City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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One of the few positives about Lafayette’s season so far has been the emergence of sophomore forward Matt Klinewski, who’s taken an expected-but-necessary step forward for the Leopards through their first four games.

A 6-foot-8, 230-pound native of Voorhees (N.J.), Klinewski chose Lafayette over a number of other mid-major Division I schools who offered due to his ever-running motor and his ability to score the ball around the bucket and stretch the floor as well.

He showed flashes of that scoring ability as a freshman, averaging 3.1 ppg in 9.0 mpg last year, stuck behind seniors Dan Trist and Seth Hinrichs.

Moving into the lineup full-time as a sophomore, Klinewski put up a dozen points in his first two games, but really exploded in the last pair. Against NJIT on Saturday, he was 9-of-15 from the floor and 8-of-12 from the foul stripe for 26 points, and then followed that up with a 23-point outing in a losing effort against La Salle on Monday.

“I just stuck to my normal game, just kept playing hard and I knew it was going to come sooner or later,” he said. “My teammates (are) behind me, 100 percent, they keep pushing me in practice to get better and better and I’m feeding off of them, just playing harder.”

After four games, he's averaging a team-high 18.5 ppg, shooting 61.0 percent from the  floor and 85.2 percent from the foul line.

"Matt’s a little undersized as we know, but he’s certainly got a big heart and he plays as hard as anybody that we have," Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "But he’s used to (scoring) from high school and just from putting the ball in the basket, that’s what he does. He finds ways to get the ball in the basket."

Klinewski is a naturally aggressive player with a nose for the rim, which is somewhat in conflict with the new rules emphasis that are trying to limit physical play and open the game up on the offensive end.

He fouled out in 23 minutes in the second game of the year and picked up four fouls in 26 minutes against NJIT; against La Salle, he only had one in the first half and finished with three in 27 minutes.

“The first two or three games I’ve been in foul trouble and I’ve just had to make adjustments,” he said. “Maybe be a little less aggressive on offensive boards or on the defensive end, maybe slide my feet a little better. It’s a lot different, got to make the adjustments.”

O'Hanlon has gone offense/defense early and often with Klinewski, substituting him out as often as possible on the defensive end and inserting senior Ben Freeland or freshman Tyler Barlow to keep Klinewski out of foul difficulties as much as possible.

“Once he picks up the one, if he gets his second foul, then he’s sitting," O'Hanlon said. "I know that he’s one of our better players, I just don’t want him to pick up that second foul.”

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Lineup changes
Sophomore guard Eric Stafford was given his first career start on Monday night, getting the nod in place of senior guard Bryce Scott, but it certainly doesn’t sound like the lineup change will last very long.

“Bryce is our starter,” O’Hanlon said, “he just was a little banged up and I thought I’d give Eric a chance and take some pressure off Bryce.”

Stafford, a 6-5 guard, played 12 minutes against La Salle, his most ever against a Division I program (he played 16 against Susquehanna a year ago); he was scoreless while missing his only shot. Last Saturday, he played seven minutes against NJIT, knocking down a 3-pointer and dishing out four assists, the most productive stretch yet for the Pitman (N.J.) native.

O’Hanlon made one other swap to the starting lineup, inserting senior forward Ben Freeland in place of Nathaniel Musters for a hopeful defensive boost against an physical if yet-unproven La Salle frontcourt.

“I just thought athletically Ben might be able to keep those guys in front of him a little bit better,” O’Hanlon said. “When you’re 1-3, you don’t look at it like you have starters, it’s going to give other people opportunities and hopefully we continue to get better.”

Neither were able to do much; Freeland played 12 minutes and grabbed one rebound while Musters couldn’t get his hands on one in eight minutes of action; instead, it was freshmen Paulius Zalys (22 minutes, 13 points, three rebounds) and Tyler Barlow (12 minutes, four points, six rebounds) who were the second and third-most effective forwards after Klinewski.