College Basketball 3/12/10 Patriot Championship
Lafayette Leopards (19-12) (Patriot)-Lehigh Mountain Hawks (21-10) (Patriot)

By Mark-Friday, March 12th 2010 4:45 PM EST
Line-Lehigh-8

Lehigh and Lafayette go about their business in much the same way and that's basicly running up and down the floor and putting a crooked number on their side of the score board. It's worked well so far as the only teams with winning records in the Patriot are left standing which happen to be two of the more offensive squads the league has to offer.

Lehigh comes in on a four game win streak with a margin of victory close to 18 points but the more impressive number is that their defense seems to be dialing in having allowed less than 60 points in three of those. CJ McCollum (19 ppg) is their most electric offensive layer that has a nose for the ball. A jack of all trades, McCollum is 3rd on the team with five rebounds and 2nd in assists while hitting 47% from the field. The Mountain Hawks go about seven deep with little production out side the top 7.

Lafayette has won four of five and in three of those wins they've shown some defensive ability allowing less than 65 points. They are no higher scoring than their counter parts but slightly more balanced with four double digit scorers led by the tandem of Jared Mintz and Jim Mower who conbine for 28 points. The Leopards are no deeper than Lehigh but do get a little more production from their role players.

Lafayette offense: 73 ppg 15 apg 31 rpg 46%
Lafayette defense: 71 ppg 13 apg 35 rpg 45%
Lehigh offense: 75 ppg 15 apg 37 rpg 46%
Lehigh defense: 71 ppg 15 apg 35 rpg 42%

Both teams appear to be equals offensively with Lehigh being a stronger defensive team and substantially better rebounding squad. I have to think that's enough to win the Patriot but the points make this interesting and I don't know if they're that much better. With the way thes two have stepped up defensively I'm leaning to the under also.