UC basketball
UC drops 77-72 decision to Salem
By The Charleston Gazette & Charleston Daily Mail
Foul trouble dooms UC in loss to
By Chuck Landon
Charleston Daily Mail
Robert Strickland stood with a towel wrapped around his waist, pondering an insightful question in the
Did he actually need a shower?
That query provided a telling commentary on the Golden Eagles' 77-72 loss to Salem International before 208 fans at Eddie King Gym Thursday night.
"I feel like I hardly got to play tonight," said the 6-foot-6 junior forward.
In truth, Strickland didn't break a sweat.
That was the difference in the game.
Although Strickland came into the contest averaging 34.4 minutes, 12.2 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.0 blocked shots, he managed only two points, four rebounds, two blocked shots and one assist in 21 foul-plagued minutes against
"Not having him was huge," said UC point guard Austin Weatherington, who had 11 points and eight assists. "When he's not in the game, we lose a shot-blocker on defense and a play-maker on offense.
"When he's not on the floor, we're not the same team."
So much for UC's game plan.
"We were going to try to negate their tremendous quickness by pounding the ball inside to (Dustin) Kinney and Strickland," said UC Coach Greg White. "But we were never able to do that."
That's because Strickland never was in the game long enough.
"I got two quick fouls and had to sit down," said the junior, who played only 11 minutes in the first half. "Then, in the second half I got a quick third foul."
So, Strickland played the remainder of his sparse minutes as if he were wearing a straitjacket under his No. 1 jersey.
"I couldn't get any kind of rhythm," said the one-time
Finally, with 5:05 remaining and UC clinging to a 63-61 lead, Strickland was whistled for his fifth foul on a questionable blocking call 40 feet from the basket.
When White was asked about that foul, he simply rolled his expressive eyes. He did that a lot Thursday night because four UC starters fouled out, the Golden Eagles didn't attempt a single free throw in the first half and
"We had most of our starters on the bench fouled out in the last two minutes," said White, who finished the game with walk-on Michael Cary on the floor. "That's tough. They're starters for a reason."
Yet he was proud of his Golden Eagles for fighting through adversity and actually rallying from an 11-point deficit, 57-46, with 10:42 remaining to take a lead.
"We had a 15-3 run," pointed out White. "That's something to build on."
Freshman guard Warren Wallace keyed the surge, scoring seven of his 13 second-half points during the run.
Wallace scored 17 points before what else? fouling out. Joining him in double figures were Kinney (13 points and eight rebounds) and
For Salem (4-6, 1-2 West Virginia Conference), Shaun McKie had 19 points, Stanley Milien came up big with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Dino Wilburn added 12 points.
"Their quickness really hurt us tonight," said White, after seeing UC's record slip to 6-5, 2-1.
Because?
"We didn't have Strickland," said White. "He's a great shot-blocker and he's a great rebounder."
But against Salem International Thursday night, Strickland was good at only one thing.
Sitting.
By Doug Smock
Charleston Gazette
Yes, it’s official: That 3-6 overall, 0-2 conference record Salem International lugged to the
The small yet speedy, youthful but talented Tigers showed that they remain worthy of West Virginia Conference contention by downing the
Aaron Nichols scored the go-ahead basket off an inbounds pass from Stanley Milien with about 2:10 remaining, and then the Tigers pulled away in the final two minutes, to the delight of sixth-year coach Clark Maloney.
“Just a lot of youth,” Maloney said of his team’s early stumbles. “A lot of youth and what coaches like to call ‘uncontrollables’ that we hope we’ve finally got a little control over.”
Case in point was Shaun McKie, last year’s WVC and NCAA East Region player of the year. Recovering from a summertime ankle injury, he arrived as the team’s fourth-leading scorer, but led the Tigers in this game with 19 points.
Also back is fellow co-captain Stanley Milien, who scored 18 points and made several big plays down the stretch. But after those two, the Tigers are loaded with newcomers. Most are junior college products along with
And they’re not just short on experience, they’re short, period. Dorsey, at 6-foot-6, qualifies as the big man among the nine Tigers who dressed.
But the Tigers (4-6 overall, 1-2 WVC) won 36-32 in rebounding, shot 32 free throws to UC’s 18, committed 15 turnovers to the Golden Eagles’ 17 and used their quickness to their advantage.
“It seemed like they were quicker to the loose balls than us,” said UC coach Greg White. “They’ve got an extremely quick team, and we struggled with their quickness tonight.”
A shining example came with 2:17 left and the game tied at 68. Milien missed two free throws, but teammate Dino Wilburn just did grab the ball and call a timeout before getting tied up. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Milien hit Nichols cutting to the basket, resulting in two points and a 70-68 lead.
From there, UC (6-5, 2-1) couldn’t buy a break. Marquis Brooks led all scorers with 24 points, but couldn’t answer on the next shot. Warren Wallace fouled out on the rebound.
Down 71-68, UC’s Dustin Kinney was whistled on an iffy traveling call. Milien hit two free throws at the other end for a 73-68 lead with 49 seconds left, leaving the only suspense to be how many UC players fouled out.
The answer was four — Wallace, Austin Weatherington, Kinney and Robert Strickland. The first three combined for 41 points, but Strickland fouled himself into a two-point night.
With 5:05 left and UC ahead 63-61 after a rally from 11 down, Strickland was 30 feet from his basket when he bumped McKie into the front-row seat occupied by West Virginia Power superfan Rod Blackstone. At that point, Strickland’s night was “toast.”
And eventually, so was UC. And as in a typical UC-Salem game, there were many aspects White could point to, such as:
* John White’s charging foul with 6.2 seconds left in the first half. McKie answered with a 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving
* Wallace, who finished with 17 points, hit several key baskets to get UC back in the game. But in the process of making a three-point play, he was tagged with a technical foul for taunting. That helped foul him out with 1:29 left.
* UC’s failure to fully exploit its size advantage.
“There was never a time they didn’t double [-team] the post,” White said. “Veteran teams learn to swing the ball and make them pay for that. But we would play on one side and try to ram it in there. Two or three times we tried to force it, we had turnovers.
“That’s a game where we had 17 turnovers, they had 15. That’s the way the two teams play, not many turnovers. But we’re negative-2 in the turnover column and there’s your game.”