Ogden Stories

[velochat]

ALAN MURRAY/Standard-Examiner

Montana State University's Matt Towsley (52) and Weber State University's Lance Allred fight for a rebound during Thursday night’s game in theDee Events Center.

Wildcats wipeout

Montana State hands WSU another loss

Fri, Jan 7, 2005

**********
Mont. St. 76
WSU 67
=Troy Goodell leads the Wildcats with 18 points
**********

By JIM BURTON
Standard-Examiner staff
jburton@standard.net

OGDEN -- Not that long ago, the Weber State Wildcats had one of those amazing, too-good-to-be-true dream seasons.

This time around, they're stuck living a nightmare.

Thanks to poor shooting in the first half and a frustrating eight-minute stretch in the second, Weber State suffered yet another loss, dropping a 76-67 decision to Montana State Thursday night at the Dee Events Center.

The Wildcats (4-9 overall; 0-2 Big Sky Conference) have now lost five in a row and eight of their last nine. That seems light years away from the 2002-03 season, when they went 26-6 and put together a string of 17 straight victories.

"When it rains, it pours," WSU coach Joe Cravens said. "One of these days, things will turn around and start turning our way pretty soon."

For it a while, it looked like things might turn out well for the Wildcats. Despite shooting just 27 percent in the first half and trailing by seven points at halftime, they staged a comeback early in the second half and took a five point lead with just over 10 minutes left to play.

Trouble ensued, however, and the Bobcats mounted a rally of their own. As the Wildcats got sloppy with the ball, MSU went on a 10-2 run to get back in the game.

The Bobcats (6-8; 1-0) scored on seven straight possessions late in the second half, but a few of those shots were more about good fortune than sharp shooting.

One 3-pointer was banked in and another came a second before the shot clock ran out. On another occasion, forward Marvin Moss sank a shot while falling backward.

"They hit about three or four really tough shots," WSU guard Terrell Stovall said. "We had good defense, hands up and good close out and they fell down for them."

Even so, the Bobcats made their shots and were much more efficient than the Wildcats, especially during the last 10 minutes.

MSU was led by guard Branden Miller, who hit four of his team's nine 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points. Moss added 18 points and five rebounds and guard Ja'Ron Jefferson finished with 15 points.

Senior Troy Goodell paced the Wildcats with 18 points and went 3-for-4 from beyond the 3-point stripe. Center Lance Allred had 17 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, all in 39 minutes of work.

Brett Cox went 3-for-8 from 3-point territory and finished with 11 points.

After struggling to make baskets in the first half, the Wildcats hit 14-of-25 from the field after halftime. MSU, on the other hand, shot 47 percent in the first half and 54 in the second.

Weber State's players know all too well that it's virtually impossible to win while allowing the other guys to hit half their shots. And, committing 13 turnovers doesn't make the situation any easier.

"With eight or nine minutes to go, I thought we just made too many fundamental mistakes," Cravens said. "We threw two 50-foot, length-of-the-court lobs for turnovers. We're just not seasoned enough to know how not to make those fundamental mistakes."

The Wildcats looked good through a few stretches of the second half, but the ugliness seemed to be everywhere during the first half, partly because of MSU's defense, but mostly because the Wildcats couldn't seem to hit even close-range shots.

Nor could they hit free throws.

WSU went just 8-for-30 from the floor and only 6-for-11 from the free throw line. As expected, the Bobcats often double-teamed the ball and collapsed on Allred every time he got the ball in the post.

Consequentially, Allred went 0-for-1 from the floor in the first half, but made six trips to the free throw line.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the big senior was just 3-for-6 from the stripe and went into the break with three points to go along with eight rebounds and two assists.

*********

MONTANA STATE 76, WEBER STATE 67

At Ogden

Montana State (76)

Dissly 1-5 1-2 4, Moss 7-11 3-3 18, Beye 3-6 0-0 6, Miller 8-14 2-2 22, Jefferson 5-7 3-5 15, Durham 1-5 0-0 3, Woodall 1-1 0-0 2, Holmes 1-4 0-0 2, Durr 0-0 0-0 0, Pratt 1-2 0-1 2, Towsley 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 29-58 9-13 76.

