DDSCB: Race to the Top

[Brian Swartz]

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS

ATLANTIC SUN

3.3 Mercer(15-13) vs. Kennesaw State(19-9)

The top four regular-season teams all made the A-Sun semis, and Mercer gets the regular-season champions in the Owls. Defensive pressure is what makes them so good – they force a conference-best 17.5 turnovers a game while committing few themselves, and have a balanced attack. Admittedly it’s become less balanced since senior center Larry Collison(8.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg) was declared ineligible for his final semester, but they’ve still got plenty of options. In the only meeting of the year at Kennesaw State, the Owls handily defeated Mercer 61-49, and they pounded Campbell by 23 in the quarters for their ninth win in the last ten games.

The Bears played a very solid first half, yet still trailed by eight – the Owls’ freshman point guard, Ryan Ramey, had 14 and found the open man when they doubled him. It got ugly quick in the second half – Mercer was just outclassed here, they’d have to play a nearly perfect game to beat these guys. There was extensive garbage time in a 79-55 rout.

Sophomore Mate Ramage(10 points) was the only player in double figures, with a couple of his baskets coming late after it was long decided. Kennesaw State won almost every conceivable category, and I wouldn’t bet against them in the final.

SOUTHLAND

3.5 Texas-San Antonio(15-14) vs. Stephen F. Austin(19-9)

Time once again to face the old nemesis. Weston Cattley is now 0-6 against the Lumberjacks, one of the few teams that can neutralize their physical play inside. They are the dominant team and program in the Southland Conference. But as they say, if you want to beat the best … The six losses will sting a heck of a lot less if they can somehow get this one.

Despite a fast shooting start by SFA, Texas-San Antonio hung in and got back to even at 33 all at the half. They’ve played two competitive losses this year – the question remains can they finish, even though the effort is there to give themselves a shot?

Brown and Lane both played outstanding in the early minutes after the break, sending the Roadrunners in front by as many as seven points. This game clearly didn’t have the feel of the other meetings – it had the feel of a game they believed they could win. The dagger came from Billips, the bench hero of the last game. His three-pointer with five minutes left gave them their largest lead of the night at 66-56, and things really started to get desperate for the highly favored Lumberjacks.

Two minutes later, it was dead even at 66 all, as the champs made a series of incredible shots to get right back in it. It was winning time … and that meant it was time for Shahar Brown to step forward once again. The senior scored on two of the next three possessions and sealed a couple stops with rebounds, putting Texas-San Antonio up four, just over a minute left. Soon SFA had to foul, and another senior, Kevin Young, stepped up and hit on all six of his free-throws in the final minute, putting the exclamation point on a monstrous 76-68 win!! The Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners are headed to the Southland Conference Finals after a monumental victory.

Young had a team-high 21, committing six turnovers but adding 6 assists and four rebounds. Brown finished with 17 points and seven boards, and Tyrone Lane scored 16 with nine caroms. Perhaps most of all, the normally free-throw challenged Roadrunners hit on 15 of 16 attempts, and 9 of 15 three-pointers. They didn’t out-execute Stephen F. Austin, but they simply made a lot more of the big shots in this one.

[Brian Swartz]

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT FINALS

SOUTHLAND

3.5 Nicholls State(18-11) vs. Texas-San Antonio(16-14)

They’ll need to get over the euphoria of beating the Lumberjacks very quickly – there’s another darn fine team standing between them and a dream final chapter to Shahar Brown’s collegiate career. Nicholls State was the East Division champions, and crushed SE Louisiana 86-62 in the other semifinal. They beat the Roadrunners by 14 at Texas-San Antonio during the regular season, hitting 17 threes. Tyrone Lane was hobbled for that game, but certainly they are once again underdogs here.

The Lancers hit four of their first five triples, showing that this game would be no different. At the other end though, Brown and Lane had their way inside early on to keep it close. Overall, a well-played first half on both sides didn’t decide much: Nicholls State held a 28-25 lead with a lot of basketball left.

The Lancers started to pull away in the second half though. Texas-San Antonio just wasn’t making the shots they’d made against SFA, and they were handing the ball over too much as well. With nine minutes left the count was 43-33, and scoring was becoming very hard to come by.

There was no final run to be had. To Nicholls State’s credit, they simply allowed no good looks at the basket, and pulled away to win this one comfortably 60-43. 19 turnovers is simply too much for this type of game, and the Roadrunners shot only 35.4% from the field. Shahar Brown scored 12 with 7 boards, the only player in double digits.

[Brian Swartz]

1968 NCAA TOURNAMENT

Once again, despite knocking on the door, another season goes by with our five featured coaches watching the post-season from the stands. This year’s favorites includes a return to glory for season-long #1 Kentucky, BYU returning with a strong one-loss team, and a Notre Dame squad that has reclaimed the throne of the Big East.

OPENING ROUNDS

There was a shocking development on the second day, as Robert Morris toppled #2 BYU 44-39. The Cougars simply couldn’t shoot straight, hitting only 32% from the floor in what is probably the biggest upset in the history of the sport – they came in with a 33-1 record and probably co-favorites for the title. Kentucky and Notre Dame came through the first weekend unscathed, but many other top favorites, including the final #1 seed UCLA(73-71 to Virginia) fell by the wayside.

SWEET 16 WEEKEND

Notre Dame pushed through to the Elite Eight, but they were knocked off there by the six-seed Samford, 66-53. The prohibitive favorite is now clearly Kentucky, who has won each of their first four games by 15 points or more, smashing a solid High Point team 72-41 in the last contest.

FINAL FOUR

The first matchup was Kentucky against Samford, pretty much a David v. Goliath matchup of the year-long #1 against a 6-seed. Goliath won this one in routine fashion, 60-44.

The second game involved (2) Kansas and (5) Missouri State, both teams with a good amount of history. This time it was the underdog prevailing, as Missouri State won 64-46 in another game that was over well before the final buzzer.

Expected to roll in the title game, Kentucky had all they could handle in what was by far the most competitive contest of the final weekend. Trailing for much of the game, the Wildcats barely were able to survive with a 69-66 win thanks only to their muscle on the offensive boards(14-3 edge). It is the school’s third national title – only Cincinatti can claim more.

[Brian Swartz]

1968 OFFSEASON

No job changes(or job offers, for that matter) this season.

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Jeff Dodson(16.6), Derek Phillips(15.3), Ty Thomas(8.8)
Rebounds: Ty Thomas(5.9), Derek Phillips(4.8), Jeff Dodson(4.5)
Assists: Arthur Smith(4.0), Jeff Dodson(3.8), Richie Green(1.8)

Despite the early exit from the tournament, Texas Southern vastly exceeded expectations this year, becoming a competitive team in the SWAC immediately, and nearly doubling the previous year’s win total. Perry was rewarded with a four-year contract extension, and became the first of the five to reach 50 wins(51-31 for his three years so far).

That’s the good news, the bad news is he is losing SWAC Player of the Year Jeff Dodson and 2nd Team All-SWAC performer Derek Phillips to graduation. Repeating this success is likely to be much harder. Dodson in particular did everything for the Tigers. In addition to the fine numbers seen above, he also led the team with 1.8 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. A third senior, forward Matt Cliff(8.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 13.6 mpg) is also graduating, but with his disastrous shot selection(29.6% fg), he won’t be missed nearly as much. Still, in the final analysis they are losing 39.9 points a game, over half their scoring.

FINAL RECRUITING CLASS

SG Ken Collins(6-4, 174, TX, 2.2 GPA, JC, #432)
C Scott Hampton(6-11, 284, TX, 2.3 GPA, JC, #693)

BY THE NUMBERS

Reputation: 16(+2)
Contract: 5 years, $99,000
Job Security: 11(+1)
Goals: Finish in SWAC Top 3
Team Prestige: 9(+1)
Conference Prestige: 26(+1)
Facilities: D+
Recruiting Budget: $126,250

It really looks like it will be tough to duplicate last year’s success. Sophomore Arthur Smith(5.5 ppg, 4.0 apg) will return at the point, while incoming JC transfer Ken Collins moves right into the starting lineup beside him. Collins has proven to be somewhat of a head case early on, demonstrating no willingness at all to change his approach on or off the court. Hopefully he doesn't boil over -- or cause his teammates to.

The frontcourt features returning starters senior Antonio Graham(5.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg) and junior Ty Thomas(8.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg). Thomas figures to be the team’s best player this year, but it will likely be a more balanced squad with no real standouts. They are a little deeper, but with only two jucos coming in there are no youngsters with big-time potential, and the firepower that Jeff Dodson brought last year can’t be matched by anyone on the current roster. At small forward, sophomore Bryan Battier is the one player who showed significant off-season improvement and he’ll step in to finish off the lineup.

The other new recruit, Scott Hampton, figures to be a little too raw to contribute right away.

Texas Southern has been picked to finish dead last in the SWAC – nobody’s giving Perry much of a chance to avoid his first losing season.

RECRUITING

Only one spot to fill this season – with only three in his first two years, it’s pretty difficult for Perry to bring in much in the way of his kind of players. He tried to steal forward Morgan Green, who appeared to be a lock for Stephen F. Austin from day one …but Morgan’s father was basically making the call and as a Lumberjacks alum he had eyes for only one school. This was bad news for Weston Cattley as well, as the last thing he needs is for SFA to get even better with another 4-star recruit. Perry really needed to bring in a forward, but with no quality talent willing at the position, he went with the best player available.

PG Antione Warley(6-3, 194, TX, 3.1 GPA, #150)

Antione is one heck of a consolation prize. He’s a legitimate four-star player who, while he doesn’t have any truly elite skills, does all the things well that are important to Ralph Perry’s up-tempo system. Warley has the athleticism and touch to score from the perimeter, good passing and ballhandling skills, and is competent defensively. Texas Tech, Texas State, and of course Cattley’s Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners were all in the running, but Perry won out. He’ll need to get some better weapons for Antione to pass to in future classes, but this is a darn fine signing particularly given how rare a commodity good point guards can be.



