Published: November 29, 2008 12:03 am      

Life restored, ready to challenge No. 3 Cougars

Don’t look now, but an NAIA monster is coming back to Life.

The Life University Eagles are back on the hardwood after a five-year hiatus and that is good for NAIA basketball and, for today, good for Mountain State University.

The Cougars and their national-leading scoring machine (100.8 ppg) take on the Eagles today at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. Tipoff is 4 p.m.

Life, which won back-to-back national titles in 1999-2000, lost its chiropractic accreditation and enrollment dropped, forcing monetary cutbacks. The accreditation has since been reinstated and so has the basketball program.

The Eagles (5-3) got a key win this season when they beat Union (Tenn.) 100-92. Union has twice beaten preseason No. 2 Robert Morris and three other preseason ranked teams.

“They have a potential national tournament team,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “They beat Union and I think Union should be the No. 1 team in the nation (when the first poll is released in early December). They’re back.”

Making this game key is the fact that Life is one of five new members of the Division I Independent Region. And only one of the region’s nine teams will receive an automatic bid to the national tournament in Kansas City.

“No doubt, it is a big, big game this early in the season,” said Bolen, whose team travels to Life (located in Marietta, Ga.) Jan. 31. “They are a solid, very athletic, well coached basketball team.”

John Barrett, who guided Life to the top of the NAIA in the 1990s, is back on the bench.

Still, Life has lost three games, to Berry (73-68), Shorter (80-74) and King (76-71).

Bolen had a simple explanation for how a team could beat Union and lose to three less prominent teams.

“It’s very hard to win college basketball games on the road,” he said.

MSU (7-1) suffered its only loss this season on the road, 89-73 at the University of the Cumberlands.

At home, the Cougars have been a juggernaut, scoring over 100 points in all seven games.

“We’re shooting the ball very well,” Bolen said. “We’ve gotten off to quick starts in several of those games and our opponents have had to change a little bit of what they want to do. We’ve done a lot of things right (at home) and that has to continue today.”

Anthony Pigram, coming off a career-best 38 point effort in a 110-90 win over Bluefield (30 in the second half), leads MSU with a 19.1 average. He is second nationally in three-pointers made per game at 4.6. Pigram is 37-of-83 (44.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Andrew Lee averages 16.6 and Bo Harris 15.9 and an Independent Region-best 9 rebounds per game.

Tony Brown (12.3 points, 7.1 assists) and Ermin Tarcin (7.8, 5.8 rpg) have been the other starters. Greg Grimes and Marcus Hunter average 9.6 ppg off the bench for MSU, which is averaging 104.6 points per game at home.

Life has all five of its starters scoring in double figures, led by Tay Barber’s 17.8 per game. Ken Moore averages 15, Greg Brown 11.8, JaQuan Bray 11.2 and Markecio Beal 10.8.

Jonathan Johnson and Ryan Daugherty average 9.5 and 9.0 off the bench.

“They’re going to press the whole court the entire game,” Bolen said. “Barber is a tremendous point guard. He’s quick and can shoot. Moore is strong inside with great post moves. The other three starters are extremely athletic. They are a very good team. It will be a great challenge.”

MSU will take to the road next Saturday, playing another Independent Region newcomer in Crichton.