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Month: December 2014

Griffons’ upset bid comes up short against Central Oklahoma

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MWSUBig free throws in the final seconds helped MIAA-leading Central Oklahoma hold off a comeback effort by the Missouri Western men’s basketball team Saturday in the MWSU fieldhouse.  UCO held off the Griffons for a 62-57 victory over MWSU.

A free throw from Western’s Cortrez Colbert tied the game at 57 with 1:15 remaining. It was the first time the Griffons had not trailed since the 6:22 mark of the first half. Missouri Western never took the lead and the Bronchos made five free throws down the stretch to complete the five-point victory.

The Griffons drop to 5-5 on the season and 1-2 in the MIAA.

A 14-1 run in the final 9:29 of the first half proved to be too much for Missouri Western. The Griffons led 15:13 with just 11 minutes to go before halftime. The Griffons scored just three points the rest of the half as Central Oklahoma scored 14 to take a 27-18 lead to the break. The Bronchos stretched the lead to 10 early in the second half but Missouri Western was able to claw back before ultimately coming up short.

The Griffons shot 39 percent from the field, 13 percent from three-point range and 73 percent from the line. They forced 22 UCO turnovers and had 13 steals. The Bronchos dominated the boards, outrebounding the Griffons by 10.

For the second straight game, Cortrez Colbert led all players with 24 points. Colbert also finished with four rebounds and five steals. Kevin Thomas finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Dareon Jones added 12 points and four rebounds.

Missouri Western will enjoy a break from action with their next game coming on Jan. 3 at Washburn.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Bearcats win overtime thriller over Fort Hays State

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NWMSUBy David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – In a game it never trailed in, Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team definitely would have preferred to beat Fort Hays State in regulation.

But the Bearcats showed their grit and resiliency to overcome blowing a 13-point lead late in the second half and pulling it together in overtime for an impressive 74-66 victory Saturday evening at Bearcat Arena.

Christmas will certainly be merry for the Bearcats and their enthusiastic fans who showed up for an instant MIAA classic. The win sent Northwest into Christmas break 8-2 overall and 2-1 in conference.

“It is always nice to go into our seven days off with a positive memory, going out with a win, especially a big win against Hays,” said Northwest senior guard Matt Wallace. “If you lose, it is on your mind Christmas Day, thinking, man, we dropped that one.”

Leading only 52-48 with 8:04 left in the game, Northwest put on a clinic of doing the right things to increase its lead. It started with a nice pass from freshman Justin Pitts that led to an easy layup by senior Grant Cozad.

On the next offensive possession, junior Conner Crooker went strong to the basket for a layup, making it 56-48. Sophomore Zach Schneider followed with three free throws after he was fouled on a three-point shot.

And with 3:44 left, Cozad scored on another layup after receiving a great pass from Schneider, making it 61-48.

“When you know you have shooters on the wings that can knock it down, it makes our offense run that much smoother,” Cozad said. “We get the ball moving and Pitts is a playmaker. He can drive in the lane and give our shooters on the wing open shots. That helps our inside-outside game that much more.”

The Bearcats looked like they had the game won, but Fort Hays battled back. The Tigers were down 62-58 with one minute left and then proceeded to tied things up at 64 with 10 seconds remaining on a three-pointer by Jeremy Wilson.

Pitts potential game-winning three-pointer bounced off the front of the rim, sending the game into overtime.

The momentum rested with Fort Hays. Northwest, though, had something working in its favor.

“We knew since we were up the whole time, we knew we could get back up in overtime,” Crooker said.

Cozad put Northwest back in front with two free throws. The lead grew to five on a three-pointer by Crooker with 2:57 left in overtime.

“It was a big shot but Zach also hit a big one,” Crooker said. “It was big for me because I missed a couple earlier and I was a little shaky on my confidence.”

With 1:09 left, a three-pointer by Schneider gave Northwest a 72-66 lead and sealed the victory.

Pitts finished with 19 points, Schneider scored 18, Cozad had 17 and Crooker added 15.

“This helps us a lot and it is going to help us down the road,” Wallace said. “If we did this at the beginning of the season and got into overtime, we probably would have lost. It shows how much we have grown, coming back after messing up a few times. We are going to grow on that and keep getting better.”

Northwest never trailed in the first half, but went into halftime with a narrow 36-33 lead.

Through the midway portion of the first half, the Bearcats played as well as they possible could at this point in the season. When they took their lead from 12-9 to 25-11, four different players scored.

