The Point Park men's basketball team has made a lot of noise in NAIA Division II with a No. 7 national ranking that is the highest in school history, a 14-0 record and a school-record winning streak. But the Pioneers will be silent during a 26-day hiatus between games that started Dec. 10 and ends Jan. 5.

	Last week revisited Individual and team highlights in district colleges last week: IUP senior Jason Capizzi (Pine-Richland) and California junior Tim McCutcheon are two of the eight national finalists for the third annual Gene Upshaw Division II lineman of the year award that will be announced later this month. Capizzi, who allowed only one sack in his three-year career at IUP after he transferred from Pitt, is one of 10 players in Division II ranked as a "Pro Hopeful" by D2Football.com. Former IUP lineman Chris Villarrial (Buffalo) and Leander Jordan (San Diego) currently are in the NFL. Slippery Rock freshman Jennifer Harpp was named the women's cross country rookie of the year in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Edinboro's Deonte Hill (165 pounds) is Eastern Wrestling League wrestler of the week. He won both his matches by falls against Buffalo and Lock Haven to give him 39 for his career, three shy of the school record. Edinboro is ranked 12th in NCAA Division I. Edinboro's 6-foot-9 Ryan McLemore, who had a career-high nine blocks against Mercyhurst and averaged 9.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.7 blocks in two games, is Western Division player of the week. IUP's Gerald Brook, a 6-5 freshman from Schenley who is the team's leading scorer (12.8 ppg) and rebounder (8.4 rpg), is PSAC West rookie of the week.

Coach Bob Rager isn't concerned the long layoff will blunt the team's momentum.

"I don't even think like that. They'll come back fine," he said. "I didn't give them a conditioning routine or anything like that because I trust them to do it on their own."

After a pause, he added with a laugh, "I haven't always trusted my players in the past."

The Pioneers, ranked No. 23 in the preseason poll, surpassed the school's previous longest win streak of 11 set in 1978-79 and 1994-95.

They are winning with two different styles: Small ball with a lineup of players 6 feet 2 and under, and tall ball with a 6-7 and 6-8 player in the lineup.

"We run both ways," Rager said of the Pioneers, who are second in the country with 99.14 points per game. "These guys are very unselfish. We move the basketball. Nobody looks at statistics. They're looking at wins."

The point man in Point Park's offense is Gavin Prosser (16.3 ppg), a 6-foot senior from Baldwin High School who ranks ninth nationally with 6.1 assists per game.

"He's probably the best passing point guard I've had," said Rager, who is in his 17th season as head coach. "He's the key to what we're doing. He sees the whole court, which means you better be paying attention or he's going to hit you in the head with the ball. You better be looking. He keeps the intensity up."

Prosser has been a three-year starter since transferring from Slippery Rock.

"He's been doing this for three years," Rager said. "It's just that we have more weapons this year to finish the plays he starts."

Many of Prosser's passes have been converted into baskets by 6-1 junior Chivas Whipple (21.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg) and Denny DiPasquale (14.6 ppg), a 5-11 senior from North Hills High who shoots 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Whipple, who averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 57 percent from the field and 91 percent from the free-throw line in three games, is the AMC player of the week for the second time this season.

Point Park will begin a heavy slate of league games against teams from the American Mideast Conference when it returns to action next month.

Surprising CMU

The coaches in the University Athletic Association picked the Carnegie Mellon Tartans to finish seventh in the eight-team league in a preseason poll because they lost their top five scorers from a 20-6 team that won the UAA championship and reached the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in 29 years. The Tartans also are without 6-8 senior Greg Gonzalez (5.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, team-high 29 blocks), who most likely will be redshirted this season. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.

CMU (5-2) has only one returning starter, Geoff Kozak (13.0 ppg), a 6-0 junior from Baldwin who averaged 5.8 points last season. The other top scorers are Ryan Einwag (17.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg), a 6-5 sophomore from Baldwin, Brad Matta (13.0 ppg), a 6-1 senior from Serra, and Jack Anderson (6.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg), a 6-3 freshman from Beaver Falls. Einwag scored 32 points and played a total of 68 minutes in 14 games last season.

The Tartans have outrebounded opponents by nearly 11 per game, scored 81.3 points and allowed 66.4.

CMU, whose losses came against undefeated Point Park and perennial Division III power Rochester, next play Bluffton at home Dec. 20.

PAC

St. Vincent (6-2), led by Javille Brooks (15.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 15 blocks) has won five games in a row and owns the league's best record, but its games don't count in the standings. ... Preseason pick Waynesburg (4-2, 1-0) features Jeff Nero (14.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg). ... The early disappointment is W&J (1-8), which was tabbed to challenge for the title under new coach Glenn Gutierrez. ... Westminster (4-4, 1-0), continues to launch shots from the beyond the arc and is the top-scoring team with 87.8 points per game. The Titans have six players averaging in double figures led by Craig Hannon (15.1 ppg, 35 3-pointers).