Published: November 21, 2008 11:30 pm      

Mountain State hosts Morris in Independent Region showdown

With the NAIA Independent Region taking on more teams this year, including former heavyweight Life and tournament regulars like Crichton and Lambuth, wins are going to be at a premium this season for MSU.

While the Cougars’ 89-73 loss to the University of the Cumberlands Thursday wasn’t season-altering, Mountain State can ill afford another such slip-up when Independent Region member Morris comes to town today.

Coming off its first loss of the season, Mountain State (5-1) hosts Morris (2-3) in a a contest that tips off a 2 p.m. at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

The two teams met three times last year and MSU won all three contests. But Bolen zeroed in on one game in particular — the Cougars’ 88-81 win at Morris.

“That was a real tough game for us last year,” Bolen said. “They have all five of their starters back. So I’m sure they’re going to come in here excited and ready to play.”

The other MSU wins were 101-69 at the BRCCC and 110-53 in the Independent Region Tournament.

Bolen was not pleased with his team’s play Thursday night at University of the Cumberlands. Despite returning home at 4 a.m. Friday, the Cougars held their normal 3:30 p.m. practice Friday.

“I thought we got after it pretty good,” Bolen said. “We worked on our toughness today. We didn’t handle (University of the Cumberlands’) physical play and we have to get better in those situations. We’ll have to see if that carries over into (today’s) game.”

Christopher Owens leads Morris, averaging 19.2 points per game. Randall James averages 13.8, and an Independent Region-best 4.0 blocks per game, Justin Beaufort 11.2 and Nathaniel Thomas 10.6.

MSU has topped 100 points in all five of its games in Beckley.

Andrew Lee leads the Cougars in scoring, hitting for 18.5 points per game. A.J. Pigram averages 16.8, followed by Bo Harris (15) and Tony Brown (12.8).

MSU is at home for two more games following today’s game, Tuesday vs. Bluefield College (7:30 p.m.) and next Saturday vs. Life (4 p.m.).