Flames ignite, burn Cougars, 73-72

By Dave Morrison
Sports Editor

February 24, 2008 12:32 am

— In the beginning, Lee coach Tommy Brown felt a certain deja vu in the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
By the time it was over, though, Brown and the Flames had a signature victory.
Behind the hot hand of Harold Griffin and the sharpshooting of Elmar Kuli-Zade, No. 4 Lee knocked off No. 3 Mountain State 73-72 before a home season-finale crowd of 2,069 Saturday.
The loss ended a 42-game home win streak by the Cougars, dating back to January 2006.
The Cougars started strong, scoring the first 16 points of the game and leading 21-3 at one point.
But the more physical Flames slowly crept back in the game and finally caught the Cougars when Brad Harris hit a baseline three to put Lee up 61-60.
From that point it was a battle of willpower and shooting as the lead changed hands five times.
That’s when Kuli-Zade heated up.
The 5-foot-9 junior point guard hit a three after an offensive rebound to tie the score at 69 and then hit another 42 seconds later to give the Flames their second lead of the game.
It would be all they would need.
On Mountain State’s next possession, James Spencer missed both ends of a two-shot foul and then Adron Marshall made just 1-of-2 to cut the lead to two. Spencer is a 75 percent free throw shooter and Marshall is an 80 percent shooter from the stripe.
“I can’t remember ever missing two free throws like that,” Spencer said afterward. “This is one of the toughest things I’ve had to go through. We had them. And we let them back in it.”
Paco Diaw made 1-of-2 to stretch the lead back to three with 21.8 seconds left before Marshall hit a drive in the paint, making it 73-72 with 10.4 seconds left.
Harris, one of the nation’s best free throw shooters, was fouled with 8.4 seconds left but missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
On the rebound, Ermin Tarcin momentarily fumbled with the ball before getting it to Jarvis Jackson. He dribbled into the front court where he was quickly doubled. He put up a shot that was well off the mark as time expired.
“Adron was wide open, but I didn’t see him,” Jackson said. “I thought we were running out of time. Coach said I had time to drive to the basket, but I thought I had to get the shot off.”
“When they went up 21-3, a lot of those old feelings were coming back,” said Brown, the former Bluefield College coach who lost several games in the then-Raleigh County Armory. “But we battled and stayed in the game. This is just as big a win for us as the East Carolina game was. Mountain State is better than East Carolina. Bob Bolen runs one of the best, if not the best, program in the country. This is probably the biggest win in our school’s history.”
Griffin, whose brother Damien Griffin was an All-American at MSU, finished with 21 points and seven rebounds for Lee. He hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor and was 9-of-10 at the foul line.
Harris, a member of the U.S. National Team over the summer, had 20 points and Kuli-Zade and Diaw had 13 points each.
“I thought they had a stretch of about six minutes at the end of the game where they had a lot of zip offensively,” Bolen said. “And we were a little stagnant. They were in our passing lanes, taking away a lot of what we wanted to do. And we had a hard time beating them off the dribble. They did a good job on the other end of beating us off the dribble.”
Spencer finished with 22 points for MSU. Jackson added 13 and James McGriff 10. Those three seniors, along with Marshall, Tyrice Watkins, Ralph Legg and Papa Gassama, were honored before the game.
“This is the first game I’ve lost at home, and on Senior Night, too,” Jackson said. “It’s disappointing.”
“Hopefully, we can stay on track,” Spencer said. “Something has to change on this team in order for us to win the whole thing.”
It certainly started out right for MSU as it took a commanding 16-0 lead (as each starter scored). Lee didn’t score until Harris’ three at the 14:55 mark. MSU led by as many as 18 in the first half.
But about halfway through the half, different things slowly began to conspire against the Cougars.
Marshall and McGriff got into foul trouble.
Jackson suffered a sprained ankle (though he played the entire second half).
And the Cougars continued a season-long trend of struggling at the free throw line.
“We started off unbelievable, playing at a high level,” Bolen said. “Then we went through a stretch where we had some good shots, we just couldn’t score. Then we got in foul trouble and Jarvis got hurt. We missed some free throws. It was a lot of little things that added up.”
Tarcin started the game in place of Watkins, who was suffering from swelling in his leg.
Mountain State ends the regular season with road games Tuesday at Southern Wesleyan and Thursday at Allen (S.C.).

No. 4 LEE 73, No. 3 MOUNTAIN STATE 72
LEE UNIVERSITY (27-1)
Brad Harris 8-19 0-1 20, Freddie Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Cole Rose 0-1 2-2 2, Elmar Kuli-Zade 5-8 0-0 13, Harold Griffin 6-7 9-10 21, Ricky Harper 0-2 0-0 0, Kellen Pickel 0-1 0-0 0, Paco Diaw 5-6 2-4 13, Chad James 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Fulp 1-1 0-1 2, Desmond Blue 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 13-18 73.
MOUNTAIN STATE (26-2)
James Spencer 7-15 6-9 22, Jarvis Jackson 4-9 3-6 13, Adron Marshall 4-8 1-2 9, Jason McGriff 5-10 0-0 10, Ermin Tarcin 1-2 2-2 5, Ralph Legg 0-2 0-0 0, Tyrice Watkins 2-2 3-4 7, Denzel Lyles 1-2 0-0 2, Ricky Jackson 1-7 2-3 4, Papa Gassama 0-0 0-0 0, Rod Green 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 17-26 72.
Halftime—MSU 34-28. 3-Point Goals—Lee 8-23 (Harris 4-13, Kuli-Zade 3-5, Harper 0-2, Pickel 0-1, Diaw 1-1, James 0-1); Mountain State 5-14 (Spencer 2-5, J. Jackson 2-3, McGriff 0-1, Tarcin 1-1, Legg 0-2, Lyles 0-1, R. Jackson 0-1). Fouled Out—Marshall. Rebounds—Lee 33 (Griffin 7); Mountain State 30 (Tarcin 7). Assists—Lee 12 (Harris 3); Mountain State 12 (Spencer, J. Jackson 3). Total Fouls—Lee 25, Mountain State 16. A —2,069.

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