Nov. 27, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst men's basketball officially opens its final season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Thursday against Michigan Tech at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. Not only will Mercyhurst be looking for its fourth win of the year, but also its 500th win as a program, and Terry Smith has an opportunity to score his 1,000th career point.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• Radio coverage of the games can be heard on WMCE 88.5 and 104.9 FM. It can also be heard online at wmce.mercyhurst.edu. Both games will be broadcast live on the B2 Networks and Thursday's game will be live on Image Sports Network.

ABOUT THE GAMES
• The Mercyhurst Lakers enter the week preparing for its final season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. After opening the year with a 3-2 non-conference mark, the Lakers start league play with a game against Michigan Tech on Thursday and Northern Michigan on Saturday.
• Historically, the Lakers have struggled in GLIAC openers, losing each of their last three. Mercyhurst, however, has posted back-to-back seasons with nine conference wins. Both of this week's opponents are from the GLIAC North Division, while Mercyhurst competes in the South Division.
• Mercyhurst is also looking to rebound from a 67-45 loss at Indiana (Pa.) on Nov. 25. In that game, the Lakers shot a season-low 32.7 percent from the floor and shot just 6-of-11 from the free throw stripe. It marked just the third time in the last 38 games that the Lakers had been held to fewer than 50 points in game.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
• Thursday's opponent, Michigan Tech, enters with a 2-2 mark and has won two-straight after defeating Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State Mankato at The Edge Basketball Classic last Friday and Saturday.
• Tim Strom, the Huskies leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, is the reigning GLIAC North Division Player of the Week. He is shooting 50 percent from the field. Kris Alpers is the team's No. 2 option, averaging 11.8 points per outing, and Robby Springborn is 6-of-14 from 3-point range and is posted 10.5 points per game.
• The Huskies were picked to finish second in the North Division in the GLIAC Preseason Poll. Strom was a Preseason All-GLIAC North Division pick.
• Northern Michigan has struggled in the early season, dropping each of its first three games. The last time out, Minnesota Duluth handed the Wildcats a 79-53 defeat.
• The team is averaging just 54.7 points per game, ranking last in the GLIAC. The Wildcats are also hitting just 39.3 percent of its shots, while opponents are knocking down 49.7 percent.
• Jake Suardini leads the team with 16 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

ABOUT THE SERIES
• Michigan Tech holds a 4-9 lead in the all-time series against the Lakers. However, the Lakers have won two in a row and three of the last four. Laker coach Gary Manchel is 3-1 against the Huskies. In 1998, the teams met in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament and Michigan Tech captured a 77-67 win.
• Mercyhurst holds a 6-4 edge in the series with Northern Michigan. The Wildcats captured last year's meeting 82-69 and is 2-2 against Mercyhurst with Manchel at the helm.

THE LAST MEETING
• Mercyhurst earned a 66-59 win over Michigan Tech in SDC Gym on Feb. 3, 2007. The teams struggled out of the gate as the halftime score stood at 27-19. The Lakers, however, finished with four players in double figures. Terry Smith scored 17. For Michigan Tech, Tim Strom scored a team-high 17.
• Northern Michigan pour in 46 points in the second half to earn an 82-69 win over the Lakers on Feb. 1, 2007 in Marquette, Mich. T.J. Mathis scored 18 points for MC, and Will Washington led the Wildcats with 24.

CONFERENCE OPENERS
• Since joining the GLIAC in 1995-96, the Lakers are 5-7 in conference openers. They did, however, win their first two against Gannon in 1995 and Grand Valley State in 1996.
• Mercyhurst has dropped three-straight GLIAC openers, two of which came against Hillsdale. In Gary Manchel's four seasons at Mercyhurst, the Lakers are 1-3 in conference openers.