Denny Grant(Cal-Davis)

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Thaydeus Reece(20.9), Jamie Belton(7.7), Jamaal Monfre(7.5)
Rebounds: Jamaal Monfre(6.9), Jamie Belton(4.0), Thaydeus Reece(3.8)
Assists: Correy Collison(4.2), Jamaal Monfre(2.3), John Waldon(1.9)

Despite Grant’s emphasis on defense, the Aggies were a subpar team on that end. They won because Jamaal Monfre is the best rebounder he’s yet coached, making them competitive in that area, and because of the explosiveness of Reece, who was named Big West Freshman of the Year and also a first-team All-Conference honoree. Monfre is graduating though, and the young guys will have to step up with the team’s best all-around big man by a considerable margin leaving. Also leaving are fellow forwards Ryan Coon(career 57.3% fg and a good defender) and Derek Davis(50.7% career fg), along with the team’s best scoring threat off the bench the last two years, guard Isaac Hale(career 7.2 ppg, 14.1 mpg, 62 3-pointers made).

Basically that’s half of the regular rotation from this year. Usually a team that returns it’s point guard and top two scorers will be in great shape, but particularly the way they fumbled, bumbled, and stumbled down the stretch this year that won’t necessarily be the case.

The board gave Coach Grant a modest raise and a four-year extension: despite the fact that they have yet to see a winning season, they apparently feel the program is now headed in the right direction. Not many in the media are sold: they’ve pegged the Aggies in as probably 7th-place finishers in the Big West.

FINAL RECRUITING CLASS

PF Donald Toliver(6-7, 225, NV, 3.2 GPA, #801)
PG Andy Thomas(5-8, 161, CA, 3.2 GPA, #804)
SG Matt Lockwood(6-5, 203, HI, 3.1 GPA, #850)

BY THE NUMBERS

Reputation: 13(--)
Contract: 5 years, $71,000
Job Security: 11(+1)
Goals: Don’t finish last in the Big West
Team Prestige: 3(-1)
Conference Prestige: 17(+1)
Facilities: D-
Recruiting Budget: $101,550

Sophomore Thaydeus Reece is back of course after a brilliant freshman campaign. He’s expected to have a bit of a sophomore slump, but the opposite is true of another sophomore, Jamie Belton. Jamie had a fabulous off-season, and is actually expected to be the Aggies’ top player this year – if that happens, they’ll have two legitimate scorers for the first since … well, since ever, basically. Back as well is junior Tyler McColpin, who appears to have peaked. He was an efficient offensive player last year(4.9 ppg on 50.7% fg, 42.4% from 3-point range, 3.3 rpg) and provides a solid all-around prescence not all that dissimilar to what Ryan Coon gave the team for three years, but a little bit more productive.

There will be a change at the point, as junior John Waldon has improved while last year’s starter, senior Correy Collison, has looked bad enough in preseason drills to earn himself a spot on the bench to open up the year. Another senior, Joe Huggins, rounds out the lineup in the middle after making the most of limited time last year(11.5 mpg, 4.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg). A solid mix of experience and youth could make for a good season.

RECRUITING

A pretty young team here for Denny Grant as well, who has only two openings to fill. The first one has him pretty excited, as he’s a perfect fit for his system.

SF Ray Jefferson(6-7, 203, CA, 3.6 GPA, #528)

Grant wasn’t looking for forwards this year, but couldn’t pass on Jefferson, who is a good passer who can score a little, but more importantly is an elite-level defensive prospect. The Aggies think he’ll be better than any of his previous recruits or players(including Belton, Ryan Coon, etc.) on the defensive end. Ray should be a tremendous help in shoring up the weakness in perimeter D over the long haul.

He wanted to address the critical point guard position with the other offer, but Josh Newton, his first choice, ended up heading to USC – he wasn’t interested in playing in the relative straightjacket he’d have to endure here. His second choice at the point did sign, though he’s not nearly as talented.

PG Mike Muhammad(6-4, 219, CA, 3.1 GPA, #357)

Muhammad has very good size, and his stock has risen considerably to the point where he’s almost universally considered a high three-star/low four-star caliber player now. His strength is really the absence of any key weaknesses. He’s a decent passer, defender, ball-handler, athlete – Mike is reliable at the line and can create his own shot, which is not particularly good or bad accuracy-wise. Not a player that is a huge difference-maker, but he shouldn’t be an embarrassment either. That'll be a welcome change at point guard, a weakness of all of Grant's teams to date and probably again this year.

[Brian Swartz]

Steve Stahl(Mercer)

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Ryan Brinkley(11.1), Bob King(8.5), Dean Jeffries(7.6)
Rebounds: Ryan Brinkley(5.6), Brent Calvert(4.1), Phillip Frederick(4.1)
Assists: Bob King(2.7), Aubrey Bullock(2.0), Dean Jeffries(1.9)

The MVP of the Bears was their team defense this year. They ranked third in the Atlantic Sun in points allowed(65.1), second in FG% allowed(44.5%). Mercer was + 0.9/game in rebounding, always a key barometer for Stahl, and for the first time in his tenure also had a positive turnover differential(+0.8).

The team’s weakness was that they had no go-to scorer, and no perimeter threat – the shot just 29.1% from 3-point range, second to last in the conference. Nevertheless, a fourth place finish in the conference, a winning season at 15-14, and a semifinal appearance in the conference tournament make it a solid year, particularly by the low standards here.

Freshman Ryan Brinkley was unquestionably the year’s pleasant surprise(2nd team All-Atlantic Sun, Freshman of the Year), while junior point guard Bob King was also key, particularly late in the year. Four seniors depart, but two will barely be noticed: forward Andy Rushing and guard Art White. Aubrey Bullock’s struggles this year are well known, and at the end he was only a minor factor at best. The only starter leaving is forward Phillip Frederick(6.6 ppg, 41% fg, 4.1 rpg) who never lived up to his lofty billing as a JC recruit(#119 nationally) but was a serviceable swingman in his two seasons here.

FINAL RECRUITING CLASS

C Dionsio Salyers(6-9, 258, GA, 2.8 GPA, #181)
SG Eddie Bonney(6-3, 174, GA, 2.9 GPA, #186)
PG David Snyder(6-3, 196, GA, 3.1 GPA, #1029)
PF Jerome Watson(6-6, 223, GA, 3.0 GPA, #1562)

BY THE NUMBERS

Reputation: 14(+1)
Contract: 5 years, $71,000
Job Security: 16(+2)
Goals: Finish in Top 3 of the Atlantic Sun, Win 10+ games
Team Prestige: 14(+1)
Conference Prestige: 15(-)
Facilities: D+(dropped from C-)
Recruiting Budget: $132,037

Expectations are up across the board here, and not just because a four-year string of losing seasons was snapped last year in the school’s first winning conference record since 1959(which, inauspiciously, was followed up by two 6-22 seasons!). The Bears bring in two highly heralded recruits this year. The first, Dionsio Salyers, has been decided unimpressive so far. Let’s just say he’s no threat to Brinkley’s starting job at this point. What’s more, among the lesser-known incoming freshmen, guard David Snyder has BUST plastered on his forehead, and Jerome Watson is a project, albeit one with a pretty good chance of panning out by all impressions.

All of that will soon be forgotten however, if the fourth member of the class is as good as he appears – to wit, Coach Stahl says he’s already the best player he’s every coached. That includes Jamal Brown, of course. The Bears new starter at shooting guard is Eddie Bonney, an excellent all-around talent who can shoot, drive, or pass on the offensive end, and more than hold his own defensively particularly when it comes to playing the passing lanes. He’s expected to step right in and contend for All-Conference honors and if that’s even close to true, Mercer could be a contender for the Atlantic Sun crown this year.

The Bears back up their freshman phenom with solid players at all positions. Bob King returns to bring senior leadership(albeit with too many turnovers) to the point. Dean Jeffries adds three-point range at swingman, and Brent Calvert and Ryan Brinkley comprise the last two Atlantic Sun Freshmen of the Year in a capable duo inside.

The bench is not much of a dropoff at most positions, certainly the best reserve corps that Stahl has yet coached. Mate Ramage and Lionel Louis bring scoring, Justin McCasland brings a solid all-around game, and if any starter should falter there’s likely to be a capable replacement. 20 wins is not out of the question if this group plays as they are capable of.

This isn’t all local bravado by the Bears faithful either. WSSN has pegged Mercer as a legitimate contender in the conference, picking them 2nd behind East Tennessee State, with traditional powers Belmont and SC Upstate as well as defending champs Kennesaw State all expected to be rebuilding and finish in the bottom half.

RECRUITING

Steve Stahl is really batting it out of the park in the recruiting department lately. He nailed almost all of his early targets, missing only on SG Tyrone Pruitt – who ended up going to Texas State. Somewhere Coach Cattley is having nightmares. Top recruits keep going to his competition in the Southland West. Pruitt is a borderline blue-chipper, considered to be probably a Top 50 player by most analysts.

The first to sign for Mercer was SF Brandon Johnson(6-7, 223, GA, 3.2 GPA, #352). Johnson is not a very good defender, but makes up for it somewhat with good rebounding and shotblocking. He’s an great athlete, the best Stahl has recruited, and should be a physical mismatch for almost all of his counterparts in the Atlantic Sun. Brandon is also a reliable free-throw shooter, though his shot selection from the floor is somewhat questionable.

Shortly afterwards, probably the most critical signing came in. The Bears need a new big man – Brinkley is more suited to power forward, Salyers looks like a disappointment, and virtually useless senior Travis Black is graduating. There was only one player that appeared both willing and able to fit the bill, and Stahl got him.

C Jesse Towns(6-9, 246, GA, 2.8 GPA, #617). Towns appears to be a low-level four-star talent, a good interior scorer with decent defensive abilities but not much else to recommend him. He’s far better than any other option that was out there though, and without him Mercer would really be struggling to put any decent size on the court starting next year.

