(AP)- The Jacks looked bad to start the game but two players stepped up to bring the Jacks within a point in the final seconds of the game. Those players were Troy Kinloch, 27pts and 9 Rebounds, and O.J. Whitworth, 15pts and shot 60% from the field.
The Jacks started off the game Ice cold and had to fight their way back into it to even be a game. Down 52-46 at the half coach Baker told his team to crash the boards harder and keep shooting, eventually they would start falling. He was right and with 40 seconds remaining the Jacks were down just by one. Baker decided on the timeout not to foul and to make the Oakland team make a clutch shot, they missed and after the scuffle for the rebound there was only about five seconds on the clock, so the Jacks called timeout.
On the inbound the Jacks gave it to their hottest shooter of the game, Troy Kinloch who raised up from just inside the 3pt line and let the ball go as the buzzer sounded. The shot hit the front of the rim and bounced into the air, all 12,000 in attendance held their breath as the ball came down, only to hit off the front of the rim and fall out of the hoop, thus ending the night on a somber note for the Jacks who looked to get their first conference win.
Coaches Corner: Troy (Kinloch) played a heck of a game, as did O.J. (Whitworth), with the game on the line you give it to the guy who is hot. Troy had made 11-14 going into the shot and we felt he should be the one to take the shot. If I had the decision to do over again I would have made the exact same call, some will criticize me for leaving the game in the hands of a sophomore, but this is a young team and we trust that everyone can make those clutch shots when they are called upon, now we just need Troy to keep his head up going into our next game.
The Jacks face IPFW (8-4) at home in two days. The Jacks are still looking to get their first conference win of the season, though this first place IPFW squad could prove challenging.
(AP)-Today coach Baker got his first ever Summit conference victory. Despite having a 61-37 halftime lead the Mastodons of IPFW turned it into a game, outscoring the Jacks 57-41 in the second half. With just over a minute to go Martin Diarra took the lead back from the Mastodons who clawed their way into the lead. The Mastodons then missed their next shot and were forced to foul 3 times to get into the bonus. Jari Zuzak, the freshman from Folsom, California, was fouled and sent to the line.
Now everyone if you will think back over the past few weeks, Zuzak has missed some clutch free throws down the stretch, so fouling him seemed like the smartest move the Mastodons could make. Zuzak showed them that they were wrong. He hit both free throws to take a three point lead with 40 seconds to go. The IPFW squad then missed a three pointer and sent non other than Zuzak back to the line, where he proceeded to knock down both shots…..Again. The game announcers were going crazy and talking about Zuzak showing he has some real onions, which this journalist took as; stones, kahones, melons, nuts, or the all time favorite, balls, but that is all just speculation.
Coaches Corner: While I am happy with some preformances by Vandrell (Smith), Troy (Kinloch) and Jari (Zuzak), I am disgusted at our preformace in the second half as a whole. We went just 19-31 from the free throw line and 3-15 from 3pt land. That is how we let them back into the game when we played lights out in the first half. This team has some maturing to do before conference tournament time, and I sure hope it happens soon, but we will let them enjoy the win for tonight.
Next up for the Jacks: A road trip to the Western Half of Illinois to play the Leathernecks (6-5).
10th man comes up Huge as Jacks run right by Leathernecks!
(AP) – Have you ever paid much attention to Odie Winans when he is on the court?...... Good, neither have I….Today Winans, basically the 10th man on the Jacks roster and a freshman from Sioux Falls South Dakota, played absolutely the game of his life today in Illinois. He was 10-14 from the field and 1-1 from the stripe scoring 21 points, not to mention he had 13 rebounds, two assists, and 7, ya I said 7 as a Power Forward, steals! The rest of the team played well but Winans outscored the next Jack by 6 points and outscored the leading scorer for the Leathernecks by 8 points. We caught up with Odie after the game, “I was just really feeling it today, but I have to thank my teammates for the great feeds they gave me, Sheppard, Zuzak and Goode all gave me great feeds in the post all day, I had a little bit of a height advantage on everyone that guarded me and used it to my advantage.”
Winans is 6’7” and only 225lbs but he was working on injured Raymond Staple a Senior 6’6” Power Forward from Oakland, California. So not only did his long arms come into play but he had a full inch over the guy he was working on all game long.
Coaches Corner: Well when I checked the scouting report before the game I had a feeling one of our big guys would have a huge game, both the starting Center and Power Forward for the Leathernecks were fighting off injuries and that became apparent as neither one could defend or score and their only backup was 6’10” freshman who seemed to be out there for intimidation. I am excited about the margin of victory but we have to keep in mind their two best players were fighting through injuries and were not at their best.
As a note, the two issues that Coach Baker addressed after last game, 3pt % and Free throws did change a little. Though they only shot 4-21 from 3 point land, they were 17-20 from the stripe.
