12/17/21
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Men's Basketball team has one more game before the Fall 2021 semester ends, as the Falcons travel to take on the County College of Morris Titans on Saturday, December 18^th in Randolph, NJ. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00pm ET.
 
About The Falcons
The Falcons (4-4) evened their overall record with an 86-65 victory over SUNY Ulster CC last weekend. It was a game where the Falcons struggled to find consistency on offense, allowing the winless Senators to hang around until the midway point of the second half. Lackawanna held a ten-point lead at halftime, but the lead shrank to 58-56 at the 9:19 mark of the second half, before Lackawanna went on a 28-9 run to close out the win, snapping a two-game losing streak in the process. Lackawanna College would go 15-for-21 from the charity stripe in the second half, and held the Senators to just four made field goals over the last nine minutes of the game. Jaylen Davis led Lackawanna College with 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting, while grabbing eight rebounds and blocking four shots. Will Johnson scored 20 points, his second straight game with 20+ points, and went 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Magd Abdelwahab and Nashawn Johnson powered the bench for Lackawanna College, scoring 14 and 7 points, respectively, helping the Falcons score 27 points from their non-starters. The Falcons shot 45% from the field for the game, but had 20 turnovers in the contest.     
 
Davis is the team-leader in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game so far this year, along with 8.5 rebounds per game, second on the Falcons squad. "JD" has scored in double-figures in seven of eight games this year, going over 20+ points three, and scoring a season-high 25 points against PSU-Hazleton on opening night. Davis had a season-high 15 rebounds that night, as well, securing a double-double in his first game of the season. Davis has two double-doubles on the year, is shooting 56% from the field on the year, and averages 2.0 assists per game, along with 1.4 blocks per game this year.
 
Will Johnson has emerged as the second-leading scorer this year, averaging just a shade under ten points per game (9.8). Johnson has scored in double-figures in his last three games, including back-to-back games of 20+ points. He had a season-high 21 against Raritan Valley last week, then followed it up with his 20 points, on 6-for-11 shooting against Ulster on Saturday. Johnson has made more three-pointers in his last two games (six) than he had in his first six games (four). Johnson leads the Falcons with 3.8 assists per game this season, and is tied for the team-lead with seven steals this year. Daryl Coleman is third on the team in scoring, with 9.3 points per game this season. Coleman is also averaging 5.8 rebounds per game, and is the team's best three-point threat, hitting a team-high 16 threes this year. Coleman has scored in double-figures three times this season, including a season-high 20 points against Mercer County CC. Coleman had seven points and eight rebounds, to go with four assists and three blocks, against Ulster on Saturday, but was 0-for-5 from beyond-the-arc.
 
David Pope, along with Abdelwahab, are fourth and fifth in scoring for the Falcons at 8.6 and 8.5 points per game, respectively. Pope is hitting around 40% of his shots this year, and is third on the team with nine made three-pointers this year. Pope is the Falcons' best free throw shooter at 83% on the season. He's scored in double-figures three times this year, including a season-high of 16 points twice (against Erie and Del Tech). Abdelwahab has hit double-figures three times this year, including his season-high 23 points against Niagara County CC earlier this season. Magd is hitting 43% of his shots this year, and is second on the team with 3.0 assists per game.
 
Gabe Springer leads the Falcons with 8.6 rebounds per game. Gabe is averaging just shy of five points per game, and is the team leader in blocks with 18 through his first eight games. Gabe had a career-best 14-point, 19-rebound, 4-block performance against Erie earlier this year. Springer rejected six shots, a season-best, against Ulster, while pulling down 12 rebounds against the Senators.
 
Lackawanna College is shooting at 41.8% as a team this season, and the Falcons are shooting 29.0% from beyond-the-arc. Lackawanna is also shooting at 64.3% from the free-throw line. Lackawanna College holds a +9 rebounding margin, and has 49 blocks as a team. The Falcons are holding their opponents to just 39.0% shooting so far this year, and teams have only hit 26.3% of their three-point attempts against the Lackawanna College defense, which has Lackawanna ranked 9^th in the NJCAA in 3PT% defense. The Falcons are also 11^th in the NJCAA in blocks per game (3.9).
 
Coach Landon Gabriel enters his second season as the head coach for Lackawanna College. Coach Gabriel was hired in 2020 to lead the Falcons program, and rebuild them into a contender. Gabriel spent the previous eleven years coaching at his alma mater, Carbondale Area, where he helped the Chargers boys basketball team to numerous PIAA District II playoff appearances. Gabriel is a King's College graduate, where he played basketball for the Monarchs.
 
About the Opponents
The County College of Morris Titans come into the match-up this weekend at 2-5, with a 95-87 loss at Orange County as their most recent result. The Colts shot 58% from the field for the game, and had five players in double-figures to help their team to victory.
 
The Titans are scoring 76.3 points per game, while giving up 80.7 on the year. Morris is shooting around 42% this season, and their opponents are hitting around 43%. Opponents have hit 31% from three-point range, averaging eight three-pointers per contest against the Titan defense. Morris has been out-rebounded by a -3 margin, but the Titans have forced nearly 21 turnovers per game, on 11 steals per game from their defense.   
 
Morris has a pair of players averaging double-figures on the year, with Kymani Dunbar leading the way at 13.0 points per game this season. Dunbar is hitting 58% of his shots, and also leads the team with three steals per game this year. Dunbar has scored in double-figures three times this year, including his season-high 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting against Mercer County. He's had a season-high four steals twice this year, both against Middlesex County and Mercer. Dunbar also leads the team in assists per game, averaging two per contest.
 
Mario Haklaj is the other player in double-figures this year for Morris, averaging 11.2 points per game on the season. Haklaj has scored in double-figures four times this year, including a season-high 15 points against Harcum in the first game of the season. He's scored in double-figures in his last two games, including 12 points against Mercer in his last game.
 
Nasheim Harte and Nigel Marshall both average just over nine points per game, with Harte at 9.3 and Marshall at 9.2, respectively. Harte had a season-high 22 points against Harcum to start, the year, but has only been in double-figures one other time this season, with 15 points against Mercer, where he went 6-for-10 from the field, and hit three three-point shots. Marshall, tied for the team-lead in rebounds with Christian Waters at 7.2 per game, has scored in double-figures twice this year, with his season-high of 14 points coming against Middlesex. Marshall had a season-high 9 rebounds against Raritan Valley. He did not play against Mercer in the last game for Morris. Waters, averaging 8.2 points per game, had a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds in the loss to Raritan Valley earlier this year, where he went 8-for-12 from the field. He had seven points in ten minutes against Mercer.   
 
The head coach for County College of Morris is Anthony Obrey, who has been in charge of the Titans since January 2016, when he took over on an interim basis midway through the year. At the time, the Titans were 1-11, with their one win coming from a forfeit. Obrey would guide Morris to a 4-7 record the rest of the way, and, after a four-win first full season, he'd have the Titans at 21-9 in the '17-'18 season, followed by a 23-5 season the next year. The Titans were 6-0 last year in the pandemic-shortened, truncated '20-'21 season. Obrey has gone 71-57 as the head coach at Morris.
 
Game Information
The match-up is set for a 1:00pm tip-off at the County College of Morris gymnasium on campus in Randolph, NJ. It's the last game of the fall semester for the Falcons. Their next game will not be until the calendar turns to 2022, when they travel to Cecil College on Thursday, January 6^th, to take on the Eagles.