MBB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps keep chipping away during the 2nd half.  Gets a tie or two but no lead.  Chris Sanders steals the ball and Millsaps calls a timeout with 13 seconds remaining, SW leading 68-67.  Lorenzo Bailey hits 3 pointer with 5 seconds left, SW misses at buzzer.  Millsaps wins 70-68.

[frank_ezelle]

After going 7 for 22 in first half, Millsaps hits 16 of 24 in second half to finish at an even 50%.  That included 60% shooting from 3 point range (9 of 15).  Edrick Montgomery had 21 points and 9 rebounds to lead the game in both catagories.  Lorenzo Bailey finished with 12 points and Allen Odom and Rodney Rogan both finished with 11.

For Southwestern they had a lot of scoring spread out with only Matt Caplan in double figures with 13.  He was also their leading rebounder with 5. 

It was a great comeback for Millsaps but hopefully they will seldom be in a position where they have to come back so far after halftime.

[frank_ezelle]

And finally, I see that Rhodes also came back to post a 2-point victory over Trinity.  Trinty won the first half 35-33 but Rhodes outscored them 34-30 in the second half for a 67-65 victory.  Here's a box score:

http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/MBasketball/05livestats/xlive.htm

[consultant]

Nice win by Millsaps and Rhodes.  I thought Millsaps would have come out firing (and hitting) in the first half, but I'll take the second half hot streak.  Pat, I hope that you enjoyed the game.

[warriorfan]

Hendrix extended their winning streak tonight to 4 with a conference win over Austin.  At one time, the Warriors led by 20 points.  They never trailed during the game and had a final score of 72-55.  Freshman Cal Rose led all scorers with 15, followed by sophomore Andrew King who scored a double double with 13 rebounds and 12 points.  Matt Secrease continued his sharp shooting from the charity stripe going 6/6 and 12 total points.  Secrease is now 16/16 from the line for the season. 

[irion]

Sewanee beat Oglethorpe tonight 81-77.  The Sewanee team that showed up tonight can play with anyone in the conference.  Sewanee plays Emory again on Wednesday night after getting drilled by the same team last Thursday.  It will be a good test.  Rowland and Eddy are out until January, Pursell still can't practice - he just plays the games and rehabs his ankle and knee the rest of the time.

[DPU3619]

DePauw beat Centre 73-67 earlier this afternoon.  DePauw was pretty much in control the entire way, but Centre put together a nice litttle run towards the end to cut it to as few as four with about 20 seconds left.

Stephen Schott dropped 25 for DPU.  Matt  McDonald, Austin Brown, and Reid Sakel also played some darned good minutes today.

DPU's got Maryville, Illinois Institute of Technollogy, and Kenyon before Christmas.  They might just be looking at 8-1 when they head to Tampa after the holiday.

[frank_ezelle]

Deja vu in Texas.  Millsaps has shot 28% in the first half on 9 of 32 from the field which included 2 for 14 from 3 point range.  As often happens that shooting percentage is helped by Montgomery's shooting.  Take out his 4 of 7 in the first half and the shooing percentage drops to 20%.

Fortunately for Millsaps, Trinity is also playing poorly and they only lead 23-21.  Trinity has hit 9 of 28 from the field (32%), 3 of 11 from 3 point range (27%), and 2 of 6 from the free throw line (33%).

Certainly it is an easier task to overcome a 2-point halftime lead than the 12-point lead that Millsaps overcame on Friday, but the shooting has to come around if Millsaps wants to be in the hunt for the SCAC title.  Maybe they'll get hot in the second half.

[frank_ezelle]

Trinity wins 57-53 with the second half simply being a repeat of the first half.  Millsaps finishes game hitting 22 of 67 for 33% (take out Montgomery's 8 of 14 and you are below 27%).  On three pointers they hit 5 of 28 for 18%.

On another note, the two guys broadcasting the game were pretty good.  I heard them say that 8 people listened to the Friday night game but they didn't have a number for today's game.  Maybe it was more today since there was a link on the Trinity webpage for the game unlike Friday night.  Anyway, thanks to the guys for webcasting the game and I hope they'll at least give you free water as compensation for future games.

[etg]

(El Tea Gray---re: Trinity vs. Millsaps)

Frank Ezelle,

How unlike you Frank (did you see the game), not to give Trinity credit for playing their great type of Defense in this game against Millsaps. The Tiger D just kept Millsaps from taking a reasonable shot time-after-time-after-time. The Tiger Offense is questionable at this point; however the Defense has been terrific in all of their games (actually good enough to win most if not all of the games with any added scoring punch at all). When will the scoring come?

