Published: March 21, 2008 11:39 pm         

Mountain State’s big men not afraid to shoot the three

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s an interesting proposition, really. If Mountain State’s basketball team were to hold a team-wide game of H-O-R-S-E and only three-point shots were allowed, who would win?

“I would,” Jarvis Jackson said. “Three-point shots only? Probably James (Spencer) or Adron (Marshall).”

“It would be close, that’s for sure,” Spencer added.

On many teams, post players would be the first eliminated.

Not Mountain State. The Cougars’ contingent of big men are among the best three-point shooters in the nation. And that’s at any level.

They are guards in big men’s clothing.

Like the actual guards, Mountain State’s big men have the green light to shoot the ball from three-point range. And they do.

Friday morning, that paid off as the Cougars nailed 13 long balls in an 84-71 victory over Wayland Baptist in the second round of the NAIA tournament, including a combined four (4-of-8) by big men Jason McGriff (two), Tyrice Watkins (one) and Ermin Tarcin (one).

“I haven’t seen any better,” McGriff, who was 2-for-2, said. “Coach wants us to be able to shoot at every position. If we’re open, we can take that shot. And we’re going to take that shot.”

Both of McGriff’s treys came in the first half, the first one finishing off an 8-0 run and giving MSU an 18-14 lead.

The second was in the middle of five straight Cougar threes that helped MSU push a first-half lead to 37-27.

“I think we surprise a lot of people,” said Tarcin (1-of--2), one of seven different Cougars to connect from long range. “I couldn’t wait to get in the game because you could tell their posts were playing back in the paint. They were leaving us alone. Any of us can shoot. I thought Jason’s two threes were big.”

Ditto Watkins (1-of-4).

“We are definitely hard to guard,” Watkins said. “Most teams aren’t used to stretching a defense that long. And when we start hitting, it’s going to open up lanes to the basket.”

Watkins, Tarcin and McGriff each had one of the threes during that five-three run.

“It all starts in recruiting,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “We want them to be able to shoot from the perimeter, even our bigs. They all have the green light to shoot it if they’re open. Look at Jason McGriff. He’s probably shooting 40 percent on the year from three-point range (16-of-42).”

None of the posts has been shy about shooting the trey.

Tarcin now has 19 on the year and Watkins has 21.

By contrast, Wayland Baptist guard Kris Hatley has 21 and Tony Jones 19.

The three post standouts have shot a combined 170 threes.

“They have to be the best shooting big men we’ve seen,” Wayland Baptist coach Robert Davenport said. “A lot of times you’ll see foreign-born big men, like Tarcin, who can shoot from beyond the arc. But you don’t see a lot of native-born big men who can shoot the way their guys do.”

“I think we could hang in there, for a little bit,” McGriff said of the possible H-O-R-S-E game against his teammates.

“Those guys would probably win,” Tarcin said. “But if we get in the gym early enough and we get used to the rims, I think we can compare very closely with those guys.”

“They have to be the best (perimeter shooting group in the nation),” Jackson said. “Whenever they’re open, I tell them to shoot it. But you don’t have to tell them very often.”

Game of H-O-R-S-E, anyone?

Mountain State set the record for most wins by a state team in the NAIA national tournament with No. 16 Friday. That eclipsed the previous mark of 15 set by Joe Retton’s talented Fairmont State teams between 1968 and 1981.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com