Published: March 19, 2008 11:31 pm      

MSU takes long route to tournament win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — I have long maintained that any time you go to a Mountain State game there is a chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.

Wednesday at historic Municipal Auditorium, the Cougars again pulled a first.

In going to double overtime against Olivet Nazarene, MSU went to two extra sessions for the first time in school history.

“I remember a couple of overtime games, but that’s the first double OT game I can recall,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said.

“We’re just happy we were able to get out of that game with a win, whether it was regulation or five overtimes.”

And the Cougars had to overcome some serious obstacles to get to the second round and a matchup with upstart Wayland Baptist, which upset No. 12 seed Martin Methodist Wednesday morning.

One was a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer by Tyler Wallenfang at the end of regulation. On the year Wallenfang had hit just four-of-22 treys (.182 percent). The shot was all of 28 feet with good defense employed by the Cougars.

How about playing the second overtime without Adron Marshall (17 points and 10 rebounds) and big Jason McGriff (10 points, seven rebounds) as well as Tyrice Watkins, who picked up his fourth foul two minutes into the second half and never returned? Watkins played just nine minutes in the game.

In fact, the Cougars played the second overtime with just two starters — James Spencer and Jarvis Jackson — on the floor with Papa Gassama, Ermin Tarcin and Ralph Legg.

The foul trouble meant a career-best 41 minutes from Tarcin and he responded with 13 points and nine rebounds.

It also meant extra time for Gassama. The big senior had missed the last four games with a hand injury. He didn’t have a point, but he had four overtime rebounds.

Legg also logged 22 minutes.

The MSU bench is apparently longer than originally expected, and while Gassama and Legg didn’t score, their presence — especially defensively — was huge.

MSU also displayed toughness in going head-to-head, mano-a-mano with Olivet in what was a physical game that saw 53 fouls called and four players disqualified with five fouls (two from each team).

That trait will serve the team well the rest of the way.

Spencer and Jackson took over offensively in the second extra period and it was enough.

“We always talk about taking over games in the room before games,” Spencer said of him and road roomie Jackson. “Today, with Adron and Jason in foul trouble, it just came down to us having to take over the game. And we did that.”

MSU has an excellent shot to get to the Elite Eight with an early-morning win over Wayland Baptist Friday.

The Cougars haven’t been to the Elite Eight since 2005.

“Survive and move on,” Jackson said. “Whatever we need to do. We can’t afford to come this far and go out like that.”

“We packed for seven days,” said Spencer, a candidate for national player of the year and a shoo-in to be a first-team All-American. “You don’t want to come out here packed for seven days and then have to drag all that stuff back.”

Wherever you derive your motivation from, I guess.

Charlie Harford, a college official who lives in Hinton, is working the national tournament. He called the Wayland Baptist-Martin Methodist game.

And did a good job.