MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:19:46 PM

TU--Houston Fg 53-52.
Saps--time 0:47 leading 53-52.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:22:01 PM

Saps--47.1 on the game clock; 26 secs on the shot clock; Montgomery getsreb but ball off the Tigers. Saps ball.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:23:18 PM

Saps--Rogan is fouled, shooting 2 Ft; 20.4 secs left; FT 0-2; Saps 53-52.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:23:55 PM

TU Tigers have the ball and trail by 1 with 14 secs left.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:25:54 PM

TU- Tigers have the ball; 4.8 secs, drew the foul from Montgomery; Moon shooting 2, first one is good. Game is tied at 53.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:27:33 PM

TU--Moon hits both; TU leads by 1; 54-53. 4.8 secs left.

Ralph Turner · February 03, 2007, 10:30:21 PM

Saps--3FG attempt by Chris Sanders, no good; Trinity wins 54-53.

frank_ezelle · February 04, 2007, 11:47:14 AM

First off, here's the box score on the Millsaps-Trinity game: http://www.scac-online.org/basketball_mens/tumc.htm

Millsaps had another cold shooting night hitting only 20 of 61 shots and I certainly credit the size and effort of the Trinity players for much of that. If I had to pick between playing Trinity, Centre, and DePauw, I'm not sure if I could pick one that I would rather play over the others. They are all very good, as is Millsaps, and a team is going to have to play very well to win 3 in Memphis.

One thing that hurt the shooting in both games this weekend was the absence of starting point guard Allen Odum. His play was limited last weekend with a hurt knee and this week the knee was okay but he was sick and did not play in either game. Millsaps is not a really deep team and the absence of one of the starters really effects the playing rotation.

I do have one non-game related comment and all of you can take it for what it's worth. We've all seen fans at games really ride the other team hard, getting the names of the opposing players off the roster sheet and then yelling things out at the individual players by name. Some people think these comments are funny, some people think these comments are a good way of supporting your team, and I'm among the group that think these comment show a total lack of class. I was surprised to see the Trinity Men's team taunting the Millsaps Women's team like that yesterday and it makes me regret that I made the effort to take photos of them when they played in the NCAA Tournament near Jackson last year. It's the first time I've seen that from one of the SCAC basketball teams and it was disappointing. That's just my point of view.

JJFlash · February 05, 2007, 04:59:09 PM

First I want to agree with Frank. I'm all for enthusiatic support of ones team, butI have a really hard time when people root against the opposition.

I listened to the Milsaps webcast and the announcer made it pretty clear that the interior defense of Trinity did an excellent job against Montgomery. For him to be scoreless in the first half had to be a testament to some hard work in the paint. Any comments?

Trinity had a very nice weekend by winning in OT on Friday vs Rhodes and the tough win on Saturday. I think they are starting to show that they can play with the best in SCAC. I still think they qualify for needing a "glass slipper" in the conference tournament to win it, but at least it's not completely out of the question.

TeeItHigh · February 05, 2007, 06:19:55 PM

What about the DePauw-Centre score? The colonels by 32! Must have been an incredible display, with Centre holding DePauw to 26% shooting and Schott to 0 points. This sets up an interesting final two weeks for the top spot. I'll bet that DePauw would have loved to have 13 seconds "taken" off the clock during the 2nd half of this game.

frank_ezelle · February 06, 2007, 09:25:10 AM

A couple of responses. First on JJ's post, I think that everyone will need a glass slipper if they are to win the tournament. While some teams might be in a better position to win 3 games in a row, all teams at the tournament will be capable of winning at least 2 games if they get hot. I don't know if I would give any team better than a 1 in 3 chance of winning the tournament and maybe that shouldn't be any higher than 1 in 4.

On the Millsaps-Trinity game I think the key was how the game was called by the refs. They may have called it evenly but they basically called nothing. Montgomery is a very quick post player and I'm sure that Trinity planned to be physical with him and foul him if need be. Trinity only had 10 fouls called against them all game with 4 of those going to guard B.J. Moon and 3 going against sub Nick Polidoroff. You know the Trinity players better than I but I would think you would be surpised to hear that Mike Gilb picked up his first foul with 19 seconds to go in the game and that was a wrap up foul to prevent a layup on an inbounds play.

So the Trinity big men stopped the quickest post player in the league without fouling at all--it doesn't seem likely but that's the way it was called. Millsaps only had 14 fouls in the game so it was consistent but the lack of fouls being called certainly favored the Trinity style. I don't want that to sound like sour grapes but I do think that the decision by the refs to "let them play" was a big factor in the game and I think that the low number of fouls is an indication that the refs weren't inclined to call many fouls.

evacuee · February 06, 2007, 10:55:26 AM

Frank,

I'm sorry to read that about the men's players heckling. I've sat there for that game several times just a few feet away from the men, and all they've ever done is sit there and eat their McDonald's. I hope Coach took care of that in some form.

I wish I could have made it as it sounds like it was great for a number of reasons, while frustrating for the home crowd. That Sunday slot always worked out far better so I hope they go back to it. Do you know anything about how that's going to work out?

frank_ezelle · February 06, 2007, 01:13:26 PM

I've seen the Trinity teams many times in the Millsaps gym and it had never happened before so I hope this was a once and never again situation. I want to stress that I've heard fans at many SCAC locations that were as bad or worse, but the ball players are there as official representatives of their school and they also understand the sacrifice it takes to play D3 sports so their actions were surprising.

As for the Saturday night deal, I happen to like the format because I hate the puny crowds that show up for most Sunday games. One of my goals in starting the Millsaps sports email was to get more involvement from the alumni in the local community and I think the Saturday night games could be a real success. It didn't happen this past week because I haven't been able to convince Millsaps to open up that alumni email database but I'm working on it. Hopefully that will all be in place by next season.

carlweathers · February 06, 2007, 01:30:52 PM

Historically speaking, a physical game where the refs let stuff go has not been to Trinity's advantage. It is interesting to hear that a physical game might benefit them more now.

spfan22 · February 07, 2007, 11:34:32 PM

Oglethorpe beat Emory on Tuesday night 90-73. OU trailed at halftime by 4, but a nearly perfect second half vaulted them to the win. Andrew Tulowitsky led a balanced OU team with 19 points and 6 assists. Dickinson had 18, Shaheed 16, and Pilkavich had 15. The Petrels are now 13-8 and have two big conference games this weekend hosting Millsaps and Rhodes. OU lost to Millsaps by two in the first meeting, so it should be a great game.