU).

STILL COMING OF AGE

Sixteen of the top 20 scoring leaders in the Atlantic 10 this season are non-seniors, including Temple sophomore Dionte Christmas, who leads the Conference with a 19.8 ppg. average. In addition, 50 of the league's 70 starters (71.4 percent) are non-seniors, with Duquesne, Fordham and Saint Joseph's utilizing entire non-senior starting lineups. Below is a team-by-team breakdown of the starting lineups in the A-10 and the number of non-senior starters:

Charlotte - 2/5	Rhode Island - 4/5
Dayton - 4/5	Richmond - 4/5
Duquesne - 5/5	St. Bonaventure - 3/5
Fordham - 5/5	Saint Joseph’s - 5/5
George Washington - 2/5	Saint Louis - 4/5
La Salle - 4/5	Temple - 3/5
Massachusetts - 2/5	Xavier - 3/5

SHARING THE LOAD

Rhode Island has featured at least one 20-point scorer in ten of the Rams' first 15 games this season. Boasting a team-leading 17.4 ppg. average, junior forward Will Daniels leads the team with five 20-point outings, including a career-high 26-point effort in Rhody's 69-66 win over La Salle on Jan. 3. Sophomore Jimmy Baron has scored 20 or more points three times this season, while Joe Mbang and Kahiem Seawright each have recorded one 20-point outing this season.

NUMEROLOGY

• Dayton improved to 10-0 at home this season as a result of its 66-63 victory over Charlotte on Jan. 4. The Flyers' last 113 regular season contests have drawn at least 11,000 fans.
• Saint Joseph's held Duquesne to 41 points on Jan. 2 in the Hawks' 89-41 victory. It marked the fewest points allowed by SJU in the regular season since a 70-39 win over Richmond on Feb. 25, 2006. Duquesne was coming off a 98-93 victory at Boston College in which the Dukes scored 21 points in overtime.
• Massachusetts senior Stephane Lasme has 16 blocked shots in his last two games and his 74 rejections on the season are more than 11 teams in the A-10.
• Rhode Island is the only program in the country to have two players ranked in the top 15 in three-point field goal percentage. Jimmy Baron is ranked seventh nationally (.535) while Will Daniels is 12th (.528).
• Justin Doellman scored 21 points in Xavier’s 76-68 win over Temple on Jan. 6 and moved into 30th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,106 points. The senior forward made his 104th consecutive start versus Temple.
• GW extended its home winning streak to 21 consecutive games after defeating Marshall on Jan. 6, 74-65. It marks the longest active home winning in the A-10 and the fifth-longest in the nation.
• Saint Louis was perfect from the foul line for the first time in 14 games this season as they made all 12 of its attempts versus Duquesne on Jan. 6.

DOUBLE TALK

Rashaun Freeman scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in Massachusetts' 79-71 win at La Salle on Jan. 6. It marked the senior forward's league-leading seventh double-double performance of the season and 78th of his career, the most of any active player in the A-10. Freeman leads the Conference in field goal shooting (.638) and ranks sixth in both scoring (16.9 ppg.) and rebounding (8.1 rpg.).

THREE MUSKETEERS

Junior Stanley Burrell, who scored 21 points in Xavier’s 76-68 win over Temple on Jan. 6, now has 1,018 career points and joins senior teammate Justin Doellman in the XU 1,000-point club. Doellman, who also scored 21 points versus the Owls, has 1,106 points and is 30th on the Musketeers’ all-time scoring list. Senior Justin Cage is just 31 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone. The last time Xavier had three 1,000-point scorers on the same team was in 1997-98 (Lenny Brown, Darnell Williams and Gary Lumpkin). For the record, Xavier won its first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship in 1998.

TAMING THE HERD

George Washington has overcome big deficits to earn victories in each of its last three meetings with Marshall. GW trailed Marshall by 21 points with 3:03 left in the first half on Jan. 6 but rallied for a 74-65 win, thanks to 75 percent shooting in the second half. It marked the largest comeback victory for the Colonials under Karl Hobbs. Coincidentally, the 21-point comeback eclipsed the previous record of 19 points comeback, which also came against Marshall in Hobbs' first game as a head coach in 2002. Last season, GW was down by 12 points with just 4:32 remaining before defeating the Herd in overtime (79-73) in Huntington, WV.

NIFTY FIFTY

Rhode Island is 6-0 this season when it shoots 50 percent or better from the field. The Rams connected on 51.1 percent (24-of-47) of their field goal attempts on Jan. 3 as they edged La Salle, 69-66, in the Conference opener for both teams. URI shot a season-best 53.7 percent (22-of-41) on Dec. 5 in its 72-68 win versus Brown.

DANDY SPIDER

Dan Geriot scored a team-high 16 points in Richmond's 58-55 setback to Fordham on Jan. 6, the sixth time the freshman forward has led the Spiders in scoring this season. The Springfield, PA, resident's 16 points versus the Rams came in just 14 minutes of action, Geriot leads Richmond in scoring (12.7 ppg.) and field goal shooting (.472) and has made at least six field goals in a game seven times this season.

HALF THE TIME

Brian Roberts of Dayton has shown a flair for scoring his points in a short amount of time. The junior guard has scored at least ten points in a half in 12 of the Flyers' 14 games this season. Roberts scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half on Jan. 4 as UD overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 8:01 in its 66-63 win over Charlotte. Roberts, who ranks fourth in the A-10 in scoring (17.6 ppg.), is the lone player in program history to rank in the top five in both three-point field goal shooting (143-of-346/.413) and free throw shooting (183-of-222/.824).

DID YOU KNOW?

St. Bonaventure’s 74-69 win over Saint Louis on Jan. 3 marked the first time the Bonnies had won their Conference opener since the 2002-03 season. Bona seeks its first 2-0 start in A-10 play since 1990-00, when it posted an 11-5 mark in Conference play and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

ACTION JACKSONS

Playing its fifth consecutive road game, Duquesne shot 52.3 percent from the field and played its top defensive game of the season, outscoring Saint Louis by a 28-9 margin in points off turnovers in the Dukes’ 73-63 win on Jan. 6. The starting backcourt of Reggie and Aaron Jackson led the defensive charge with seven and three steals, respectively. Aaron scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Reggie Jackson hit 3-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc in scoring a season-high 13 points.

COMING OUT OF HIS SHELL

The St. Joe’s coaching staff told Rob Ferguson he needs to be more aggressive on offense, and he responded with the kind of game against Duquesne on Jan. 3 that has been expected of him. The junior forward made seven of his first eight shots to score 17 points in the first half alone, en route to tying his career-high with 22 points. He finished the game 9-for-12 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Ferguson also matched his career-high with eight rebounds and blocked a personal best three shots. He's averaging 12.3 ppg. and 5.2 rpg. while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 86.7 percent from the foul line.

TWENTY SOMETHING

Charlotte senior guard De’Angelo Alexander scored 24 points on Jan. 4 at Dayton, his seventh 20-point outing of the season. Over the past two seasons, Alexander has scored at least 20 points 19 times, the most of any 49ers player. He ranks second in the A-10 in scoring, averaging 18.7 ppg.