Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Notebook (2/25)

The Atlantic 10 honors this week go to Richmond's David Gonzalvez and Drew Lavender of Xavier

---

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Drew Lavender - Xavier
Junior, Guard, 5-7
Columbus, OH/Brookhaven HS

Lavender averaged 24.5 points and 4.5 assists while shooting 9-of-11 from three-point range in a pair of wins...shot 12-for-20 from the field and 16-of-16 from the foul line...scored 22 points and added seven assists on Feb. 21 in Xavier’s 98-72 win over Rhode Island...scored 27 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the Musketeers’ 75-67 win at Dayton on Feb. 24...added five rebounds and four steals in the two contests...named the A-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

David Gonzalvez
- Richmond
Freshman, Guard, 6-4
Marietta, GA/Wheeler HS

Gonzalvez averaged 16 points and three assists while making 12-of-21 field goal attempts in two games...knocked down 5-of-8 three-point attempts...scored 21 points and added three boards in Richmond’s 78-68 win over Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 24...had 11 points and three assists at George Washington on Feb. 21...added five rebounds and two steals in the two contests.

---

A-10-SHUN
NEWS FROM AROUND THE ATLANTIC 10

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

• Junior Leemire Goldwire of Charlotte averaged 24 points and shot 11-of-20 from three-point range in two contests
• Dayton sophomore Charles Little scored a career-high 28 points versus Xavier on Feb. 24 and recorded averages of 24 points and 8.7 rebounds in three contests
• Junior Kieron Achara of Duquesne averaged 20.7 points and four blocks in three games on the week
• Fordham junior Marcus Stout netted a game-high 24 points and added five boards on Feb. 24 in the Rams’ 71-62 win at Rhode Island. Freshman teammate Brenton Butler averaged 16 points and 6.5 rebounds
• Sophomore Rob Diggs of George Washington scored a career-high 24 points in the Colonials’ 68-49 win over Richmond on Feb. 21 and shot 14-of-18 from the field in two games
• La Salle freshman Ruben Guillandeaux scored 15 points and added six assists versus George Washington on Feb. 24
• Junior Gary Forbes had 41 points and 20 rebounds in three victories for Massachusetts
• Rhode Island junior Will Daniels averaged 20.5 points and six rebounds while shooting 53.8 percent from the field in a pair of contests
• Freshman Dan Geriot of Richmond had 18 points and six rebounds on Feb. 24 in the Spiders’ 78-68 win versus Saint Joseph’s
• St. Bonaventure sophomore A.J. Hawkins set career highs in points (29), rebounds (12) and assists (six) in the Bonnies’ 97-94 win at Duquesne on Feb. 24
• Junior Pat Calathes scored a career-high 27 points in Saint Joseph’s 92-76 victory over Temple on Feb. 22
• Saint Louis senior Ian Vouyoukas averaged 15 points and six rebounds in two contests
• Temple junior Mark Tyndale tallied a career-best 37 points on Feb. 24 in the Owls’ 81-69 win versus Charlotte
• Senior Justin Doellman scored a career-high 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting in Xavier’s 98-72 win over Rhode Island on Feb. 21.

LOOKING TO SCORE A RECORD

Temple guards Dionte Christmas and Mark Tyndale are ranked first and second, respectively, in the A-10 in scoring. They are vying to become the first teammates in league history to finish first and second in the Conference in scoring. Former TU standouts Aaron McKie and Eddie Jones finished first and fifth in the league in scoring during the 1992-93 campaign. The last A-10 team to have a pair of players finish the year ranked in the top three in the Conference in scoring was West Virginia in 1977-78, as Lowes Moore and Maurice Robinson placed second and third, respectively.

ROAD RAGE

Fordham’s 71-62 victory at Rhode Island on Feb. 24 marked the Rams’ fourth A-10 road win this season, their highest total since joining the Conference in 1995-96.

SELECT COMPANY

In Massachusetts’ 77-55 win over Rhode Island on Feb. 8, senior Stephane Lasme became just the eighth player in NCAA history to record three or more triple-doubles in a season. Lasme scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 11 shots for his third triple-double of the year. Below is the list of the eight players in NCAA annals to register at least three triple-doubles in a season:

4   Michael Anderson, Drexel (1986)  
4   Jason Kidd, California (1994) 
3   Stephane Lasme, Massachusetts (2006-07)
3   Andre Iguodala, Arizona (2004)
3   David Edwards, Texas A&M (1994)
3   Gerald Lewis, Southern Methodist (1993)
3   Shaquille O'Neal, Louisiana State (1992-93)
3   David Robinson, Navy (1986)    
 

ROOM FOR ONE MORE

Entering the final week of the regular season, 11 teams have clinched berths in the 2007 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship, to be held Mar. 7-10 in Atlantic City, NJ. La Salle, Richmond and Bona are vying for the last spot.

SELECT COMPANY

Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron is among 15 finalists for the 2007 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, it was announced on Feb. 20. The Jim Phelan Award is given annually to the nation's top coach, as voted on by the 20-member panel. The winner will be presented with the award at the Final Four in Atlanta. Prior to 2003, the award was known simply as the CollegeInsider.com National Coach of the Year. It was renamed to honor longtime Mount St. Mary's head coach Jim Phelan who retired following the 2002-03 season. Previous winners are Ben Howland (2006), Tubby Smith (Kentucky, 2005), Phil Martelli (Saint Joseph's, 2004) and Mark Slonaker (Mercer, 2003).

