EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette held a nine-point lead at halftime and never looked back, defeating Navy 62-41 on Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center. Nick Petkovich scored 11 points off the bench to lead three Lafayette players in double figures.

Lafayette (10-13, 5-3) limited Navy to a season-low 41 total points and held the Mids (3-19, 0-8) to 17 second-half points, tying the lowest scoring output by an opponent in any half this season. Both previous lows occurred at Holy Cross on Jan. 19. The last time Lafayette held and opponent to 41 points or fewer was Jan. 14, 2004 when it defeated Army 76-40.

Following a sloppy start by each team through the first 12 minutes of the opening half, Petkovich gave Lafayette a 19-12 lead after scoring on consecutive possessions. The senior connected on his second trifecta of the contest and then followed Jim Mower’s miss with a rebound and tip-in to give Lafayette a seven-point lead at 6:30.

Tony Johnson forced Navy’s 11th turnover of the first half, streaked ahead of the pack and laid-in a basket to give Lafayette a 25-15 lead with less than four minutes remaining. After Jordan Sugars hit one of two from the line, Ryan Willen knocked down a three to put the home team up 28-16. The Leopards took a 33-24 lead into the break after shooting 52 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

Willen’s two handed lay-in at 14:52 handed Lafayette a 42-28 advantage. Two possessions later, Willen found Les Smith open in the corner where Smith drained a three to give the Leopards a 17-point lead and cap a 10-0 spurt. The Mids scored the next five points to pull within 12, but wouldn’t get any closer during the final 12 minutes.

After Navy’s mini 5-0 run, Lafayette scored 10 straight points, punctuated by Petkovich’s straightaway triple, to take its largest lead to that point at 55-33.

Willen and Seth Hinrichs each finished with 10 points in the victory while Johnson scored eight points and dished out six assists. Willen also grabbed a game-high six rebounds. Lafayette won the battle on the glass, 30-25, and forced 20 Navy turnovers.

Lafayette returns to the floor on Wednesday when it travels to West Point, N.Y. to play Army at 7 p.m.

Notes:

Joey Ptasinski scored five points before leaving with an ankle injury in the first half.

Lafayette’s five blocked shots tied a season-high in Patriot League contests this year.

Lafayette improves to 6-0 when holding opponents to 20 or fewer field goals and 7-0 when opponents shoot less than 40 percent.

Navy’s leading scorer and rebounder, sophomore J.J. Avila, did not play in the game.

Click here to see a breakdown of the game's stats.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.- After a rough first game where not much seemed to go right for the Palm Beach Atlantic baseball team, the Sailfish turned to junior right-hander T.J. Harbuck in hopes of earning a Saturday split against Warner University. Fresh off an 11-4 defeat, the Fish responded by witnessing a solid Harbuck outing that saw the Ormond Beach native go into the final inning with a no-hitter intact before settling for a combined shutout with closer Alejandro De Moya and a 4-0 PBA win.

With the split the Fish close out their first week with a 2-1 record following their exciting 3-2 win on Thursday night in the team's season-opening victory over Lynn University at Roger Dean Stadium.

It will be a quick turnaround for the team as they will travel to Ave Maria University on Monday, February 6th to square off against the Gyrenes for a 2 pm matinee. Those that cannot make the game can tune in to an audio broadcast on the Sailfish Sports Network.

Game One

Trailing 1-0 following a first-inning run, the Fish fell behind by a big margin in the third inning as the Royals (3-3) tagged PBA starter Andres Lopez (0-1) for six runs (five earned) that included an Adrian Kaplan 2-run double that would chase Lopez from the game.

PBA reliever Jeremiah Cothiere would register a strikeout to the first batter he faced in the inning before allowing a 2-run single to Brandon Kirby that broke the inning and game open.

The Royals would tack on single runs in each of the next four innings as they pushed their advantage to as large as ten runs. John McVey, Kaplan, and James Krupa provided the big blows with solo homeruns in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings respectively.

PBA got on the board in the sixth as pinch-hitter Brooks Fleming drilled a two-run homer to left-field while junior Matt Perkowski slammed his first round-tripper in a PBA uniform by going opposite-field to left-center for a two-run shot in the seventh inning.

Following Lopez and Cothiere were freshman Robbie Pettet, senior Kenny Frosch, and freshman Kennie Silvestri each logging an inning in relief.

