Saturday, January 21, 2012
ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon men's basketball team returns home Saturday, January 21 to host Clarion in the first of back-to-back home contests. Saturday's twinbill will be Gannon's annual Hall of Fame doubleheader with special afternoon tip-off times. The men's contest can be heard live locally on Jet Radio 1400.
Ticket windows for Saturday's PSAC doubleheader open at 12 noon with the women's game to tip off at 1 p.m. The men's contest follows at 3 p.m. Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for non-Gannon students and senior citizens.
All Gannon students are admitted free of charge by showing their school ID at the front door.
The 2012 Gannon Athletics Hall of Fame Class will be honored at halftime of the men's basketball game. The class includes the 1961-62 men's basketball team, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The squad was the first men's basketball team in school history to play in the NCAA Tournament. No Gannon team had won more than 16 games in a season at that time.
The team will long be remembered as the start of the modern era of Gannon basketball with fans starting to fill the Hammermill Center. Impressive victories that season included verdicts against nationally-ranked Tennessee A&I, Belmont Abbey, Texas Southern, Pikeville and Steubenville.
The rest of the 2012 Gannon Athletics Hall of Fame Class can be found at
http://www.gannonsports.com/news/2011/11/22/GEN_1122110120.aspx?path=football. The Hall of Fame Banquet scheduled for Saturday night has been sold out.
Gannon (8-7, 6-5 PSAC) has dropped its first three Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division games. All three were decided in the final minutes with the Golden Knights having a chance to win the Mercyhurst and Edinboro games with the shot clock off.
The 2011-12 campaign has seen an overload of close ball games. Wednesday's loss at Mercyhurst was Gannon's sixth by four points or less and seventh by six points or less. The Golden Knights have suffered 12 losses by five points or less during the last two seasons.
Gannon has won 12 consecutive home games against Clarion and is 18-3 all-time against the Golden Eagles at the Hammermill Center. Clarion's last victory at the 'Mill was an 83-80 decision during the 1981-82 campaign.
Darrell Blanton continues to be one of the premier players in the conference. The junior forward recorded his sixth double-double of the season at Mercyhurst, recording a game-high 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. The junior forward was 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-13 from the free throw line.
Adam Blazek was the only other Golden Knight in double digits with 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. He hit 7-of-12 shots from the floor and 7-of-10 free throws.
Clarion (12-5, 8-3) has not missed a beat since losing the Harrison brothers to graduation last year. Jamar and Lloyd, two of the PSAC's best players in 2010-11, combined to average 37.5 points per game last season.
However, Clarion is off to a 12-5 start and sits in a second-place tie among PSAC Western Division programs with an 8-3 league mark. The Golden Eagles rattled off nine consecutive victories from November 20 through January 6, before PSAC Eastern Division leader Bloomsburg snapped the run with an 87-85 victory on January 7.
Quintus “Bud” Teer has been Clarion's steady force in the paint despite starting only four games this season. The senior has six double-doubles, ranking 21st among all NCAA Division II players. He is second among PSAC players in offensive rebounds per game (3.7), third in total rebounds per game (9.1) and sixth in field goal percentage (.608).
Winfield Willis enters the weekend as the team's leading scorer, ranking eighth among conference players with 16.7 points per game. The freshman guard has netted 17 points in back-to-back games against Indiana (Pa.) and Lock Haven while reaching the 20-point plateau five times. He poured in a season-high 31 points during a two-point loss to Bloomsburg.