SEEING 20-20

Xavier won its sixth straight game on Feb. 24 as it downed Dayton, 75-67, to improve to 21-7 overall. The Musketeers secured their 10th season of 20 or more wins in the last 11 years and their 20th 20-win season in the last 25 years. In addition, Massachusetts also improved to 21-7 on the year as a result of its 53-50 win over Saint Louis on Feb. 24. The Minutemen clinched their first 20-win campaign since 1997-98, when it posted a mark of 21-11. It marks the 13th 20-win season in UMass history. At 18-8 overall, George Washington is two wins shy of recording its third consecutive 20-win campaign.

NO SMALL CONTRIBUTOR

At 6-foot-6 and 244 lbs., Dayton sophomore Charles Little might be the most inaccurately named player in the country. He has scored 72 points over his last three games and registered the first two double-double performances of his career. The Cleveland, TN, native recorded a career-high 28 points and added 10 rebounds on Feb. 24 versus Xavier, his fourth consecutive double-figure scoring effort. Little’s 30 dunks are more than twice as many as anyone else on the team and more than half of the Flyers’ 50 dunks this season.

SUPER SATURDAY

All 14 teams in the Conference were in action on Feb. 24, the first time that had occurred this season. Seven league contests are also on tap for Mar. 3, the final day of the 2006-07 regular season.

GRAND MILESTONE

Senior guard De'Angelo Alexander scored a game-high 29 points, including the 1,000th of his career, in Charlotte’s 99-90 win at Duquesne on Feb. 21. Alexander is the 21st player in 49ers history to reach the milestone and fifth in the last two seasons. He played at Oklahoma in 2003-04. Junior teammate Leemire Goldwire is within five points of becoming the 22nd player in program annals to join the 1,000-point club. The last teammates to reach 1,000 points in the same season were Eddie Basden and Curtis Withers in 2004-05.

LEANING ON THE RESERVES

Richmond earned a 78-68 home win over Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 24, in large part because the Spiders’ bench outscored St. Joe’s by a 27-0 margin. UR junior Oumar Sylla amassed a career-high 15 points off the bench for Richmond, which tied a season-low with just six turnovers against the Hawks.

BOARD WORK

Rashaun Freeman of Massachusetts grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the Minutemen’s 53-50 win over Saint Louis on Feb. 24, the 13th time this season and 45th in his career that the senior forward reached double figures in rebounding. Freeeman is third in the A-10 in rebounds (8.4 rpg), while teammate Stephane Lasme leads the Conference with an average of 9.4 rpg. Lasme’s 14 double-digit rebounding performances are also tops in the league this season.

FANTASTIC FEBRUARY

Duquesne junior Kieron Achara has been as hot as any player in the Atlantic 10 in the month of February. In seven games, the 6-10 center is averaging 19.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. What makes those numbers even more impressive is that Achara, who has posted three double-doubles over that span, has averaged an economical 22.9 minutes per game over the Dukes’ last 11 contests. Achara, who missed the first six games of 2006-07 with stress fractures in his foot, needs 11 more rejections to break the school single-season record of 60 set by Derrick Alston in 1991-92 and matched by Alston in 1992-93.

LONELY AT THE TOP

With two field goals from beyond the arc on Feb. 21 at Xavier, sophomore Jimmy Baron of Rhode Island raised his league-leading total to 86 three-point field goals on the year, the second-highest single-season total in program history. Tyson Wheeler holds Rhody's single-season record of 91.

HISTORIC HAPPENING

Carl Elliott scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 10 assists on Feb. 17 in George Washington’s 84-72 win over Temple to become the first player in the program’s 93-year history to record a triple-double. Elliott, who leads the A-10 in both assists (5.08 apg) and steals (2.68 spg), helped the Colonials earn their 300th all-time victory in the 32-year history of the Smith Center.

PAT ON THE BACK

Junior forward Pat Calathes continued his strong play with a career-best effort on Feb. 22 in the Hawks’ 92-76 win over Temple. Calathes scored 27 points, dished out seven assists, grabbed seven rebounds and shot 10-of-15 from the field. He established career highs in points and field goals made while tying his career high in assists. His performance prompted Temple head coach Fran Dunphy to say, “Calathes was unbelievable. His line is fantastic. He’s getting to be as good a player as there is in the area...he’s been great. He buried us in the first part of the second half.” Calathes recorded his sixth 20-point performace of the season with 20 points on Feb. 24 at Richmond.

REGAINING THEIR TOUCH

Temple has made 46.7 percent of its field goal attempts this season. The percentage is the highest for the program since the advent of the shot clock at the start of the 1984-85 season. The last time an Owls team shot over 46 percent was 1983-84 (.477).

QUITE A NIGHT

St. Bonaventure sophomore Tyler Benson scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting on Feb. 24 in the Bonnies’ 97-94 victory at Duquesne. Benson had not scoredmore than nine points in a game this season.