Friday, February 03, 2012

MACON, Ga. - Ten Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball contests are slated for play throughout the week, which includes two that can be seen on CSS or ESPN3. This year's second installment of the Battle of the Boulevard is the CSS /A-Sun Game of the Week with Lipscomb hosting Belmont on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. CT, while Kennesaw State welcomes USC Upstate on Monday at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.

• With 14 wins on the season, USC Upstate has increased its win total by nine from last season, which ranks the Spartans second in the nation behind Manhattan’s win improvement of 11. Only three A-Sun teams have equal or larger jumps over the last six seasons; Jacksonville (14; 2006-07), Belmont (11, 2010-11) and ETSU (9; 2006-07).
• With 46 wins over the past two seasons, Belmont is tied for the 14th-best two year win total in A-Sun history. The Bruins need eight more wins this season to tie College of Charleston (1995-97) for best two-year stretch in conference history at 54 wins. The Bruins already own two of the top-10 marks in A-Sun history.
• During Mercer’s current six-game win streak, the Bears are holding opponents to .240 percent (26-of-108) from three-point range. During conference play, Mercer’s opponents are shooting only .274 from behind the arc, which leads the A-Sun and is the lowest since the 2006-07 season.
• The top-two scorers over the past two seasons in the A-Sun; Kennesaw State’s Markeith Cummings (920; 17.4 PPG) and USC Upstate’s Torrey Craig (832; 15.7 PPG) square off for the fourth time in their careers on Monday on ESPN3. In their three previous match-ups, Craig holds the advantage averaging 26.7 points compared to Cummings’ 14.3 PPG. The Spartans are 2-1 vs. the Owls over that span.
• Lipscomb’s Jordan Burgason is averaging 3.9 three-pointers made per game this season and is shooting .530 percent from behind the arc. If he continues with that production for the rest of the season, he will set the A-Sun single-season records for both categories. The current marks are 3.82 three/game and .526. Burgason ranks second and first in those categories in the nation, respectively.
• Lipscomb joined the A-Sun in the 2003-04 season, since then the Bison are 9-9 against Belmont in “The Battle of the Boulevard” which includes one contest in the conference tournament. However, Lipscomb owns five of the last six victories in the series including a 85-74 triumph at the Curb Event Center on Jan. 6th. Sixteen of the 18 showdowns have been determined by 12 points or less.
• In eight of its nine home victories this season, Mercer has defeated its opponents by double digits. Five times the Bears have won by more than 15 points and have a margin of victory of 13.8 in the University Center. In their five conference home games, the Bears are 5-0 and averaging a final score of 75.2 to 57.4.
• At 40.8 PPG, Kennesaw State’s Markeith Cummings, Spencer Dixon and Delbert Love are the best scoring trio in the A-Sun. They rank ahead of Stetson’s Adam Pegg/Chris Perez/Aaron Graham (40.3), ETSU’s Adam Sollazzo/Isiah Brown/Tommy Hubbard (37.6) and USC Upstate’s Torrey Craig/Ty Greene/Ricardo Glenn (36.8).
• Six different Lipscomb Bison have registered a 20-point game this season, which is the most by a single team in the A-Sun. ETSU ranks second with five different student-athletes achieving the feat. FGCU and Belmont are next with four total. USC Upstate and ETSU are tied for most total 20-point games this season at 14.
  
  

  A-Sun Active Career Points Leaders
  Rank	Player (Team)	Points	Class	All-Time Rank
  1.	Markeith Cummings (Kennesaw State)	1,495	Jr.	T32nd
  2.	Spencer Dixon (Kennesaw State)	1,203	Sr.	78th
  3.	Ian Clark (Belmont)	1,160	Jr.	T-89th
  4.	Jordan Burgason (Lipscomb)	1,125	Sr.	99th
  5.	Mick Hedgepeth (Belmont)	1,083	Sr.	113th
  6.	Isiah Brown (ETSU)	1,031	Sr.	124th
  7.	Jerron Granberry (North Florida)	920	Jr.	---
  8.	Adam Sollazzo (ETSU)	897	Sr.	---