Mountain Hawks

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Xavier, a March Madness mainstay, defeated upstart Lehigh, 70-58, on Sunday night at the Greensboro Coliseum to reach the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years. The 10th-seeded Musketeers (23-12) will face No. 3 Baylor (29-7) on Friday in Atlanta. Hulking Xavier center Kenny Frease scored a game-high 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field, and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Musketeers. Xavier senior all-American guard Tu Holloway scored 21 points.

Delaware had another easy weekend in the Division I-AA playoffs, following a strong defense and the arm of Matt Nagy to a 47-22 quarterfinal victory over Lehigh yesterday. The Blue Hens will host Georgia Southern, a 48-20 winner over Hofstra, in Saturday's semifinals. Delaware's defense picked apart the Mountain Hawks (12-1). The Blue Hens (12-1 and Atlantic Ten cochampions) scored 28 points on drives set up by three fumble recoveries and an interception. "In the second quarter, we made too many mistakes," Lehigh coach Kevin Higgins said.

For a few moments, Villanova quarterback Marvin Burroughs just sat on the 25-yard line. Lehigh defensive back Daynin Blake had just wrapped his arms around Burroughs' ankles and taken down the fleet-footed quarterback with 1 minute, 37 seconds left on the clock at Villanova Stadium. That sack on fourth and 7 in the fourth quarter ruined any hope of a triumphant comeback for Burroughs to his home turf. In his first game on Villanova's field since 2004, Burroughs left without a happy return, losing to Lehigh, 31-28.

Lehigh-Delaware has always been a fierce football rivlary. "Our alums at Lehigh talk so much about the Delaware game," said Kevin Higgins, coach of Lehigh's unbeaten Patriot League champions. "We talk Lafayette," Higgins said, referring to the 100-plus-year rivalry with nearby Lafayette. "But all our alumni want to know about is the Delaware game. " For years, Lehigh and Delaware were in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Until last season's 42-35 Lehigh victory, Delaware had won six in a row over 11 years.

The scar runs across Ron Jean's stomach like the seam on a football. Reluctantly he lifts his shirt and drags a finger across the now-smooth surface, hoping not to disturb the memories. His mother cut him. With a knife. Not long before she abandoned him. Ron Jean never knew his father. He has not seen his mother since the day she boarded a bus for New York City and left a frightened 13-year-old, crying alone in the West Palm Beach bus station in South Florida. That was in 1990.

John Bryner says the Lehigh football team has graciously accepted the role of underdog in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. "We're the only nonscholarship team in the tournament," said the junior offensive tackle from Hatfield, who graduated from Lansdale Catholic High. "People say, 'Lehigh, this is an easy week.' It gets us up a little bit more. " Bryner and the sixth-seeded Mountain Hawks (11-0) continue their surprising playoff run today at noon when they travel to Greenville, S. C., to face third-seeded Furman (10-2)

With Michael Jordan, last season's Ivy League rookie of the year, on the sidelines with an injured ankle, the Penn Quakers sputtered at times and looked lost at others against Lehigh last night. But they staggered gamely, and managed a 75-73 victory over the Mountain Hawks at Stabler Arena. The Quakers played well enough to take leads as large as 13 points, but they also fell prey to a relentless Lehigh full-court press that catapulted the Mountain Hawks into the lead briefly near game's end. "Anytime you lose your point guard, you're going to struggle," said sophomore guard Matt Langel, who assumed the injured Jordan's place in the lineup.

Lehigh will host its first NCAA playoff game in 21 years today at noon when the undefeated Mountain Hawks face Hofstra in the first round of the Division I-AA Championships at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem, Pa. Lehigh earned the home-field berth by claiming its fourth straight Patriot League championship and finishing 10-0. The Mountain Hawks, coached by first-year mentor Pete Lembo, are ranked seventh in the USA Today/ESPN I-AA poll and are seeded sixth in the tourney. Hofstra (8-2)

As exultant Massachusetts students swarmed the field and dragged down a stubborn metal goalpost, as red-clad Minutemen players danced in one another's arms, Lehigh's football team made the long walk to McGuirk Alumni Stadium's locker room at the close of a 12-1 season. The 12 victories tied Lehigh's best. But in this situation, minutes after a 27-21 Division I-AA quarterfinal loss to Massachusetts, it was the lone loss that left seniors Nick Martucci and Deron Braswell looking as lifeless as the surrounding hillsides.

There's no figuring the Penn Quakers these days. Yesterday against Lehigh, they came out firing, looking like the running, gunning, defensively sound Ivy League champions of yesteryear. But that lasted just one quarter. For the rest of the game, the Quakers' quarterbacks couldn't move the ball and their defense give up a bunch of big plays, leaving a sparse crowd of 5,074 wondering what happened in a 28-24 loss to the Mountain Hawks at Franklin Field. Lehigh's Seka Edwards, a 6-foot, 153-pound junior, dazzled with his play-action fakes and playmaking ability.

