Nov. 14, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

MEDIA COVERAGE
B2 Networks

ABOUT THE GAMES
• Thursday's contest between Mercyhurst and Roberts Wesleyan is the season opener for Mercyhurst and the second game of the season for the Raiders. The Raiders won their opener against the College of St. Joe's 88-76 at home. This is Roberts Wesleyan's first road game of the season.
• On Saturday, the Lakers travel to Elkins, W.Va., for two games in the Davis & Elkins Tip-Off Tournament. The first opponent on the slate is Felician at 8:30 p.m. Sunday's opponent will be determined based on the outcome of Saturday's action. Felician will be opening its 2007-08 campaign against the Lakers and head coach Del Harrison will be entering his third season at the helm.

LAKERS HAVE HISTORICAL EDGE
• Mercyhurst and Roberts Wesleyan are old foes, having first met in 1971-72, which was the first year of Laker basketball. Mercyhurst won that first meeting 88-72 and has since won 12 in a row to lead the all-time series 12-0.
• Under head coach Gary Manchel, the Lakers are 2-0 against the Raiders, having met first in 2003-04 and again in 2006-07.
• In Manchel's two games against the Raiders, Mercyhurst has won by an average margin of 25.5 points per game.
• Despite playing 12 times in 36 seasons, the two teams have met only once before in a season opener. That occurred in 1996 with Karl Fogel as the Laker head coach. Mercyhurst won the game 74-54 and went on to a 13-13 record.
• The Lakers won the only meeting with Felician in 2005. The two teams met in a neutral site game in Easton, Mass., on Nov. 18 and the Lakers prevailed by a 83-79 score.
• While the game occurred just two years ago, the only active Laker to play in that game was Terry Smith. He scored 20 points, handed out five assists and recorded three steals.
• Stu Anglum also played 25 minutes in that game but will be sitting out the 2007-08 season after transferring for a second time.

THE LAST MEETING VS. RAIDERS
• Mercyhurst held Roberts Wesleyan to just 8-of-27 shooting in the second half to break open a close game and cruise to an 89-63 win on Nov. 21, 2006.
• Five Lakers scored in double figures and Avi Fogel led the team with 18 points.
• Mercyhurst trailed 24-20 early in the first half, but the Lakers posted a 18-9 run to end the half. The run was led by Richard Field, who scored 11 points in the first period alone.

ABOUT THE COACHES
• Rob McCoy enters his fifth season at the helm of the Roberts Wesleyan baskeball program. He was a standout player at Roberts Wesleyan before graduating in 1981.
• He was a two-time winner of the Ken Curtis Memorial Award, which is given to the Raiders' Most Valuable Player each year.
• Prior to taking over at Roberts Wesleyan, he served as the head coach at Churchville-Chili High School for seven years. His teams had six straight winning seasons, and he led them to the school's first Monroe County Division II title in 2000-01. He was named Division II Coach of the Year for his efforts.
• Felician's Duane Eason enters his third season as the program's head coach and has compiled a record of 25-31 and led the team to a berth in the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference Tournament in both seasons. • Prior to his appointment at Felician, Eason won a conference championship during a five-year stay at Plainfield High School.
• Eason was also a standout player at Division III Jersey City State Colllege, earning All-America honors in 1990. He was later inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame.

STARTING STRONG
• While the Lakers lost the 2006-07 season opener to Molloy by a 75-73 score, the team has won three of four openers under Manchel and 11 of its last 12 dating back to 1995-96.
• Since starting the program in 1971, the Lakers are 25-11 in season debuts.

LAKERS' LAST TIME OUT
• Mercyhurst traveled to Athens, Ohio for an exhibition contest against Ohio University on Nov. 2. Coach Manchel served as an assistant under Ohio coach Tim O'Shea for two seasons before coming to Mercyhurst.
• The game was much closer than the 72-45 final score would indicate. The Lakers trailed by just nine points at the half and trailed by just six points before Bubba Walther hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
• Mercyhurst shot just 20.8 percent from the field in the second half and 32 percent for the game. Terry Smith led the team with 11 points.

