RELEASE DATE: 1/13/04

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MOUNTIES OPEN PSAC EAST SEASON WHEN THEY HOST KUTZTOWN WEDNESDAY NIGHT

MANSFIELD – The Mansfield University men’s basketball team will open its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division schedule when they hosting Kutztown University Wednesday night in Decker Gymnasium.

The Mountaineers have posted the best record in the PSAC entering conference play with a 13-2 overall record. Mansfield defeated six of seven PSAC West opponents and suffered its only two losses on the road in setbacks against Clarion and St. Michaels.

“We played a pretty tough pre-conference schedule,” said head coach Vince Alexander. “But it’s going to get really tough from now on out. We’re the team everyone wants to beat going into conference play and our guys know that.”

As has been their style in the five seasons that head coach Vince Alexander has been at the helm, the Mountaineers are a high powered offense. They rank second in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 83.2 points per game.

What is different than in past years has been the Mountaineers defense. Mansfield tops the PSAC in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting just .384% from the floor against them.

Mansfield also tops the PSAC in free throw percentage at .752% -- move that 50 points higher than the next best team. The Mountaineers are also on top of the conference in rebounds (45.1 rpg) and rebound margin (+10.5 rgp). They rank second in assists per game.

Certainly the biggest individual change has been the addition of senior Omari Pearson who transferred to Mansfield after spending the past three seasons at UNLV.

The 6-9 Pearson, who has led the PSAC in scoring all season long, is averaging a conference best 20.0 points per game and ranks second the PSAC in rebounding averaging 11.8 boards per game. He is also 11^th in field goal percentage (.541%) and ninth in free throw percentage (.831%).

Fellow senior Brett Longpre’ has also had another outstanding season. Longpre’, who just moved into third place in MU’s all-time scoring list with 1,545 points, ranks fifth in the PSAC in scoring (16.3 ppg) and leads the conference in free throw shooting (54-59, .915%) and three-point field goals per game (2.60).

Guard Bill McNeil has picked up from where he left off last season as the PSAC East Rookie of the Year. McNeil is 16^th in the PSAC in scoring (14.1 ppg) while ranking among the top three-point shooters in the conference.

Senior Ian Connor just passed the 800 point career mark and is averaging 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore Brandon DeShields rounds out the starting lineup at point guard where is averaging 9.7 points and 4.21 assist per outing.

As well as the starting five have played, it has been the depth of the bench that pulled out a number of wins this season. Seniors Robert Carter and Glenn Jackson have appeared in every game this season along with juniors Jeremy Frey and Brian Bryant. Jason Roscoe, who was the starting running back on the Mountaineers 8-3 football team until injured, has returned to play in 11 games.

The Mountaineers, picked to finish fourth in the coaches PSAC East preseason poll, host Kutztown on Wednesday before traveling to Millersville on Saturday. Kutztown was picked to finish second in the preseason poll while Millersville was picked first.

Current PSAC East Standings

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