It’s been said since the day Steve Stahl arrived on the Mercer campus that his teams would really be something – if only they had a point guard. If only they had a point guard. Well, they might have one now. Enter Michael McKnight(6-3, 172, GA, 2.9 GPA, #189). McKnight is a solid four-star talent(that makes three for three in this class!!) with outstanding passing skills, decent ballhandling, and good defense as well as the ability to get his own offense. A vulnerability at the line is his only key weakness.

With apparently another strong class coming in, there’s no reason to expect the Bears to return to their losing ways anytime soon. Prior to last season, they’d had losing campaigns 14 of the previous 17. Those days are long gone unless they seriously underachieve.

[Brian Swartz]

Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Lydell Jones(15.1), Josh Cravens(10.4), Tre Roe(7.8)
Rebounds: Josh Cravens(4.9), Tre Roe(4.8), Brendon Tucker(4.3)
Assists: Riley Coulter(3.5), Craig Sarpy(3.3), Lydell Jones(1.6)

Even the team's most ardent booster can't call this season anything other than a big disappointment. Dead last in the conference, and a quarterfinal exit in the SWAC tournament. What’s worst is that this team was capable, but incredibly, frustratingly inconsistent. The one place they were unfortunately very consistent was on defense, where they surrendered 71.6 points a game(9th out of 10) and a 45.9% shooting rate(also 9th). They did the little things poorly, losing the rebounding and turnover battles as a whole, and were particularly horrific at defending outside(35.8% 3pt fg allowed).

To look at his raw numbers, you’d say Lydell Jones(2nd Team All-SWAC) regressed his sophomore year – and while that’s true, he remains an incredibly reliable free-throw shooter(41-43 on the year) and he dramatically increased his assists(1.6 from 0.7), though his playmaking could certainly still use improvement, and his steals were up as well. Bottom line, he needs more help. Josh Cravens provided it at times – and provided nothing at others.

The only graduating senior is center Brendon Tucker(5.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg in 17.3 minutes) who provided experience and rebounding toughness. It’s a question of mentality, not talent, that will decide the next chapter here. Despite this year’s unpleasantness, the board has approved a contract extension at a modest raise up to $88K annually for Avery Foster, believing that he’ll be able to recover quickly.

The so-called experts think the Devils can bounce back as well, predicting a middling finish of 5th in the SWAC.

FINAL RECRUITING CLASS

None.

BY THE NUMBERS

Reputation: 14(--)
Contract: 5 years, $88,000
Job Security: 11(--)
Goals: Don’t Finish Last in SWAC
Team Prestige: 5(-2)
Conference Prestige: 26(+1)
Facilities: B(down from B+)
Recruiting Budget: $100,328

Don’t be an embarrassment again. That’s basically the marching orders. And it might not be easy to achieve. It will all start once again with Lydell Jones, who should rebound somewhat from his sophomore slump, but I wouldn’t expect 22 ppg like his freshman year either. Nate Spann will be an even better backup for him off the bench than he was in an excellent first year(7.0 ppg). At the point, senior Riley Coulter should be a little more competent than he was last year, and the same for Craig Sarpy off the bench. Competition should still be intense with Coulter retaining the starting job their initially.

So if the backcourt should be better, the frontcourt is a disaster – at least compared to what it could be. Jason Singletary transferred out after showing some promise last season as a freshman, unwilling to be patient with the train wreck that was the 67-68 Delta Devils. However, being benched midway through last year appears to have lit a fire under Jason Barlow, and the senior is back looking much-improved and ready to end his career on a high note as a legitimate #2 scoring threat alongside Jones. The constantly overachieving(and underappreciated) Tre Roe returns at power forward, with a group of inexperienced underachievers backing up the both of them.

And then there’s Josh Cravens, the sophomore who started so well last year before stumbling down the stretch. He stumbled again into pre-season workouts, and if his motivation doesn’t improve he’ll be stumbling his way out of the starting lineup and back to the bench soon in favor of junior Maurice Radford. It’s a strong bench, as strong as Mercer’s, and Mississippi Valley State would have a darn fine team this year if Cravens were pulling his weight. Without him playing well though, they’ll have a tough time rebounding, and there’s not too much confidence around here.

RECRUITING

PG Marquise Carter(6-1, 173, MS, 2.6 GPA, JC, #541). Carter has the promise of finally giving Foster the steady hand at the point that he has coveted – if only for a couple years. He isn’t much of an athlete, but has exceptional passing skills, along with good ballhandling and overall defensive abilities, and can score as well including a reliable stroke at the free-throw line.

Neatly coinciding with the beginning of preseason practices was the news of a second commitment, and a big one. SF Lee Daniels(6-4, 221, MS, 2.9 GPA, #158) is an excellent player, and considered schools like LSU, Murray State, Memphis, and Arkansas. They were scared of by his lack of athletic ability, and there is some question whether Daniels is another Cravens – a guy who is over-rated and unmotivated. He’s a good scorer and passer and a capable defender by Foster’s estimation though, and unless he’s another disappointment he’ll fill in quite well for Barlow.

[Brian Swartz]

Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Shahar Brown(15.6), Tyrone Lane(11.3), Kevin Young(7.8)
Rebounds: Tyrone Lane(7.0), Shahar Brown(6.6), Jerome Layne(6.0)
Assists: Kevin Young(4.1), Blake Land(2.6), Jerome Layne(2.4)

A tremendous run to the conference finals ended a bit short for the Roadrunners, but it was still by far Weston Cattley’s finest year. He also earned a contract extension for four seasons, giving him a chance to build on this success. He’ll have to do it without the guy who has earned a place in history as Texas-San Antonio’s finest player ever. Consider Shahar Brown’s accomplishments:

-- Most field goals made in a game(17, 1966 vs. Northwestern State)
-- Third-most points in a game(37, 1966 vs. Northwestern State)
-- Tied for most rebounds in a game(14, 1965 vs. IUPUI) – Tyrone Lane also tied this record this year against Sacramento State!
-- Top two seasons in school history in free throws made and attempted(124-163 in 1965, 125-170 in 1966)
-- Two seasons on the Top 10 in points scored, including 4th in 1966(481 points)
-- Third-best rebounding season in school history(207 in 1966), the best total since 1942
-- 2nd-best double-double season(7 in 1966)

Breathe. Ready now? Ok, good.

Career Marks:

-- Field goals made: 2nd(652)
-- Field Goals Attempted: 2nd(1472)
-- Free throws Made: 1st(404) – No other player has approached even 300
-- Free Throws Attempted: 1st(549)
-- Field Goal %: 1st(.443)
-- Free Throw %: 1st(.736)
-- Points: 2nd(1708)
-- Rebounds: 1st(716)
-- Double-Doubles: 1st(20)
-- Games: 4th(116) – 117 is the top mark

-- All-Southland First Team 1965, 1966, 1967
-- Southland Conference Player of the Year -- 1967

Losing that kind of player is double-tough, but he’s not the only one leaving. They also lose guard Kevin Young(7.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.1 apg), a streaky but all-around fairly productive starter at the point the last two seasons. Young is the career leader for TXSA in assists and blocked shots! Jerome Layne, an excellent rebounder for a small forward(3.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.4 apg) and top interior sub John Merfeld(5.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg) are also graduating. The front line has been decimated, with three of the four key contributors now gone. It’ll be up to Tyrone Lane(2nd Team All-Southland) to hold down the fort.

The board was happy enough with a winning season and the run to the conference championship game that they gave Coach Cattley an extension – four years added on, and a $3,000 raise.

FINAL RECRUITING CLASS

The big academic asterisk came up sour on Brett Daniels, whose 830 SAT score earned him an F from the admissions department. After losing out on JC transfer Scott Hampton to Texas Southern and Ralph Perry, Cattley was forced to leave one scholarship open for next year.

SF Derek Lewis(6-3, 193, TX, 2.5 GPA, JC, #354)
C Will Myles(6-10, 246, TX, 2.9 GPA, #659)
SG Ron Turner(6-0, 194, MO, 2.4 GPA, #1092)

BY THE NUMBERS

Reputation: 14(+1)
Contract: 5 years, $66,000
Job Security: 11(--)
Goals: Win Southland Tournament
Team Prestige: 10(+1)
Conference Prestige: 29(-1)
Facilities: D-(no change)
Recruiting Budget: $91,650

Winning the Southland conference tournament is going to be a very, very stiff expectation this year – really an unreasonable one, but Weston’s a victim of his own modest success last season. Frankly another .500 year in the conference and an overall record about the same would be a good year. That isn’t to say it’ll be a horrible team, but they just lost so much.
Senior Blake Land(7.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 55.8% fg) is the experience in the backcourt, and he’ll be joined by junior Steven Billips(5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.3 apg in 14.4 minutes) who appears ready for the starting role. Behind them, talented redshirt freshman Robert Hill appears to have put his extra year to good use and will be the top reserve, beating out the rest of the backcourt throng.

The small forward position will be very interesting this year. New JC transfer Derek Lewis will start as the most developed player, but freshman Steve Warren(redshirted last year) and Shannon Grundman(3.2 ppg, 34% fg in 9.9 minutes) both have talent and could end up anywhere from the end of the bench to starting depending on how they make use of their opportunities.

Tyrone Lane is back improved and is the team’s best player – he should really shine on the boards this year, but there are still questions about his stamina and free-throw shooting(60.2% last season). The surprise of the incoming players is Will Myles, who’ll get the start at center with Lane moving over to forward. Myles is a good rebounder and scorer inside, and should be a solid player right away. He won’t make anyone forget Shahar Brown by any stretch, but will make his absence less painful than expected.

The Roadrunners don’t have the starting talent they did last year, and the bench is expected to be just about as unreliable, perhaps slightly less so. In the competitive Southland, I see a lot of struggles this year for them.
WSSN’s outlook is more optimistic. They’ve forecast a 6th-place finish for Texas-San Antonio, but only 4th in the West Division. Stephen F. Austin and Texas State are expected to be the class of the conference once again.

RECRUITING

First in was another big man.