On the defensive end, Northwest forced Fort Hays into rushing its shot and the Bearcats were in position for the rebounds.

Fort Hays, though, is too good to be blown out of a conference game in the first half. The Tigers stormed back, scoring 12 straight to make it 25-23.

Northwest stopped the run with a three-pointer by Zach Schneider, making it 28-23. The rest of the first half, Northwest’s lead fluctuated from one to five points.

“For a young team to handle their runs and hold the lead is a testament to us,” Cozad said. “It shows how mentally strong we are, but there is a lot more room for improvement. We need to bring it in January.”

— Northwest Athletics —

Missouri Western women struggle in 79-64 loss to UCO

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MWSUCentral Oklahoma built a second half lead that was too much for the Missouri Western women’s basketball team to overcome on the way to a 79-64 loss to the Bronchos Saturday afternoon in the fieldhouse.

The loss dropped MWSU to 6-3 on the season and 1-2 in MIAA play.

The Bronchos made just one more field goal than the Griffons in their 15-point win. The difference was at the free throw line where Central Oklahoma took 30 foul shots to just 11 for the Griffons. UCO went 26-30 from the line with the Griffons finishing 8-11. UCO also outrebounded the Griffons, 38-28 and held MWSU to 39 percent from the field.

Chelsea Dewey led the Griffons with 20 points followed by Sarafina Handy’s 19. Mariah Jordan pulled down four rebounds, the most of any Griffon. Dewey also claimed five of the Griffons 12 total steals.

Missouri Western now gets a breather, not playing again until Jan. 3 when they travel to Washburn.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Tigers lose to Illinois on three-pointer at the buzzer

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riggertMizzouST. LOUIS (AP) — Illinois left the game in Rayvonte Rice’s hands. He didn’t need much of an opening.

Rice held the ball for the last shot and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer over two defenders for the last of his 19 points, giving the Fighting Illini a 62-59 victory over Missouri in the annual Braggin’ Rights game on Saturday.

“Ray obviously in the second half was an absolute monster on both ends of the court,” coach John Groce said. “I felt like he had that look in his eyes. We drew up a lot of things for him.”

Illinois (9-3) had a tougher time than expected against Missouri (5-6), which is rebuilding under new coach Kim Anderson. Rice also had seven rebounds and three assists, Ahmad Starks added 13 points and Malcolm Hil had 10.

“At first, I didn’t understand how big of a rivalry it was,” Rice said. “Fans can’t wait to go all year.”

Wesley Clark’s jumper from the key tied it with 17.8 seconds remaining but Missouri never got the ball back. Rice dribbled for several seconds before stepping up the key and drilling a fade-away shot over defenders Keith Shamburger and Johnathan Williams III. He watched the shot fall before getting mobbed by teammates.

“It was crazy because it was a tough shot from my angle,” teammate Malcolm Hill said. “I thought there was little chance for it to go in. When the buzzer sounds, I was like `That’s game!”

Missouri has tended to fade late but this time refused to fold after falling behind 42-36 when Starks scored on a drive with 12:46 left.

“In the past it’s turned negative. We’ve seen it. A little bit of a run and all of a sudden we’re down 10 or 12,” Anderson said. “I don’t want to be a program where we’re happy to lose, that’s not what this is.

“But I did watch some guys grow up and show what the can do.”

Williams had 15 points and eight rebounds for Missouri. Clark added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists and also tied it at 55 with 4:40 to go. He regained his starting spot because Namon Wright has been ill.

Wright had three points in 11 minutes.

Illinois was unranked for the pre-Christmas rivalry game for the second straight season after losing three of five, although two of the setbacks were to No. 15 Miami and No. 7 Villanova.

It was just the eighth time in 34 games in the series with neither team ranked.

Jakeenan Gant scored off an inbounds play with 3:34 left to give Missouri its last lead at 57-55. The Tigers didn’t score again until Clark tied it in the final seconds.

Illinois missed its first seven 3-point attempts but made two of its last three late in the half, with Starks connecting with 4.7 seconds left for a 32-30 lead.

—

TIP-INS

Illinois: The Fighting Illini prevailed despite going just 4 for 18 from 3-point range. Ahmad Starks topped double figures for the first time in nine games, though he was just 1 for 7 on 3-pointers. He entered averaging 7.3 points.

Missouri: Shamburger scored all five of his points in the final 1:36 of the first half, including two free throws after a technical foul. He’s 29 for 32 at the line.

