MBB: USA South Conference

[sludge]

the quackers took the monarchs 108-102 in double ot - as i suspected, the monarchs had a difficult time matching up with strong, who had 41 and 17 rebounds...he's an outstanding player and i wouldn't be surprised to see him garner some serious individual accolades on a national level before his career is over - the monarchs did a great job smothering snipes and holding him to just 9 points in his riddle center return...jordan looked like he may have been pressing a little and threw up some crazy shots - kimbrough was very impressive...a tough, scrappy little pg who made some big shots when his team needed them - guilford is a very good team

i think the monarchs have a LOT of potential, though - they took everything guilford threw at them, and kept fighting and scrapping - guilford took a big lead in the 1st half leading 30-13 at one point, but the monarchs fought back - in the second half, guilford had as much as a 13 point lead, and kept between a 7-10 point cushion for most of the half, then the monarchs started pressing, fouling and raining 3's...lehmann hit a huge 3 as time expired in regulation to send it into ot

in the first ot, the monarchs controlled things at the outset, leading by 4 for most of the extra stanza, but snipes hit a big shot to tie it with around 30 seconds left and the monarchs played for a last shot...lehmann got a decent look at a 3 that rimmed out and the monarchs came up with the loose ball out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left...i really thought they would win it with a set play on the inbounds, but the inbound pass got away and we went to ot #2, which guilford thoroughly controlled, scoring the first 12 points (without a monarch time-out, i might add)

individually, the monarchs got an outstanding performance from dragan radmanovic (27 points on 11-18 shooting) - he really played very well offensively, but i was equally impressed by his defensive effort on strong...it may not look like he defended him well on paper, but the monarchs didn't double big ben as much as i thought they would, and dragan really kept good defensive position most of the game...ben just shot over him a lot - ab lehmann was impressive, as well, hitting the clutch 3 and a number of big ft's and scoring 19 points to go with 8 dimes (4 to's) - bascom looked solid, as well, especially from the ft line and played good defense (primarily guarding snipes) - frosh brian pittman came off the bench in the 2nd half and was very impressive, as well - he started the season on the jv, but i think he's on the varsity to stay - he hit a nice 3, was perfect from the field and line and had 10 points and 2 assists in 18 minutes - i was disappointed to see travis mcbryde in street clothes (not sure why...) and lee is obviously not fully healthy right now as he seemed to be limping a bit and didn't have his usual quickness (only played 8 minutes) - the reward for a solid game like this for the monarchs is...a date with the defending national champs and another one of the best post players in the region...

i did like what i saw in the monarchs today, despite a loss...there is a lot of athletic ability, there are a couple of really good shooters and they play hard...that should translate to some wins down the road

box score

'nova - it was good putting a face with a screen-name!

It was a great game.  The Monarchs showed huge determination, refusing to be beat.  They came within a whisker of beating Guilford in that first OT.  Yeah, lots of ability and looked like good coaching too.  I kept thinking "I can't believe that guy made that shot.  Again".    I hope Monarch fans feel good about the team after that game;  I would - heck, I'm not one, and I do! 

I don't think you saw the typical Snipes today;  in addition to being well defended, he had a bandage on his thumb, and I think it affected his shooting.  A lot of his crazy shots are less crazy, and they drop in.  He kept his cool and sure felt like a valuable Guilford player to me in spite of all that.

I agree with your comments about Strong and Kimbrough. 

Dragan, Lehmann, and Bascom and company gave me the creeps over and over again during the game. (That's a compliment  )

And hey, that's Quakers, not quackers, to you! 

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

only off by 2 pts on the Guilford Methodist Game.  Monarchs have a good team.  Narch the way I would look at it is it took OT to beat the Monarchs.  I think still Guilford is a very underated team, so tough loss to a good team.

Way to go Greensboro.  9-1 what a start.

