By Dave Morrison
Register-Herald Sports Editor
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
So much for those opening-game struggles.
Mountain State’s Nick Aldridge saw to that.
In one of the top performances by an MSU player in the national tournament, Aldridge had 32 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as MSU rolled over Bacone (Okla.) 105-78 Wednesday in the opening round of the 73rd annual NAIA National Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.
“I kind of had a feeling that some of the guys might be a little nervous, being their first tournament,” Aldridge said. “In my mind, I wanted to do whatever it took for us to win. Being a senior, I didn’t want this to be my last game. And I didn’t want to let the team down. Today, what it took happened to be a few more points than usual. But I credit the guys for getting me the ball. And when they collapsed on me, it was my turn to get them the ball.”
Aldridge scored the first five points of the game and 13 of the Cougars’ first 24.
Up 24-20, the Cougars unleashed their other weapons — Winston Robinson, Barry Wellington and Marcus Hunter — on an 8-0 run that saw the Cougars go up 13.
The Warriors would close to within eight late in the half, but Aldridge closed the half like he opened it, with a two and a three at the buzzer to make it 50-37 at the break.
The Warriors kept it at 13 — 80-67 — before an 11-2 MSU run put the game in the Cougars’ control.
“They tried to play Nick honest to start the game,” MSU coach Bob Bole said. “When they decided to collapse on Nick, he did a good job of getting the ball to his teammates. We played well in spots, and Nick was Nick. He was tremendous.”
“Aldridge and Ronnie Battle (the Warriors’ leading scorer) were one-two in the nation in scoring, and I told Ronnie after the game that Aldridge brought an array of ways to score to the national tournament,” Bacone coach Alan Foster said. “We’re a jump-shooting team; it’s what got us here. But Aldridge, he was scoring in the post, shooting jumpers, getting to the foul line. It was quite a performance.”
His wasn’t the only one.
MSU had six players in double figures.
Hunter had 16 and eight boards, Brian Ormon had 13 and seven boards, Winston Robinson had 11 points and Andrew Lee and Barry Wellington had 10 each. Wellington also added six assists.
MSU outrebounded the smaller Warriors 53-32.
“They killed us on the boards,” Foster said. “I thought as the game went on they started to wear us down, being so much bigger. They were getting second and third chances and we were getting one.”
Bolen also cited the team’s defense. Battle had 24, right at his average, but he was limited to four rebounds. Chad Tyler added 22.
“We held them to 40 percent shooting and we dominated the boards,” Bolen said. “That was our two keys coming into the game. I thought if we could do that we’d be OK.”
“Everybody knows we struggled in the past in those first games,” Aldridge said. “We wanted to come out and set the pace and own the boards and we did that.”
The Cougars seem to be hitting stride at the right time. It was the third straight game MSU had topped the century mark and the 14th time this season.
“It did take a while for us to get going,” Wellington said. “Nick came out scoring, and after we got over the first-game jitters, we kind of settled into the game.”
MSU (29-2) will face Southern Polytechnic (27-5) at 11:45 a.m. EDT Friday. Southern Poly beat Oklahoma City 78-70 in the opening game of the tournament.
