Salem International certainly picked the wrong time to play Mountain State University.

But if you ask Tigers coach Andy Sorine, there might not be a right time.

“With the way they play and the talent they have, it’s hard to identify how they can have a night off,” Sorine said after Mountain State beat Salem 106-62 Tuesday night at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. “They play well and they play together and they are well coached. That was a beat-down.”

Actually, until Tuesday, the Cougars had been playing, well, mediocre, by MSU standards.

Tuesday night, the Cougars retained a bit of their old swagger.

Five Cougars scored in double figures.

Mountain State assisted on 28 of its 40 field goals and had just eight turnovers.

MSU shot 54.1 percent from the floor, hitting at least 50 percent of its shots in each half.

The Cougars had seven slam dunks and 12 three-pointers.

Sound familiar.

“We got back on rhythm,” said MSU’s Andrew Lee, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the game. “The difference? We passed the ball more instead of going down and just looking for the first shot. This is more the way we are supposed to play.”

And, oh yes, Mountain State even made 14-of-17 free throws.

“I thought we shared the ball,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “Nobody took more than 11 shots. We assisted on 28 of our field goals and only had eight turnovers. That’s good. Offensively, we made our shots. I thought we played an overall team game.”

In addition to Lee’s 20, Anthony Pigram and Nick Aldridge had 18 points each, Ermin Tarcin had 13 and Bo Harris 11.

Interest lies within those numbers as well.

For starters, Pigram scored his 18 by hitting 6-of-10 three-pointers, a welcome sight to the Cougars.

“He’s a shooter,” Bolen said. “Tonight it looked like he had his stroke back. We need him shooting the ball like that. It opens a lot of things for us when he is on like that.”

“A.J. got back to his usual game, knocking down those threes,” Lee said. “That had to be a big confidence booster for him.”

And Harris hit on 5-of-6 from the field, three of them slam dunks during a 17-6 run to start the second half that made an 18-point game at the break — 49-31 — a laugher early in the second half.

MSU’s big men — Lee, Nick Aldridge and Ermin Tarcin — combined to hit 18-of-25 shots and score 51 points.

The Cougar point guards — Tony Brown, Marcus Hunter and Rashard Nesbitt — had 13 assists and just three turnovers.

MSU had four players with three or more steals and had 15 in the game.

“It’s hard to come into Beckley, as undermanned as we are, and win,” Sorine, the former coach at North Marion High, said. “And that’s any team in Beckley. We just have to regroup and get ready for the (West Virginia Conference) tournament.”

Travis Sinclair had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Salem. Chris Carey, son of WVU women’s coach and former Salem men’s coach Mike Carey, had 16 and Ivan Jovcic had 10.

Tuesday’s total was the 13th time MSU had gone over the century mark and the 11th time at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

MSU travels to Southern Wesleyan (S.C.) Thursday before returning home for a 4 p.m. game with Lee University Saturday.



SALEM INTERNATIONAL (2-21)

Demetrick Walker 4-13 0-0 9, Nathan Kennedy 2-6 0-0 5, Travis Sinclair 8-14 1-2 18, Chris Carey 5-14 5-5 16, Milorad Adasevic 1-2 0-0 2, Ivan Jovcic 4-10 1-1 10, Adam Thorne 0-0 0-0 0, Emile Payne 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-62 7-8 62.

MOUNTAIN STATE (21-3)

Tony Brown 1-9 0-0 3, Marcus Hunter 2-8 0-0 5, Andrew Lee 8-10 4-5 20, Nick Aldridge 7-9 4-6 18, Bo Harris 5-6 0-0 11, Adison Mosquero 3-3 0-0 6, Anthony Pigram 6-11 0-0 18, Rashad Nesbitt 0-0 0-0 0, Daniel Scott 0-1 0-0 0, Vedrin Zivic 3-6 0-0 7, Josh Wamsley 1-3 0-0 3, Greg Grimes 1-1 0-0 2, Franklin Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Ermin Tarcin 3-6 6-6 13. Totals 40-74 14-17 106.

Halftime—MSU 49-31. 3-Point Goals—Salem 5-21 (Walker 1-4, Kennedy 1-5, Sinclair 1-1, Carey 1-5, Jovcic 1-6); MSU 12-29 (Brown 1-6, Hunter 1-5, Harris 1-1, Pigram 6-10, Zivic 1-4, Wamsley 1-2, Tarcin 1-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Salem 30 (Sinclair 12); MSU 43 (Lee 10). Assists—Salem 9 (Four tied with 2); MSU 28 (Brown 6, Hunter 6). Total Fouls—Salem 11; MSU 12. A—835.