Dylan Heiring went five innings for the Royals to pick up his second win of the young season as he struck out three batters while walking two.

Cody Higgins was the only PBA batter to register a multi-hit game as he finished 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Game Two

After a rough go of things in the opening game, the Sailfish saw a much better team performance in the night-cap starting with their hurler in Harbuck.

Harbuck finished with six strikeouts and didn't allow a hit until a leadoff double in the top of the seventh inning by WU left-fielder Dylan Gross.

An infield hit two batters later would officially end Harbuck's evening as the Fish turned to De Moya who retired the next two hitters, one on a foul popup and the final batter on a strikeout as he nailed down his first save.

Perkowski followed up his game one where he went deep with a 2-for-3 showing in the second game while Nick Natale also produced a multi-hit game at 2-for-3.

The Fish got on the board in the first inning for the second time in three games this season as senior Luis Mejia smoked a ball back up the box for a single that plated Perkowski who doubled earlier in the frame.

Natale provided the biggest offensive blow of the ballgame when he smacked a two-out, two-run triple into the right-centerfield gap that one-hopped the fence and plated both Mejia and Travis Murray. Matt Civetti added in a RBI single to plate Natale for the 4-0 lead.

The tandem of Harbuck and De Moya would take care of the rest as PBA held on for the victory.

Aaron Kehres earned the loss for the Royals as he went four innings while allowing seven hits and four runs while Warner got solid relief pitching from James Krupa and Ryan Ruble who each tallied a pair of strikeouts in their inning each of work.

Click here to see the box score for both games.

ZALMA - Traveling sports teams are all the craze these days.  It's a very busy lifestyle for these families, yet it's filled with lots of fun and rewards for everyone.  

A group to keep your eyes on in the future is the Dexter Racers, a third grade traveling team.  The Racers have been dominant against their opponents this season, posting a 9-0 record.

By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

The Dexter Bearcats and Advance Hornets took to the floor of the Bearcat Event Center on Friday night; the matchup was what many expected in the championship game of last week's SCAA Tournament, but the Hornets were upset by Bernie in the semifinal round. The Bearcats were able to remain a perfect 6-0 in SCAA play after a solid defensive performance that led to a 75-47 victory over the Hornets.

"There were times in the first half where we didn't play really well," Dexter coach Rob Nichols said after the game, "but I thought right at the start of the first quarter, and in the last three minutes of the half, we played really well, and the whole second half we played really well."

The Bearcats used a 20-2 run to start the contest and build a sizable lead after the first quarter, but the Hornets battled back in the second, and got within seven points of Dexter midway through the frame.

"We were really aggressive against their press in the first quarter and got some easy looks, and we built that big lead and started settling, trading baskets for a bit," Nichols commented. "We started playing too fast and made some turnovers, but all in all I was really pleased with their effort. They tried to execute all night and played really hard."

The Bearcats jumped out to a big lead early after steals from Jordan Fitts, Tyler Miller, and Chase Young in the full-court press turned into easy layups. Ethan Barr dropped in a layup for the Hornets at the 4:30 mark for their first points of the game, but Fitts drained a trey to give the 'Cats a 15-2 advantage. Miller got hot from the perimeter late in the first, and his two threes gave the 'Cats a 25-10 lead at the end of the opening frame.

Barr cleaned up the glass for the Hornets in the second, and his three offensive rebound/stickbacks helped spark a brief comeback by the Hornets. Hunter Wilson knocked down a three at the 2:00 mark to pull the Hornets within seven, but Miller answered with his third trey of the night to help push the 'Cats to a 14 point advantage at halftime.

The Bearcats switched into a zone defense early in the third quarter and shut the Hornets down. Wilson added another trey in the third, and Lane Below put together six point efforts in both the third and fourth quarters, but the 'Cats overwhelmed Advance with great defense and secured the 75-47 victory with a running clock in the fourth.

"We'd changed defenses several times, and there in the mid third quarter we got several turnovers out of just playing a zone," Nichols said of the second half defensive performance. "We'd switched back and forth from man to zone about every two or three possessions, and it gave them trouble."

"We've been playing that 1-2-2 zone with Miller at the top off and on for a few weeks, and we've become pretty effective with it. These guys have been able to change defenses and do a good job at it. Sometimes teams will struggle when you try to change things within the flow of the game, but they don't; I was really pleased with their effort tonight."

