Published: December 29, 2007 11:52 pm         

Cougars breeze past Wave

Mountain State University made just one three-pointer in the first half.

Thus ends the negative portion of the Cougars’ 108-41 win over Ohio State-Marion Saturday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Playing for the first time in 16 days, NAIA’s top-ranked team showed no signs of staggering from a long layoff. MSU (12-0) scored the first 10 points of the game, added a 15-0 run after the Scarlet Wave got to within nine midway through the half and led 44-22 at halftime in spite of a minor shooting slump.

MSU shot 41.7 percent (20-of-48) in the first half, including a 1-of-15 showing from three-point range.

All 12 players who played for the Cougars scored. Five players were in double figures, led by James Spencer’s 20. Adron Marshall added 16, followed by Ermin Tarcin with 15, Ricky Jackson 12 and Papa Gassama 10.

“We didn’t shoot the ball (well) at all in the first half,” Cougars coach Bob Bolen said. “It seemed like we got our eye back in the second half.”

The offense picked up in a big way in the second half. The Cougars scored the first 29 points of the half to go up 73-22 with 13:00 to play. MSU shot 28-of-41 (68.3 percent) after halftime.

The run put an emphatic end to any thoughts the Scarlet Wave (3-14) might have had of hanging around. Ohio State-Marion didn’t reach double figures in the half until a free throw by Travis Bachtell with 4:22 left in the game.

“In the second half, coach Bolen did an excellent job of getting his troops fired up, and they immediately came out and lit a fire underneath them,” Wave coach Mark Sisler said. “They applied tremendous pressure on our guards. It really frustrated our guards and it got to the point that we were out of synch completely.”

The Wave was at a disadvantage from the start. In only its second year of competition in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, Ohio State-Marion dressed only six players. One of them, Brad Weaver, sported a cast wrapping over his left (non-shooting) thumb and extending up over his wrist.

Sisler said two of his regulars are still on Christmas vacation, one is injured and another two — his top shooting threats — were simply no-shows against the Cougars.

Tarcin started and was held scoreless in the first half. But he made up for it after the break, scoring 10 of his 15 during the 29-0 run. He also had a game-high 13 rebounds for MSU, which finished with a 60-22 advantage on the boards.

Jason McGriff added 10 rebounds and Marshall had six assists.

Aaron Wetherell led the Wave with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Ohio State-Marion will return to Beckley in January for the Mountain State Coal Classic’s college division.

“With a full team,” Sisler promised.

The Cougars return to action Wednesday at home against preseason No. 22 Union (Tenn.). MSU defeated the Bulldogs 100-89 on Dec. 1 for its first-ever win at Union.

MSU will take today off before getting back to practice Monday.

Wednesday’s tip-off has been moved to 5:30 p.m.

“That’s the biggest (home) game of the year,” Bolen said. “Hopefully we can get a good crowd in here.”

— E-mail:

gfauber@register-herald.com



MSU 108, Ohio State Marion 41

Ohio State Marion (3-14)

Travis Bachtell 1-11 2-2 5, Bryant Sisler 2-9 0-0 5, Aaron Wetherell 8-18 0-2 20, Justin Kauffman 2-4 0-0 4, Bryce Moore 0-5 1-2 1, Brad Weaver 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 15-53 3-6 41.

MSU (12-0)

James Spencer 10-17 0-0 20, Jarvis Jackson 2-4 0-0 5, Adron Marshall 7-15 1-1 16, Jason McGriff 4-7 0-1 8, Ermin Tarcin 7-14 0-0 15, Ralph Legg 2-2 0-0 6, Floyd Woods 1-1 0-0 2, Ricky Jackson 5-12 2-3 12, Vedrin Zivic 1-3 2-4 4, Aleksic Vaso 1-3 0-0 2, Papa Gassama 5-6 0-0 10, Rod Green 3-5 1-2 8. Totals 48-89 6-11 108.

Halftime—MSU 44-22. 3-Point Goals—OSM 8-28 (Bachtell 1-8, Sisler 1-2, Wetherell 4-10, Kauffman 0-1, Moore 0-2, Weaver 2-5), MSU 6-26 (Spencer 0-4, J. Jackson 1-2, Marshall 1-6, McGriff 0-2, Tarcin 1-3, Legg 2-2, R. Jackson 0-3, Zivic 0-2, Green 1-2). Fouled Out—none. Rebounds—OSM 22 (Wetherell 5), MSU 60 (Tarcin 13). Assists—OSM 9 (Wetherell 4), MSU 29 (Marshall 6). Total Fouls—OSM 8, MSU 5. Technicals—Gassama.