Next up for the Jacks: Continue their Road trip east to face the IUPUI Jaguars (7-5) in two days. The Jacks are now one game away from reaching .500 for the first time in the season.
(AP) – JACKS WIN! JACKS WIN! Anyone that didn’t turn off the radio heard that last night as the Jacks pulled off one of the most impossible comebacks in history. I’ll skip right to what you all what to know, Down 64-41 at half things looked bleak for the Jacks trying to reach .500 for the first time. Even at the beginning of the 2nd half the Jacks went down by as many as 34 points to the Jaguars, then all of a sudden things changed. Maybe it was the crowd getting out of the game being up by 34, maybe it was inspirational words that Coach Baker said during a time out, maybe the Jaguars called it an early night, maybe the ESPN analysts had already sharpied the game to the Jags and the basketball gods responded, either way a miracle began to happen.
Down by 34 with about 15 minutes left in the game there was seemingly little to no chance the Jacks could win. I would say based on the way both teams were playing, if Vegas had odds going for us it would have been 1/1,000,000 shot that we actually lose by 10 points much less win. Something got into the Jacks, finally all of the threes that the Jags had been making switched sides, now the Jacks were hitting things from so far away we might have been in another state, having made just a single three pointer in the first half the Jacks went out and started throwing up shot after shot and playing tight defense hoping to create some turnovers. We will let coach Baker describe the rest while we sit back and get a nice cold one (Coke, get your mind out of the gutters).
Coaches Corner: Words can’t describe this comeback, I’m sitting her trying to figure out what to say to all of you, I have no words. We were down 34! 34! I think that is because the intimidation of the crowd, it was a small arena but it was packed and the student section was going wild, then it happened. We drew within 20 somehow, and honestly, I was excited to be within 20 and not be getting blown so far away it wasn’t worth watching. Vandrell Smith and O.J. Whitworth hit a combined 10 three pointers. Then the Jags started missing shots, we backed off the up tight defense on the permeter so we could defend the paint and we actually started challenging some shots.
All of a sudden it was a 10 point game and I think the Jags woke up, it was about 4 minutes to go, down by 10. The Jags hit their first two shots since we went on a 15-0 run and we missed a few shots. At that point I figured it was a good run and the guys did their best. Just then Bryce Montrimas our 11th man, nailed two straight three pointers and then Porter Alford hit a couple layups and just like that we were down 6. Smith then ran down the court, spotted up with 2 minutes left and nailed his 6th 3 pointer of the game to make it a 3 point game.
The Jags made their next shot and then Whitworth drove to the hoop and got hacked for a three point play. With 1:15 remaining we subbed in all the starters and we got a steal in the paint on a pass that hit Alford in the foot. We ran down and Kinloch hit a Jumper from just inside the three point line. The Jags then were ruffled and on the inbounds threw it off of Zuzak’s hand into Kinloch’s arms. Kinloch then drove down the baseline went up for the shot and it went it for the lead and he got hacked! He made the free throw and then the Jags ran down the court took a shot that hit the front iron and landed in Smith’s hands, who they fouled he made both shots, DESPITE AN EARTHQUAKE AT THE GAME? They made a basket, fouled Smith again, he made both, Aftershock of the Earthquake? From there they missed and fouled Smith again, who ended up making 8 straight free throws to end the game. I Guess that is what happens when you have a bunch of freshman who don’t realize when your down 30 you’re supposed to lose….We proved that wrong.
Authors Note: If you read all of that, I thank you and I would imagine you understand how crazy that game was for me, to answer the critics and well even myself, I checked the Sliders and level, nothing changed at all. That is honestly the most exciting basketball game I have ever played and is only beat by a comeback win for the National Championship in my Eastern Michigan dynasty for greatest game I have ever played.
Next up for the Jacks: Next Thursday, January 17 vs UMKC (7-8)
Cooldynasty with SD State! You might wanna lower the half's times or something, teams don't usually score 80-100 points a game, especially not a team like Sd state...
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Cooldynasty with SD State! You might wanna lower the half's times or something, teams don't usually score 80-100 points a game, especially not a team like Sd state...
Ya, I have been worrying about that myself. But I justify it because I am a run and gun kind of offense, I sprint up and down the court and press on defense so it leads to some fast breaks both ways.
Ya, I have been worrying about that myself. But I justify it because I am a run and gun kind of offense, I sprint up and down the court and press on defense so it leads to some fast breaks both ways.
Thanks for Checking in, I'll see what I can do.
What slider set are you using? If you haven't touched the sliders than that may be why the scoring is so high.
Oh and that comeback was absolutely amazing! Great job from coming back that much!
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04-09-2011, 02:47 PM
