Cougars catch fire early

Mountain State rolls over Bluefield 99-71

Dave Morrison

Sure sounds like the recipe for an upset.

Bluefield, on the strength of 11 second-half threes, outscored NAIA No. 2 Mountain State 49-22 over the last 14 minutes in Tuesday night’s game at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Problem with that would-be upset philosophy?

The Rambling Rams were down 75-22 at the time.

Marcus Hunter led five players in double figures as the Cougars (9-0) rolled Bluefield 99-71.

“That first 26 minutes was about as well as I’ve seen a Mountain State team play in a long time,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “I know defensively we were really good. We played with high intensity.”

The Cougars built a 47-14 halftime lead and quickly added on to that. MSU was 6-for-6 from three-point range to start the second half and seven of its first eight shots were threes — four by Hunter and three by point guard Barry Wellington — as the lead quickly ballooned to 75-22.

“I’ve got a young team,” Bluefield coach Richard Morgan said. “I don’t think they fully understood the magnitude of coming into a game like this. I start three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior, and you’re going to have games like this when that’s the situation.”

The Cougars then started substituting and Bluefield took advantage with a flurry of threes.

By then it was too late.

“Coach talked to us about jumping on people and not letting up,” said Hunter, who was 5-of-7 from three-point range. “We’re capable of playing like that.”

Bluefield (2-6) tried to go to a zone, but Hunter and his teammates quickly shot them out of that, hitting 10-of 19 in that 26-minute span.

“I’ve been going to the gym and working on my shot,” said Hunter, who has scored 48 points in the last two games. “I wasn’t really worried about scoring, just winning games. I tried to get other guys involved. I knew the scoring would come.”

Morgan was hoping the Cougars wouldn’t shoot his team out of the gym from beyond the arc.

But the Cougars’ starting guards were 10-of-15 from three-point range. Wellington was 3-for-3 and Winston Robinson 3-for-5.

“We got off to a bad start,” Morgan said. “We were hoping they wouldn’t get that kind of start, but (Hunter) started hitting. The basket must have looked pretty big to him after he got started.”

“I told our guys before the game that I didn’t want to get into a game of h-o-r-s-e with them,” Bolen said. “We shot the lights out. Then we started substituting. Those (subs) are going to have to step up when we put them in there.”

Four starters scored in double figures. In addition to Hunter, Robinson had 16, Nick Aldridge 15 and Wellington 13. Brian Ormon added 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Andrew Lee had 16 rebounds, 13 of them in the game’s first eight minutes.

MSU finished with a 57-33 advantage on the boards.

Alvin Board came off the bench to lead Bluefield with 14. Jonathan Dula added 11 off the bench and starter Omar Reed finished with 11 as well.

“We didn’t quit and that’s one thing I liked,” Morgan said. “That gives us something to build on and I might have found some kids who deserve to play a little more.”

Bluefield plays St. Augustine Friday in Charlotte. MSU will face Bluefield State Saturday in the Currence Classic at Bluefield State College.

— E-mail: demorrison@register-herald.com

MOUNTAIN STATE 99, BLUEFIELD COLLEGE 71

BLUEFIELD COLLEGE (2-6)

Edric Folden 3-10 1-1 9, Carlton Shumake 2-7 1-3 5, Marcus Jackson 2-10 0-0 5, Borgie M’Bala 2-11 0-0 5, Omar Reed 5-10 0-0 11, Brian Daniels 2-7 0-0 5, Dmitry Zimin 0-1 0-0 0, Alvin Board 5-10 0-0 14, Jonathan Dula 4-8 0-0 11, James Childress 0-1 0-0 0, Jewuan Wynn 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 28-80 2-4 71.

MOUNTAIN STATE UNIVERSITY (9-0)

Barry Wellington 5-6 0-0 13, Mmarcus Hunter 9-12 3-3 26, Andrew Lee 1-8 3-3 5, Nick Aldridge 6-11 3-4 15, Winston Robinson 4-9 6-7 16, Adinson Mosquera 1-5 0-0 2, Mundrell Young 0-1 0-0 0, Rashad Nesbitt 3-5 2-3 8, Deandre Duncan 1-2 0-0 2, Vedran Zivic 0-1 0-0 0, Brian Ormon 5-8 0-2 10, Dwayne Alston 0-1 0-0 0, Alvin Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Paul Sturgess 1-1 0-0 2, Dino Muslic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 36-71 17-22 99.

Halftime: MSU 47-14. Three-point goals: BC 13-45 (Folden 2-8, Shumake 0-2, Jackson 1-6, M’Bala 1-7, Reed 1-3, Daniels 1-2, Zimin 0-1, Board 4-8, Dula 3-7, Childress 0-1), MSU 10-21 (Wellington 3-3, Hunter 5-7, Aldridge 0-1, Robinson 2-5, Mosquera 0-1, Young 0-1, Duncan 0-1, Zivic 0-1, Mitchell 0-1). Rebounds: MSU 57 (Lee 16, Ormon 9), BC 33 (Reed 15). Assists: MSU 23 (Wellington 4, Robinson 4, Mitchell 4). Steals: MSU 8 (Nesbitt 3), BC 9 (Daniels 3). Fouls: BC 17, MSU 9. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.