UP NEXT

Illinois: Hosts Kennesaw State next Saturday.

Missouri: Faces Oklahoma State in Kansas City Dec. 30.

IN THE HOUSE

Usually the crowd is evenly split, half clad in orange and the other half in yellow. This year it was closer to 60-40 Illinois. There were a lot more empty seats than usual and 20,079 tickets was about 2,000 shy of capacity. … Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon were among the luminaries in the crowd.

— Associated Press —

CSU-Pueblo wins Division II football National Title in Kansas City

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CSPThunderWolfKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Colorado State-Pueblo didn’t have a football program seven years ago.

Now, there is none better in Division II.

Chris Bonner threw for 191 yards and a touchdown, Cameron McDondle ran for 113 yards and the ThunderWolves relied on some stingy defense to knock off previously unbeaten Minnesota State 13-0 on Saturday for their first national championship.

Paul Browning had five catches for 84 yards and the game’s lone touchdown for Pueblo (14-1), and Greg O’Donnell bounced back from an early miss to connect on his next two field goals.

“To be able to come through and end it like this, it’s beautiful,” Browning said. “Thank you to Pueblo for allowing us to have a football program. To do this, it’s just a mind-blowing experience.”

The victory capped a remarkable rebuilding job by ThunderWolves coach John Wristen, who played quarterback for the school when it was known as Southern Colorado in the early 1980s.

The program was disbanded along with several others in cost-cutting moves in 1985, and Wristen was brought on board in 2007 to revive it. Pueblo won four games the following year and simply kept improving, going unbeaten in the regular season the three previous seasons.

Each of those years ended in playoff disappointment, though. But after losing its only game to Fort Lewis earlier this season, Pueblo made sure to finish things off this time.

“Our defense was outstanding. Our offense made the plays they needed to,” Wristen said. “I was convinced if we understood the process, played as hard as you can and play for each other — and not being perfect, but fixing your mistakes — we had a chance to be here.”

Ricky Lloyd and Nick Pieruccini shared quarterback duties for the Mavericks (14-1), though neither of them was particularly effective. Running back Connor Thomas, who had more than 1,300 yards rushing this season, was held to just 25 yards on 10 carries.

The result was the first shutout in the Division II title game since 1997.

“That was one of the best defenses we’ve seen,” Lloyd said. “We just couldn’t get on a roll. We couldn’t get any drives sustained and when you can’t get drives sustained, it’s tough to score.”

The Division II title game moved this year from its longtime home in Florence, Alabama to Sporting Park, the $200 million soccer-specific home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City — which looked just fine dressed as a football stadium for the first time.

As expected, two of the nation’s best defenses took center stage early. Neither team crossed midfield until late in the first quarter, and the game was still scoreless midway through the second.

Both teams squandered chances, though. O’Donnell missed right on a 44-yard field-goal attempt, and Minnesota State’s Alden Haffar had his 27-yard attempt blocked.

O’Donnell finally broke the deadlock with a 27-yard field goal late in the half.

Minnesota State, which blew out Concord 47-13 in the semifinals, proceeded to go three-and-out for the second time in the half. Pueblo took advantage of good field position and briskly marched 69 yards, taking a 10-0 lead on Bonner’s 18-yard fade pass to Browning.

“Just saw a good mathcup out there with Paul. Any time I see that, I’ve been doing it all year, I’m going at him,” Bonner said. “Just a well-executed play.”

O’Donnell added a 24-yard field goal early in the second half to extend the ThunderWolves’ lead, and the same defense that shined in 10-7 semifinal win over West Georgia came through again.

For Minnesota State, it was a bitter ending to a remarkable season.

Todd Hoffner returned as coach after a two-year hiatus caused by some messy legal trouble, and the Mavericks put together a perfect regular season. They then advanced to the Division II finals for the first time, beating perennial powerhouse Pittsburg State in overtime along the way.

On Saturday, they finally ran into the first team they couldn’t beat.

“We didn’t come into the game satisfied. We came in to compete. We came in to win,” Hoffner said. “You get 60 minutes. You get one chance to compete, and if you don’t get it done, you have a result like you had today.”

— Associated Press —

Northwest women fall at home to Fort Hays State

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Northwest2013riggertBy David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – When Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team avoided turnovers, the offense flowed well.

Unfortunately, the Bearcats had too many turnovers to keep pace with Fort Hays State Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena. Northwest lost 71-52.

Too often, the Bearcats telegraphed their passes, which allowed Fort Hays players to get their hands in the passing lane and steal the ball. Other times, the Bearcats were simply careless.