[narch]

sludge - yeah, maybe i should start calling them the quakers since they beat the monarchs in football AND hoops this year....let me think about it....nah, that's no fun

i did feel like snipes had a solid game, despite having a tough shooting night - i didn't realize he had 7 assists until i read the box score, though - he played a solid game on the defensive end, too (which is something he struggled a little with as a monarch ) - he's a good kid and a class act and i've really enjoyed following his career at guilford, even before "the shot"...speaking of which, the monarchs should have known they needed to defend the length of the court on the inbound pass he threw to strong

i'm not sure if this series will continue, but i really hope it does...i'd like to see a good rivalry develope between these 2 teams

[narch]

only off by 2 pts on the Guilford Methodist Game.  Monarchs have a good team.  Narch the way I would look at it is it took OT to beat the Monarchs. 

actually it took 2 ot's

and you were closer than you realize - with about 3 seconds left, snipes threw the ball up under the monarch basket thinking time would expire and a monarch player caught it and hit a shot at the buzzer to make it 108-102...but your formula is still flawed

[hasanova]

'nova - it was good putting a face with a screen-name!

Oh, absolutely.  Same here!  I was very happy to meet you as well.  What a great game! 

When the Monarchs went up by four in OT, I thought they had us and again when MU was holding the ball for the last shot in the 1st OT.  What a clutch shot when Lehmann buried that three to end regulation!  Look what we would have missed if Kimbrough had hit his 2nd FT to make it 81-77.  I was very impressed by MU's team and can see why you won the tournament at RMC.  To add to some of sludge's comments, I think Snipes was off - perhaps due to his hand.  I've seen him put this team on his back and carry them.  Strong was obviously great, but I think Belkoski was just absolutely on fire in the first half.  He had 15 at halftime on what I thought was 6 of 6 shooting (including three 3-pointers).

As you said, GC's bench was down a little today, but adequate.  Strickland was in street clothes behind the bench still recovering from torn ligaments and Sanborn saw the least amount of time I've seen him play.  Of course, part of that may have been Ben's hot hand.  How many coaches would sit a player scoring 41 in a closely contested game?    This was not only a career high in points and rebounds for Strong, but also a career game for Kimbrough (19) and Belkoski (17).  Burge also had double figures with 10.  Snipes was definitely off, but other guys stepped up today.  Even with that said, Snipes finished with 9 and hit the basket to tie it at 89 in the 2nd OT.

Trust me, I consider this a big hurdle and feel lucky to survive.  MU is a very good team and will make some noise.  You have a couple of guys that can definitely play and I love their never quit attitude.  Peace 

[narch]

here is the game story from the fayetteville observer...pretty good article about a great game - i really hope dragan realizes he can do what he did yesterday every night...he could be a legit all-conference type player with the skill set he has

[Rikki_Tikki_Tavi]

Well I think I've finally calmed down from last night's amazing game in the Free. I dont think it was as exciting as the double OT affair in Fayettenam yesterday, but nevertheless, it was still exciting for us CNU fans.

I was right when saying earlier that Oswego has a ton of talent and could prove to be very dangerous in their respective league this season. That no. 21 kid was unstoppable. He made a ton of drive lay-ups and circus shots. I thought for stretches, the Captains played pretty well on D, then at times it still looked as if they werent sure who was guarding who. The hot hand last night certainly was Ed Riley early. I believe the article said he drained 13 of the first 20 points (or somewhere in that area) to begin the game. He definitely was the reason CNU was still in it. Of course I think everyone held their collective breaths when he play was stopped because Riley was hurt near the end of the first half. But he came out in the second half with his wrist taped and acted as if it didnt faze him, as he finished with 22. Donta Selden also was a force to reckoned with. After a 4-of-10 performance against Fisk, he finished 10-of-13 I think from the floor for 25. Barton only had one point in the first half and finished with 16 I believe.

The one thing I noticed in this game was the dominance on the boards in the favor of Oswego. CNU only had 29 total rebounds for the entire game. Makes me wonder when the last time CNU had less than 30 rebounds in a contest. But when  you shoot 61% in the second half and 54% for the game, you better win. Another thing I noticed was the free throw shooting has suffered a bit as of late. Its funny to watch Coach Woollum stomp his foot after a miss, cant blame him. Especially when CNU was shooting over 80% for much of the year.

