Sports Information Department – 112 Dods Hall
Phone (716) 673-3100 / Fax (716) 673-3136

CONTACT: Jerry Reilly,
Sports Information Director

DATE: Mon., Nov. 27, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Basketball

First SUNYAC test for Devils at Brockport

FREDONIA, N.Y. -- In its first two games of the season, the Fredonia State men's basketball team limited its opponents to 37 percent field-goal accuracy.

That number could be put to the test Tuesday (8 p.m.) when the Blue Devils' face high-powered Brockport on opening night of the SUNYAC regular season.

The Golden Eagles (3-0) are averaging 93.3 points per game in the early season. They have done so by averaging 45.3 percent from the field, including a respectable 38.2 percent from three-point range.

Defending the outside shot is only one concern for the head coach Kevin Moore's worries vs. Brockport. Stopping the Golden Eagles from running wild is another. "Tempo, tempo, tempo," he said when asked for his outlook to the first of 16 conference games on the Blue Devil schedule. "That's the key to our success against a very talented, athletic, and uptempo Brockport team."

To have a realistic chance, Moore said, the Blue Devils (1-1) will need to slow down the game and keep the score in the 70s. That won't be easy against a Brockport team which has seven players averaging 9.7 or more points. By comparison, the Blue Devils have three over 10.5, led by senior forward Kevin Reichlmayr (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) at 14.0 points per game.

Fredonia State men won last year's lone meeting between the teams, 64-56, at Steele Hall.

The SUNYAC doubleheader will open with the Fredonia State women at Brockport, starting at 6 p.m. The Blue Devil women (3-1) are coming off a 78-66 overtime home loss Saturday to Penn State Behrend, while the Brockport women (2-0) have been idle since Nov. 19 when they defeated host New Jersey City University, 71-62, in a season-opening tournament title game.

Head coach Donna Wise called the game vs. Brockport a matchup between "two talented and veteran teams." The Blue Devils won last year's back-and-forth game, 68-58, by pulling away down the stretch.

Wise said the entire week, including SUNYAC road games Friday at New Paltz and Saturday at Oneonta, will put her team to the test. The Blue Devil women, she said, "will focus on dictating the tempo in each of their competitions and fairing well in handling the defensive pressure their will likely face. Road wins in the highly competitive SUNYAC are huge and that is the goal for the week ahead."

Athletics Home | Fredonia Home