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Lions Men Post Key Back-To-Back Victories

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By BART O'CONNELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 24, 2009

ST. LEO - Jordan Prais and Quentin Cullop led the Saint Leo men's basketball team to a pair of wins this past week that might prove to be the most pivotal in the Lions' season.
Saint Leo defeated Lynn, 79-67, last Saturday at the Bowman Center, and followed that with a 77-72 victory at Eckerd. The Lions are now 9-10, and 3-4 in Sunshine State Conference, entering today's home game against Nova Southeastern. They will play a non-conference game at Flagler next Wednesday.
Prais had 23 points and 13 rebounds against Lynn - his first double-double since SLU's conference-opening win at Barry in overtime. Lynn entered the game 12-3, having won eight of its last nine, with the only loss by a single point to NSU.

Josue Vazquez added 20 points and three steals. The Lions held the Knights to 28 first-half points and 34.7 percent shooting overall.

Cullop, who had 15 points against Lynn, followed with 19 points and five assists in Wednesday's win against the Tritons. Kyle Rowland added 18 points, part of a stellar offensive effort that saw Saint Leo make more than 50 percent of its shots for the game and again hold an opponent below 40 percent shooting.

Today's 4 p.m. game against the Sharks (10-4, 5-1) could vault the Lions into the middle of the SSC standings. They are sixth, half a game behind fifth-place Tampa.

WOMEN FALL TO 0-7: The SLU women's basketball team is 0-7 in SSC play after losing 64-59 to Lynn and 79-63 to Eckerd this past week. Today, they face Nova Southeastern (6-10, 2-4), the eighth-place team in the league, at 2 p.m. in the Bowman Center.

Though the Sharks are the closest team to the Lions in the standings, NSU is also the first team to beat Rollins (15-1, 5-1) this season and has won three of its last four entering this afternoon's game.

Marquita Fenn had the best game of any SLU women's player during the past week, with 16 points and 15 rebounds against Lynn. Among all SSC players in conference games, she ranks third in field-goal percentage (.558).

GPA A-OK: For the first time in modern program history, Saint Leo University's student-athletes combined to post a cumulative grade-point average better than 3.0. The records have been kept since the 1980s.

"What I am most happy about is that as our athletic success has grown with regional appearances, All-American awards, and championships, that our academic success has also steadily improved," said Athletic Director Fran Reidy in a release. "We are very proud of our students-athletes and the great balance they have shown in academic and athletic success."

Broken down by sport, 11 of the 16 individual sports also exceeded a 3.0. The women's cross country team had the highest average at 3.41.

PRESEASON POLLS: The SLU softball team was picked to finish third in the SSC, while the baseball team was picked to finish seventh.

Correspondent Bart O'Connell can be reached at tampasport@

gmail.com.

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