Published: February 19, 2008 11:39 pm         

Mountain State runs away from Voorhees

Once the onslaught started, Voorhees was almost powerless to stop it.

What had been a close game for 30 minutes turned into a rout as Mountain State ran away from Voorhees 94-75 Tuesday night at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

It was the 41st straight win at home for the Cougars. And it’s a feeling Voorhees coach Adrian Williams knows all too well.

“We’re 0 for the last five or six years here,” Williams said. “It seems like we’re always in the same arena, but we’re not quite on the same floor yet. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get another chance at the Independent Region tournament (next month in South Carolina).”

The Cougars, coming off their first loss of the season at Lindsey Wilson, seemed to go through the motions for most of the first half until a 6-0 run to end the half put MSU (25-1) up 41-35 at the break. It was the Cougars’ largest lead of the half.

The second half was much of the same until James Spencer hit back-to-back threes, the second with 11:37 left, that seemed to light a fuse.

Slowly, as the fuse burned down, MSU picked up steam.

At the 7:50 mark, the blast went off when Spencer followed up a missed run-out by Ralph Legg with a dunk.

What followed were four dunks as the Cougars built the lead to 16 points, 83-67.

Game, set and short losing streak over.

“The difference in the second half is we did a better job of pressing the ball and we were able to turn the tempo in our style,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “We got the game going up and down. Our guys are in pretty good shape, and if we can get the game turned up like that, it’s in our advantage.”

Spencer and Marshall were nearly unstoppable, each hitting 11-of-16 shots from the field. Spencer finished with 31 and Marshall had 25.

The deadly combo had 36 points in the second half as MSU went a combined 19-of-29 from the floor, including 16-of-22 from inside the arc.

Bolen praised the play of floor generals Jarvis Jackson and Legg.

“Any time you’re shooting the ball that well it means your point guards are getting the ball to the right people,” he said. “They combined for 12 assists (six each) and just five turnovers. I thought they ran the floor well tonight.”

Jason McGriff added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars and Tyrice Watkins had nine boards for a Mountain State squad that outrebounded the Tigers 38-30.

The Cougars had beaten Voorhees 92-85 on the road earlier this season. In that game, Antonio Bolton had 34 points. He was limited to 16 Tuesday night.

“We never could get our shooter going,” Williams said. “He didn’t feel comfortable all night. When he’s not on, it’s tough because he’s a good player.”

Corey Mikel led the Tigers with 20 points and Everett Pace had 13.

MSU is back in action at 7 p.m. Thursday at the convention center when Ohio Northwestern visits. Then comes the Saturday matchup with one-loss Lee at 4 p.m in the home finale.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com



No. 1 MSU 94, VOORHEES 75

VOORHEES (17-8)

Corey Mikel 7-14 3-4 20, Derrick Williams 1-4 2-2 5, Everett Pace 5-9 0-0 13, Jaason Clarke 1-2 0-0 2, Antonio Bolton 5-21 4-4 16, Hubert King 0-1 0-0 0, Tiachien Dickerson 1-3 0-0 3, Terrence Woodbury 2-4 4-4 8, Radee Tutler 3-5 2-3 8, Darrin Slinnary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 15-17 75.

MOUNTAIN STATE (25-1)

James Spencer 11-16 6-7 31, Jarvis Jackson 1-3 2-2 4, Tyrice Watkins 3-7 0-0 6, Adron Marshall 11-16 2-2 25, Jason McGriff 3-5 3-3 10, Ralph Legg 1-7 3-4 5, Denzel Lyles 0-2 0-0 0, Ricky Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Vedrin Zivic 1-1 0-0 3, Vaso Aleksic 0-0 0-0 0, Papa Gassama 0-0 0-0 0, Rod Green 1-1 0-0 2, Ermin Tarcin 3-5 0-0 8. Totals 35-64 16-18 94.

Halftime—41-35. 3-Point Goals—Voorhees 10-30 (Mikel 3-9, Williams 1-1, Pace 3-5, Bolton 2-12, King 0-1, Dickerson 1-2); Mountain State 8-26 (Spencer 3-6, J. Jackson 0-1, Watkins 0-4, Marshall 1-4, McGriff 1-2, Legg 0-2, Lyles 0-1, R. Jackson 0-1, Zivic 1-1, Tarcin 2-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Voorhees 30 (Clarke 6); Mountain State 38 (Watkins 9). Assists— Voorhees 11 (Tutler 5); Mountain State 23 (J. Jackson, Legg 6). Total Fouls—Voorhees 18; Mountain State 13. A—657.