MBB: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[hopefan]

Iowa Wesleyan trailed Truman State University by one at the half before taking an early second half lead.  Truman would eventually take over however and finish with a 75-57 win.

Truman is actually a good Division II squad that is 8-3 on the season even if a few of those wins include the usual lower division Iowa schools.

WUH, how did you find this score?  It wasn't on D3hoops or the SLIAC site, but after seeing what you wrote, I did read about it on Truman site...

[hopefan]

Mac... out of the frying pan, into the fire... lose by 7 to Oglethorpe, get 13 ranked Cente today..

Deavis Johnson watch... comes off the bench for 14 points, 13 rebounds in 24 minutes... but also 7 turnovers... trying to do too much?   Anxious to see Mac in the SLIAC...

and speaking of Oglethorpe, what a performance last night by Ogie's starting 5.. all five hit double figures in a competitive game.. ranging from 14 points to 20 points...I gotta think that balanced scoring attack for one night is a real rarity...

[y_jack_lok]

Let's hope Smith concentrates on WINNING first.. some bad shots last night, by both him and Ward, gave critical possessions to Central far too early in the shot clock at crunch time... darn near cost Webster the game, along with missed free throws. Fantastic job on the boards by Everyone, and in agreement with SLIACChamp, real key to win was play from the bench... they got the first half lead, and didn't give it up in the second half while the starters got a rest... This game was played as hard as any I've seen this year...

I totally agree that winning is what it's all about and Smith is so close to that #2 spot that it will definitely happen. His missed shots last night were the same one's he made against Wash U just as so many of Central's missed 3 pointers were shots they must have made in order to beat Augustana. As for Webster's free throws, they were 15-18 on the night, so all-in-all pretty good. The three missed ones were the back ends of one and ones. If they'd missed the front ends they would have been 12-15 (still a good night at the line), but that could have changed the way the game played out to Central's advantage.

[WUPHF]

WUH, how did you find this score?  It wasn't on D3hoops or the SLIAC site, but after seeing what you wrote, I did read about it on Truman site...

I graduated from Truman so I follow Truman and the GLVC closely.  I was surprised not to see the game listed on the Iowa Wesleyan website.

[hopefan]

Let's hope Smith concentrates on WINNING first.. some bad shots last night, by both him and Ward, gave critical possessions to Central far too early in the shot clock at crunch time... darn near cost Webster the game, along with missed free throws. Fantastic job on the boards by Everyone, and in agreement with SLIACChamp, real key to win was play from the bench... they got the first half lead, and didn't give it up in the second half while the starters got a rest... This game was played as hard as any I've seen this year...

I totally agree that winning is what it's all about and Smith is so close to that #2 spot that it will definitely happen. His missed shots last night were the same one's he made against Wash U just as so many of Central's missed 3 pointers were shots they must have made in order to beat Augustana. As for Webster's free throws, they were 15-18 on the night, so all-in-all pretty good. The three missed ones were the back ends of one and ones. If they'd missed the front ends they would have been 12-15 (still a good night at the line), but that could have changed the way the game played out to Central's advantage.

CONTEXT Yjack... the 3 missed free throws and the bad shots I speak of all occurred in the last 3 minutes of the game when Central rallied.. 15 of 18 doesn't help when the 3 backenders combine to give Central a chance to tie in the last 10 seconds...  It's my way of looking at it... an 11 point lead evaporated in the final 5 minutes....

[hopefan]

Another key to the win that I didn't mention was the unbelievably calm demeanor of Webster point guard Adam Etter...  he goes 27 minutes with Zero turnovers.. and makes the 2 foul shots with 10 seconds left that forces Central to shoot the 3 for a tie.. Central misses, and it's over.   Etter doesn't get a lot of assists because Webster's offense against man is mostly one on one (Smith, Griffin, Moore), but he does a great job of getting the ball up the floor and starting the offense..

And another 'incidentally'.... a cute 4 minutes by Kenan Haywood... an offensive rebound for a hoop, and two nifty passes for assists.... he's beginning to learn.....

[Denny McKinney]

Wowzer!!!! 6-18 from the field and WU gets the win. Unimpressed! How is Coach Bunch getting the other 11 guys to buy in to this. Mainly Hunter Ward? I always pull for the Gorlok's, but I wouldn't walk across the street to watch a game. Go Sliac!

[SliacChamp]

Another note on Etter, last night he missed his first Free Throw of the SEASON. That is a solid characteristic to have in a PG especially late in games when the press in on and the fouls are coming.

One thing I will gripe about is the defense of Ahmad smith. The last 2 possessions of the game for Central #5, who had just knocked down multiple three to make the game close, was spotting up on Smiths area of the zone. The 2nd to last possession for Central, #5 knocks down a huge three pointer and Smith DOESNT EVEN CONTEST THE SHOT!. On the last possession with Webster up 3, #5 shoots again, and misses, but Smith didn't even get a hand up until the ball was on his finger tips. Will we ever see that guy turn it up a notch on D like he does on offense......NO

[y_jack_lok]

Let's hope Smith concentrates on WINNING first.. some bad shots last night, by both him and Ward, gave critical possessions to Central far too early in the shot clock at crunch time... darn near cost Webster the game, along with missed free throws. Fantastic job on the boards by Everyone, and in agreement with SLIACChamp, real key to win was play from the bench... they got the first half lead, and didn't give it up in the second half while the starters got a rest... This game was played as hard as any I've seen this year...

