Story of Mark Hendrix(CH 2005)

**cooldude** · 01-21-2005, 11:35 PM

Re: Story of Mark Hendrix(CH 2005)

VMI Survives A Scare, Able To Come Away With 76-73 "W"

The 4-2 VMI Keydets travelled to Baltimore to take on the struggling 3-7 Maryland College Flames. Most people watching expected the Keydets to blow out the lowly Flames. They quickly found out, however, that they were in for a treat.

The Flames came out looking like a team that needed to prove something. Going up by as many as 17 midway through the first half, thanks much in part due to the stellar play of Junior shooting guard, Esmond Aguilar, who dropped sixteen points in before recess.

'That kid(Aguilar) was just on fire tonight,' VMI Head Coach Mark Hendrix commented after the game, ' We managed to slow him down a bit in the second half, but he still torched us pretty bad.'

The Keydets stormed back in the second half to take the lead. From then on, however, it was a roller coaster ride that eventually turned into a free-throw battle. One that the Keydets failed in.

After being stellar as a team for the majority of the night, the Keydets missed several key shots from the charity stripe which gave the Flames a shot a tying the game late with a three point basket. Even getting the lead down to one point with just a few seconds remaining.

In the end, the Keydets hit two freethrows with two seconds remaining in regulation. And with Maryland College out of timeouts and needing to go the length of the floor, that pretty much sealed the deal for the Keydets and finally ended the marathon after Aguilar missed a half-court prayer which would have sent the game into overtime.

'I guess we like a flair for the dramatic,' Hendrix said with mixed emotions, 'I'm happy that we were able to get out of here with the win, but I'm also really upset because we should not have missed that many free-throws at any point during the game, let alone the key times that we were missing them at tonight. I guess we just spend extra time on that during practice.'

**cooldude** · 01-22-2005, 12:59 PM

Re: Story of Mark Hendrix(CH 2005)

Keydets Dominate In Conference Opener

Nene Bowens had 19 points coming off the bench to lead his VMI Keydets to the easy 78-55 victory over conference rival Charleston Southern.

The win was the first in conference play this season for VMI, but continues their steady play with their fourth consecutive victory.

'I think that we're really starting to come together as a team,' Head Coach Mark Hendrix said, 'Those first couple of games were a little bit rocky, but we know that there are better times ahead of us if tonight is any indication.'

The Keydets shot 51% from the field for the game, while holding Chareston Southern to just 36% from the field.

'Our defense played really well tonight,' Hendrix delightedly commented, 'We had an excellent balance of both defense and offense and we dominated on both ends.'

On area that continues to plauge VMI is in the free-throw shooting category. They Keydets had several trips to the line where the missed both shots.

'Again, it's just something that we're going to have to work on,' Hendrix said, 'Hopefully if we're in a tight game with only a little bit of time left on that clock, we'll hit the free throws.'

The now 6-2 VMI Keydets will play their next game on Monday, the 10th of January at home in conference play against currently 4-7 Costal Carolina.

**cooldude** · 01-22-2005, 12:59 PM