Patriot League honors O’Boyle

Lafayette College freshman Leo O’Boyle was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team Monday afternoon.

The JB Hoops alum began making bigger contributions to the Leopards as the team started the Patriot League portion of its schedule. When Lafayette lost Justin Jaworski, a 1,000-point scorer who was named all-Patriot League second team Monday, to a season-ending injury Feb. 12, O’Boyle helped pick up the slack.

“Leo continued to improve through the season,” Lafayette coach Fran O’Hanlon said in a story on the school’s athletic website. “He really stepped up in the second half of league play when we lost some players and needed him most.”

O’Boyle hit five 3-pointers in a game twice, scoring a season-high 21 points in a Feb. 22 loss to Loyola of Maryland.

The Scranton Prep graduate is averaging 16.7 points per game and 27.0 minutes over the last three games as Lafayette heads into the Patriot League Tournament.

O’Boyle averaged 9.7 points per game in nearly 20 minutes per game during the Patriot League schedule after averaging just 1.5 points in non-league play.

Overall, O’Boyle appeared in all 29 games, making starts in the last 10. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 6.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists while shooting 37.5 percent from the floor, 33.7 percent from 3-point range and 75.5 percent from the foul line.

Fifth-seeded Lafayette opens the Patriot League tournament at fourth-seeded Army Thursday in West Point, N.Y.

The Leopards went 10-8 for their first winning Patriot League season since 2012-13 and are 18-11 overall.