C David Martin(6-8, 269, TX, 2.1 GPA, #92) – How good Martin is remains a matter of some debate. Opinions range from a top four-star player, about where he’s ranked, all the way down to the 600 or so range. The Roadrunners think he’s quite good – but also wonder if he’ll pass admissions or if they’ll get bitten again. SAT reporting time will be anxious around here. David can score and defend inside, and is a very good passer for a big man, and if he makes the grade could for a nice tandem alongside Will Myles. That’s an awfully big IF though.

SG Donta Thompson(6-4, 182, TX, 2.1 GPA, #183) – Another talented but major academic risk guy, Thompson is a player that the Roadrunners staff actually thinks is significantly overrated – he’s basically a buzz recruit. He can score and is a decent defender, but mostly there’s deniability here. If he flops, they can say everybody else thought he was good too.

PF Kyle Parks(6-6, 208, TX, 2.4 GPA, #462). Parks fills a big positional need, adding athleticism, rebounding, and shotblocking. He’s also a turnover machine unfortunately, and his defense and free-throw shooting are nothing to write home about either. Another guy who is probably a little overrated.

[Brian Swartz]

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

11.16 Texas Southern(0-0) @ Bowling Green(0-0) – L 82-77
11.19 CSU Bakersfield(1-0) @ Texas Southern(0-1) – W 89-68
11.23 Texas Southern(1-1) @ Chicago State(0-1) – L 88-76
11.26 Texas Southern(1-2) @ Buffalo(0-3) – L 64-61

Flawed, but always entertaining, the Tigers were at it again in their opener. After an ugly start to the game, they rained threes in the second half but sputtered at the end. Rebounding(11-5 offensive) was their biggest problem as it was all of last year. Woulda helped if they didn’t put the Falcons on the line 38 times also. Sophomore Bryan Battier scored 20 with 5 rebounds, Ty Thomas had 13 and 5, and Ken Collins scored 11 with 6 rebounds but was ineffective after a fast start. Battier’s 20 points were more than scored all of last SEASON(17) – but he missed the two that meant the most in the final minutes.

A very interesting home opener against Perry’s former team(who went 18-9 last year without him). Their perimeter trio of Frank Watson, Richard Ashburn, and of course Joe Hall haven’t gotten any more fun to guard. This is one of the few teams though that the Tigers can out-physical, and they broke away in the second half for an easy win with Ty Thomas(14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) leading four players in double figures. It's not often that a team is able to frustrate Hall into a 4-15 shooting night.

The Tigers really look like they are in trouble this year after dropping the next two, and the last one against previously winless Buffalo is a case in point. They scored a horrific 15 second-half points because they just could not make a shot. Texas Southern is competing on the boards, in the turnover battle, they aren’t playing particularly bad in any one area except that they simply don’t make shots, and allow their opponents too many good ones – even by their standards.

The pleasant surprise has been sophomore Bryan Battier, who currently leads the team in scoring at 15.5 ppg, adding five boards while shooting 52%, 42% from 3-point territory. His defense has been credible as well. The state of things isn’t his fault, nor is it Ty Thomas’s. The junior forward has been pretty lousy on defense but for a big man in this system is playing well(13.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.0 apg). Thomas has also been efficient, hitting on 55% of his attempts. The third main scorer on the team, new junior Ken Collins however … yeah, he’s a different story. Collins accounts for 11 points and five rebounds, but requires over 13 shots to get those points – he’s hitting less than 30%, and an abysmal 24% from long range.

He has company … fellow guards Arthur Smith and Aaron Petion are also hitting on a third or less of their attempts, and therein lies the problem. Nobody save Battier on the perimeter can throw it in the ocean. Benching Smith isn’t much of an option, as he dishes out 6.5 assists per game. Junior Richie Green has been promoted to the top guard off the bench, but really there aren’t many places for Perry to go here. There aren’t many options – the backcourt just can’t shoot. If that doesn’t change, this will not be a fun year for him.


Denny Grant(Steve Stahl)

11.16 Oakland(0-0) @ Cal-Davis(0-0) – W 74-69
11.19 Cal-Davis(1-0) @ Buffalo(0-2) – W 67-59
11.23 Cal-Davis(2-0) @ FIU(1-1) – W 70-51
11.26 Jacksonville State(3-0) @ Cal-Davis(3-0) – W 70-59

The first half of the home opener was … ugly. A big 19-3 run gave Oakland control early, thanks to plenty of turnovers and uninspired defense by the Aggies. Not the start that Grant had in mind for the season.

They made their move a few minutes into the second half, and they made it big, particularly on the defensive end. After 11 first-half mishaps, they had only four turnovers in the second half and managed to hold off a late Grizzlies rally for the win. It wasn’t pretty, but despite an off-shooting night from Reece(3-13, eight points) they got it done. Jamie Belton(17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) showed how much he’s improved, Joe Huggins had 11 boards in his first start, and Tyler McColpin(14 points) and John Waldon(11 points) contributed as well for a very balanced attack – light years ahead of what Aggies fans are used to seeing. Rebounding(12-2 offensive) is a concern though, as are the turnovers. Worth watching also is redshirt freshman Tim Alexander, who scored nine in seven minutes.

Belton looked even better with his first-career double-double, 18 points and 11 boards, in a road win at Buffalo. Another freshman made his mark there as well, as Matt Lockwood came off the bench to put in 14 in as many minutes.

Something weird – and special – is happening with this Cal-Davis team. They are either seriously overachieving, or a lot better than they have any right to be from all appearances. A perfect 4-0 start, and particularly after the last two games it doesn’t look like a mirage. The Aggies look instead like a pretty darn legitimately good basketball team.

It all starts with Jamie Belton, who really broke out against previously unbeaten Jacksonville State with a 32-point performance. He’s putting up 21.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a night, adding 2 assists and 1.3 steals. He isn’t taking bad shots either – hitting on 52% and 76% from the line. Jamie is a complete scorer, and it’s a good thing because Thaydeus Reece(11.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.0 spg) has sputtered out of the gate with his shot, making only 3-17 threes so far. Junior Tyler McColpin has benefited from having two strong players on the floor, scoring 7.8 with 4.5 boards, 2.5 assists, and 1.3 steals along with spectactular defense(Belton has been pretty good there as well).

Grant will be making one change – at the point, where John Waldon has been pretty darn bad, definitely not living up to the confidence he’s been shown. Senior Correy Collison has played well defensively, handled the offense better(though certainly not well), and taken far fewer bad shots. He’s earned his spot back, and will keep it if he keeps playing solidly. Sophomore Jordan Williams has been very impressive, and he’ll see more court time as well – right now he’s only seeing the floor about seven minutes a game, not enough to really make any conclusive opinions.

With the next three games at home, albeit against some quality teams, the Aggies could run up quite a streak here if they keep playing well.


Steve Stahl(Mercer)

11.15 Howard(0-0) @ Mercer(0-0) – W 61-45
11.18 Mercer(1-0) @ East Carolina(1-1) – L 74-67
11.22 Quinnipiac(0-0) @ Mercer(1-1) – W 73-57
11.25 Evansville(2-1) @ Mercer(2-1) – L 72-52

Eddie Bonney took the first shot of his first collegiate game – and missed on the drive. He grabbed the board though, and a couple minutes later swished his next one, a three-pointer for his first collegiate points. The Bears quickly took control and led almost the entire way, as the freshman scored 25 on 8-17 fg and grabbed six rebounds as well. Yeah, I guess the kid can play a little bit. Do I need to explain who the player of the game was?

Then they had 22 turnovers against the Pirates to throw away any momentum from the opening win. After another strong win, they came back with disaster at home against the Aces, with Bonney in foul trouble the whole way and a non-factor, they lost the battle of the glass and coughed up 19 turnovers. Clearly the Bears have a lot to learn before conference play begins.

Eddie Bonney has been up and down, but has been by far the most sure-handed guard on the team(2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio), scoring 16 ppg with 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals. As you’d expect, Ryan Brinkley(11.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg) has been his main complement. It’s turnovers and rebounding causing problems for the Bears – nobody on the team averages five or more boards a game, and they’ve given it up 20.5 times in the losses on average. Bonney, and Brinkley to a lesser extent, should improve as the season goes along – but the turnover issue isn’t going away on its own and is a team-wide problem: no one player is particularly to blame.

[Brian Swartz]

Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State)

11.16 Mississippi Valley State(0-0) @ North Carolina Central(0-0) – L 70-62
11.19 Mississippi Valley State(0-1) @ Yale(2-0) – W 67-65
11.23 Central Arkansas(1-1) @ Mississippi Valley State(1-1) – W 73-70
11.26 Jacksonville(2-1) @ Mississippi Valley State(2-1) -- W 77-65

A lot of the same craptastic garbage that sent them to 11-18 last year was on display tonight. Turnovers, lack of effort defensively, general lack of consistent play. Thanks to some good shooting the Delta Devils somehow managed to trail only by six at the half, then proceeded to fall behind by almost 15 points, only to make a nice comeback and make a game of it – sound familiar? As one would expect, they fell short.

Lydell Jones had 19, Tre Roe had 14 and 6 boards, and you could barely tell Josh Cravens(2 points, 4 rebounds in 31 minutes) was alive. That kid is the biggest waste of talent I’ve ever seen, I swear it. Oh, and twice as many turnovers as the opposition(17-8) generally won’t get it done.

They looked doomed against Yale as well, as the Bulldogs shot 60% for the first half. They cooled off late though, and a three by Jones got them even with 1:15 left. Yale turned it over … then MVS passed it around a while and threw it out of bounds … then the Bulldogs gave it right back. A minute passed with neither team so much as attempting a shot! Lydell Jones got past his man and put up a mid-range jumper … it missed, but Maurice Radford put it back in for the lead! Yale missed at the other end and a nice win for the Devils. Jones had 20 points, and Cravens had 17 on 7-9 fg, almost all of it in the first half to keep them close.

