Hamilton, NY — Looking for their first league road win of the season, the 51·çÁ÷ Raiders (7-9 overall, 2-1 PL) travel to American University on Friday (7:30), before visiting Navy on Super Bowl Sunday (3:30).
51·çÁ÷ has won three of its last four games including a pair of Patriot League games to hold down sole possession of third place in the league standings. The Raiders are one game behind Holy Cross and Lehigh, who share first place at 3-0.
51·çÁ÷ will be making only its second appearance ever at Bender Arena on Friday night, where the Raiders dropped a 72-58 decision to American (6-10, 1-2) last season. The Eagles hold a 2-1 edge in the overall series including last year’s sweep of the home-and-home series.
The Raiders have another tough assignment on Sunday when they visit Alumni Hall to play the Midshipmen of Navy (5-11, 1-2). Navy has won eight of the last nine games but 51·çÁ÷ won the last meeting with a 66-65 decision over the Mids last season at Annapolis.
In 51·çÁ÷’s last outing, senior guard scored 14 points and dished out five assists to lead the Raiders to a convincing 86-58 win over Army. Hardy became the first player in school history to score over 800 points in a career, and record 300 assists.
American has been struggling lately with four losses in its last five games including a pair of road Patriot League games against Bucknell and Lehigh. The only victory over this period was a 70-53 home decision against Navy.
Junior is 51·çÁ÷’s leading scorer and rebounder with 12.1 and 6.4, respectively. Four other players are right behind him in the scoring column; (9.6), (9.3), Hardy (9.2) and (8.1).