GAME 12 • Lyon College • December 19, 2011

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: December 19, 2011
Location: Jonesboro, Ark. 
Tipoff: 7:05  p.m.
Arena: ASU Convocation Center
Arena Capacity: 10,038
Webcast: astateredwolves.com

TIPPING IT OFF
Arkansas State returns home for its last home contest before the Holiday break as the Red Wolves host Lyon College Monday at the Convocation Center. After the contest against the Scots, which is set to tip at 7:05 p.m., the Red Wolves hit the road to face St. Louis on Thursday for their final matchup before the Holiday break.

THE OPPONENT
Lyon College is an NAIA institution that is based out of Batesville, Ark. They stand at 6-4 after beating Ecclesia 80-57 on the road. Sophomore forward CJ Blount leads the scots in scoring and rebounding averaging 13.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In all, the Scots have three players averaging in double-digit scoring. Junior forward Slater Belew ranks second on the squad averaging 11.3 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game. Freshman guard/forward Kendall Leeks rounds out the Scots players averaging in double-digits scoring 10.2 points per game. As a team, the Scots average 74.9 points and 35.1 rebounds per game while giving up 82.6 points and 36.6 rebounds per game to opposition. Kevin Jenkins is in his 17th year as head coach of the Scots owning a career mark of 199-279.

THE SERIES
The Red Wolves own a 34-17 all-time series record against Lyon College in the series which dates back to the 1926-27 season, which was the first season of Arkansas State basketball. ASU beat Lyon 85-42 at the Convocation Center during the 2010-11 season.

FIVE STARTERS IN DOUBLE-DIGITS
All five of ASU's starters are averaging in double-digit scoring. The Red Wolves, who have started the same lineup in every game are led by junior forward Brandon Peterson who is averaging 11.2 ppg and 7.0 rebounds per game. Hooten is second on the team averaging 11.0 points per game. Finn and Townsel rank third on the team averaging 10.7 points per game and Kirkland leads the team averaging 7.2 rebounds per game and is scoring 10.5 points per game. Townsel has scored in double-digits the last six-straight games.

BRADY'S 600
Wednesday night marked the 600th career game for Arkansas State head coach John Brady. Brady owns a 333-267 (.554) career record with head coaching stops at Samford and LSU prior to becoming the head coach of the Red Wolves.  Brady led ASU to an undefeated 13-0 home record last season and the Sun Belt Conference West Division Title.

STERRENBERG HOT OFF BENCH
In the last two games, junior guard Adam Sterrenberg has been solid coming off the bench for the Red Wolves with a pair of 10-point performances, which are both season highs. At Murray State Sterrenberg played a season-high 28 minutes shooting 3-6 from the floor and 3-6 from the FT line.

national rankings
In the latest national ranking summary, Arkansas State ranked 27th in the country in three-point field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 36%  from beyond the three-point arc. Sophomore point guard Ed Townsel also ranked 45th in the country in steals per game (2.2).

DOUBLE, DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Against Seattle, senior forward Malcoln Kirkland and junior forward Brandon Peterson each posted a double-double with Kirkland recording career-highs in points (18) and rebounds (13). Peterson recorded 17 pts and 12 rebounds to record the fifth double-double of his career, it was the first double-double for Kirkland.

FIVE SCORE IN DOUBLE FIGURES OVER SEATTLE
Against Seattle, ASU had five players score in double-figures led by a career-high from Ed Townsel with 20, followed by Kirkland with 18, Peterson with 17 and Marcus Hooten with 11. Sterrenberg came off the bench to score a season-high 10 points on 3-3 shooting from the floor and 3-3 from the charity stripe.

FOUR IN DOUBLE-DIGITS OVER UCA
Against Central Arkansas, the Red Wolves had four of their starters score in double-digits with junior forward Brandon Peterson leading the way with 19 points and nine rebounds. Ed Townsel scored in double-digits for the fourth straight game pouring in 15, followed by Kirkland and Finn who had nine each. It was the fourth time this season that at least three A-State players scored in double-digits.

GRISWOLD IMPRESSIVE IN DEBUT
Arkansas State freshman Darion Griswold looked impressive in his debut for the Red Wolves basketball team, scoring five points and pulling down seven rebounds in only 14 minutes of action. The Dumas, Ark. native joined the team after practicing all fall with the football team. Griswold played AAU basketball with teammate Rakeem Dickerson and led the Wings to an AAU national championship.

