Game 14 • W&L (2-11, 0-6) at Lynchburg (7-7, 4-3)
Lynchburg, Va. • January 15, 2004 • 3:00 pm

Game 15 • W&L (2-11, 0-6) at Hampden-Sydney (6-7, 1-5)
Hampden-Sydney, Va. • January 16, 2004 • 2:00 pm

THE SERIES:
W&L and Lynchburg will be meeting for the 96th time, with the Generals holding a 67-28 advantage in the all-time series. The Generals won the last meeting, 49-44, last season at the Warner Center. However, the two teams have split the yearly series every season since 1997-98. W&L and Hampden-Sydney will be meeting for the 103rd time, with the Tigers holding a 62-40 series edge. The Tigers have won each of the last 14 games dating back to the 1997-98 season, including a 76-45 win in the last matchup which was held in Fleet Gymnasium.

UP NEXT:
W&L travels to Bridgewater on Wednesday (7:00 pm) before returning home to host Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday (2:00 pm) and Randolph-Macon on Sunday (2:00 pm).

SCOUTING LYNCHBURG:
Lynchburg is 7-7 overall, 4-3 in the ODAC following a 65-55 home win over Southern Virginia on Wednesday evening. The Hornets led 40-28 at the break, but the Knights began the second half on a 10-0 run cut the LC lead to just two points. However, the Hornets then went on an 18-3 run to assume a commanding 58-41 lead with 4:36 remaining in coasting to the win. Senior forward Aaron Smith scored a team-high 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field, while senior forward Ryan Pehanik notched 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Junior guard Matt Sweeney added nine points in the winning effort. For the season, the Hornets are paced by Pehanik, who averages 13.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Sweeney contributes 10.6 points and has hit 27-of-65 (.415) three-point attempts, while sophomore guard Pete Manos posts 10.4 points per game. Senior guard Andy Albright adds 8.9 points, 2.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game. As a team, LC shoots just 42.4 percent from the field, 29.8 percent from three and 66.3 percent from the foul line.

SCOUTING HAMPDEN-SYDNEY:
Hampden-Sydney is 6-7 overall and 1-5 in the ODAC following a 67-48 loss at Randolph-Macon on Wednesday evening. The Tigers shot just 28.1 percent from the field and were outplayed on the boards, 50-31. Sophomore guard Mike Edwards led the team with 10 points and three rebounds. Freshman forward Mladen Cvijanovic added eight points, but shot just 1-of-10 from the field. For the season, the Tigers are led by senior guard Brian Gunn, who averages 12.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Freshman guard Drew Prehmus scores 10.7 points per outing and is the team's top outside threat, hitting 26-of-69 (.377) three-pointers. Cvijanovic contributes 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while junior center Aaron Lewek adds 8.8 points and a team-best 8.3 rebounds per outing. The Tigers are shooting just 40.8 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from three-point range.

THE HEAD GENERAL:
Adam Hutchinson (Amherst '93) is in his second season as the head coach at Washington and Lee, posting a 9-29 (.237) record with the Generals. Prior to his arrival in Lexington, Hutchinson had coached for two seasons at Case Western Reserve University and two seasons at Stevens Tech. In his six seasons as a head coach, Hutchinson claims a 43-96 (.309) overall record. Hutchinson is assisted by Ryan Kadlubowski (Rochester '03) and Curtis Buxton.

LAST TIME OUT:
Freshman forward Brad Parkes scored a game-high 26 points to lead Eastern Mennonite to a 69-61 win over Washington and Lee on Wednesday evening at the Warner Center. The Generals jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening 5:08 of the game as EMU missed each of its first 12 shots from the field. However, the Royals rebounded to take a 12-11 lead with 8:15 remaining in the half and held a 30-25 advantage at the break. EMU extended to a double-digit lead several times in the opening nine minutes of the second stanza, but a 16-5 W&L run midway through the half knotted the game at 51-51 with 8:10 remaining in the game. From there, the two teams went back-and-forth until the Royals added to a 57-56 lead by closing out the game on a 13-5 run in the final 3:35. W&L held a 53-43 advantage on the boards, but could not overcome a 29-of-38 performance from the foul line by Eastern Mennonite. W&L was led by freshman forwards Greg Bienemann and Femi Kusimo. Bienemann notched 19 points and eight rebounds, while Kusimo totaled 15 points, six rebounds and five steals. Junior forward David Will added seven points and a career-high tying 12 rebounds. Parkes’ effort was supplimented by a 19-point, 10-rebound performance by sophomore forward Jason Sager and a 12-point, seven-rebound, four-steal outing by freshman guard Korey Whiting.

