Published: January 22, 2007 11:50 pm      

No. 9 Cougars solve Union

The monkey is off Mountain State’s back.

The Cougars exorcised the demon of Union (Tenn.), which had won the last four meetings between the two schools, with an 83-67 win Monday night.

How big was the game?

Consider coach Bob Bolen, who took off his jacket moments into the second half.

“I can’t remember ever doing that,” Bolen said, jacket back in place after the game. “I guess it was the fact that we had a good crowd — and we needed them — and it was hot in here.”

So was Mountain State’s defense, which held Union — which shot 51.5 percent in the first half as it assumed a 43-38 lead — to just 25.9 percent shooting in the second half (7-of-27).

“That is the best team defense we’ve played in two years,” Bolen said. “We were intense on defense. I told our guys at the half that we were going to have to win the game on defense in the second half. And that’s exactly what happened.”

“That’s the first time this year that we’ve had all five guys playing great team defense,” added Ralph Legg, who was not in the starting lineup for first time this year. “We worked on team defense all week. That’s how we have to play.”

Legg came off the bench and contributed a double-double, with a game-high 23 points and 10 assists. Paul Wright added 22 points and Baker, who also didn’t start for the first time this season, added 14 points and 15 rebounds.

It started out much like the first MSU-Union battle, when Union went up 13-0 and then 31-6.

The Cougars missed their first nine shots of the game before Renardo Dixon drained a three at the 16:44 mark to make it 10-3.

MSU (17-4) came back, a Legg three finishing off an 11-0 run to close to within one, 17-16.

The Bulldogs would get the lead back to 13, 41-28 before MSU closed with a 10-2 run.

Wright might have made the shot of the game late, when his three went through right before the buzzer sounded. He got the ball on a turnover and had a breakaway. But instead of going to the basket, he wisely pulled up and got the shot off.

“I noticed there was two seconds left, so I didn’t have time to take it to the hole,” Wright said. “So I pulled up and knocked it down.”

That made it 43-38.

“We had some ball-handling errors late in the first half that were critical,” Union coach Ralph Turner said. “But we have no regrets. I think they simply won a real good basketball game tonight. It’s no shame to come in here and lose. How many games have they lost here? I think we’re the only team to beat them here in the last three years.”

The comeback started early in the second half, when Bolen lost his jacket and was hit with a technical for arguing a call.

“I think when Bob got his technical, that was a big point in the game,” Turner said. “I don’t know if it fired his kids up or not, but seven of the next eight calls went against Union. But that wasn’t why we lost the game.”

Down 50-46, MSU went on a 13-0 run, which included a Wright three-point play, a Tyrice Watkins three pointer, a Wright scoop shot and a Watkins slam. Eleven of the Cougars’ points came off Union turnovers or fouls during the run as MSU went ahead 59-50 with 11:22 left.

Union cut the lead to nine and went to the foul line for two shots but Dewayne Lee missed both.

After that, MSU got a leg up from Legg, who scored 11 of Mountain State’s next 13 points as the Cougars went up 72-57.

The Bulldogs, No. 11 in the most recent NAIA poll, could get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

“It’s a big win,” said Bolen, who gave the crowd a fist pump and yell at the end of the game. “I’m just happy that we could play at that level. I hadn’t seen that in a while. It was our speed against their strength and we were able to get it into an up-and-down game.”

“I’m not sure that it didn’t mean more to their kids than it did ours,” Turner said. “But I was happy to be a part of this game. You measure yourself against teams like that. So I’ll be happy going back on the bus tonight, thinking about how we measured up. Bob’s got one of the top three programs in the nation. I was kind of happy for him to see him so excited.”

Union (12-5), which had six players averaging in double figures coming in, had only three reach Monday. Brian Lake had 19 and Tony Brown and Ben Frederick added 12 each.

MSU begins play in the college division of the Coal Classic Thursday. The Cougars face Newport News Apprentice at 7 p.m. Voorhees will take on Southern Virginia at 5 p.m.

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com



MSU 83, UNION 67

UNION (12-5) 

Brian Lake 7-19 1-2 19, Dewayne Lee 3-5 2-6 8, Mack Bealim 1-6 3-4 5, Tony Brown 4-15 0-0 12, Pierry Valmera 4-6 1-2 9, Tacuma Alexander 1-3 0-0 2, Alan North 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Merriman 0-1 0-0 0, Ben Frederick 4-4 3-4 12. Totals 24-60 10-18 67.

MSU (17-4) 

Tyrice Watkins 3-8 2-2 9, Jarvis Jackson 3-6 1-2 7, Adron Marshall 2-7 0-0 4, Renardo Dixon 1-6 1-2 4, Paul Wright 9-19 2-3 22, Ralph Legg 6-13 8-9 23, Aaron Owens 0-0 0-0 0, Yusef baker 4-9 6-8 14. Totals 28-68 20-26 83.

Halftime—Union 43-38. 3-Point Goals—Union 9-34 (Lake 4-13, Bealim 0-3, Brown 4-14, Alexander 0-1, North 0-1, Merriman 0-1, Frederick 1-1), MSU 7-18 (Watkins 1-2, Jackson 0-1, Marshall 0-1, Dixon 1-2, Wright 2-6, Legg 3-5, Baker 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Union 43 (Lee 15), MSU 41 (Baker 15, Marshall 9). Assists—Union 19 (Bealim 5), MSU 19 (Legg 10). Total Fouls—Union 23, MSU 15. A—1,175.