HOOTEN CAREER HIGH
Junior guard Marcus Hooten scored a career-high 27 points at Austin Peay. The junior-college transfer shot 9-16 and was 4-6 from FT range and 5-9 from the charity stripe. Hooten also had a career-high five assists. 27-points was the most scored by an ASU player this year.

FIRST TIME FOES
This year, ASU is facing a number of opponents for the first time in school history. Ohio, St. Bonaventure and Seattle appear on the Red Wolves schedule for the first time in the schools' histories. ASU is also facing Kent State for only the second time. The first contest was held during the 1950-51 season.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Red Wolves are traveling quite a distance this year and will be racking up the road miles traveling a total of 8,872 miles to their away contests this season. The three longest trips of the year will be to Seattle (2,256), Denver (984) and St. Bonaventure (925).

LAST GAME
The Arkansas State men's basketball team dropped a 66-53 loss at undefeated No. 24 Murray State Saturday night a the CFSB Center in front of a lively 4,031 fans.
    Sophomore point guard Edward Townsel led the Red Wolves with 17 points, while junior guard Adam Sterrenberg came off the bench to score 10 for the Red Wolves. Senior forward Malcoln Kirkland finished the game with 12 boards to lead all players in the category.
    The loss drops ASU to 5-6 on the season while Murray State improved to 12-0.
    Townsel scored the first eight points for the Red Wolves taking an early 8-4 lead for A-State. Townsel was 2-2 from three-point range during that stretch and 3-3 from the floor.
    ASU led most of the first half, but a three-pointer by Murray State's Stacy Wilson gave the Racers a 29-26 lead with 4:38 left in the half. The Racers went on a 6-2 run to close out the half, but a steal by Townsel and a dunk by Peterson with just two-seconds remaining in the half, set the halftime tally at 35-30 in favor of Murray State.
    After the break, the Racers went on a 20-4 run to begin the second half and stretch out the lead to 55-34 on a pair of Ivan Aska free throws with 9:27 left in the game. A jumper by Townsel broke the run.
    A-State then went on an 8-0 run of its own to cut into the lead 55-42 with just over seven-minutes left. A three-pointer by Sterrenberg capped the run for The Red Wolves.  Murray scored two free throws before the next ASU run.
    The Red Wolves then scored seven-straight points to cut the Murray State lead to just eight 57-49, when Peterson scored a layup, Bryce Clark converted a jumper and Townsel hit a three with just 5:13 left in the game. A free throw by Ed Daniel stretched the lead back to nine for the Racers, but on the next possession Kirkland cut the lead to seven, 58-51, with a jumper.
    The Red Wolves outscored Murray State 26-22 in the paint but lost the battle of the boards 37-26.


ALL STARTERS IN DOUBLE-DIGITS VERSUS SEMO
All five ASU starters scored in double-digits against SEMO on Tuesday night. Townsel led all players with a career-high 20 pts. Hooten had a career-high 16 followed by Kirkland who tied his career-best with 14, Peterson had 13 and Finn had 10. Peterson led ASU with nine rebounds and Finn had eight.

FINN DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Junior guard Trey Finn picked up his first double-double of the season and the fifth of his career scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds against UT Martin on Tuesday. Finn was also the first Red Wolves player to break the 20-point barrier this season. Finn is also leading ASU in shooting percentage connecting on 54.2% of his shots (13-24) from the floor. Finn is also shooting 8-% (8-10) from the charity stripe.

RECORD WATCH
Junior forward Brandon Peterson already has 101 blocked shots to his credit after blocking two against Lamar,  two against Missouri State and two against Ohio. Peterson ranks fourth on the all-time blocked shot list and needs three more after recording a block against UCA  to move into a tie for third. Freddy Hicks holds the school record for career blocked shots with 204.

UNDEFEATED AT HOME
For only the third time in the Convocation Center's history the Arkansas State men's basketball team completed regular season action undefeated at home in 2010-11. The Red Wolves posted a 13-0 record in Jonesboro last year. Last season was the first time since the 1990-91 season that the Red Wolves have held a perfect mark at the Convo.

ON THE BENCH
For the second straight year, the Red Wolves will hold the distinction of being the only team currently playing in the NCAA with two former final four head coaches on the bench as assistant coach Richard Williams returns for his second season with ASU and Brady. The Red Wolves also hired Melvin Haralson as associate head coach in the offseason. Haralson was at Texas Southern last season after spending 10 years as an assistant and associate head coach at Houston. Jeff Clapacs also returns for his fourth season at Arkansas State as an assistant coach. Clapacs has been with Brady since his arrival at Arkansas State.

HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY
Now in his fourth year with the program John Brady was announced as Arkansas State's 15th head men's basketball coach by Director of Athletics Dr. Dean Lee at a press conference held in ASU's Convocation Center on March 19, 2008.
    In only three years at the helm of the program, Brady has turned the Red Wolves into a winner including capturing a share of the western division Sun Belt Conference Championship in 2010-11, posting double-digit Sun Belt Conference wins back-to-back for the first time in nearly 20 years and going undefeated at home with a 13-0 record.
    During his first season with the Red Wolves, Brady helped lead ASU to one of the best starts in program history and achieved the No. 22 ranking on Collegeinsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 poll. As a team ASU greatly improved its defending and rebounding, finishing near the top of the conference in several statistical categories.
    Brady took a step further in his second season with The Red Wolves, improving their record to 17-14 and the team advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament finishing second in the west. Brady was named Sun Belt Coach of the Year and the District VII Coach of the Year by the USBWA. ASU led the league in three-point FG defense, rebounding offense and defensive rebounding.
    ASU also posted an 11-7 SBC record this season which was its best league mark since the 2006-07 season when ASU achieved the same record. Its 11-wins was the seventh-time since ASU joined the Sun Belt that they have posted double-digit league wins.
    Brady spent the last 10-plus seasons serving as LSU's head coach, leading the Tigers to six postseason berths, two SEC championships and three SEC Western Division titles. Twice named the SEC Coach of the Year,  Brady is a proven winner who has a well-documented record of success and a long list of accomplishments.
    Brady's 16-year tenure as a head coach at both LSU and Samford in Birmingham, Alabama, has been decorated with achievements.  He has coached a combined 25 All-TAAC and SEC selections, 48 academic all-conference choices, posted 11 winning seasons and collected five division championships.  Brady piled up the third most wins in LSU history with 192 and left Samford after the 1996-97 season as the Bulldog's all-time leader in coaching victories (89) as well.
    He quickly turned around an LSU's men's basketball program that had suffered four consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival, leading the Tigers to a 28-6 record, an SEC championship and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in just his third season (1999-00) at the helm.  Under Brady's direction, the Tigers recorded six consecutive winning seasons from 2001-02 to 2006-07 while making three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two more to the NIT. The 2005-06 campaign saw LSU post a 27-9 record and advance to the Final Four for the first time in 20 years.
    Not only did Brady coach the Tigers to 23 wins versus ranked opponents, he also led them to victories over two teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll (Arizona in 2002-03 and Duke in 2005-06).  Additionally, he orchestrated a 19-game home winning streak over SEC opponents, the third longest stretch in LSU history.
    While at LSU, Brady coached two NBA Lottery picks and six current NBA players.  The Tigers signed nine Parade All-Americans and four McDonald All-Americans under Brady, who also coached three SEC Players of the Year, four players named SEC Freshman of the Year, one SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and 17 All-SEC selections.
    Prior to taking over the reigns at LSU, Brady served as Samford's head coach from 1991-92 through 1996-97.  It didn't take long for him to turn around a Samford program coming off six straight losing seasons, either, guiding the Bulldogs to a 17-10 record in his second season.  He led Samford to three straight winning seasons (1995-97) for the first time since 1982-84, all leading up to a 19-9 record and division title in 1997.  Samford won the TAAC West Division each of Brady's final two seasons at the school for the first time in school history.
    His four winning campaigns at Samford were the first for any coach at the school, and he led the Bulldogs to an 89-77 record after they went 27-83 the four seasons prior to his initial year.  He coached eight All-TAAC and 14 Academic All-TAAC players over six seasons.
    The McComb, Miss., native earned his bachelor's degree in 1976 from Belhaven College, where he was three-year starter and scored over 1,000 points during his college playing career.  Brady was a two-time All-Southern States Conference selection and was later inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Fame.
    He got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with the Mississippi State men's basketball program while earning his master's degree from 1976-77.  Brady took his first head coaching position in Louisiana at Crowley High School in 1977 and led the basketball squad to a 129-49 (.725) record in five seasons.  He was named the 1981 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 3-A Coach of the Year.
    Brady returned to the college coaching ranks in 1982 as an assistant coach at Mississippi State.  He spent the next eight years with the Bulldogs, the first four seasons under coach Bob Hoyt and the next four as a chief recruiter for coach Richard Williams.  Following his tenure in Starkville, Brady returned to Louisiana for the second time, this time to serve as an assistant coach at the University of New Orleans.  Brady helped lead UNO to the NCAA Tournament during his only season with the Privateers.