Still a tough Wesley team to play on Jan. 6 before they open conference season at Shenandoah on the 10th and NC Wesleyan on the 16th with Piedmont sandwiched in between.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and safe New Year. Most likely see you all in 2007!!

[notamensa]

thanks for the post game comments, rtt, and you also schemer and cnufella. it sure sounds like i missed a great game. maybe i should have made the drive. i see that riley was 2/2 on 3s. i will officially stop preaching on here that he shouldnt take them. i still like his inside game better though. was lewis in foul trouble most of the game again? i see that theo had more minutes than he did.

[Rikki_Tikki_Tavi]

Yeah Korey picked up his third and fourth fairly early in the second half and Theo did a nice job and hit a key trey or two to aid in the win. You definitely missed a good one.

[Capt-Schemer]

Yeah Korey picked up his third and fourth fairly early in the second half and Theo did a nice job and hit a key trey or two to aid in the win. You definitely missed a good one.

And the airborne double-pump jumper that Davon made to put CNU up by 2 with 9 ticks remaining sure brought the crowd to their colective feet Rikkiti-Tik (lol).

[hasanova]

here is the game story from the fayetteville observer...pretty good article about a great game - i really hope dragan realizes he can do what he did yesterday every night...he could be a legit all-conference type player with the skill set he has

narch, thanks for posting the story.  Some interesting stuff I didn't know just watching - such as Shuford's situation.  I also didn't realize it had been 12 years since they played.  I remember going to a GC/MU game at Guilford about that time.  Not sure who the player was, but I remember the Monarchs had a starter whose older brother started for Duke.  Maybe it'll come to me or a more knowledgeable poster can help me out.  Good luck to the Monarchs the rest of the season!

[PrideSportBBallGuy]

At first I thought I was going to put out my Power Ranking Poll out on Tuesday.  I decided against it since there is no change at the moment.  I will wait until Thursday to do it.  Although the order hasn't changed I will say this the position from 3rd to 4th is 1.11 and at this point that is a big difference.

[narch]

it looks like the usasac will take the season series with the odac, regardless of the outcome of the au/gcq game tonight and the mu/vwc game on wednesday (although i'm looking forward to both of these games) - i think these are the only games left to be played between the conferences, and the usasac currently holds an 11-7 lead (unofficially) - averett leads the way with a 4-0 record vs. the odac, but ncwc and ferrum are the only teams that currently have a losing record vs. the odac (the monarchs would finish 1-2 if they lose to vwc)

these next few days should tell us a lot about the usasac (and maybe even the odac) - are guilford and averett as good as their unblemished records would indicate, and which team is better?  are the monarchs a legit contender in the usasac?  has vwc rebounded from a less-than-stellar weekend and righted the ship? is greensboro legit, with a 9-1 start, and can they upend a m'ville team that is an ncaa tournament mainstay?...we'll know more within the next 36 hours, or so....

[CNU85]

rtt, cnufella, schemer, cnu85

how about posting your thoughts about the game last night. i read what was on the cnu website, but id like to read your impressions of the game.

no thoughts.....been busy with other stuff lately...missed a few CNU games. This time of year is tough for me....work and home. But it should be a little better now.....for awhile. I've only got one kid involved in activities right now.....so I only have to work my schedule around my daughter's out of town dance competitions and high school gymnastics meets. My son's high school baseball career is over, so no more February 30 degree games!! But, man do I miss watching him play!

I'm not even sure when the next home game is scheduled...yikes...really out of it...gotta get it back.

[hasanova]

Final from Danville:  Guilford 74, Averett 69.  The Quakers move to 9-0 and the 12th ranked Cougars fall to 9-1.  It was a back and forth affair that was an exciting game throughout.

Unofficially, Snipes 22, Strong 19 (2 in 1st half), Burge 10, Henson 6, Belkoski & Neville 5, Kimbrough 3, Strickland & Sanborn 2.  Three Cougars in double figures: Boor 16, Hagwood 15 & Frazier 10.

Are the Quakers pushing the Top 25 with this win?  Nice road win for sure against a very good Averett team.  Whew!

http://web.averett.edu/athletics/display_story.php?id=769