11/10/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College men's basketball team will put its early season undefeated record on the line when the Falcons travel to Loch Sheldrake, NY to take on the nationally ranked SUNY Sullivan Generals on Thursday, November 10^th.
 
The game is set for a 7:00pm ET tip-off inside the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse. There will be a video livestream available, via the SUNY Sullivan Athletics YouTube Channel HERE.
 
About The Falcons
Lackawanna College is 3-0 for the first time in five years, and are receiving votes in the latest NJCAA Division II polls. The Falcons are having success with their unselfish offensive play and with excellent, active defense. In their last game, the Falcons knocked off Baltimore City CC by an 82-79 score in their second game of the CCBC Dundalk Men's Basketball Mixer. After taking a double-digit lead mid-way through the first half, the Falcons saw the Panthers come back to make it a one-possession game, where it would pretty much be the rest of the way, with neither team truly able to pull away from the other. Lackawanna College forced 28 turnovers, 20 on steals, and shot around 45% for the game, while owning a 49-to-40 advantage on the glass. The Falcons put three players in double-figures, including Malek Mims (Bethlehem, PA), who led the team with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Aamir Mack (Atlantic City, NJ) had 13 points and seven rebounds, while Rahmad Ali (Newark, NJ) finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and a team-best five assists. Lackawanna won despite shooting just 2-for-17 from three-point territory, and going 14-for-28 from the free throw line.
 
The Falcons are averaging 81 points per game through their first three contests, and are outscoring their opponents by 20 points per game. Lackawanna College is shooting 46% from the field so far this year, and holding opponents to 35% overall. The Falcons have also held their opposition to 24.7% from three-point land on the year. Lackawanna is averaging nearly 46 rebounds per game, and holds an +11.4 rebounding edge so far this season. The defense forces 22 turnovers per game, and averages just under 13 steals per contest so far this year.
 
Nasir Brown (Wilmington, DE) leads the Falcons in scoring with 16.3 points per game on the season. He's the high-man in rebounds (7.0) and 3PT FGs (4), and is second on the team in FT% (73.3). Brown has hit double-figures twice in three games, including a 23-point, 9-rebound performance in an 89-59 win over CCBC Dundalk last Saturday night. Brown had nine points and five rebounds in the loss to BCCC, struggling with foul-trouble throughout the game.
 
Malek Mims is second on the team with 14.0 points per game this season. Mims leads the Falcons in steals (12), and averages four rebounds per game. Mims has hit on 50% of his shots this season. Mims has scored in double-figures twice this season, going for his season-best 20 points against Dundalk last Saturday. In that game, he went 7-for-10 from the field, while pulling down six boards and compiling six steals. Against BCCC, he had a team-best 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting, with six steals and four rebounds.
 
Aamir Mack is third on the team in scoring, averaging 12.0 points per game. Mack averages five rebounds per game, and hits around 50% of his shots from the field. Mack is the team-leader in FT%, hitting 83.3% from the charity stripe this year. Mack has hit for double-figures in points twice this season, going for his season-high of 17 points in the opening contest against CCBC Catonsville. His best rebounding output was his seven boards against Baltimore City CC. Mack was a perfect 7-for-7 against Catonsville from the free throw line.
 
Caleb Mims (Bethlehem, PA) is fourth on the team at 8.0 points per game, tied with Niare Poplar (Philadelphia, PA) in that regard. Mims is second on the team in assists (7 in three games), and averages 3.7 rebounds per game. Despite a slow shooting start, Mims is 75% from the free throw line this year. His best game was 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists in the victory over Catonsville. Mims had eight points in the win against BCCC, pulling down three rebounds and dishing out two assists, while picking up a pair of steals against the Panthers.
 
Poplar has so far been one of the better bench players for the Falcons this year, averaging eight points per game and four rebounds per contest in his three appearances. Poplar is the most accurate shooter on the team, hitting 59% of his shots, and going 3-for-6 from three in his first three games. Poplar had ten points and four rebounds in the win over Dundalk, his season-high for points. Against Baltimore City, he had eight points and five rebounds in 15 minutes of work.
 
Rahmad Ali is averaging 7.3 points per game this season, while also pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game. Ali is the top assist man (9 assists in three games) and tied with Brown for second on the team in steals (5). Ali is shooting around 45% from the field this year, and is also 3-for-6 from downtown in three games, just like Poplar. Ali had his best game in the win over Baltimore City, going for a season-best 12 points while pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out five assists in the win.
 
Nashawn Johnson is averaging 7.0 points per game this year, and has been mostly the sixth man for the Falcons. He's averaging 6.7 rebounds per game off the bench, and is 8-for-16 from the field so far this season. Johnson's best game came in his last game, putting up eight points and eight rebounds, as well as three assists in the win over Baltimore City.
 
