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MSU
soars past Lions 92-83 in final game at D.L. Ligon
Kris
Sivertsen was not going to allow Texas A&M - Commerce to ruin his
last game at D.L. Ligon Coliseum Friday night. The 6-8 forward celebrated
Senior Night by draining seven three-pointers en route to a season-high
27 points as MSU tamed the Lions, 92-83. But as good as Sivertsen
was - especially in the first half when he sank four three-pointers
in the opening four minutes - the Indians still needed a gutsy second-half
performance by Josh Drumgole to hang onto the victory. “I don’t think
you can say enough about Josh Drumgole,” MSU coach Greg Giddings said
of Drumgole’s 21 second-half points. “He made some great plays down
on the offensive glass and really saved us.” Midwestern State jumped
out to an early lead, thanks mostly to a scorching Sivertsen. His
barrage of three’s gave the Indians a 14-4 lead early on, and after
a couple of lay-ups by Marquette Wilkins and a three-pointer from
Jovani Allen, the Indians held a 29-8 lead. But the Lions, who entered
the matchup on a two-game losing streak, battled back, cutting the
deficit to 13 before Justin James hit a jumper at the buzzer to put
MSU up, 46-31, at the half. Sivertsen began the second half the same
way he did the game, connecting on two three’s and a lay-up that allowed
the Indians to go up 60-38 with 16 minutes remaining. If not for foul
trouble, Sivertsen may have contended for the MSU record of nine three-pointers
by Damion McKinney in 1996. “Kris played really well,” Giddings said.
“I was really happy for him to have a nice last game. It was important
for us to get off to a good start, and we did. It was a key for us
winning the game.” Texas A&M-Commerce kept chipping away at the lead
as Lion forward Jason Summers came alive with 20 second-half points,
including a pair of ferocious dunks. With both James and Sivertsen
on the bench with four fouls, the Lions went on a 26-9 run that pulled
them to 74-71 with 5:50 left in the contest. “You want to have as
many options available as possible, and we were limited on what we
can do because a couple of our guys were in foul trouble,” Giddings
said. But with the game on the line, Drumgole became the star. The
junior, who only played five minutes in the first half, hit a pair
of free throws that put MSU ahead 76-71. Drumgole then notched eight
more points and seven valuable rebounds down the stretch, as Texas
A&M–Commerce could only watch MSU improve to 8-17 on the year. “We
didn’t fold, and a lot of that credit goes to Josh Drumgole,” Giddings
said. “We missed some shots, and then J.D. got them and put them back
in for us.” Drumgole finished with 21 points and nine boards, most
of which occurred in the second half. Wilkins quietly scored 17 points
and had five assists, while P.J. Randall had 10 points. The Indians
shot 52 percent from the floor, including 47 percent from beyond the
arc, while the Lions struggled (18.8 percent) from three-point range.
The win closed out the Indians’ season at home, where they finished
5-7. More importantly, it still gives MSU a slight chance at taking
the fourth spot in the LSC South. If MSU can beat Angelo State and
Abilene Christian next week on the road, where they are 2-9, then
the Indians could possibly slip into that last spot with a tiebreaker.
We’re still barely alive, but we are alive,” a jubilant Giddings said
after the game. “It all worked out, and we are just tickled pink.
It’s hard to win in this conference. And we’ve struggled all year
to win close games. We’re excited we were able to pull this one out.”
Three-pointers
guide Lady Indians by Commerce 89-79
When the Lady Indians were allowed to live by the three, the Texas A&M-Commerce Lady Lions died by the three Saturday night. Kristin Ramsey, Haley Hobson and Meosha Walker combined for a season-high 11 three-pointers en route to an 89-79 win at home. The only leads the Lady Lions had was a 2-0 advantage at the beginning of the game off a jumper by Toyelle Rickson and then again on a jumper by Jessica Gamez to make it 4-3 after a Meosha Walker three-pointer. MSU took the lead on a three by Haley Hobson, one of her four bombs of the night, to make it 6-4 and never looked back. “We got a lot of three-point shots last time we played them,” head coach Shannon Burks said. “(Commerce coach Denny Downing) did trap us a lot and played a lot of different zones. I think he threw the kitchen sink at us basically. “I thought we did a good job of recognizing different defenses.” Jel-ani Armstrong started the second half with a two-pointer off the glass and a turnaround jumper to extend the lead to 48-34. Ramsey hit a two-pointer of her own as the Lady Indians went up by 16 points. Then Lady Lion Amy Putman would score 10 points in just over three minutes. But MSU would pull away with a Hobson three-pointer from the corner and two quick-release three’s by Ramsey to put the Lady Indians ahead 61-46. “I thought everyone did a good job out there,” Burks said. “Jel-ani and Adrian (Fincher) and Kelly (Woodward) and Meosha and Octavia (Holmes) all played well. And Haley and Kristin shot the ball really well.” The win also put the Lady Indians in position to set season highs in 3-pointers attempted with 23. Ramsey had a season-high 21 points for the second time in the last four games. Armstrong also grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds. Armstrong led the Indians with 24 points while Walker finished with 17 points and a 3-for-3 night from downtown. Hobson finished the game with 14 points before fouling out, and Ramsey had 21 points and five assists. Putman led the Lady Lions with 20 points. Chianti Jackson finished the game with 17 points, Vivian Chandler had 13 points and Rickson was good for 12 points on the night. The win pushes the Lady Indians to a 20-5 overall record and 11-1 in the Lone Star Conference South. The loss drops the Lady Lions to 6-19 on the season and 2-10 in the LSC South. “When you only play 27 ball games, having 20 wins is the mark of a pretty successful team,” Burks said. “It’s gotten a lot tougher to win 20.” MSU tied for first place in the LSC South after West Texas A&M beat the Angelo State Rambelles 67-63 Saturday night. MSU and ASU play Thursday night in San Angelo. Midwestern State will charter a bus for fans wanting to attend the men’s and women’s basketball games Thursday night. The bus leaves at 1 p.m. and returns after the games are over. The cost is $5 per person with a student I.D., which will include include tickets and pizza once arriving in San Angelo. For more information, call the MSU Department of Athletics at 397-4779.