MERCYHURST MILESTONES
• The Lakers enter the 2007-08 season on the verge of several special milestone moments. In the 36-year history of the program, Mercyhurst has totaled 496 victories, leaving them just four shy of 500.
• In just four seasons, Gary Manchel has moved into third-place on Mercyhurst's list of all-time winningest coaches with 61 victories. But in his 13 years of coaching, he has compiled a career record of 192-176, leaving him eight wins shy of 200.
• Laker senior Terry Smith is also closing in on 1,000 career points. He has 903 for his career and currently ranks 24th on the career scoring list.

EARLY EXPECTATIONS
• Following an 18-11 overall mark and a 9-8 record and second place finish in the GLIAC South in 2006-07, the Lakers were voted fourth in the South Division in the 2007-08 GLIAC Preseason Poll.
• The poll was voted on by GLIAC sports information directors and selected members of the media. In the South Division, Findlay was the unanimous preseason favorite, receiving all 30 votes. Wayne State and Ashland finished with 115 and 108 points respectively, and the Lakers received 100 votes. Hillsdale and Gannon rounded out the six-team division.
• Individually, Terry Smith was picked the Preseason All-GLIAC team. He was a second team selection in 2005-06 as a sophomore.

GRAND FINALE
• The Lakers enter their final season in the GLIAC after competing in the conference since the 1995-96 season. During that time, the program has totaled a 77-121 conference mark and made six conference tournament appearances.
• Three of those tournament berths have come during Gary Manchel's tenure, however. His teams are 30-38 in the GLIAC with nine or more conference wins in three of four years. His 2006-07 squad earned the school's first home playoff game, as well, hosting Wayne State in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament on Feb. 27.

MAC ADVANTAGE
• In the last two seasons, the Lakers have made the Mercyhurst Athletic Center one of the toughest buildings in the GLIAC for opponents.
• Last season, the team posted a 13-2 mark at home with its only losses coming against Hillsdale and an eight-point loss to eventual GLIAC champion Findlay. Over the last two seasons, the Lakers have posted a 24-5 record at home, which is third best in GLIAC to Grand Valley at 31-1 and Findlay a 33-1 record.

NEW FACES
• The Lakers return only one starter (T.J. Mathis) from last season and lost 68 percent of their scoring and rebounding with the graduation of Avi Fogel, Shelby Chaney, Mitch Brennan and Richard Field.
• Manchel filled the roster spots with four freshmen and four transfers. Two of the transfers, Brian McTear and Milos Bogetic, have Division I experience at Portland and Penn State, while Franklin Jones red-shirted at UTEP last season.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
• When the Lakers travel to Davis & Elkins this weekend, it will be only their second trip to the state of West Virginia since joining the GLIAC in 2006-07.
• The team's only other visit to the Mountain State was on Nov. 25, 2006, when the Lakers traveled to Vienna, W.Va., to take on Ohio Valley University. Mercyhurst won that contest 87-82 behind 27 points from Avi Fogel and 19 from T.J. Mathis.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD
• Mercyhurst has four players that grew up outside of the United States on this year's roster. Milos Bogetic and Srdjan Popovic hail from Podgorica, Montenegro. Freshman forward Iddo Cohen comes to Mercyhurst from Haifa, Israel, and sophomore Ronnie Williams is a Toronto, Ontario native.
• Only three players on the roster list hometowns in Pennsylvania. Newcomer Brian McTear is from Los Angeles, Calif., and four players are from New York, the most of any state.

CHANGING ROLES
• When Laker assistant Jason Leone took the head coaching position at Keystone College, Manchel elected to fill the position from within his coaching staff, promoting graduate assistant Matt Capell to full-time assistant.
• Capell started his career at Alfred State in 2002-03 and then moved on to Clarkson University in 2003-04 before being hired at Division III Hamilton College. While there, he helped the team to a 38-16 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in two seasons.
• Filling the graduate assistant vacancy was Brendan Mullins, who comes to Mercyhurst after a stellar playing career at Saint Michael's. In his four-year career, Mullins scored over 1,000 career points and was named All-Northeast-10 First Team for averaging 18.2 points per game as a senior in 2006-07.