In his third season in charge, Landon Gabriel returns to the sidelines to lead the Falcons. Gabriel, who spent ten seasons coaching at Carbondale Area HS in the rough and tumble Lackawanna League, feels like this can be a season of positive momentum for the Falcons, where, now with his first true recruiting class, he can really implement the high-tempo defense and energy he wants to see from his squad. Gabriel is a King's College graduate, where he played for the Monarchs, after graduating from Carbondale Area HS before that.
 
About SUNY Sullivan
The Generals (2-0) come into the game sitting at #3 in the latest NJCAA DII Men's Basketball polls. Sullivan's two wins have come against Region XIX opponents, knocking off both Essex County CC and Raritan Valley CC by comfortable margins. Against Raritan, Sullivan shot lights out in the second half, hitting nearly 57% from the field to pull away and win 98-75 over Raritan Valley. The Generals had six players score in double-figures, including a game-high 25 points from Jay Alvarez, who also pulled down nine boards and had three blocks in the win. Sullivan dominated inside, outscoring Raritan 58-22 in the paint, and scoring 24 second-chance points on 18 offensive rebounds. They also scored 30 points off of 18 Raritan turnovers.
 
SUNY Sullivan went 28-5 last year, finishing fourth in the NJCAA Division II National tournament. The Generals did that while averaging 92 points per game, scoring over 100 on several occasions and and putting five players in double-figures each game, while holding opponents to just over 70 points per game. Last year's squad shot 49% from the field, and forced 16 turnovers per game.
 
Sullivan returns just one of their five leading scorers from last season, as Jay Alvarez is back for the campaign. A year ago, Alvarez averaged 14.4 points per game, hitting 46% from the field and grabbing five rebounds per game. He overcame a sluggish start to the season last year with a strong second-half, going on a streak where he scored in double-figures 16 straight games, which just so happened to coincide with a 16-game winning streak for the Generals. Against the Falcons, he scored in double-figures twice, going for 28 points on 10-for-20 shooting in a win in Scranton, and then 15 points in the win at home a month later. Alvarez has wasted little time this season, averaging a team-best 25.5 points per game, hitting 55% from the field and shooting 47% from downtown in two games. He has 16 rebounds in two games, and also has three blocks. Alvarez had 26 points and seven boards in the win over Essex, and then followed that up with a solid 25 points and nine rebounds performance against Raritan Valley.
 
Second on the team in scoring is Kipplyn Richvine, averaging 13.5 points per game and a team-best 5.5 assists per game through two. Richvine is shooting 41% from the field, and is 4-for-10 from downtown so far in two games. He's tied for the team lead in steals with KeSean Tracy, with seven through two games. Richvine had 12 points and six assists in the win over Essex, then had a 15-point, five-assist game against Raritan Valley the next night.
 
Cameron Gallon, who played sparingly last season, is third on the team at 24 points in two games this year. Gallon saw time in 27 games last season, usually only getting a bit over eight minutes per game. This year, he's started a game, shooting 47% from the field and leading the Generals at 5-for-6 from the free throw line in two games. Gallon had nine points and seven boards against Essex, then had a career-best 15 points and seven rebounds in the win over Raritan. Gallon had eleven points in two games against Lackawanna College last season.
 
Mohammed Touray is fourth on the team, averaging nine points per game on 47% shooting this season. Touray has started both games for the Generals, and leads the team with 17 rebounds in two contests. Touray nearly had a double-double in his last game, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the win over Raritan Valley. He had six points and eight rebounds in the win over Essex County CC.
 
KeSean Tracy, another returner who played in 29 games last season for the Generals, is fifth on Sullivan, averaging seven points per game in his two appearances. He's 5-for-9 from the field, and is tied with Richvine for the team lead in assists per game. He's also tied with Richvine in steals on the year. Tracy had a combined seven points in two games against Lackawanna last year. Tracy had just three points, but put up six assists, in the win over Essex. Against Raritan, he scored eleven points and had five helpers for the Generals.
 
The head coach for SUNY Sullivan is Brent Wilson, entering his tenth overall year, and ninth season in charge with the Generals. Wilson's teams have had success from the moment he stepped on campus. The Generals have won 20+ games in every season under Wilson, including a 28-2 record in the 2019-2020 season, where they finished with a #2 ranking in the NJCAA Division II polls, and qualified for the DII National Championships. Wilson has won multiple Region XV championships, produced five All-Americans, and sent 30 players onto four-year institutions. Wilson, a thousand-point scorer in his time at the University of Albany, spent time on the bench for the Great Danes as an assistant, as well as an assistant at North Dakota before his time at SUNY Sullivan. Wilson has an impressive 199-49 record in his time at SUNY Sullivan.
 
Game Information
The match-up between the Generals and the Falcons is set for a 7:00pm ET tip inside the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse on the SUNY Sullivan Campus in Loch Sheldrake, NY. The game will have a video livestream available via the SUNY Sullivan Athletics YouTube Channel HERE.
 
Next up for Lackawanna College is SUNY Rockland, when the Falcons travel to Suffern, NY on Tuesday, November 15^th. That game is set for a 7:00pm ET tip-off.