Nichols noted Miller's excellent perimeter shooting in the contest - the senior was four of five from beyond the arc - but said it wasn't part of the game-plan coming in.

"It really just developed," he said. "Tyler gets it off quick; he doesn't need a lot of time to shoot the ball, and when he's shooting it well, it brings another dimension to this team. He played really well tonight."

In the JV contest, the 'Cats continued to show signs of improvement and picked up a 48-27 win. Sophomore D.J. Dowdy, who plays on both levels, led the young 'Cats with 16 points. Devin Hampton netted seven, while Stevie Payne and Nick Noble added six points each.

The Bearcats will be in action again on Tuesday night, when they face the Bell City Cubs for the Stoddard County Conference Championship. The 'Cats already hold a 90-47 victory over the Cubs from the first round of the SCAA Tournament.

"We play Bell City on Tuesday night," Nichols said, "and if we can win that game, we'll be 7-0 in the conference and have the regular season and tournament championships; that's something that would be great for our seniors."

Tipoff for the title game is set for 6:00 p.m. from the BEC.

ROLLA - The Missouri S&T Lady Miners were unable to keep up the scoring pace in the second half against Quincy in its 77-65 loss at home on Thursday night. S&T had no answer for the reigning Great Lakes Valley Conference's player of the year in Ali Schwagmeyer as she led all scorers with 27 points.

Quincy (14-6, 9-3 GLVC) scored the game's first seven points en route to a double digit lead just over four minutes into the contest. The lead continued to hover around that mark for the next five minutes.

The Lady Miners (13-6, 8-4 GLVC) trailed 24-13 at the 10:16 mark before clawing back to within 26-23 on a three-pointer from Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) two minutes later. That was the closest the game was the rest of the way as the Hawks ran off seven of the next nine points to take a 33-25 advantage with less than six minutes to play in the half.

The lead grew to 42-32 on a Schwagmeyer jumper with 1:18 to left, but S&T cut it down to six getting baskets from Katelyn Heil (Dexter, Mo./Dexter) and Quintonia Evans (Evansville, Ind.) in the final minute to make it a six point game at the half.

Quincy shot 57 percent (17-for-30) in the opening frame and was 5-of-14 from downtown. Schwagmeyer led the way with 17 points while Linsay Henke added 10 more. Karlee Gengenbacher hit three three's in the first half accounting for all her points.

The Lady Miners connected on 48 percent (14-for-29) of their attempts but were only 2-of-5 from behind the arc, but 6-for-8 at the charity stripe. Julie Meyer (Marthasville, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) had 10 while Kyesha Hall (Dodson, La.) dropped in six and McLeod and Heil added five each. S&T stayed in the game thanks to its bench outscoring Quincy's 20-2 in the opening half.

The Hawks opened the second half strong going on a 10-2 run in the first five minutes extending its lead back to double digits. Gengenbacher hit a pair of three's to key the run. The lead continued to hang around the double digit mark until a bucket by Evans made it an eight point contest with 11:13 to play.

It wasn't meant to be though as Quincy put the game away with a 19-7 run spanning nearly nine minutes to build its largest lead of the night at 77-57 with 2:30 remaining.

S&T closed out the game scoring the final eight points getting five of those from Hall. The Lady Miners shot just 31 percent (9-for-29) in the second and were 0-of-10 from downtown, but were 11-for-14 at the foul line.

They finished the game shooting 40 percent (23-of-58) but connected on just 13 percent of their three-point attempts and were 17-of-22 at the charity stripe. Meyer led three players in double figures with 17 points. Hall added a career-high 14 points while Hailee Parks (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan) dropped in 10.

The Hawks shot 52 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 54.4 percent (31-for-57). They were 9-for-23 from behind the arc and outrebounded S&T by a 35-to-28 margin. Schwagmeyer led four players in double figures. Gengenbacher had 15, Henke dropped in 12 while Kassidy Shuman added 11 more.

The Lady Miners are back at home on Saturday afternoon when they host Illinois Springfield at 1 p.m. Saturday's game is also Fort Leondard Wood/Military Appreciation Day at the Bullman. All active, reservists, dependents and retired military personnel get in free with a valid military I.D. card.