Northwest committed 12 turnovers in the first half and that contributed to an eight-point halftime deficit.

The Bearcats needed to clean up the miscues in the second half to make a run at the Tigers. It didn’t happen. Northwest committed an additional 17 turnovers in the second half.

Northwest quickly fell behind 40-28 early in the second half and faced a double-digit deficit most of the final 20 minutes.

Every time the Bearcats appeared to gain some momentum, a turnover halted all potential scoring runs. Northwest shot the ball well in the second half, making 10-of-22 from the field for 46 percent.

The turnovers, though, allowed Fort Hays to take 10 shots more than the Bearcats.

One bright spot for Northwest was freshman forward Tanya Meyer. She came off the bench and scored 10 points.

Despite going into halftime down 36-28, Northwest put together one of its best half of basketball in MIAA play.

In the opening 12 minutes, the Bearcats matched Fort Hays on the offensive end. There were eight lead changes during that span. Shelby Mustain scored on the inside and Taylor Shull hit a few jumpers.

All the momentum was in favor of the Bearcats when Mustain scored to give Northwest a 16-15. Northwest failed to increase its lead on several occasions because of a few unforced turnovers.

Fort Hays regained the lead at 17-16, and then Northwest hit one of its cold spells that has hampered the Bearcats so far this season. The Tigers took advantage and extended their lead to 33-22.

Instead of letting the deficit get out of hand, the Bearcats battled back. Shull and Ariel Easton made back-to-back driving layups late in the first half that helped Northwest close to 33-28.

— Northwest Athletics —

Oubre leads No. 10 Kansas to easy win over Lafayette

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riggertKULAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Brannen Greene’s tardiness turned into an opportunity for Kelly Oubre Jr., and the freshman made the most of a surprise start for No. 10 Kansas.

Oubre had 23 points and 10 rebounds, leading the Jayhawks to a 96-69 victory over Lafayette on Saturday.

“Today was a confidence booster, something to get me started,” Oubre said. “I’m just going to keep doing the things I’ve been doing, be patient and enjoy the process.”

Greene was expected to start, but coach Bill Self yanked the sophomore forward from the lineup because he was late to a weightlifting session.

“He wasn’t going to start today,” Self said of Oubre. “That was a gift from Brannen Greene.”

Oubre was 9 for 15 from the field in his second start of the season. He also was in the starting lineup on Nov. 18 against No. 1 Kentucky and had six points in just 13 minutes in the Jayhawks’ 72-40 loss.

Wayne Selden Jr. finished with 12 points, all in the second half for Kansas (9-1). Freshman Svi Mykhailiuk and junior Jamari Traylor each had 11 points, and freshman Cliff Alexander had 10.

“Everybody had a great week leading up to it,” junior Hunter Mickelson said. “We’re on break, everybody’s finishing up finals. I think putting all that together with everyone else having a great week, just kinda fitting in with getting everything right. We just had one of those weeks.”

Seth Hinrichs led Lafayette (7-3) with 15 points and seven rebounds.

“They’re the 10th-(ranked) team in the country,” Hinrichs said. “We competed for 30 minutes and I think we can be proud of that. We had a few turnovers and they went on a run.”

Kansas played without freshman Devonte’ Graham because of a toe injury, and junior Perry Ellis was limited to seven minutes in the first half.

“I don’t think Ellis felt well today,” Self said. “Something was up.”

Kansas used a 19-4 run to open a 26-11 lead with 8:43 remaining. Mykhailiuk made consecutive 3-pointer to increase the Jayhawks’ advantage to 45-28 at the break.

The Leopards rallied in the second half, closing to 59-52 on Monty Boykins’ 3-pointer. But Kansas pulled away again.

“We worked so hard to get back in the game and all of a sudden they would go right back up and quickly,” coach Fran O’Hanlon said. “I do think there was a point where they were battling against a good team. It was going to be hard to get back in that game.”

Kansas responded with a 15-4 run. Mason had two jumpers in the surge.

“When they made their run and we weren’t playing very well, the only reason why the game wasn’t closer because of Frank,” Self said.

TIP-INS

Kansas: The Jayhawks shot 50 percent (38 for 76) from the field and outrebounded the Leopards 44-26.

Lafayette: The Leopards are 0-3 against Big 12 opponents since O’Hanlon took over in 1995.

UP NEXT

Kansas visits Temple on Monday.

Lafayette hosts the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Dec. 28.