I totally agree that winning is what it's all about and Smith is so close to that #2 spot that it will definitely happen. His missed shots last night were the same one's he made against Wash U just as so many of Central's missed 3 pointers were shots they must have made in order to beat Augustana. As for Webster's free throws, they were 15-18 on the night, so all-in-all pretty good. The three missed ones were the back ends of one and ones. If they'd missed the front ends they would have been 12-15 (still a good night at the line), but that could have changed the way the game played out to Central's advantage.

CONTEXT Yjack... the 3 missed free throws and the bad shots I speak of all occurred in the last 3 minutes of the game when Central rallied.. 15 of 18 doesn't help when the 3 backenders combine to give Central a chance to tie in the last 10 seconds...  It's my way of looking at it... an 11 point lead evaporated in the final 5 minutes....

I wasn't disagreeing with you, just putting it into a different context.     The game is 40 minutes and we always focus on what happens at the end of close games, but I'm sure what happens at every point of a close game has an effect on the outcome.

[hopefan]

Another note on Etter, last night he missed his first Free Throw of the SEASON. That is a solid characteristic to have in a PG especially late in games when the press in on and the fouls are coming.

One thing I will gripe about is the defense of Ahmad smith. The last 2 possessions of the game for Central #5, who had just knocked down multiple three to make the game close, was spotting up on Smiths area of the zone. The 2nd to last possession for Central, #5 knocks down a huge three pointer and Smith DOESNT EVEN CONTEST THE SHOT!. On the last possession with Webster up 3, #5 shoots again, and misses, but Smith didn't even get a hand up until the ball was on his finger tips. Will we ever see that guy turn it up a notch on D like he does on offense......NO

SLIACCHAMP it is a pleasure having you post your observations on this page... VERY interesting and informative...

[y_jack_lok]

Here is the write-up from the Central website on last night's game: http://www.central.edu/athletics/story.cfm?storyID=5552. Here is a quote from the write-up: " Free throw shooting was important for Webster down the stretch. The Gorloks hit seven of their last eight shots from the charity stripe." Context? Perspective? Glass half full? Glass half empty? Everything is in the eye of the beholder.

[hopefan]

Here is the write-up from the Central website on last night's game: http://www.central.edu/athletics/story.cfm?storyID=5552. Here is a quote from the write-up: " Free throw shooting was important for Webster down the stretch. The Gorloks hit seven of their last eight shots from the charity stripe." Context? Perspective? Glass half full? Glass half empty? Everything is in the eye of the beholder.

At 1:21 left in the game, Webster was up 5 and shooting a 1 and 1... in the next 39 seconds, they missed 3 of 6 free throws and took a bad jump shot with 16 seconds left in the shot clock , and when Central hit a 3 with 47 seconds left, they were down only 4... still in the game, and able to get in position to tie the game on their last possession.  Both back up my initial statement that poor shot selection and missed free throws darned near cost Webster the game....

[y_jack_lok]

Here is the write-up from the Central website on last night's game: http://www.central.edu/athletics/story.cfm?storyID=5552. Here is a quote from the write-up: " Free throw shooting was important for Webster down the stretch. The Gorloks hit seven of their last eight shots from the charity stripe." Context? Perspective? Glass half full? Glass half empty? Everything is in the eye of the beholder.

At 1:21 left in the game, Webster was up 5 and shooting a 1 and 1... in the next 39 seconds, they missed 3 of 6 free throws and took a bad jump shot with 16 seconds left in the shot clock , and when Central hit a 3 with 47 seconds left, they were down only 4... still in the game, and able to get in position to tie the game on their last possession.  Both back up my initial statement that poor shot selection and missed free throws darned near cost Webster the game....

I was as concerned as you were about the decision Webster players made in that last minute to not pull the ball out and try to run clock and draw a foul rather than attempt and miss a shot. I just think that the different perspectives are fascinating. The Central writer chose to focus on made free throws, not missed ones. I think where I take a different view is that the only free throws Webster missed are the three you mentioned and missed free throws are something that happens to almost every team in one or more games a year and affects an outcome. But overall Webster's free throw shooting for the game was good. The decisions that take place when the ball is in play late in a close game seem to me to be the more crucial piece in how things play out.

[hopefan]

Mac... out of the frying pan, into the fire... lose by 7 to Oglethorpe, get 13 ranked Cente today..

Deavis Johnson watch... comes off the bench for 14 points, 13 rebounds in 24 minutes... but also 7 turnovers... trying to do too much?   Anxious to see Mac in the SLIAC...

and speaking of Oglethorpe, what a performance last night by Ogie's starting 5.. all five hit double figures in a competitive game.. ranging from 14 points to 20 points...I gotta think that balanced scoring attack for one night is a real rarity...

  no sooner do I rave about Oglethorpe having all 5 starters in double figures, that  Wash U does the same thing today in their win on the road at Coe....

[WU FAN]

A historical note for everyone that keeps track of this stuff out there.  Ahmad Smith currently sits in 8th place on Webster's all time scoring list with 1155 points but is only 130 from being in sole possession of 2nd.  Barring something unforeseen he'd project to get there by the end of January.  Getting into 1st would be a really big task but you never know.

This is from Niel's article after the Principia game: "Smith now had 1138 career points and passed Scott Spinner (2004-07) to move into eight place on Webster's all-time scoring list." Since then Smith has scored 33 against Wash U and 17 against Central which would make his current career total 1188 tying him with Ryan Turk at #7 and 96 points short of a tie for #2 on the list with 15 regular season games remaining. However, scoring another 418 points in 15 games to tie for#1 is a very tall order.

Good catch there y_jack_lok.  I didn't realize Niel was so far behind in updating the career stats.  Thought it was just last nights game not Wash U missing as well.