Lehigh guard set to see familiar face

Lehigh shooting guard Matt Logie is proof that it really is a small world after all. How many basketball players travel more than 3,000 miles across the country to attend college and still see familiar faces at every turn? When Logie, a native of Mercer Island, Wash., steps onto the Palestra floor tomorrow night, he'll be across the court from a friend and former summer league teammate -- the Quakers' own representative from the Pacific Northwest, Andrew Coates. "I still keep in touch with Andrew," Logie said. "I saw him over the summer a bit and I played some ball with him." But running into random high school acquaintances in arenas across the Northeast is nothing new to Logie. In his brief college career, the sophomore has already faced off twice with another childhood friend, Harvard's starting point guard Elliot Prasse-Freeman. "It was a little odd to see him in the opposing uniform," Logie said. "[Elliot and I] grew up playing together in high school and summer teams, and we became good friends along the way. "But we both weren't playing as much last year, so this year was the first real time we faced off." The Lehigh guard scored 15 points against Prasse-Freeman's Crimson squad earlier this winter, but the Engineers still fell in a landslide, 73-52. Logie knows that tomorrow's contest against Coates' Quakers will be just as difficult. Last January, Logie struggled in 19 minutes of action, hitting just 2-of-6 shots from the field as Lehigh lost for the ninth straight time to the Red and Blue. "We have a very young team, and as long as we take it with a grain of salt, we should be alright," Logie said. "What we do have is a very well-balanced team. We have a lot of people who are capable of contributing, and even though I'm the leading scorer, it's not like I score an exorbitant amount of points." Still, as Lehigh's first offensive option, Logie has passed every test with flying colors. On an Engineers team that sees nine players average at least five points per game, the 13.4 points thrown down by Logie makes him a major threat. "We certainly have to pay attention to Logie," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He's a good shooter and he's had a real nice first half of the season. He can make it from all over the court, not just from three-point range." The journalism major started 14 games last winter for Lehigh, averaging 8.2 points and shooting 41 percent from behind the arc. For his efforts, this outside threat was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team. And Logie's accuracy has not waned in his sophomore campaign, as he is shooting 39 percent from three-point range and an astounding 92 percent from the free-throw line. "I guess that would be the first thing that people would say about me, that I'm a sharpshooter," Logie said. "But I like to think that I'm a pretty heady player as well." Indeed, beyond his shooting ability, Logie is also a force on the defensive side of the ball and has recorded 13 steals on the season. Likely to be matched up on Logie will be Quakers shooting guard Lamar Plummer. Penn's outside threat has knocked down 51 trifectas of his own, compared to a not-so-shabby 46 for Logie. But don't expect Plummer to get in a shooting match with his younger counterpart. "I don't try to get caught up in those kind of things. I just try to go out there and play," Plummer said. "When we were scouting Lafayette, we saw some of Lehigh on film, so we know a little bit about him." Right now, it seems that people all across the country know a little bit about Logie. After all, his former high school teammates are now playing at Harvard, Lehigh, Stanford and Saint Louis. And when you have that much of Mercer Island spread to all corners of the country, you know it really must be a small world.

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