Brown, Cougars roll by Maryland Bible

By Dave Morrison

Mountain State University point guard Tony Brown has something none of his teammates have. In fact, it’s a rare find in the ranks of the NAIA overall.

He owns a win over MSU — in Beckley. The former Union (Tenn.) guard helped Union beat MSU last winter at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Very few teams come in the BRCCC and beat the Cougars.

Maryland Bible was the latest to try, visiting MSU Saturday. But the result was typical, a 101-61 Cougar victory in front of 1,117 fans.

Brown, who transferred from Union to MSU, finished with 16 points and 11 assists.

“I had a good game up here a couple years ago and then we had the win last year,” said Brown, who was 2-2 against Mountain State. “But I can’t say how happy I am to be here. These guys accepted me as soon as I got here and they treated me like a brother.”

And he treated his teammates the way a good point guard would. He was 6-of-8 shooting on the day and his 11 assists came with just one turnover.

“I thought he played like a typical Mountain State point guard,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “He didn’t play well on defense in the first half and I think he would agree with that. But he shot the ball well, got the ball to the open man and played a lot better defense in the second half.”

Brown was surprised he had so many assists.

“But we have so many guys who can score on this team, I guess it shouldn’t be (surprising),” Brown said. “We’re a very unselfish team. And if A.J. (Pigram) or Greg (Grimes) or somebody else is hot, we’re going to get them the basketball.”

Pigram was hot in the first half with 16 points as the Cougars built a 53-33 lead at the break.

From there, the Cougars cruised to the century mark for the second straight game, with Vedrin Zivic doing the honors with 45 seconds left.

MSU’s biggest lead of the game was 42 points, 93-51, with 4:04 left.

“We knew what we were getting into,” said Maryland Bible coach Jim Pearce, who carried a Bible to the bench prior to the game. “We could play a lot of teams we could beat, but we want to play the best. And we know what kind of program they’ve built here.

“We’re a school that likes to give kids who maybe need a second chance an opportunity to play basketball. And if we can spread the word of God, play a little basketball and have some fun, then I think we’re accomplishing the right things.”

The Cougars led in most offensive categories and shot 51.7 percent for the game (40-of-77).

Typically, Bolen saw several areas that need to be corrected.

“We shot the ball better, which is good,” he said. “But we didn’t rebound the ball well (a 45-44 advantage). That is a major concern. We didn’t contain (MBC’s Terry) Hosley (who had a game-high 21 points) at all in the first half. We have a lot of corrections to make.”

Bo Harris led MSU with 17 points and nine rebounds, Pigram and Brown had 16, Andrew Lee had 13, Marcus Hunter 11 and Grimes 10.

Gregory Moore and Michael Simoa had 12 each for MBC.

Maryland Bible (0-1) is at WVU Tech today. MSU (2-0) hosts West Virginia Wesleyan at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Cougars play an exhibition game at WVU at 1 p.m. next Saturday.

Maryland Bible College 61

Charles Knox 0-1 0-0 0, Terry Hosley 9-25 0-0 21, Gregory Moore 0-3 0-0 0, Kevin Green 5-11 2-2 12, Devin Jones 1-4 1-4 3, Joshua Horton 0-1 1-4 1, Kevin Taylor 3-10 1-3 7, Aerion Slocomb 1-2 0-0 2, Michael Simoa 4-10 1-3 12, Alan Carr 1-2 1-2 3. Totals: 24-69 7-18 61.

Mountain State 101

Anthony Pigram 6-13 0-0 16, Tony Brown 6-8 2-2 16, Andrew Lee 6-10 0-0 13, Bo hArris 6-10 4-4 17, Ermin Tarcin 0-2 0-0 0, Adison Morquera 2-3 3-5 7, Rahad Nesbitt 1-1 0-0 2, Marcus Hunter 5-11 0-0 11, Daniel Scott 0-1 0-0 0, Vedrin Zivic 2-2 0-0 4, Josh Wamsley 0-1 0-0 0, Greg Grimes 4-11 0-2 10, Rod Green 2-4 1-1 5. Totals: 40-77 10-14 101.

Halftime score: MSU 53-33. Three-point goals: MB: 6-17 (Hosley 3-7, Moore 0-1, Taylor 0-2, Simoa 3-6, Carr 0-1); MSU: 11-28 (Pigram 4-8, Brown 2-3, Harris 1-1, Hunter 1-4, Scott 0-1, Wamsley 0-1, Grimes 2-8. Rebounds: MB: 44 (Green, Taylor 7); MSU: 45 (Harris 9). Assists: MB: 11 (Knox, Jones 4); MSU: 26 (Brown 11). Fouled out: MSU: Tarcin.