The Fredonia men's and women's basketball team play host to local SUNYAC rival SUNY Buffalo State on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The matchup will be a continuation of the first annual "Battle by the Lake" competition between the two schools.
The contest is also marked as an Athletes Supporting Athletes Day by the Fredonia athletic department. Hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards will be given away as well as t-shirts, halftime contests and performances by the Fredonia cheerleading and dance teams. All Fredonia student athletes are encouraged to go and wear blue to support the home team.
The "Battle by the Lake" established for the 2014-2015 season is an "all-sports" competition between Fredonia and Buffalo State. The winner will be crowned Lake Erie Cup Champions. Currently the Blue Devils lead the Bengals 9-1 in the competition.
Tuesday night in Steele Hall, the men are set to tip-off at 5:30 p.m., while the women will follow at 7:30 p.m.
The Blue Devil men are in search of their first SUNYAC win. Despite being 0-8 in the conference, they have been knocking at the door. In four of the last five SUNYAC games, the Devils have held a lead at the half. The other game, they trailed by only four points at the midway mark. The second half is where the team has seen its struggles.
Freshman Ian Helps has been a bright spot. He is 12th in scoring (13.1 ppg) and fifth in rebounding (8.6 rpg) in the conference. He tied his season-high of 23 points in Saturday's loss to Brockport. Juniors Robert Lyles (10.2 ppg) and Kyree Hull (10.0 ppg) also score in double figures. Fellow junior Bayron Carter has come on strong as of late. In his last five games, he has averaged 10.8 ppg.
Roderick Epps is the man to watch for the Bengals. He is putting up 16.0 ppg and went for 30 in a last second win over Geneseo on Saturday. Winners of three straight, Buff State will enter the day at 7-6 overall and 3-4 in the SUNYAC.
The Blue Devil women will tip-off at 7:30 and enter Tuesday's SUNYAC contest at 2-5 in the SUNYAC. The team turned in a pair of convincing wins two weeks ago, sweeping Plattsburgh and Potsdam in Steele Hall. This past weekend, they struggled offensively on the road at Geneseo and Brockport, so they are eager to get back to the friendly confines of the fieldhouse.
Sophomore Alexis Cheatham (14.6 ppg), junior Sabrina Macaulay (11.5) and freshman Jacque Law (11.1) pace the offense.
The Bengals enter the game at 5-2 in the SUNYAC, one game in the loss column out of first place. At 71.4 ppg, the Bengals are the top scoring offence in the conference. Ashley Wallace leads the team with a scoring average of 14.6.