Don't count Trinity out at SCAC Tournament Time.

                                                         

[frank_ezelle]

Just going by the comments of the Trinity broadcasters, it didn't sound like all of the missed 3 pointers were because of hand in the face pressure.  Maybe that was the case, but my point is that this wasn't a one game dip. 

Against Dallas, Millsaps hit 23 of 63 but that included Montgomery's 12 of 16.  Take out his production and the rest of the team hit 11 of 47 for 23%.  Against Belhaven, Millsaps finished the game right at 30% shooting.  The Southwestern numbers don't look bad but that was a game with a full half of dismal shooting followed by an incredible hot streak. 

Millsaps has a lot of good shooters but as a team they have been prone to go cold for long stretches.  It might be a simple as the loss of Tyler Warren who could be counted on for a big basket when a basket was needed.  I think the leadership and the chemistry will develop over the course of the season and I think that Millsaps will also be tough by tournament time.  I just thought that this group would follow the path of the two previous NCAA Tournament groups at Millsaps--2 years of development by young players followed by 2 outstanding seasons.  It looks like this team might take 2 and a half years to hit their stride.

[Pat Coleman]

Nice win by Millsaps and Rhodes.  I thought Millsaps would have come out firing (and hitting) in the first half, but I'll take the second half hot streak.  Pat, I hope that you enjoyed the game.

I did, thanks.

For more Tour de Tejas info (including an interview with a Millsaps player), visit our page.
http://www.d3hoops.com/features/

[frank_ezelle]

That's a nice interview with Lorenzo.  He's a great guy and I was glad he was the one who hit the big shot against Southwestern.  Once he comes out of his slump it will add a lot of firepower to the Millsaps lineup.

The interview also points out the sacrifices that D3 athletes make to play their sport with the long travel hours, trying to get in study time, etc.  It just a shame that they get such little support for their efforts.  The Trinity webcast guys talked about the slim crowd at the game on Sunday and I'm afraid that it wouldn't have been any better at Millsaps.  I wish there was a way to remedy that problem.

[Ralph Turner]

That's a nice interview with Lorenzo.  He's a great guy and I was glad he was the one who hit the big shot against Southwestern.  Once he comes out of his slump it will add a lot of firepower to the Millsaps lineup.

The interview also points out the sacrifices that D3 athletes make to play their sport with the long travel hours, trying to get in study time, etc.  It just a shame that they get such little support for their efforts.  The Trinity webcast guys talked about the slim crowd at the game on Sunday and I'm afraid that it wouldn't have been any better at Millsaps.  I wish there was a way to remedy that problem.

Frank, I personally object to playing a 12 noon Sunday game.  That is too close to church, but it apparently does not bother the administration and the boards at the SCAC institutions.

The SCAC has committed to the Friday/Sunday playing format, and I cannot see any other possibilities.  The ASC has the Thursday/Saturday format which is still a large loss of class time, but travel distances are not quite as onerous in some cases.

I wish that the ASC had 5 more schools...3 more on the east and 2 more on the west, but I cannot identify the likely candidates, when one considers all questions of mission/vision/peer match/ state vs public, etc, etc, etc.  Then the ASC could break into 2 conferences.

It looks like the SCAC may be wild again this year.

[JJFlash]

I was able to attend both games at Trinity this weekend.  Let me see if I can weigh in on some of the points made over the last couple of days. 

As far as the crowds go, there is a big difference between the Friday and Sunday attendance.  Friday night a good number of students show up and are pretty vocal in their support of the Tigers.  I don't know if they are in church or not, but their absence on Sunday is plain to see and hear.

The game against Rhodes was a big disappointment.  I think Trinity has the better talent, but frankly speaking, they threw in a real clunker of an effort.  Coach Cunningham and his staff were not pleased at all as evidenced by the fact that 4 of the starters did not start against Millsaps.  The message sent by the coaches seemed to get through as an increase of effort and intensity was plainly visible on Sunday.  There is no question that Edrick Montgomery is a talented, athletic player.  The interior defense of the Tigers, however, made it extremely difficult for him get into any kind of a groove.  Trinity is giving their Sophomores lots of playing time.  This should serve them well come tournament time.

Finally, it was announced after the game on Sunday that the Trinity win was career win number 300 for Coach Cunningham.  CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!