Taking down Life was big score for Cougars in 2000

By Dave Morrison

Mountain State University coach Bob Bolen recalled it like it was yesterday.

It was, after all, a landmark win for the Cougars, who were just on the brink of becoming a national power in the NAIA.

The Cougars traveled to Marietta, Ga., for the Independent Region tournament and, on Life’s home court, walked away with the win.

The year was 2000.

Life wasn’t just No. 1 in the nation. It was the defending national champion and was on its way to another national title. The Eagles had a 50-game win streak at their gym, one tough place for visitors to register competitive games, much less wins.

“To get a win there, it was the greatest road victory up to that point in Mountain State (then The College of West Virginia) history,” Bolen said. “It wasn’t something that happened very often. We had come close before. The year they had (Jimmie) ‘Snap’ Hunter we lost by three. I wouldn’t say that anyone was shocked that we did it. We were getting close. But it was monumental for our team.”

Bolen went on to say that road wins at Concordia and Azusa Pacific in 2004 (the year the Cougars won the national title) would equal if not surpass that win.

It wasn’t even the Cougars’ signature win. That would be the win over then-No. 1 Georgetown in Beckley in 1998. It was that loss that spurred Tigers coach Happy Osborne to say he would never play here again because he played in a tough conference (which he does; the Mid-South is among the best in the country if not the best) and he couldn’t afford to go on the road and take a loss. Happy didn’t lie. He hasn’t been back since.

But, no doubt that the Life win was huge in helping the Cougars become the national power they now are, with a national title and three national championship appearances in the last six years.

MSU and Life meet again at 4 p.m. today at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Bolen has lamented the Cougars’ lack of rebounding prowess at times this season, yet the Cougars are No. 1 nationally in defensive rebounds and No. 2 in overall rebounds.

“Not the stat we look at,” Bolen said. “With our style (of play), there are going to be a lot of possessions. We look at rebounding margin.”

Say the Cougars have 54 rebounds and an opponent 45, that’s plus-9.

“And that would be OK,” Bolen said. “We look at that and defensive field goal percentage. If we give up 70 points, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re playing poor defense. Again, there are more possessions in our games, more chances to score.”

MSU has led the nation in that category the last five years.

Right now, MSU is ninth at 35.7.

“We led the nation a couple times at 38 percent,” Bolen said. “If we can keep it where we are now, that would be great.”

And no doubt the formula for continued success on the hardwood.

Mentioning Hunter early, I have long held he is the best MSU opponent I have seen in Beckley. He once poured in 44 points against the Cougars.

He may have gotten competition in that department.

Bluefield’s Curtis Dixon was the real deal with 35 points in his team’s 110-90 loss to MSU Tuesday.

“When he gets hot he is capable of making them in bunches,” Bluefield coach Jason Gillespie said. “I just hate that we wasted it in a loss.”

One day I’ll come up with an all-time visiting team and I’ll update my all-MSU team.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com