STAT LINES

Six different Jayhawks scored in double figures.

QUOTABLE

“I learned a lesson. I’m not gonna tell you guys who I’m starting.” — Bill Self

— Associated Press —

Kansas State defeats Texas A&M at Sprint Center

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riggertKStateKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Texas A&M owned the stat sheet, but Kansas State owned the scoreboard.

The Aggies (7-3) had more rebounds, assists, points in the paint, and points off turnovers, and had half as many turnovers as the Wildcats (7-4), but the only stat that mattered was the final score, which showed Kansas State as a 71-64 winner in the Wildcat Classic at the Sprint Center on Saturday night.

“We won every stat,” Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said following the game, “but we didn’t make enough tough plays when we needed to.”

Kansas State was in a de facto home game a little more than 100 miles from their Manhattan, Kansas campus, and the Wildcats used the partisan crowd to their advantage.

“Playing here is a special opportunity for our kids,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “I kept telling them that we had to take advantage of that. To have that crowd (14,884) was great, but we told them that they had to feed the crowd.”

Never was the crowd more a factor than when Wesley Iwundu grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and went end-to-end for a thunderous dunk. On the next play, he raced to get a pass that was too far in front of him and threw it over his head to teammate Nino Williams for an easy layup.

“I told him that’s the craziest dunk I’ve ever seen, in a game or watching a game,” Williams said. “He just took off.”

Williams was key for the Wildcats. He led the team with 17 points, and Weber called his game “efficient.”

“Nino was very efficient, like he’s been,” Weber said. “He knows his role. He’s a junkyard dog.”

Along with Williams, Thomas Gipson added 14 points, and Marcus Foster and Iwundu had 10 each. Texas A&M was led by Kourtney Roberson and Danuel House with 13 points each. Jordan Green had 11 and Alex Caruso 10.

“We fought at a high level,” Kennedy said. “Kansas State threw a lot of punches at us early. We responded too late.

“We’ve got pretty good character. We didn’t fold, and that was the best thing.”

The Wildcats saw their seven-point halftime lead trimmed to five points before an 11-2 run allowed them to put the game on cruise control. A 6-0 run by Texas A&M with just over four minutes remaining cut the lead to 61-54. The Wildcats missed six straight free throws to see the lead reduced to four points a couple of times, but held off the Aggies down the stretch.

Kansas State went inside early and often. After an opening 3-point basket by Justin Edwards, the Wildcats’ next nine field goals were inside the paint. It wasn’t until 6:16 remained in the first half that the Wildcats scored again from beyond 5 feet. Foster’s 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 31-20 lead, the largest of the half.

“That’s what they were giving us,” Weber said. “They stayed with Marcus because they weren’t going to let him beat them.”

Even the first six free throws during the opening run were generated by fouls on inside play. In all, 10 of Kansas State’s 14 first-half field goals were in the paint. The Wildcats shot a sizzling 82 percent from the field in the first half.

TIP-INS

Texas A&M: Saturday’s game was the fifth of the Aggies’ six nonconference contests against teams that played in the NCAA tournament last season. The Aggies are 2/3 in those games. … Texas A&M is 7-18 against Kansas State, with most of those games coming when the Aggies were part of the Big 12 Conference. It was the first matchup between the two schools since Texas A&M left the Big 12 following the 2011-12 season.

Kansas State: The Wildcats are now 107-76 all-time in Kansas City.

STAT LINES

Nino Williams, coming off Big 12 Conference Player of the Week honors, was one of four Wildcats in double figures. He’s looking forward to some time off over the Christmas break. “He’s got a case of `old man knees,” coach Bruce Weber said. “He’s got to continue to take care of those things. But he’s been in the system and he’s learned how to make big plays.”

UP NEXT

Texas A&M hosts Mercer on Dec. 30.

Kansas State hosts Texas Southern on Dec. 28.

— Associated Press —

6 MU fraternity members arrested

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COLUMBIA – Police have arrested six University of Missouri-Columbia students on suspicion of hazing during a hide-and-seek style game.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that officers were called to a residence hall after several students saw what they thought was a person being assaulted.

MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer says several fraternity members had chased down and grabbed two pledge members who were then put in a van. Weimer says one of the pledges had his hands tied behind his back, but neither person was injured.

He described the game as a version of hide-and-seek.

The men who were arrested ranged in age from 19 to 21. They were arrested and released on summonses.

Weimer says the pledges who were grabbed and put in the van aren’t pressing any charges.

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