Weber State (67)

Goodell 5-8 5-7 18, Allred 4-6 9-13 17, Jenkins 2-7 0-0 4, Stovall 3-9 2- 3 8, Cox 4-10 0-1 11, Riggs 0-4 0-0 0, Silveira 0-2 0-0 0, Patten 4-9 0-1 9. Totals 22-55 16-25 67.

Halftime--Montana St. 31, Weber St. 24. 3-Point goals--Montana St. 9-22 (Miller 4-7, Jefferson 2-3, Durham 1- 3, Dissly 1-4, Moss 1-2, Holmes 0-2), Weber St. 7-23 (Goodell 3-4, Cox 3-8, Patten 1-2, Silveira 0-1, Riggs 0-2, Jenkins 0-3, Stovall 0-3). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--Montana St. 31 (Dissly 5, Moss 5, Jefferson 5), Weber St. 38 (Allred 15). Assists--Montana St. 15 (Dissly 4, Jefferson 4), Weber St. 15 (Stovall 5). Total fouls--Montana St. 18, Weber St. 14. A--4,107.




Copyright ©2004, Ogden Publishing Corporation

Spiralling Wildcats back to work vs. Griz

Weber State, 0-2, takes on 1-0 Montana

Sat, Jan 8, 2005

By JIM BURTON
Standard-Examiner staff
jburton@standard.net

OGDEN -- At this point, Joe Cravens doesn't have many viable options.

As his Weber State basketball team continues to spiral in the wrong direction, Cravens insists he's isn't looking for corners to cut. He figures the best thing to do is settle in and work hard to right the Wildcats' faltering ship.

"I'm going to come to work every day and try to get them better," Cravens said. "That's the only thing I know. I'm going to get to work earlier and so is my staff. We're just going to have to work a little harder."

On Thursday, Weber State suffered a frustrating 76-67 loss to Montana State at the Dee Events Center. The loss was the Wildcats' fifth in a row and it dropped them to 0-2 in the Big Sky Conference.

Although the season is still young, WSU likely can't afford to fall to 0-3 and still hope to make a run at a conference title. With that in mind, the Wildcats (4-8
overall, 0-2 Big Sky) take the floor again tonight to play host to Montana (7-7, 1-0).

Tonight's game will tip off at 5:05 p.m. and will be televised nationally on the Altitude Sports Network.

"There's no magic wand here," Cravens said following Thursday's loss. "You just continue to work hard and try to get guys (playing) better. I think we are getting better, we just can't give up right now."

While playing Montana State, WSU played well through a few stretches of the game, but made too many mistakes and failed to take care of the ball in key situations.

After falling behind by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Wildcats staged a comeback just after halftime and took a 51-46 lead with just over 10 minutes left to play.

A series of turnovers allowed MSU to mount a late rally and the Bobcats eventually led by a dozen points with less than a minute remaining.

WSU hit only 27 percent of its shots in the first half, but shot 56 percent after halftime. The Bobcats, however, shot well throughout the game, hitting 47 percent during the first 20 minutes and 54 after halftime.

Although the Wildcats won the rebounding battle 38-31, they made 13 turnovers compared to eight by the Bobcats.

Those statistics seem to represent a season long trend. For the most part, WSU has been a solid rebound team, but has struggled mightily to make shots.

The Wildcats lead the Big Sky in rebounding defense, rebounding margin and scoring defense, but are last in 3-point shooting and scoring margin and next-to-last in field goal percentage at only 40 percent.

Montana is coming off a 70-41 victory over Idaho State Thursday in Pocatello, Idaho. The Grizzlies are currently riding a three-game winning streak.

Montana guard Kevin Criswell is the Big Sky's No. 5-ranked scorer, averaging 13.2 points per game. WSU senior center Lance Allred ranks No. 2 in the conference, averaging 18.1 points per game.

After Thursday's loss, Cravens said he didn't feel tonight's game is a "must-win." He said, at this point, there is no such thing.

"I'm not going to put that pressure on anyone," he said.

For the coach, working through the latest slump is the only answer.

"When you lose one day, you come back to work the next day and try to win the next one," Cravens said.

Montana
at Weber St.

*When: 5 p.m.

*Where: Dee Events Center

*TV-radio: ALTITUDE, KXOL-AM 1660

*Note: WSU men lead series 51-39. ... Weber State women host Utah Valley State at 7:30 p.m. as part of doubleheader







Copyright ©2004, Ogden Publishing Corporation