Marshall, Cougars beat Alice Lloyd, 96-69

By Dave Morrison

In what can only be described as a strange switch, Mountain State’s Adron Marshall said he wasn’t going to let a couple acquaintances come into his house and win a game.

The strange part?

The two were Alice Lloyd’s William Dillard and Corey Hairston. And, truth be told, the Woodrow Wilson alums had played more basketball at the armory than anyone playing in the game Saturday.

But Marshall was true to his word, leading the Cougars to a 96-69 win over the visitors, thus ruining, if only partially, Dillard’s and Hairston’s homecoming party. Marshall had 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting and grabbed nine boards and dished out seven assists.

“The last thing we wanted was to let them come in here and win,” Marshall said. “I know it was a big game for them, playing in front of family. But we know those guys really well. We didn’t want to go all (next) summer hearing about how they came back and knocked us off.”

Hairston and Dillard are both summer regulars at MSU’s open gym.

Though the rest of his teammates started stagnant, Marshall was hot early, scoring 14 of MSU’s first 20 points.

MSU scored the first eight points of the game but then watched as the game was tied at 10, 12 and 14.

MSU then went on a 15-0 run — Marshall had a couple of baskets on the run and scored 14 of MSU’s first 20 points — and never led by fewer than double digits the rest of the way.

“I got into the flow really early,” Marshall said. “My shots were falling, so I kept shooting.”

Scoring wasn’t a problem for MSU, which placed three scorers in double figures, led by James Spencer’s 30 (20 in the second half). Tyrice Watkins added 12. The Cougars wound up hitting 38-of-72 from the field.

Defense, though, was a different story.

After gaining a double-figure lead, the Cougars had trouble containing Dillard, who sliced and diced through the MSU defense for 13 points and eight assists. Hairston led the Eagles with 15 points and six boards.

“Defensively, this was the worst game we’ve played this season,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “There was just no intensity. I don’t know why. If I knew why, I would have fixed it. Will had a lot of success driving the lane and we never had any help defense.”

The Cougars (4-0) will be at home Tuesday, hosting Rio Grande at 7 p.m.

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com

MOUNTAIN STATE 96, ALICE LLOYD 69

ALICE LLOYD (1-4)

Preston Simon 4-7 2-2 13, William Dillard 5-9 3-6 13, Carey Hairston 7-14 1-1 15, William Jones 2-9 2-2 7, Rodney Mitchell 5-16 4-6 14, Casey Dalton 0-0 0-0 0, Eric Mullins 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Lindon 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Day 1-4 1-2 3, Corey Dixon 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 26-64 13-19 69.

MOUNTAIN STATE (4-0)

James Spencer 11-21 5-9 30, Jarvis Jackson 1-3 0-0 2, Tyrice Watkins 5-12 2-2 12, Adron Marshall 10-15 3-3 24, Jason McGriff 2-5 0-0 5, Ralph Legg 1-3 0-0 3, Floyd Woods 0-0 0-0 0, Denzel Lyles 2-4 0-0 5, Vedrin Zivic 1-1 0-0 3, Papa Gassama 0-3 1-2 1, Rod Green 3-3 0-0 6, Ermin Tarcon 1-2 3-4 5. Totals 38-72 14-19 96.

Halftime—Mountain State 43-27. 3-Point Goals—Alice Lloyd 4-11 (KSimon 3-4, Hairston 0-1, Jones 1-5, Day 0-1), Mountain State 6-22 (Spencer 1-7, Jackson 0-1, Watkins 0-2, Marshall 1-2, McGriff 1-2, Legg 1-3, Lyles 1-2, Zivic 1-1, Gassama 0-1, Tarcin 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Alice Lloyd 34 (Hairston 6, Mitchell 6), Mountain State 44 (Marshall 9). Assists— Alice Lloyd 12 (Dillard 8), Mountain State 27 (Jackson, Marshall, Legg 7). Total Fouls—Alice Lloyd 19, Mountain State 14. A—1,327.