Despite taking three of their first four, Mississippi Valley State doesn’t look like it feels particularly good about it. Despite an overall poor start from Jones(14.8 ppg, 35% fg), there has been good balance with Tre Roe(11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Josh Cravens(10.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg) both scoring inside with incredible efficiency – they are both shooting over 65%! Nate Spann has been electric off the bench(8.8 ppg in 16.3 minutes, 50% fg) and while he isn’t scoring a ton at six points a game and his shot still isn’t reliable, Jason Barlow has become an outstanding playmaker at forward(team-leading 3.5 assists, along with 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks). Certainly it is hopeful at least that MVS is playing a much more consistent brand of basketball – even if they aren’t a great team, they do actually look like a team again.


Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

11.15 Louisiana-Monroe(0-0) @ Texas-San Antonio(0-0) – W 70-50
11.18 Marquette(1-0) @ Texas-San Antonio(1-0) – L 75-74
11.22 Texas-San Antonio(1-1) @ Maine(1-1) – L 82-68
11.25 Texas-San Antonio(1-2) @ Iowa(2-1) – W 60-55

Coach Cattley is really loosening the reins compared to last year’s experienced bunch – they’ll be doing a lot more running and a lot less set offenses with all the new starters still needing to get acclimated. It worked in the opener, as they thrilled the home crowd by ending the first half on a 7-0 run to break open a relatively close game. The Warhawks hit on only 2 of 11 from long range, and you’ve got to make jumpers to beat their zone if you want to score. On the other end, the only starter who DIDN’T have at least five points was Tyrone Lane. I wouldn’t have taken that bet at tipoff(he scored twice early in the second half to rectify that situation).

ULM never recovered from that run to end the first half, and the Roadrunners coasted. It was only one game, and at home, but it sure doesn’t look like Texas-San Antonio is in as much trouble this year as I feared. The biggest reason is that Derek Lewis looks a lot more like a guy who was a highly ranked recruit than he does the disappointing pre-season evaluation he was given. He led the team with 18 points(7-13 fg), Lane added 14 and 7 boards, and Will Myles(9 points, 10 rebounds) had a strong debut as well. At the point, Steven Billips had 7 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds – everybody really pitched in.

They played well again in the second game, giving a superior Marquette team fits for most of the game, then gamely coming back after surrendering the lead in the second half. A dunk by Tyrone Lane(19 points) with 35 seconds left gave them life, down only by a single point, but they couldn’t quite finish. Derek Lewis(18 points, 5 rebounds) and Will Myles(8 points, 12 rebounds) showed their performances against ULM weren’t flukes – this team is better than I gave them credit for.

After a bad loss in which both Billips and Hill fouled out with more than ten minutes left, the Iowa game was almost an instant replay of the Marquette loss. The Roadrunners trailed but had the ball down only 55-54 with a minute and a half left – a chance to grab a win against a superior major-conference team. They got a perverse three-point play as Billips was fouled, made the first, and then Will Myles got the board and put it back in for a two-point lead! After a turnover, the Hawkeyes showed what they were made of, playing great defense for 32 seconds … and then fouling Blake Land 30 feet from the basket. Regardless of the fact that it was practically gifted to them, this was a big win for TXSA.

Derek Lewis has gotten his Division 1 career of to a flying start, leading the team through the early going with 16 points a night at a respectable rate of accuracy. Tyrone Lane(14.3 points, 6.0 rebounds) has shown remarkably improved free-throw shooting, and ball pressure is much improved over previous years. The biggest concern right now is foul trouble in the backcourt – both Steven Billips and top backup Robert Hill have spent way too much time on the bench, and there isn’t much depth … it’s a big dropoff when they aren’t available. Freshman Will Myles(7.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg) has been a weak point defensively, but is a battler and not many players come in and record 22 combined rebounds in their first two games.

[Brian Swartz]

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

11.30 Cal-Poly(1-3) @ Texas Southern(1-3) -- W 85-74
12.3 Cleveland State(2-3) @ Texas Southern(2-3) – W 88-63
12.8 Texas Southern(3-3) @ Gardner-Webb(1-5) – W 79-66

On cue, the Tigers guards have turned it on. A couple good games from Ken Collins were followed by a breakout performance by sophomore Arthur Smith(21 points, 7-10 fg) against Gardner-Webb. As a result, in the three games Texas Southern averaged 84 points an outing, a much-improved average over their first four games.


Denny Grant(Cal-Davis)

11.30 USC(1-1) @ Cal-Davis(4-0) – L 67-64
12.3 Hampton(3-1) @ Cal-Davis(4-1) – L 78-75
12.7 Xavier(3-3) @ Cal-Davis(4-2) – W 77-72
12.10 Cal-Davis(5-2) @ UMBC(0-7) – W 77-69(OT)

The Aggies came up just short against USC for their first loss of the season – Jamie Belton was in foul trouble most of the way and played just 16 minutes, including two big misses in the final minute. Reece scored 23, 19 in the first half, to keep them within striking distance – it was almost enough, but not quite.

It looked like they would go down again to a good Hampton team, but after deferring to Reece for most of the game Jamie Belton made his prescence felt with several second-half dunks to draw Cal-Davis even with eight minutes left. They couldn’t execute at the end though, and it was another tough three-point loss at home. The Xavier game was very similar, but this time they made the stops they needed to pull out the win.

If you look up ‘trap game’ in the dictionary it will have a description of the setup for the last game against UMBC. On the road for the first time in two weeks after three tough home games against a team that hasn’t gotten off the snide yet after a month of play. Look closer though and you see that the last SIX of those losses were on the road, and the last one was probably their best effort(seven-point defeat at San Diego).

Unfortunately Jamie Belton was the only player who showed up for Cal-Davis offensively in that first half, scoring 17 of the team’s 25 points(4-17 fg for the others, as Reece had only two attempts with foul problems) and the Aggies trailed by one at the break. Then it got worse – they trailed by as many as nine in the second half before finally pulling their collective heads out of their posteriors.

Their defense was shaky against a now-confident Retrievers team that smelled blood, and Cal-Davis didn’t regain the lead down the stretch until a three-point play by Belton with 1:17 left put them in front 61-60, their first lead since the early part of the second half. After it was tied up again, Reece sank a three from the wing with six seconds left … only to have UMBC tie it up again with only a single tick left on the clock. Overtime – against one of the worst teams in college basketball(322 RPI coming in)! Not an inspiring performance.

Belton’s rebounding and Reece’s scoring dominated the extra session as they finally put away their hapless opponents – but not without one hell of a scare. The stat sheet reveals Belton’s finest game to date(29 points, 13 rebounds) and Reece was 7-11 after halftime for 19 of his own.


Steve Stahl(Mercer)

11.29 Hawaii(3-2) @ Mercer(2-2) – W 64-47
12.2 Creighton(1-1) @ Mercer(3-2) – W 70-68
12.6 Nicholls State(3-3) @ Mercer(4-2) – W 87-71
12.9 Mercer(5-2) @ McNeese State(2-5) – L 59-55

Mercer took advantadge of an extended to home stand to reel off some good wins, and they were particularly spectactular against Nicholls State. Bob King had 13 points and a career-high 10(his first double-double) of the Bears’ 22 team assists. A number of those went to Eddie Bonney, who put in his latest high with 28 points as he made his first nine shots of the field and picked up three steals. As a club, they shot a ridiculous 57% from the floor, including 11-15 from 3-point range.

Here’s how bad they were in the next game: players other than Bonney were 0-the first half from the field. 3-5 for the freshman, 0-13 for everybody else combined. What was amazing about their effort is that for most of the game, on the road, they shot 20% from the field – yet never trailed by more than a dozen points. They crawled and fought and with 1:29 left, inbounded the ball with a chance to take the lead for the first time in over 30 minutes, tied at 55 all.

Both teams trades misfires until the Cowboys hit a pair of free-throws to go back in front with 20 seconds left – and then King turned it over on their next possession. Overall it was one of the most impressive losses you can have, but Mercer is still winless on the road and that needs to change soon.


Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State)

11.29 Texas-San Antonio(2-2) @ Mississippi Valley State(3-1) – L 62-61
12.3 Mississippi Valley State(3-2) @ Evansville(3-1) – L 84-80
12.8 Sacramento State(4-2) @ Mississippi Valley State(3-3) – W 71-56

The first coaching matchup between Avery Foster and Weston Cattley figured to be a tough matchup for the visiting Roadrunners simply because if there’s one thing Jones excels at, it’s hitting open threes against a zone. The Delta Devils didn’t execute early and fell behind by double digits in the opening minutes, unable to get any kind of rhythm offensively.

They crawled back to within six at the half, and after the break really put it all together with everybody contributing as they turned up the pressure on both ends and took control of the game by the midway point. Then Steve Warren came off the bench for Texas-San Antonio with a series of steals and long-range bombs to bring them back to even at 56 all after they had trailed by seven just a few minutes before. With only four minutes left to go, this was shaping up for a classic finish.

With MVS ahead by one and 25 seconds left, Josh Cravens made a big steal and was fouled – but then missed both shots at the line, giving the Roadrunners another good shot at it with 18 seconds to go. Reserve forward Jerome Campbell rebounded a late miss and put it back in at the buzzer, and that was it – TXSA stunned the Delta Devils by a single point in a fabulous game!

For the victors, Tyrone Lane(14 points, 7 rebounds) was top scorer while Will Myles set a new high with 13 boards and scored 12, most of them from the line after he’d grabbed an offensive rebound. Derek Lewis was held to seven, but did have nine rebounds as well as TXSA had a 37-29 edge on the glass. Cravens led MVS with 15 points, but shot only 4-12 fg and had those two fateful late misses that would have almost put the game away. Lydell Jones scored 12, making just 2-8 from 3-point land, and Riley Coulter added 10.

The loss drops Avery Foster to 0-3 against our other featured coaches. Hardly conclusive, but it certainly isn’t an inspiring start. They once again failed to execute down the stretch against the Evansville Aces as Josh Cravens matched his career high with 19 points, and dropped another one – they could very, very easily be 5-1 in the first six games, but instead they sit at 3-3.


Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

11.29 Texas-San Antonio(2-2) @ Mississippi Valley State(3-1) – W 62-61
12.2 Texas-San Antonio(3-2) @ Quinnipiac(0-3) – W 77-67
12.6 Texas-San Antonio(4-2) @ Presbyterian(2-2) – W 72-59
12.9 Valparaiso(3-3) @ Texas-San Antonio(5-2) – W 83-68

Against Quinnipiac, Lane and Myles combined to score 35 points on 15-17 shooting. It’s hard to be much more efficient than that. As a result, Derek Lewis having a horrific game(4-18) almost didn’t matter.
Getting consecutive road wins is a good sign for any team, almost no matter who it’s against. The Roadrunners have now reeled off five straight wins, the first four of them on the road. An unbalanced non-conference schedule with only three home games looked murderous before the season started, but they’ve handled it incredibly well. Really they’ve been outplayed only once in their first eight games(against Maine – the game with the insane foul problems).

A rebuilding year? The early results say TXSA is having no part of that.

[Brian Swartz]

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

12.14 Texas Southern(4-3) @ Utah Valley State(1-5) – W 78-74
12.21 Texas Southern(5-3) @ NJIT(3-4) – W 87-84

Naturally Perry is thrilled to see the Wolverines struggling this year – and more than happy to add to their misery. This was also the first game where the Tigers started to put in his diamond press a moderate amount – he thinks it time, most of the guys have had enough practice work with it. Utah Valley State played a good half, and the Tigers took control in the second – only to nearly blow it to a late flurry. Collins(21 points) hit on eight of his first nine shots, and Ty Thomas(10 points, 10 rebounds) put in a double-double despite attempting only two field goals. Four straight for the Tigers.

Despite a horrific first half defensively, they kept it going against NJIT with a big comeback culminating in a buzzer-beating three by Arthur Smith – the Tigers 13th triple of the game.

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Ken Collins(14.0), Bryan Battier(13.6), Ty Thomas(12.4)
Rebounds: Ty Thomas(8.0), Bryan Battier(5.1), Antonio Graham(4.1)
Assists: Arthur Smith(5.2), Richie Green(2.0), Ty Thomas(1.8)

Ken Collins still takes too many bad shots, but he’s done much better in recent weeks. The trio of Collins, Battier, and Thomas make for an extremely balanced attack, and not just scoring-wise. They all rebound, and none of them are graduating after this season. The key to the five-game winning streak has been increasing success in forcing turnovers: the Tigers are +2.9 on the year with 16.3 takeaways a game, and that combined with hitting over 39% from long range has made them a tough opponent.

Sophomore Arthur Smith(9.2 ppg, 42% fg) has emerged as a legitimate scoring option as well, hitting on 44% of his three-point attempts. As always, tough rebounding teams are their biggest challenge – Texas Southern has a -2.0 differential there.

SWAC STANDINGS

Alcorn State(5-4, 29)
Jackson State(8-1, 39)
Prairie View A&M(6-3, 40)
Alabama State(6-5, 65)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff(6-3, 91)
Grambling(7-2, 110)
Texas Southern(6-3, 117)
Mississippi Valley State(5-4, 137)
Alabama A&M(5-4, 161)
Southern(5-4, 205)

The SWAC is murderous this year – but there’s a silver lining to that. Any team that can successfully run the gauntlet has a good shot at least for an at-large NIT berth … but it won’t be easy. With all nine teams finishing the non-conference slate at better than .500 and five in the RPI Top 100, there are no easy games here.


Denny Grant(Cal-Davis)

12.14 Cal-Davis(6-2) @ Miami(OH)(3-5) – W 60-54
12.17 Cal-Davis(7-2) @ Central Florida(8-2) – L 80-54
12.21 Mississippi State(4-5) @ Cal-Davis(7-3) – L 67-47

The first bad loss of the year came against the UCF Golden Knights, ending a three-game winning streak for the Aggies. Belton(22 points, 7 rebounds) was the only offensive option with Reece hitting just 2-10 and the rest of the team ineffective, while the Knights just had too much balance – four players in double figures and Cal-Davis could never get a handle on them defensively. After another blowout loss in the following game, their offense is in disarray – no Aggies player scored more than six points.

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Jamie Belton(19.3), Thaydeus Reece(13.8), John Waldon(6.0)
Rebounds: Jamie Belton(7.1), Joe Huggins(5.9), Thaydeus Reece(4.4)
Assists: Correy Collison(2.8), Thaydeus Reece(2.5), Tyler McColpin(2.1)

Jamie Belton has scored 17 or more in nine games this year, and had by far his worst game in the last outing – six points on 1-12 fg. He also has three double-doubles so far, and I’d expect him to bounce back strong. Of more concern is the second half of one of the two outstanding scoring duos in the conference(Fullerton has the other with senior guards Tim Alexander and DeShawn Dennis), Thaydeus Reece, who was miserable in the two recent losses(3-20 for a combined nine points). He needs to get untracked, or their offense will struggle.

The Aggies have been very good defensively so far(41.4% fg allowed), and with Belton and Huggins both crashing the glass they own a strong +3.0 differential on the boards. If they can get back to the way they played the first nine games of the season, there’s no question this can be the first winning season Grant has had – and in a serious down year for the conference, they could even challenge for the Big West title.

BIG WEST STANDINGS

Cal St. Fullerton(7-4, 75)
Cal Poly(4-8, 130)
Cal-Davis(7-4, 180)
Long Beach State(6-5, 207)
Cal-Santa Barbara(5-6, 232)
Pacific(3-8, 233)
Cal-Riverside(5-6, 241)
Cal-Irvine(4-7, 260)
Cal St. Northridge(4-7, 282)


Steve Stahl(Mercer)

12.13 Mercer(5-3) @ Buffalo(2-6) – L 66-58
12.16 Mercer(5-4) @ Coastal Carolina(6-4) – L 75-58
12.20 Mercer(5-5) @ UMBC(2-8) – W 72-70

A third road loss to the Bulls has Steve Stahl positively livid – and not just over the fact that they lost. They surrendered 14 offensive rebounds to Buffalo, and committed 18 turnovers. The rebounding is particularly troublesome, and Stahl instituted a new practice regime – a no-holds-barred rebounding and box-out drill at the end of every day’s practice. Losing is a fact of life, but he’ll be darned if it’s going to happen because they keep giving the opponent extra possessions. They just haven’t been tough enough, mentally or physically.

The next game out they dominated the boards against the Chanticleers – and got their butts kicked in spite of it. 16 more turnovers, and only 36% shooting – they aren’t getting any scoring off the bench and Bonney has been less aggressive lately. Right now the Bears just flat out aren’t any good.

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Eddie Bonney(14.7), Ryan Brinkley(10.1), Bob King(7.1)
Rebounds: Ryan Brinkley(5.0), Brent Calvert(3.9), Justin McCasland(3.8)
Assists: Bob King(3.5), Dean Jeffries(1.5), Eric Lopez(1.5)

Eddie Bonney is a migraine for any coach so far. He has four games of 23 points or more – unsurprisingly, the Bears are 4-0 in those games. In the last four outings though, he’s hit only 32% of his shots, averaging less than nine points.

Of even bigger concern, as it seems it ALWAYS is for this team this time of year, is the turnover issue. They’re coughing it up almost 16 times a game, and it’s been nearly 20 the last three times out. The problem is mostly Ryan Brinkley and the backup guards, and there’s really no lineup changes that look promising. The Bears just need to execute better – or they are going to have a heck of a time challenging in the Atlantic Sun even in a very big down year for the conference.

ATLANTIC SUN STANDINGS

East Tennessee State(6-5, 30)
Campbell(8-3, 81)
Jacksonville(6-5, 177)
SC Upstate(3-8, 239)
Mercer(6-5, 254)
Kennesaw State(4-7, 261)
Gardner-Webb(3-8, 276)
North Florida(4-7, 281)
Stetson(1-10, 284)
Belmont(3-8, 286)
Lipscomb(3-8, 287)
Florida Gulf Coast(3-8, 307)

[Brian Swartz]

Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State)

12.14 Mississippi Valley State(4-3) @ Kent State(1-8) – W 71-68(OT)
12.21 Mississippi Valley State(5-3) @ Tennessee(5-4) – L 72-70(OT)

The Kent State game was yet another where MVS didn’t look real good at all – but they turned it on when they needed it most, recovering from a 9-point second half deficit to retake the lead on a three from … guess who … yep, Lydell Jones with 2:13 left. The Golden Flashes hit a three of their own, then Jason Barlow nailed one … and the final possessions were played out with the game all even.

A key board by Mr. Inconsistency(that’s Josh Cravens to the uninitiated) with 20 seconds left gave the Delta Devils a final chance to avoid a humiliating loss – and Barlow clanked a quick, ill-advised three, with enough time left for Kent State to turn it over on a traveling violation. Overtime. Super.

After studiously avoiding any semblance of success with two quick turnovers, Mississippi Valley State got another big basket from Jones on a pull-up jumper from the elbow to go in front 69-68 with 27 seconds left in OT. Unfortunately that meant they needed to do the one thing they are least capable of – get a big defensive stop. Kent State missed … and it was off of Cravens hands out of bounds. Ulcer time, ladies and gentlemen. They missed again … and this time they knocked it out, and the Devils survive! Rack up another 28 points for the Mr. Jones, with only Riley Coulter(11 points) joining him in double figure scoring.
Another OT game against the Volunteers, this time one of Craven’s best games(23 points), but he was virtually silent in the extra period. 11 missed free throws, several of them in OT, were the Achilles heel in this game.

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Lydell Jones(16.3), Josh Cravens(12.0), Tre Roe(10.2)
Rebounds: Tre Roe(6.0), Jason Barlow(4.3), Josh Cravens(4.1)
Assists: Riley Coulter(3.7), Jason Barlow(2.4), Nate Spann(1.8)

Lydell Jones has become a more complete player than ever, grabbing almost four rebounds a game and becoming a solid defensive player as well. Josh Cravens continues his on and off routine – he doesn’t do much other than score inside, but five 15+ point games demonstrate he does that very well. The other four games? 35% shooting and a 4.8 point average. His all-around game has also regressed – less rebounds, more turnovers, lower steals than his freshman year … but it’s not like Foster has any better options.