La Salle's Kevin Christy took a no-hitter into the seventh inning on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Hank DeVincent Field, but visiting Richmond broke through to grab a 2-1 Atlantic Ten victory. Christy (1-1) allowed both runs and took a hard-luck loss. The righthander from North Penn struck out eight to extend his A-10-leading total to 51 and now has 193 in his career, just six whiffs away from moving into third place all time for the Explorers (15-11, 3-2 A-10). Richmond improved to 14-10, 1-1. Widener's Bill Hollingsworth (Monsignor Bonner)

Temple guards Ramone Moore (Southern) and Juan Fernandez were named to the East team for the annual National Association of Basketball Coaches Reese's Division I All-Star game, to be held Friday in New Orleans as part of Final Four weekend. Mike Noone (La Salle) was named the Patriot League defensive player of the week and the Mountain Hawks (9-1) jumped to No. 7 in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll following victories over No. 17 Penn State and rival Holy Cross.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Xavier, a March Madness mainstay, defeated upstart Lehigh, 70-58, on Sunday night at the Greensboro Coliseum to reach the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years. The 10th-seeded Musketeers (23-12) will face No. 3 Baylor (29-7) on Friday in Atlanta. Hulking Xavier center Kenny Frease scored a game-high 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field, and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Musketeers. Xavier senior all-American guard Tu Holloway scored 21 points.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Before the tip-off Sunday night, the students and alumni of Lehigh University already were floating and sweaty and hoarse and still high from a weekend they will never forget. Lehigh, seeded 15th in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, had knocked off a giant, No. 2 seed Duke, on Friday night. The Mountain Hawks were in the second round, taking on No. 10 seed Xavier in Greensboro, N.C. Lehigh lost, 70-58. But on this night, win or lose hardly mattered. Honest.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Mike Krzyzewski knew this year's Duke team had its flaws. Several of them hurt the Blue Devils in a big way on Friday night. Austin Rivers and Mason Plumlee had 19 points apiece, but Duke struggled from three-point range and lost 75-70 to Lehigh to become the second No. 2 seed to lose to a 15 during a wild day in the NCAA tournament. Norfolk State, another 15th seed, upset Missouri earlier in a West region game in Omaha, Neb. The Blue Devils, who relied on the three-point shot this season, went 6 for 26 from behind the arc and another speedy guard sliced through their defense.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Lehigh Mountain Hawks insist their work here isn't done. They're not ready to pack up and go home to Bethlehem, Pa., after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history by stunning national power and second-seeded Duke, 75-70, in its own backyard Friday night. The Mountain Hawks want to stick around a little longer. After his team's monumental upset, Lehigh coach Brett Reed asked his players in the locker room if they were satisfied and the collective response was no. The 15th-seeded Mountain Hawks, led by speedy guard C.J. McCollum, the nation's fifth-leading scorer, fully believed they could topple Duke - and they said so publicly before the game.

On one hand, it was agonizing for the daughter of 76ers coach Doug Collins to watch Duke go down to Lehigh in a major NCAA tournament upset, because her brother, Chris Collins, is an associate head coach with the Blue Devils. On the other hand, Kelly Romanczuk could be quietly happy because Lehigh is her alma mater; she starred in basketball with the Mountain Hawks from 1996 through 2000. But talk about a dilemma. "We have a rule in our family that we always stick with family first," Romanczuk said Saturday.

Suspended Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates apologized to everyone, from his family to his entire hometown, for throwing a blindside punch that left a bloody gash below the eye of a Xavier player. Then, he broke down in tears. The Bearcats made their four suspended players attend a news conference on Monday and apologize for their part in a brawl that ended eighth-ranked Xavier's 76-53 victory on Saturday and brought the city a lot of bad national publicity. Lehigh 95, Arcadia 55 - Stefan Cvrkalj scored 19 points off the bench and the Mountain Hawks (9-3)

Freshman Anthony Davis scored 15 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, and had eight of a school-record 18 blocks in top-ranked Kentucky's 81-59 victory over St. John's on Thursday night in Lexington, Ky. Terrence Jones added 26 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats (7-0), who head into a highly anticipated showdown with No. 5 North Carolina on Saturday on a high note after a stalwart defensive performance. Davis blocked four shots before the first timeout, and Kentucky set the team record with Eloy Vargas' swat with 2:42 to go. Davis finished one block short of tying the individual mark of nine set by Sam Bowie in 1981 and matched by Andre Riddick in 1993.