Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Notebook - 12/9

This is the Atlantic 10 Conference's Men's Basketball Notebook for the week of December 2 though the 9th. Charlotte's Leemire Goldwire and Xavier's Drew Lavender share player of the week honors while Chris Wright of Dayton gets his third rookie of the week citation.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Leemire Goldwire - Charlotte
Senior, Guard, 5-11, 190 lbs.
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS

Goldwire averaged 29 points and eight rebounds in a pair of home wins for Charlotte...knocked down nine three-pointers, one shy of the program record, en route to scoring a career-high 34 points in the 49ers' 75-68 victory over Davidson on Dec. 5...poured in a game-high 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting on Dec. 8 as Charlotte turned aside Southern Illinois, 71-56...added five assists and three steals in the two contests.

Drew Lavender - Xavier
Senior, Guard, 5-7, 153 lbs.
Columbus, Ohio/Brookhaven HS

Lavender recorded his first career double-double with 28 points and a career-best 10 assists in Xavier's 79-66 win versus Creighton on Dec. 5...shot 9-of-13 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, and made all six of his free throw attempts...added a pair of steals.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Chris Wright - Dayton
Freshman, Forward, 6-8, 202 lbs.
Trotwood, Ohio/Trotwood-Madison HS

Wright earns his third A-10 Rookie of the Week honor after averaging 12.5 points and 10 rebounds in a pair of victories for the Flyers...recorded his team-leading third double-double of the season on Dec. 5 with 16 points and 13 rebounds as Dayton turned aside High Point, 68-54...scored nine points and grabbed seven boards in the Flyers' 70-65 win at #14/#11 Louisville on Dec. 8.

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NEWS FROM AROUND THE ATLANTIC 10

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

• Dayton senior guard Brian Roberts scored a game-high 28 points in the Flyers' 70-65 win at #14/#11 Louisville on Dec. 8 and averaged 17.5 points and five rebounds in a pair of
• Junior forward/center Shawn James of Duquesne averaged 19 points and seven rebounds while hitting 15-of-27 from the field in a pair of contests
• Fordham sophomore guard Brenton Butler averaged 15.3 points and knocked down six field goals from beyond the arc over three games. Freshman guard Mike Moore drained six three-point field goals and averaged 9.7 points on the week
• Senior guard Maureece Rice scored 18 points in George Washington's 78-39 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore on Dec. 5
• La Salle senior guard Darnell Harris averaged 25 points and shot 7-for-13 from three-point range in a pair of contests
• Junior guard Chris Lowe scored a career-high 23 points and dished out six assists on Dec. 8 as Massachusetts turned aside Marist, 83-68
• Rhode Island senior guard Parfait Bitee averaged 14.5 points and eight assists while hitting 10-of-17 shots from the field
• Freshman guard Kevin Anderson of Richmond scored a team-high 10 points on Dec. 8 at Virginia Commonwealth
• Senior forward Michael Lee scored a game-high 20 points and added four assists in St. Bonaventure's 58-54 win versus Albany on Dec. 8
• Saint Joseph's senior forward Pat Calathes scored all 19 of his points in the second half of the Hawks' 71-66 loss to Holy Cross
• Junior guard Tommie Liddell scored a team-high 17 points on Dec. 8 as Saint Louis dropped a 61-53 decision to Sam Houston State
• Temple freshman forward Lavoy Allen tied his career high with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting as the Owls downed Towson on Dec. 6, 69-46.