The biggest difference between this year and last is the defensive lapses are far fewer and further between. Perhaps the most impressive fact about this team is that they’ve had a chance to win every game since the season opener going into the final minutes. They’ll need to continue to give themselves a chance every night in the super-tough SWAC.

SWAC STANDINGS

Alcorn State(5-4, 29)
Jackson State(8-1, 39)
Prairie View A&M(6-3, 40)
Alabama State(6-5, 65)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff(6-3, 91)
Grambling(7-2, 110)
Texas Southern(6-3, 117)
Mississippi Valley State(5-4, 137)
Alabama A&M(5-4, 161)
Southern(5-4, 205)

Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

12.13 Texas-San Antonio(6-2) @ Florida Atlantic(2-4) – W 49-39
12.16 Texas-San Antonio(7-2) @ UNLV(5-4) – W 65-54
12.20 Texas-San Antonio(8-2) @ Gonzaga(4-6) – L 59-52

The FAU game was nigh unwatchable – a combined 31 points were scored in the second half – but once again Texas-San Antonio came through for a sixth straight win(5 on the road).

Going into the last non-conference game of the year against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the Roadrunners had racked up quick double-digit leads in their last three games. The Zags were different though, and Texas-San Antonio couldn’t break away from them. It was an excellent back-and-forth game throughout the first half and well into the second, with the Roadrunners strong defense pitted against an unusual amount of turnovers giving the Bulldogs extra possessions.

It was truly horrific and frustrating – they just couldn’t get any rhythm going offensively or take advantadge of any mistakes, as no matter who was on the floor it seemed every other possession at times there would be some ill-conceived pass, usually ending up in the cheap seats. After they fell behind by their largest margin at 43-37 with about ten to go, a couple big shots by usually silent reserves Steve Warren and Dan Perry brought the Roadrunners back to even, seemingly giving them a second life. They got close several times, but never retook the lead: there were just too many mistakes. Final turnover count was 23-5, offsetting what was otherwhise another good performance in many ways.

TEAM LEADERS

Points: Derek Lewis(13.5), Tyrone Lane(13.3), Will Myles(9.1)
Rebounds: Will Myles(9.2), Tyrone Lane(5.5), Derek Lewis(4.5)
Assists: Steven Billips(4.4), Robert Hill(2.2), Blake Land(2.1)

Derek Lewis has gotten most of the headlines, and rightfully so – but he’s a streaky shooter(37%) and you could make a good argument that he’s actually the least valuable starter on a team that has been an enormous surprise this year. Tyrone Lane has been a much more efficient scorer than last year, particularly at the foul line, where his average has jumped more than 20 points to over 81%. Will Myles has been a monster on the boards, getting most of his points inside from his own work on the glass. Myles rankes 11th in the NATION in rebounding, tops in the Southland by almost 2.5 boards a game. He’s a mammoth liability on defense, but not nearly enough to equal his strengths.

In the backcourt, senior Blake Land has become a coach’s dream – he knows what he’s good at, and doesn’t try to do anything else. He’s shooting 55% from the floor, with capable defense and reliable ballhandling. At the point, Steven Billips(7.6 ppg, 4.4 apg, 4.3 rpg) has become an excellent all-around guard, though he is quite shaky at the free-throw line. In the last four games he’s become a more aggressive scorer, complementing Lewis and Lane with 11.5 points a night.
As a team, they are +5.8 in rebounding, amazingly not missing a beat despite all the big men they lost to graduation last year. And most impressively, they finally with redshirt freshmen Robert Hill and Steve Warren have the ability to put quality perimeter defenders on the floor at any time. After all their previous struggles defensively, they are holding opponents to only 31% from 3-point range, third in the conference.

The West Division is as tough as ever, owning four of the conference’s top five teams. But based on how they’ve played so far, the Roadrunners have a legitimate shot to compete.

SOUTHLAND STANDINGS

Stephen F. Austin(9-2, 41)
Texas State(6-5, 64)
Texas-San Antonio(8-3, 93)
SE Louisiana(7-4, 106)
TX Corpus Christi(8-3, 120)
Lamar(6-5, 144)
Texas-Arlington(6-5, 187)
McNeese State(4-7, 269)
Northwestern State(5-6, 296)
Central Arkansas(4-7, 304)
Nicholls State(5-6, 311)
Sam Houston State(3-8, 318)

Although Cal-Davis and Mercer are stumbling and bumbling their way in, for the first team all five coaches bring winning records into their respective conference seasons. Is this the year one of them finally breaks through with a post-season bid? Either way, it seems things are headed in the right direction for the most part on all fronts.

[Brian Swartz]

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

12.28 Texas Southern(6-3, 0-0) @ Southern(5-4, 0-0) – L 83-72
12.31 Mississippi Valley State(5-5, 0-1) @ Texas Southern(6-4, 0-1) – W 86-78
1.4 Jackson State(10-1, 2-0) @ Texas Southern(7-4, 1-1) – W 89-69
1.7 Texas Southern(8-4, 2-1) @ Arkanas-Pine Bluff(8-4, 2-1) – L 71-69

The third coaching meeting between Perry and Foster was close for about five minutes … and then Texas Southern exploded for 17 points in a three-minute blitz to make it 29-12 midway through the first half. Chiefly responsible for this was Ken Collins(29 points, 12-20 fg). The Tigers’ pressure forced 23 turnovers, most of them before halftime, ensuring that some late heroics from Lydell Jones(27 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists) only served to make the final score more respectable.

Collins and most of the other Tigers’ shooters found there mark in the next game, a shocking thumping of Jackson State. They hit on 15-29 from 3-point range in sending the conference’s top team to just their second loss of the season.

The loss in a winnable game to Arkansas-Pine Bluff was the last straw for Coach Perry and sophomore point guard Arthur Smith. It isn’t so much Arthur, as it is the excellent play of junior Richie Green off the bench. Green doesn’t score much(3.0 ppg in less than 12 minutes) but he gets the ball to the right shooters and doesn’t turn it over. He’s moved into the starting lineup, with Smith coming off the bench now as the top backcourt sub.


Denny Grant(Cal-Davis)

12.28 Cal-Davis(7-4, 0-0) @ Pacific(3-8, 0-0) – L 63-59
12.31 Long Beach State(7-5, 1-0) @ Cal-Davis(7-5, 0-1) – W 54-47
1.4 Cal-Davis(8-5, 1-1) @ Cal-Irvine(4-8, 0-1) – W 84-67
1.7 Cal Poly(5-9, 1-1) @ Cal-Davis(9-5, 2-1) – L 74-68

14 points in the first nine minutes of the conference opener against long-time nemesis Pacific tended to indicate that Jamie Belton wasn’t having much of a hangover from the last game. The rest of the team struggled to take advantadge of their scoring opportunities(30% shooting for the others, including 5-19 from Reece) and despite forcing 25 turnovers they still came up a little short.

Their strengths and recent struggles were both epitomized in the first six and a half minutes against Long Beach State, when they didn’t score a point in the half-court … but still led 4-3 thanks to three steals and good defense. They did get the win, and they are playing hard, but when Belton(46 points in the first two Big West games) sits, the offense just absolutely dies. Holding teams to 26% shooting does a lot to make up for that, but they’ve got to find a way to score more consistently themselves. The swagger that they had in the 7-2 start is gone, and they are looking a lot more like the team they were expected to be in pre-season.

21 turnovers in a tough loss to Poly has Denny Grant looking for answers – part of the problem is that Thaydeus Reece turns it over more than three times a game … and he’s going nowhere. He did decide to shake up the lineup though, based on the fact that a couple of the young guys on the bench are just consistently outplaying the starters. Grant prefers to play seniors, but the two in the lineup right now just aren’t justifying keeping them there.

The first move was at the point, where sophomore Jordan Williams moves in and senior Correy Collison heads to the bench. Williams is doing a bit better job running the offense, and he adds another player who can hit open shots(55% on the year, and a much better three-point threat than Collison) along with superior ball pressure and lateral movement at the critical point guard position.

Meanwhile, Joe Huggins also heads to the bench in favor of redshirt freshman Michael Dare. Dare has logged over 130 minutes of court time without a turnover, but the real reason for the move is his defense. He’s been the best player on the team at that end, at any position, and while he isn’t as good a rebounder as Huggins he does a decent job there and has similarly decent shot selection.

These changes make the Aggies exceptionally young: they are now starting three sophomores, a junior, and a freshman. If it doesn’t produce results Grant’s well-known distrust of young players is going to land him with serious egg on his face.


Steve Stahl(Mercer)

12.30 North Florida(4-7, 0-0) @ Mercer(6-5, 0-0) -- W 75-60
1.3 Mercer(7-5, 1-0) @ Belmont(4-8, 1-0) – L 61-59
1.6 Stetson(2-11, 1-1) @ Mercer(7-6, 1-1) – W 66-55

Mercer opened the conference season with an easy win, the first one of those they’ve had in quite some time. Eddie Bonney had 19 on 8-12 shooting and Bob King added 15. At Belmont the veterans had to get it done, as Bonney was off-target all game long. Down five late, Dean Jeffries got a big three-point play and then Calvert got a steal and took it in himself to tie it at 55 with two minutes left. Two possessions later, Bob King made another steal, with the ball ending up in the hands of Ryan Brinkley who gave them their first lead since early in the half. Then after the Bruins had scored again to go back in front, Eddie Bonney found his jumper to make one from the right baseline – his first make in the last seven attempts he’d had – and Mercer went back in front 59-58, 53 seconds now showing on the clock.

They couldn’t stop Belmont again though, and Bonney rebounded a Calvert miss … and then threw the pass out of bounds. A final chance with Belmont splitted the free-throws, down two with 15 seconds left … Dean Jeffries missed from the baseline, got his own rebound, and found Bob King at the elbow … but he couldn’t hit either, and the Bears drop a close one. Their defense isn’t quite as good as it was last year, and it’s showing in these kind of games.


Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State)

12.28 Jackson State(8-1, 0-0) @ Mississippi Valley State(5-4, 0-0) – L 73-62
12.31 Mississippi Valley State(5-5, 0-1) @ Texas Southern(6-4, 0-2) – L 86-78
1.4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff(8-3, 2-0) @ Mississippi Valley State(5-6, 0-2) – W 52-49
1.7 Mississippi Valley State(6-6, 1-2) @ Alabama A&M(7-5, 2-1) – W 72-55

A pretty good showing against Jackson State in the conference opener, but the Delta Devils missed too many opportunities(10-21 FT) and it was one of Cravens bad games. Jones scored 19, but they ran out of gas late when Tre Roe(12 points, 5 rebounds) fouled out.

After another loss to Texas Southern, they got a big, much-needed win against the visiting Golden Lions, a game they were losing most of the way. Lydell Jones(18 points) added another chapter to his lengthy resume as an assassin when he hit a baseline jumper and converted the free throw for a 3-point play to break a tie with 16 seconds left, made even more impressive by the fact that he was having an off night shooting. Arkansas-Pine Bluff had an excellent first half … but were permitted only 13 points in the second as they committed the bulk of their 23 turnovers after the break.

A fearsome collision early in the game knocked out Tre Roe – literally. He didn’t return, suffering a concussion, but the doctors don’t expect any long-term ill affects, thankfully. Roe came back strong with his best game of the season(16 points on 7-7 fg, 7 rebounds) in a big road win to get the Devils back to .500 in the conference. If they want to stay there, they’ll need to get more from the bench – specifically Nate Spann, who has fallen off a cliff as the expected scoring leader of the second unit. Spann hasn’t scored more than two points in the last seven games, shooting just 4-20 over that period and not particularly looking for shot either.


Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

12.30 Sam Houston State(3-8, 0-0) @ Texas-San Antonio(8-3, 0-0) – W 76-51
1.3 Texas-San Antonio(9-3, 1-0) @ TX-Corpus Christi(8-4, 0-1) – W 67-51
1.6 Texas-Arlington(7-6, 1-1) @ Texas-San Antonio(10-3, 2-0) – W 69-45

The opener wasn’t much of a contest against one of the Southland’s weakest teams after the first half, but it was interesting for a couple of individual performances. Bearkats center Charles Evans was unstoppable inside, a very rare thing against the Roadrunners zone. He scored 28 points on 12-13 shooting … but the rest of the visitors combined to make only 10 of 37, and had just five team assists. On the other side, Derek Lewis hit six threes in a season-high 28 of his own, and Lane added 15.

On the negative side, Will Myles was hurt in the second half, and though he tried to go against Corpus Christi, he could only play effectively for very limited stretches and was shut down totally after halftime. The Roadrunners showed their concern by running out 22-7 despite playing without the conference’s top rebounder, with Jerome Campbell taking his place. They had 19 turnovers and struggled on the boards, giving up 11 offensive. However, their defense was fabulous and they just made shots – another 27 for Lewis on 10-14 fg and over 60% shooting as a team got them through.

Virtually everything is going right for the Roadrunners, who have now won three in a row and 10 of their last 11, giving them a current RPI of 58. All of which makes them only second-best in the Southland’s West Division behind Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks are having one of their best seasons, and in the most recently released media polls have earned a #22 ranking(18th in the RPI). Texas-San Antonio gets their shot at the them next weekend in a game that is already being hyped daily in the local media.

[Izulde]

Way to go, Weston! Keep it up!

[Brian Swartz]

Ralph Perry(Texas Southern)

1.11 Alabama A&M(7-6, 2-2) @ Texas Southern(8-5, 2-2) – W 92-74
1.14 Texas Southern(9-5, 3-2) @ Prairie View A&M(9-5, 3-2) – L 80-67
1.18 Alabama State(7-10, 1-5) @ Texas Southern(9-6, 3-3) – W 86-79
1.21 Texas Southern(10-6, 4-3) @ Grambling(8-8, 1-6) – L 68-66

Green’s first start saw the Tigers put up one of their best offensive games of the season and win easily – but while his eight assists against only one turnover had a lot to do with it, junior Corey Clarke came off the bench as an assassin, scoring 21 points on 7-9 shooting, all from 3-point range. In 15 minutes. It was an amazing performance that really blew this game open. Texas Southern has been really inconsistent, following a good game with a bad one more often than not.


Denny Grant(Cal-Davis)

1.14 Cal-Davis(9-6, 2-2) @ Cal-Santa Barbara(6-10, 1-4) – L 75-58
1.18 Cal-Riverside(5-12, 0-6) @ Cal-Davis(9-7, 2-3) – W 76-64
1.21 Cal-Davis(10-7, 3-3) @ Cal St. Northridge(6-11, 2-4) – L 66-55

After the Northridge game it’s obvious that the Aggies have totally collapsed. Everything they were doing well earlier in the year is going south now, and they will prove that 7th-place prediction to be basically accurate if they can’t turn it around. They can’t rebound, and they can’t guard anybody to save their life right now.


Steve Stahl(Mercer)

1.10 SC Upstate(5-9, 2-1) @ Mercer(8-6, 2-1) – W 67-62
1.13 Mercer(9-6, 3-1) @ Lipscomb(5-10, 2-2) – L 86-80(OT)
1.17 Kennesaw State(7-9, 3-2) @ Mercer(9-7, 3-2) – W 67-50
1.20 Campbell(10-7, 2-4) @ Mercer(10-7, 4-2) – W 81-79

Trailing by four late in the game against SC Upstate, the Bears got a three-point play from Ryan Brinkley(16 points, 9 rebounds) and then a more natural three-pointer from Jeffries to forge back to the lead after struggling to score for several minutes. 13 triples kept the visitors in the game, but Mercer’s defense was sound enough to barely get the job done.

The theme for Mercer’s Atlantic Sun schedule so far? Another game, another heart attack for Coach Stahl. The latest one came against Lipscomb, a game that was even for 30 minutes until the Bears hit a dry spell and fell behind by eight. Eddie Bonney led them back with a flourish near the end, but they couldn’t get the one defensive stop they needed and it went to overtime when Bob King’s driving shot from the baseline clanked off.

They couldn’t score at all in overtime, and a shot at getting some separation from the field didn’t materialize. Bonney had 26 and 7 boards, but was the only Bears player to score in the extra session. Ryan Brinkley added 12 points and 13 rebounds, but 22 more turnovers killed them.
Here’s parity for you: after five games in the Atlantic Sun conference season, Kennesaw State and Mercer were only two of EIGHT teams all tied for the lead at 3-2. With no standout teams, it really just depends on who can get hot between now and the end of February.

The Campbell game showed how far they’ve fallen defensively since last year – and why they’ve got a big challenge ahead after playing five of their first seven in the conference at home. They trailed by 3-5 points most of the second half but could never get consistent stops – every time they scored, they gave up a bucket at the other end until a Dean Jefferies dunk with 32 seconds left finally pulled them even at 79 all.
For the first time in several minutes they got back-to-back stops, and then a put-back by Travis Black -- who played most of the game as Brinkley fouled out early, finishing with 14 points -- with one second left won it, but they were lucky – you can’t allow a team to shoot 53% and win very often. Another 25 for Bonney led the way as usual.


Avery Foster(Mississippi Valley State)

1.11 Prairie View A&M(9-4, 3-1) @ Mississippi Valley State(7-6, 2-2) – W 74-63
1.14 Mississippi Valley State(8-6, 3-2) @ Alabama State(6-10, 0-5) – L 69-62
1.18 Grambling(8-7, 1-5) @ Mississippi Valley State(8-7, 3-3) – W 74-65
1.21 Mississippi Valley State(9-7, 4-3) @ Alcorn State(8-8, 3-4) – W 68-51

Spann has come out of hiding a little bit lately, along with some of the other bench players like Jeremy Young and Maurice Radford. In general the Delta Devils’ shot selection and offensive execution has also improved, and they are at least managing to tread water for now.


Weston Cattley(Texas-San Antonio)

1.10 Texas State(8-6, 2-1) @ Texas-San Antonio(11-3, 3-0) – L 69-53
1.13 Texas-San Antonio(11-4, 3-1) @ #22 Stephen F. Austin(13-2, 4-0) – L 88-59
1.17 Lamar(8-8, 2-3) @ Texas-San Antonio(11-5, 3-2) – W 67-52
1.20 Texas-San Antonio(12-5, 4-2) @ SE Louisiana(10-7, 3-3) – W 62-55

The Texas State Bobcats are used to occupying the bridesmaid’s position behind SFA, and they served notice that they were ready, willing, and able to crash the Roadrunners’ party a game early by taking an eight-point halftime lead as Texas-San Antonio shot only 30% and committed 11 turnovers. Derek Lewis, off-target in the first half, had a flourish early after the break to cut the lead to one, but they never retook the lead. Steven Billips fouled out with over nine minutes to play and they stumbled and bumbled their way to the worst loss of the season with eight more turnovers. Billips had nine turnovers by himself – but also 10 points, six boards and six assists in his usual Jekkyl-and-Hyde performance. Lewis(18 points, 7 rebounds) and Myles(12 points, 10 rebounds) played well, but Tyrone Lane(six points on only six field goal attempts) was noticeably missing in action on the offensive end.

Did the loss to the Bobcats expose them as not being as good as they appeared, or was it simply a bad game borne of overconfidence, looking ahead, etc.? Probably a little of both, but the game against Stephen F. Austin promised to provide more of an answer. It took about four minutes to get one. By that time the Lumberjacks had already crushed them Roadrunners, jumping out to an 18-1 lead. It was never close. Honorable mention to Derek Lewis, who played very well scoring 22 points in defeat. The rest of the team though was simply overwhelmed, on both ends of the floor.

Next game out against Lamar it was back to business for the Roadrunners, as they blasted out to a 16-2 lead and never looked back. SE Louisiana provided a rare close game, as Texas-San Antonio survived on a 16-foot jumper from the left wing by Tyrone Lane after blowing a 15-point lead. They allowed no points in the final two minutes to close the door.