LAST MEETING WITH LYNCHBURG:
Guard Chris Halkitis scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Washington and Lee to a 49-44 win over Lynchburg at the Warner Center. The Generals built a 27-20 halftime advantage and extended their lead to as many as 11 points on three occasions during the second stanza. W&L led 43-32 with 5:38 remaining in the game, but went cold and didn’t score again until Haliktis hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:24 remaining to give the Generals a 44-40 advantage. Lynchburg, which forced 28 W&L turnovers, continued to chip away at the lead and cut it to one-point at 45-44 with 54 seconds remaining on a pair of foul shots by guard Pete Manos. However, senior guard Michael Denbow and Halkitis combined to hit four foul shots in the final 18 seconds to ice the win. Forward David Will supplimented Halkitis’ effort with eight points. Senior forward Hamill Jones snared a game-high nine rebounds. The Hornets were led by Manos and guard Matthew Sweeney, who each scored 11 points.

LAST MEETING WITH HAMPDEN-SYDNEY:
Eighth-ranked Hampden-Sydney held Washington and Lee to just four baskets in the first half on its way to a 32-11 halftime lead, then cruised to the 76-45 win over the Generals. In a game that started slowly, Hampden-Sydney held a 9-6 lead with 11:49 left to play in the first half, but closed out the first stanza on a 23-5 run to take control of the game. Washington and Lee managed just 4-of-22 (.182) shooting in the first half on its way to a 15-for-44 (.341) performance on the afternoon. In addition, the Generals gave up 24 turnovers, 15 of them in the first half. Guard Coleman Lyons led W&L with 14 points while senior forward Hamill Jones and forward Matt Lawless contributed eight points apiece. Kevin Forrester led four Tigers in double-figures with 12 points, while David Willson and Jason Holman scored 11 points each. Brandon Randall added 10 points in the victory.

THREE MAN:
Senior guard Mike Stuart has enjoyed a fine career with the Generals and has continued that fine play this season. Twice he has tied the W&L record for three-pointers in a game (7), doing so as a freshman and again last season at Lynchburg. He is fourth all-time with 120 career three-pointers made, and is fifth all-time in three-point attempts (348). A .345 career shooter from beyond the arc, Stuart has hit 19-of-58 attempts (.328) this season.

STRONG START = STRONG FINISH:
A quick start has been imperative to the Generals winning games. Over the past seven years, W&L is 31-18 (.633) when leading at the half. During that same stretch, W&L has won a total of 44 games, meaning that W&L has led at the break in over 70 percent of its wins during the last seven years.

KEEP EM' UNDER 60:
People love to see offense, but defense does win games as evidenced by W&L's record in low scoring contests. During the last eight seasons, W&L is 32-16 (.667) when allowing opponents 59 points or less, 0-1 this season.

BIENEMANN THE BETTER MANN:
Freshman forward Greg Bienemann has been a significant contributor to the Generals in his initial campaign, leading the team in scoring with an average of 12.3 points per game. Bienemann has scored in double figures in nine of the team's 13 games and has led the team in scoring on four occasions. Bienemann scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a win over Piedmont and is averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game over his last seven contests.

FABULOUS FEMI:
Freshman forward Femi Kusimo has also been a pleasant addition to the Generals lineup this season. Kusimo leads the team in steals (1.5 spg), blocks (0.5 bpg) and field goal percentage (.579), is second in rebounding (5.9 rpg) and assists (2.0 apg) and is third in scoring (10.7 ppg). Kusimo has led W&L in scoring on three occasions and is tied for the team-lead with nine double-figure scoring games.

SHOT SELECTION:
The Generals have started to funnel shots to the tandem of Bienemann and Kusimo considering that the duo have combined to hit 53.6 percent (119-of-222) of their shots. The other 12 players who have seen action are a combined 191-of-523 from the field for 36.5 percent.

THE 411 ON HALKITIS:
Sophomore guard Chris Halkitis had a fine season in 2003-04, earning Honorable Mention All-ODAC honors after hitting 54-of-129 three-point attempts (.419). Halkitis has been in a slump of late, but broke out in the win over Washington College by scoring a career-high 27 points en route to Tournament MVP honors. Halkitis currently leads the team in assists (2.7 apg), ranks second on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg) and steals (1.1 spg), and is tied for third in rebounding (4.2 rpg). Halkitis is coming off just the second scoreless game in his career in the loss to EMU on Wednesday. However, he did tie a career-high with 10 rebounds against the Royals.

THE YOUTH:
Senior guard Mike Stuart and junior forwards David Will and Matt Lawless are the only upperclassmen to see action in 2004-05. The Generals 11 underclassmen who have played have combined to average 47.6 points, 26.1 rebounds and 11.9 assists per game. That translates into 72.9 percent of the team's points, 73.1 percent of the team's rebounds and 87.5 percent of the team's assists.

ON THE BOARDS:
The Generals did the job on the boards against the Royals on Wednesday, totaling 53 rebounds, the most since grabbing 50 in a four-overtime affair against Lynchburg (1/12/00) exactly five years earlier. The game also marked the first time two Generals had grabbed double figure rebounds since a 2000 season game against Virginia Wesleyan.

-- GENERALS --