Hannon close to record

NEW WILM-INGTON, Pa. — Craig Hannon, a senior guard for the Westminster College basketball team from Union Township, is closing in on the Titans’ career scoring record.

A graduate of Union High and the son of WYTV sports reporter Bob Hannon, Craig has scored 1,615 points and needs only 15 more to pass No. 1 Mike Douds, who scored 1,629 points from 1987-91.

Hannon hopes to become No. 1 tonight when Westminster plays at Waynesburg at 7:30 in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.

But he needs only five more points to pass up No. 2-ranked Jim Riley (1,619 points from 1953-57).

Hannon scored of 33 and 31 points last week in home wins over Grove City (82-60) and Thomas More (89-80) to reach 1,608, and needed 22 to set the record in last Wednesday’s game at Washington & Jefferson.

However, he encountered a rare cold-shooting night and was held to only seven points in a 65-56 overtime loss. As a result, he will be looking to score at least 15 points tonight to set the record.

“W&J did a good job on their man-to-man defense and they weren’t going to let me beat them,” Hannon said. “They did a good job taking me out of my game. It was one of the worst nights I had.”

But Hannon, who has four regular-season games and at least one PAC contest left this season, said that he is not going to focus overly on breaking the record, but instead just wants to play his best kind of game.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said of the record. “I want to get to the free throw more so I can get some easy points.”

Named Player of Week
for two strong games

For Hannon’s outstanding play last week in the two PAC games, he was named PAC men’s basketball player of the week.

The two high-scoring performances also enabled Hannon to jump four places in the Titans’ career scoring rankings.

In Westminster’s win over defending PAC champ Grove City last Wednesday, Hannon passed up Mark DeMonaco (1,550 points from 2003-06) and Rich Kunselman (1,574 from 1983-87) to become Westminster’s No. 5 all-time scorer.

In Saturday’s win over Thomas More, Hannon passed up Henry Klinar (1,581 points from 1997-2001) and Ron Galbreath (1,586 from 1958-62), to climb into third place.

Hannon leads the Titans in scoring with an 18.4-point average, ahead of Ryne Murray (17.2), a 6-4 sophomore forward from Pittsburgh. Murray also tops the team in rebounding (9.7) and steals (2.7).

Hannon’s father Bob, a 20-year broadcasting veteran who also broadcasts the Youngstown State football games on WKBN-AM 570, said that he missed his son’s game Wednesday because of a busy work schedule but expects that he and his whole family will be on hand tonight hopefully to witness Craig make Westminster history.

“I probably have seen just about every home game and most of the away games. I see every Saturday game because that’s when I don’t work,” said Bob, a Slippery Rock University graduate.

Bob also has two daughters who play basketball — Noelle, a junior at Union High, and Melinda, in the sixth grade.

One of five area players
on Westminster team

Craig Hannon is one of five area players for Westminster, all of them usual or part-time starters.

Chauncey Whitlow, a 6-3 senior forward-guard from Youngstown and Woodrow Wilson High, is the Titans’ No. 3 scorer at 9.4, followed by David Richards, a 5-10 junior guard from New Castle High, with 8.1. Richards also leads the team in assists with 3.8.

Max Spinner, a 6-1 freshman guard from Boca Raton, Fla., is No. 5 in scoring at 7.4, ahead of Jake Zatchok (5.3), a 6-5 senior center-forward from Western Reserve, and Andy Timko (5.0), a 6-3 freshman guard-forward from McDonald High.

Hannon, who is majoring in public relations and plans to graduate in May, credits much of his success at Westminster to his teammates.

“To be honest, I had good players around me whenever I played at Westminster. My teammates were the guys that gave me the ball,” Hannon said.

XJohn Kovach covers colleges for The Vindicator. Write to him at kovach@vindy.com.