Published: February 26, 2008 11:30 pm      

Cougars shoot lights out in win

CENTRAL, S.C. — Coming off a monumental loss or a ho-hum victory, it’s hard to beat Mountain State University when it shoots like this.

The NAIA Division I No. 4 Cougars shot over 50 percent on three-pointers and from the floor overall for a 99-79 win Tuesday over host Southern Wesleyan.

The Cougars (27-2) bounced back from Saturday’s 73-72 loss to No. 3 Lee that snapped a 42-game home winning streak.

MSU was 36-of-68 (52.9 percent) from the floor. That included a 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) night at the three-point line.

“They were playing us zone and we were able to shoot some three-pointers,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “We had a good shooting game.”

The Cougars led 48-41 at halftime before taking control in the second half.

“The second half, we were playing Mountain State University basketball,” Bolen said.

Five players scored in double figures for MSU, led by James Spencer and Adron Marshall with 23 points each. Ermin Tarcin had 13, Jarvis Jackson 12 and Denzel Lyles 11. Jason McGriff added nine.

Vaso Aleksic was the Cougars’ rebounding leader with eight.

Tyrice Watkins did not make the trip because of inflammation in his knee. He will also be out Thursday when the Cougars close out their regular season at Allen University in Morris, S.C.

Tarcin started in place of Watkins and was 3-for-3 from three-point range.

Jermaine Harris led Southern Wesleyan with 24 points, followed by Darren Wilson with 12 and Nick Lagroone 11.