CONSISTENT STARTS
• With a 3-2 record to start the year, the Lakers have extended a run of 12-straight seasons in which the team has earned at least three victories in its first five games. The last time Mercyhurst failed to do so was in 1994-95.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• Several Laker newcomers are making an immediate impact. In the season opener against Roberts Wesleyan, Milos Bogetic finished with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. He became the first player of the Gary Manchel era to record a double-double in a season opener and the first player to perform the feat in his first appearance in a Mercyhurst uniform. He also tallied a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards against IUP on Nov. 25.
• Junior Brian McTear has provided some offensive punch, as well, scoring in double figures in four of the team's first five games and leading the team with a career-high 15 points against IUP on Nov. 25. McTear also ranks second in the GLIAC in assists (2.2 per game) and sixth in assist/turnover ratio.

MR. SMITH GOES FOR HISTORY
• Senior Terry Smith is bearing down on the 1,000 point milestone and is quickly climbing up the career scoring list. He entered the season with 903 points and through five games, he has 86 points to put his career total at 989.
• In just five games, he has moved from 24th to tied for 16th on the all-time scoring list and can move in front of Jeff Woleben for 15th with six more points. He is also looking to become just the 15th player in school history to total 1,000 points.
• Entering Thursday's game, Smith has 141 3-point field goal makes in his career (19 this season) and is closing in on Jason Ioppolo's (1995-98) career record of 172. Smith also has 381 3-pointers attempted and is 157 shy of Richard Bradley's record of 538.

MERCYHURST MILESTONES
• The Lakers are on the verge of several special milestone moments. In the 36-year history of the program, Mercyhurst has totaled 499 victories, leaving them just one shy of 500 entering Thursday's game with Michigan Tech. The program has averaged nearly 14 wins a year throughout its history and has a winning percentage of .516.
• In just four seasons, Gary Manchel has moved into third-place on Mercyhurst's list of all-time winningest coaches with 64 victories. But in his 13 years of coaching, he has compiled a career record of 195-178, leaving him five wins shy of 200.

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 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.

BOMBS AWAY
• Through the first five games of the season, the Lakers have hit an average of nine 3-pointers per game, which ranks second in the GLIAC. The team has drilled 45-of-123 3-point shots and six Lakers have sank at least one 3-pointer. Terry Smith leads the team with 19 threes and is shooting an impressive 41.3 percent. Srdjan Popovic has been just as impressive in fewer attempts, knocking down 8-of-15 to rank ninth in the GLIAC in 3-point percentage.
• With 45 3-pointers through just five games, the Lakers are on pace to hit 236 by the end of the regular season. That would stand as a school record and would be just the second time in school history that a team made more than 200 3-pointers in a season. The only other time came in 1991-92 when the Lakers hit 226-of-587 from long range.
• Individually, Terry Smith is on pace to make 99 3-point field goals (averaging 3.8 per game). The current single season record is 77 and is held by Kerry Baker (1992-93). Smith is also on pace to attempt 239 3-pointers, which would snap Richard Bradley's record of 200 that he set in 1998-99.

STEALING THE SHOW
• Senior T.J. Mathis showed a knack for creating turnovers in 2006-07 when he totaled 50 and averaged nearly two steals per game. He is off to a fast start in 2007-08, totaling 14 in just five games for an average of 2.80 per game. Mathis ranks second in the GLIAC in steals per game.
• Terry Smith is also getting in on the act. He has 11 steals and ranks third in the conference with an average of 2.20 per game.

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.
• Individually, Terry Smith was picked to the Preseason All-GLIAC team. He was a second team selection in 2005-06 as a sophomore.

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.

MAC ADVANTAGE
• In the last three seasons, the Lakers have made the Mercyhurst Athletic Center one of the toughest buildings in the GLIAC for opponents and so far this season, Mercyhurst is 1-0 with a win over Roberts Wesleyan.
• 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 three seasons, the Lakers have posted a 25-5 record at home, and that is the third best mark in GLIAC to Grand Valley at 31-1 and Findlay a 33-1 record.