CLARION (11-4 overall, 1-1 PSAC-West) AT IUP (12-4, 2-1)
PSAC-WEST MENS BASKETBALL
DATE: Jan. 24, 2004 LOCATION: Memorial Field House, Indiana, Pa. TIME: 8 p.m.
NCAA D-II EAST REGION RANKINGS: Clarion 6th; IUP Not ranked
LAST GAMES: Clarion beat Slippery Rock 64-58; IUP beat Edinboro 78-74
NEXT UP: Clarion hosts Lock Haven Wed. at 8 p.m., while IUP is at Slippery Rock Wed. at 8 p.m.
CLARION LAST 10 GAMES: 7-3 IUP LAST 10 GAME: 7-3
CLARION-IUP SERIES LAST 10 GAMES: Clarion leads 6-4 (Includes 2 playoff games)
LAST SEASON: Clarion won 76-72 at Clarion and 63-58 ay IUP
RECENT CLARION-IUP SERIES HISTORY: Clarions sweep of IUP last season was the first time the Golden Eagles had swept the Indians since the 1983-84 season The Golden Eagles and IUP have met in the PSAC Playoffs in two of the past three seasons with Clarion winning in 2001 on its way to the PSAC Title and IUP winning in 2002 on its way to the PSAC Title In the last four years, the teams have met 10 times with Clarion winning six and IUP four 6 of those games have been decided by 7 points or less including two by four points or less 12 of the last 18 games have been decided by 8 points or less with Clarion wining seven and IUP five Clarion has had some success in Memorial Field House over the last four season having won 3 of six times in Indiana.
CLARION LEADERS: Michael Clarke 12.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 12 blocks; Terrance Vaughns 11.7 ppg, 2.5 apg, 85.5% FT shooter Ranks 5th in the PSAC in FT Shooting; Justin Collins 9.7 ppg, 33 three-pointers Ranks 4th in the PSAC in 3-point shooting percentage (44.6%) & sixth in 3-pointers per game (2.2); Ryan Wells 8.7 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.3 spg, 1.8 apg Ranks 4th in the PSAC in rebounding & 4th in steals; Lee Church 5.0 ppg, 3.4 apg Ranks 8th in the PSAC in assists
IUP LEADERS: Ayyub Ali 15.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.25 spg Ranks 12th in the PSAC in scoring, 11th in rebounding & 5th in steals; Donovan Thomas 12.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 14 blocks; Brian Kizzie 12.8 ppg, 5.75 apg, 2.18 spg Ranks 1st in the PSAC in assists & 6th in steals; Ed Peterson 10.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.81 spg Ranks 2nd in the PSAC in steals; Gary Franklin 10.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, Eric Castorina 7.7 ppg, 2.93 spg, 3.5 rpg Ranks 1st in the PSAC in steals.
CLARION NOTES: Clarion is playing its third straight road game this week having lost at the University of the District of Columbia 76-70 Monday and won at Slippery Rock 64-58 Wednesday Terrance Vaughns scored 22 points to lead the Eagles, while Michael Clarke had 13 points & 9 rebounds The Golden Eagles rank No. 1 in the PSAC in scoring defense (60.8 ppg allowed) and 10th in offense (69.3 ppg) Clarion has held 7 of its last eight opponents to under 59 points including six straight PSAC opponents to under 59 points The Eagles are second in the PSAC in steals per game (10.73) and fourth in turnover margin (+1.53).
IUP NOTES: IUP is winning with a strong defense and a high-scoring offense The Indians are No. 1 in the PSAC in offense (83.9 ppg) and No. 4 in defense (66.3 ppg allowed) They like to pressure the ball & have created a league-high 16.19 spg and lead the league in turnover margin at +8.44 IUP is No. 4 in the PSAC in rebounding margin at +5.5 & No. 3 in free-throw percentage at 67.9% The Indians no longer have the services of 6-8 Fannar Olafsson, who left at Christmas to return to his native Iceland Olafsson was averaging 9.3 ppg & 7.7 rpg before leaving IUP is 5-2 without him.