Give Virginia Intermont credit.

The Cobras hung with NAIA No. 3 Mountain State as long as possible Tuesday night.

But one night after a physical matchup against WVU Tech, Intermont ran out of steam in the second half.

And that’s bad news against Bob Bolen’s points-a-plenty Cougars.

For the fourth time this season, MSU topped the 100-point plateau and came away with a 101-78 victory at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Intermont (0-3), with a pair of 12-point losses to Georgetown (Ky.) and Tech, cut the lead to four early in the second half and the Cobras trailed by five, 63-58, after a three-pointer by Nathaniel Hart.

But then the Cougars, buoyed by stout defensive play in the second half, came to life. Rod Green, hero of last year’s win over Georgetown in the NAIA semifinals, hit a pair of free throws, Tony Brown nailed a trey and Bo Harris converted inside to stretch the lead to 12.

After an Intermont basket, Anthony Lee had a basket inside, later added a free throw and A.J. Pigram hit two more to make it a 15-point spread.

Intermont never got closer than 11 after that.

“It’s like playing Duke and North Carolina back-to-back,” lamented Cobras coach Scott Hoagland near the end of the game.

“We had a real physical game with WVU Tech last night,” Hoagland said later. “I think our guys got tuckered out there near the end of the second half. But they are good. We want to play good competition and that right there is about as good as it gets.”

Pigram, who had 23 points to lead MSU, put the Cougars over the century mark with a steal and lay-in with 48 seconds left.

“I told the guys at the free throw line late in the game that we need the 100,” Pigram said. “Free tacos for everyone if we get the 100-point mark. But that was just a joke. We don’t really think of ourselves as a 70-80 point per game team. We think we are a little more explosive on offense than that.”

“A.J. can score,” Bolen, the MSU coach, said. “He was shooting well and got us out to a big lead (Pigram had 14 of the Cougars’ first 24 points as MSU built an early 24-10 lead) and we were relying on him. In the second half, they keyed on him and that opened up some other areas for us.”

Once again, the Cougars featured a balanced attack. Lee had 19, Harris had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Brown had 13 and Ermin Tarcin, who didn’t start for the first time this season, also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“More than scoring, I though Bo’s defense on (Aken) Price (22 points) in the second half was huge,” Bolen said. And (backup point guard) T.J. (Nesbitt) gave us a spark with his defensive play in the second half.”

And the Cougars finally showed a glimmer of rebounding ability, outboarding the Cobras 53-39.

“I think in the first half we were still in the WVU game (mentally),” Pigram said. “I did cool off as far as scoring, but when that happens, you have to make plays on the defensive end.”

Courtney White had 23 points to lead Intermont and Hart had 14.

MSU (4-0) plays Alice Lloyd at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. It will be homecoming for MSU, but also for a pair of former Woodrow Wilson plays, William Dillard and Corey Hairston, who are starters at Alice Lloyd.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com



Mountain State 101, Virginia Intermont 78

Virginia Intermont (0-3)

Jamaal Clarke 0-3 0-0 0, Courtney White 8-20 4-5 23, Kevin Champagne 0-2 0-0 0, Aken Price 8-14 3-3 22, Jamie McDaniel 2-5 0-0 5, Mario Lomax 0-1 1-2 1, Nathaniel Hart 4-9 5-7 14, Benjamin Mulkey 0-2 0-0 0, Jimmie Ross 1-3 0-2 2, Steven Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, DeShon Moore 0-1 0-1 0, Reginald Shaw 3-8 0-0 8, Jeremy Anderson 1-3 1-2 3, Delonte McDaniel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-71 14-21 78.

Mountain State (4-0)

Adison Mosquera 1-3 2-2 4, Anthony Pigram 6-11 7-8 23, Tony Brown 5-10 0-0 13, Andrew Lee 8-12 3-6 19, Bo Harris 4-11 6-6 14, Rashad Nesbitt 0-1 0-0 0, Marcus Hunter 2-9 2-2 6, Greg Grimes 2-4 0-0 4, Rod Green 2-3 4-6 8, Ermin Tarcin 4-8 2-8 10. Totals 34-72 26-38 101.

Halftime—MSU 51-45. 3-Point Goals—Virginia Intermont 10-34 (Clarke 0-2, White 3-9, Price 3-7, McDaniel 1-4, Hart 1-3, Mulkey 0-2, Ross 0-1, Moore 0-1, Shaw 2-5), Mountain State 7-25 (Pigram 4-8, Brown 3-5, Lee 0-1, Harris 0-2, Nesbitt 0-1, Hunter 0-4, Grimes 0-2, Tarcin 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Virginia Intermont 39 (Hart 7), Mountain State 53 (Harris 11, Tarcin 10). Assists—Virginia Intermont 17 (Clarke 7), Mountain State 22 (Brown 8). Total Fouls—Virginia Intermont 18, Mountain State 21. A—2,933.