Published: January 10, 2009 11:46 pm      

No. 1 Cougars top No. 10 Lee 82-75

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Mountain State made it a clean sweep.

In a week that already saw the Cougars beat No. 21 Lindsey Wilson and No. 2 the Cumberlands at home, MSU capped it off with an 82-75 road win over No. 10 Lee University.

“It was a huge win,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said of the game which saw the Cougars leading 41-38 at the half. “To go on the road and beat a Top 10 team shows that we are starting to develop as a team.”

Andrew Lee led NAIA No. 1 Mountain State with 20 points and Nick Aldridge and Tony Brown had 13 points each.

And Brown, who did not start in the game, had two key pull-up jumpers off MSU fast breaks that helped MSU take command with under three minutes to go.

“He didn’t even practice this week,” Bolen said. “He got hurt about 20 minutes into our first practice after the Cumberlands game and he didn’t practice three days. He didn’t start, but I thought he came in and showed some toughness and really played well.”

The win solidifies the Cougars’ hold on the No. 1 spot in NAIA Division I and will make the Cougars the first team to hold the top spot more than one week this season.

Lee was the last team to beat MSU at home last season and the Flames will visit Beckley Feb. 21.

Bo Harris added 12 points for the Cougars and Marcus Hunter, who started in place of Brown, finished with 10 points.

The Flames were led by Stephen McClellan and Elmar Kuli-Zade with 17 points each. Nate Minnoy added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

MSU (14-1) returns home Saturday when it will face WVU Tech at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center at 4 p.m.



MOUNTAIN STATE 82, LEE 75

MOUNTAIN STATE (14-1)

Andrew Lee 7-12 6-8 20, Bo Harris 5-9 0-0 12, Ermin Tarcin 2-5 1-4 8, Anthony Pigram 2-9 1-2 6, Marcus Hunter 4-7 0-0 10, Tony Brown 4-10 4-4 13, Nick Aldridge 5-8 3-4 13, Greg Grimes 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 29-63 18-23 82.

LEE (11-3)

Paco Diaw 3-9 2-2 8, Nate Minnoy 7-16 0-0 14, Harold Griffin 3-3 2-2 8, Stephen McClellan 4-13 5-7 17, Elmar Kuli-Zade 6-11 1-2 17, Chad James 1-5 0-0 3, Caleb Skogen 0-1 0-0 0, Josh Nofflet 2-7 Joe Fulp 2-3 0-0 4, Desmond Blue 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 10-13 75.

Halftime—MSU 41-38. 3-Point Goals—MSU 6-19 (Lee 0-1, Harris 2-4, Tarcin 0-1, Pigram 1-6, Hunter 2-3, Brown 1-2, Aldridge 0-0, Grimes 0-2), Lee 9-22 (McClellan 4-12, Kuli-Zade 4-5, James 1-4, Fulp 0-1). Fouled Out—none. Rebounds—MSU 35 (Aldridge 6), Lee 44 (Minnoy 11). Assists—MSU 8 (Brown 4), Lee 13 (Kuli-Zade 4). Total Fouls—MSU 12, Lee 20.