SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University will honor former men's basketball standouts Joe Lewandowski and Mark Metzka as part of its Jan. 26 home game vs. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division rival California (Pa.).

Lewandowski and Metzka will be honored during a 6 p.m. reception in Morrow Field House before having their uniforms retired during a halftime ceremony. The Rock and Vulcans are scheduled to tip off their game at 8 p.m.

Lewandowski, a member of Rock teams from 1995-97, earned academic all-region honors at SRU after starring at nearby Butler County Community College, where he earned a first-team junior college All-America honor. He led The Rock in both scoring (14.7 points per game) and rebounding (7.9 per game) in his junior season (1995-96). He also shot 42% from 3-point range, earned an academic all-region citation and was a two-time team captain.

Upon completion of his Rock career, Lewandowski embarked on a two-year professional basketball career in Denmark. He played one season for Odense before he and Metzka were teammates on the Horsens IC team in 2000-01.

Prior to turning his attention to basketball, Lewandowski earned all-state honors in football at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was a member of two national championship teams. He initially began his collegiate career as a football player at the U.S. Naval Academy.

A former Head Boys Basketball Coach at Butler High School, Lewandowski is currently an English teacher in the Butler Area School District and head coach at the YAACE Prep Academy. He also coaches the PK Flash, which won the 2010 13-and-Under AAU national championship.

Metzka, who played for the Green and White from 1991-95, earned a first-team Academic All-America honor from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in his senior season after being a second-team Academic All-America selection as a junior. He was the first Rock student-athlete to be selected as the PSAC's “Scholar Athlete of the Year,” an honor he received in the 1994-95 academic year.

On the court, Metzka was one of 19 Rock players to score 1,000 or more points in his collegiate career. He finished his four-year career with 1,073 points. Metzka holds the school record for career 3-point field goal percentage (40.7), ranks second in career 3-pointers made (182) and 3-pointers attempted (447), fifth in both career assists (304) and career games started list (83) and eighth on the career games played list (100).

Metzka also holds the SRU record for single-season 3-pointers made (87) and 3-point shooting percentage (45.8) and is second in single-season 3-pointers attempted (190), all of which came in his senior season (1994-95). He buried a career-best seven treys vs. Indiana in his senior season, a mark that is tied for second in The Rock's single-game record book. He also ranks third on SRU's career minutes played chart with 2,906.

Upon completion of his collegiate playing career, Metzka played two seasons of professional basketball in Denmark, both as a member of the Horsens IC team. He and Lewandowski were teammates in 2000-01.

Currently an Assistant Boys Basketball Coach at Girard High School and former Head Boys Basketball Coach at Harmony Community Prep School in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as assistant coach at George Junior Republic in Grove City, Metzka is now an Assistant Director of Admissions at SRU.

Lewandowski and Metzka are two of three former Rock players, all of whom went on to play professional basketball, who will be spotlighted this winter. Kyle Camper, the national NCAA Division II leader in assists in the 2008-09 season and the PSAC record holder, will be honored February 12, 2011 as part of SRU's home game vs. Indiana (Pa.). Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. in Morrow Field House.

The trio joins Myron Brown, Troy Mild and Bill Rausch, all of who were honored last winter, in an elite group of former Rock men's basketball student-athletes who will have had their uniforms retired by the University.

For more information on the Jan. 26 and/or Feb. 12 events, contact SRU Athletic Development Officer Bill Richter at 724.738.2387 or william.richter@sru.edu.