FOUR FOR EIGHT

During the four-day period of Dec. 5-8, the A-10 recorded eight non-conference wins over teams which advanced to the postseason a year ago. Below is a look at the victories:

CHA 75, Davidson (NCAA) 68
CHA 71, Southern Illinois (NCAA) 56
UD  70, Louisville (NCAA) 65
FOR 73, Hofstra (NIT) 71
UM  83, Marist (NIT) 68
URI 91, Syracuse (NIT) 89
SBU 58, Albany (NCAA) 54
XU  79, Creighton (NCAA) 66

FLYING HIGH

Dayton's 70-65 win at #11/14 Louisville on Dec. 8 was the first time the Flyers defeated a ranked opponent on its home court since UD downed No. 18 DePaul, 67-63, on Feb. 6, 1985 at the Rosemont Horizon. In addition to its win at Louisville, Dayton has earned road wins over 2007 NCAA teams Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 28 (63-62) and Holy Cross (55-53) on Dec. 1. The Flyers have already surpassed their number of road victories from season.

RAM POWER

Rhode Island is 10-1 for the first time since the 1991-92 campaign, when it opened the season with 12 wins in its first 13 games.

GOING ON THE ROAD

Saint Joseph's plays the first of five consecutive road contests beginning on Dec. 9 at Creighton. After opening Conference play at Massachusetts on Jan. 9, the Hawks return home on Jan. 12 for a league tilt versus Richmond.

IN STYLE

Kieron Achara of Duquesne, Rhode Island's Will Daniels and Brian Roberts of Dayton are among 30 seniors named as official candidates for the 2007-08 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School and was launched during the 2001-02 season to honor the attributes of college basketball seniors who remain committed to their university and pursue the many rewards that a senior season and complete college education brings. Previous award winners include David West of Xavier (2003) and Saint Joseph's Jameer Nelson (2004).

BALANCING ACT

Xavier has six players averaging in double figures in scoring this season: junior B.J. Raymond (13.5 ppg.), senior Drew Lavender (12.6 ppg.), junior C.J. Anderson (12.5 ppg.), senior Josh Duncan (11.5 ppg.), sophomore Derrick Brown (11.1 ppg.) and senior Stanley Burrell (11.0 ppg.). Raymond, who entered this season with a career scoring average of 3.8 ppg., is the only Musketeer who has scored in double figures in all eight games. Lavender recorded his first career double-double on Dec. 5 with 28 points and 10 assists in the Musketeers' 79-66 win over Creighton.

TEN TIMES TEN

Temple hosts #25/#21 Villanova on Dec. 9 on the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Liacouras Center. In their first-ever contest in the on-campus venue, the Owls turned aside then No. 18 Fresno State, 76-61, on Dec. 9, 1997. TU is 99-35 all-time at the Liacouras Center.

BLOCK PARTY

Duquesne junior Shawn James registered a block on Dec. 8 at West Virginia, extending his streak of at least one rejection in every college game he has played (55 at Northeastern and nine at Duquesne). It marked just the sixth time in his career James had fewer than three blocks in a. James has 43 blocks in nine games this season (4.8 bpg.)

FOR-D NINERS

Charlotte held Southern Illinois to 32.3 percent shooting in its 71-56 win on Dec. 8, the fifth straight 49ers' opponent to shoot under 40 percent from the floor this season. Charlotte finished 11th in the Atlantic 10 last season in field goal percentage defense (.462) but through eight games this season, the 49ers are holding their opponents to just .401 shooting from the field, good for third in the league.

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A-10 Players of the Week

Nov. 5-10          Kieron Achara, Duquesne
Nov. 11-17         Will Daniels, Rhode Island
                   Gary Forbes, Massachusetts
Nov. 18-24         Will Daniels, Rhode Island
Nov. 25 - Dec. 1   Michael Lee, St. Bonaventure
                   Joe Mbang, Rhode Island
Dec. 2-8           Leemire Goldwire, Charlotte
                   Drew Lavender, Xavier

A-10 Rookies of the Week

Nov. 5-10          Chris Wright, Dayton
Nov. 11-17         Damian Saunders, Duquesne
Nov. 18-24         Chris Wright, Dayton
Nov. 25 - Dec. 1   An'Juan Wilderness, Charlotte
Dec. 2-8           Chris Wright, Dayton