Published: November 09, 2008 12:45 am      

Cougars earn degree of respect

MORGANTOWN — It’s called putting the shoe on the other foot.

Normally, it is Mountain State putting the hightop square on the throat of an opponent. Saturday, the tables were turned.

Early, and often, points came in threes for the Cougars’ opponent, who built a 20-2 lead.

Game, set and ballgame.

Yes, there is a caveat. That opponent was West Virginia, in the WVU Coliseum, and it was only an exhibition game.

So, a 3-0 mark remains intact.

MSU’s NAIA Division I No. 3 ranking won’t be affected.

And, truth be told, after that slow start, the Cougars didn’t play half bad, finally losing 98-78.

“We came out slowly, with a shocked look,” Mountain State coach Bob Bolen said. “It was like a deer in the headlights. And then (Da’Sean) Butler and (Alex) Ruoff started draining those threes and it got ugly quick.”

The Mountaineers did start fast: Ruoff three, Devin Ebanks three-point play, Butler three-point play, Butler three, Ruoff three and Butler another three. By multiples of three in the first five minutes, WVU led 18-2.

To its credit, Mountain State never quit.

Despite being down by as many as 21, MSU never flinched, and in so doing, earned a degree of respect from the Big East’s Mountaineers.

“They didn’t quit,” said Butler, who finished with 38 points. “They are a good team, especially in their conference. Especially No. 1 (A.J. Pigram). He was hitting shots from all over. And he got a lot of help.”

“We knew they wouldn’t quit,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said later. “Bobby’s got a good team, with good players. What good would it do for us to bring somebody in here who we’re going to beat by 50? We knew they would compete.”

And they did.

Twice in the second half, Mountain State cut the lead to 10 behind Pigram, who had seven points on a 13-6 run to start the second half.

But each time, WVU responded, as expected, to kick the lead back near 20.

Despite the final, consider the start.

Consider that last year, with five returning starters, Mountain State lost by 22 in Morgantown.

And consider the respect that Mountain State earned by playing WVU to within two points after the first six minutes of action.

Was it a win?

No.

“We came in here to compete, try to win the game,” Bolen said. “But I am proud of my team. They didn’t quit. They came back, cut it to 10 twice. We’ll go back, regroup and take it from there. This loss won’t hurt us. We learned a little bit about ourselves. I saw a team that didn’t quit. We didn’t fold the tents and pack it in.”

And against WVU, that was all MSU could ask for.

Sometimes a win can come in the form of a 20-point loss.