From staff reports
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The first one is in the books.
Mountain State University used a 24-6 run over the first 9:30 of the second half to open a 61-36 lead en route to an 87-58 win over Allen (S.C.) in the Independent Region tournament Friday at Claflin College.
Mountain State (27-3), ranked No. 3 in the latest NAIA poll, led 37-30 at the half. Allen led 19-17 in the first half before MSU outscored the Yellowjackets 20-11 the rest of the way to lead at the break.
“We didn’t play well in the first half; we looked lethargic,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “But we picked it up in the second half and we played a lot better. For whatever reason, it took us a while to get started.”
But when they did get started, the Cougars hit on just about everything they put up.
MSU shot 70.4 percent in the second half (19-of-27), including 6-of-10 from three-point range.
Bo Harris led the Cougar charge with 18 points and nine rebounds. He had 10 in the first half.
“Bo was a big key for us tonight,” Bolen said. “He played really well.”
Independent Region player of the year Andrew Lee had 16 points and nine rebounds, Tony Brown had 112 and Nick Aldridge 11.
Allen’s Byron Littlejohn had 15 points.
Mountain State outrebounded Allen 37-25 and finished the game hitting 32-of-56 shots, the Cougars’ ninth straight game of hitting better than 50 percent from the field.
The Cougars will face Life at 4 p.m. today in the semifinals. The Cougars beat Life twice in the regular season — 102-86 in Beckley on Nov. 29 and 106-102 in Marietta, Ga., on Jan. 31.