Referees need to avoid the big picture
It doesn’t matter if you’re for the home team or rooting for the opponents. One thing that always seems to bring a basketball crowd together is the dislike of officials. The home team graces the court. One side boos while the other cheers. Doesn’t take long into the game before everyone has screamed at a ref. What makes us not like the zebras with whistles? If it’s not lack of calls, it’s the calling of too many. A fellow Indians’ fan was ejected from the men’s game against Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday for taking the rap because of someone else’s actions. Another fan threw a small object on the court in front of the official, who had just called a supposed foul on Justin James, causing him to foul out of the close contest. The refs called the security guards over to eject the wrong person, who stood up for the team and the fans, and went falsely, but willingly, to pacify the officials. The foul was one of 27 called against the Indians that night. An Indian has fouled out of a game 23 times, with Josh Drumgole leading with seven. The Lady Indians and Lady Lions of Texas A&M-Commerce combined for 50 fouls in a game that the refs called similarly to a high school contest the same night. The lack of a call will always send the crowd into a frenzy, whether it merely be for the call or for the safety of a player. Mark Cuban, the in-your-face owner of the Dallas Mavericks, makes no apologies for his mouth. Cuban racked up over $500,000 in fines (which he turns around and matches towards charity) in the Mavs 2000-2001 season. Unfortunately, we don’t all have that kind of money to ensure our freedom of speech. But exactly what did he do to deserve a $500,000 fine from the NBA front office in January of 2001? Did he draw a moustache on Tim Duncan in the media guide? Did he run out to mid-court and discard one of his many Mavericks jerseys (something best left to former Mav Dennis Rodman)? No to both. He spoke his mind when he said that he wouldn’t hire league head ref Ed Rush to “manage a Dairy Queen” after a call that helped San Antonio beat Dallas. I guess $500,000 is the going rate for free speech in America now. Cuban said what everyone else felt; that the officials’ interest was not in improving the game, but maintaining power. They control the pace, the flow and to a certain extent, the outcome. On average, an NBA game features 40 personal fouls, along with an untold number of non-shooting and technical fouls; basically, a foul for every minute of action. Maybe Cuban is right. Some of the NBA’s “stars” seem to get away with calls such as hand-checking, setting a moving pick and carrying. Yes, even “The Answer” carries the ball. The hard fouls have gotten out of hand, though common sense calls are long forgotten. It’s human nature to hold a grudge. But sometimes it seems that officials carry that grudge into a game. Would the Mavericks get more favorable calls with a less vocal owner or a less animated coach in Don Nelson? It seemed like every time I turned on a game last year, Nellie was being ejected. Maybe the officials like to hold grudges against tough, respectable coaches like Pat “He Hate Me” Riley. The Miami Heat coach was fined $50,000 in December for saying the officials were being unfair to his team because of a dislike for him over the years. Riley said that when you “exercise freedom of speech and they don’t like it, they come down hard on you.” Refs need to learn that they are a side attraction and not THE attraction. No one goes to the game to put down their hard-earned money thinking, “Wonder who’s officiating tonight?” Instead of worrying about how much time the refs will get on camera and trying to scare up their 15 minutes of fame, why don’t they actually enforce the rules? Instead of inflating their own self importance with insignificant fouls and theatrical antics worthy of the WWE, why don’t they start calling things like, say, traveling for once? Ah, the things overlooked in referee school that we pay for now. Sometimes it’s amazing how official rule books are not made in Braille.
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