COUGAR HOOPS SQUADS ABLE TO AVENGE LOSSES
BY: BRYAN GRISHAM
CSCC SPORTS INFORMATION
It wasn't easy, but then again, most of the time, nothing worth
doing right is easy. Both Cleveland State basketball teams entered
Wednesday evenings games at L. Quentin Lane Gymnasium with Snead
State with one thing on their mind: avenging two losses to the
Boaz, Ala., team a mere eight days ago. Mission accomplished.
The Lady Cougars dug themselves a big hole to start, but climbed
out of it in fine fashion to take the ladies’ contest by a
final score of 70-54 over the Lady Parsons while the Cougars
climbed an even higher mountain as they erased a 16-point deficit
to take a thrilling 66-64 last second win over the Parsons.
To say that the Lady Cougars were cold to start the game would be
an amazing understatement as the Lady Parsons threatened to blow
the home team right out of their own gym with an 11-0 run. A
3-pointer from Jara Gasper finally got Cleveland State on the board
with just over 14 minutes left in the half. Meanwhile the Lady
Parsons were red hot as Ashunte Smith hit three shots in a row
including a trey to push the visitors’ lead to 14 points at
21-7.
The real Cleveland State ladies team then entered the gym at the
nine-minute mark and proceeded to turn the tables and finish the
half with a 16-2 run to somehow manage to tie the game at 23-23 at
halftime. Despite shooting only 25 percent from the floor in the
first half Cleveland State did hit eight of their final 11 shots
and force 15 turnovers. A steal and a layup from Robyn Anthony
turned into an old fashioned three-point play, Hannah Brown
followed that with a shot from downtown and Shea Nunn added a layup
to tie the game just before the buzzer.
Brown hit a short jumper to start the second half to give Cleveland
State its first lead of the night as the lead would change hands
nine times in the first 10 minutes of the period. Another three
from Brown and a steal and layup from Anthony would put the Lady
Cougars on top to stay.
Chelsea Jones banked home a long 3-pointer and converted a
three-point play after taking a hard foul to her already broken
nose as the Lady Cougars pushed their lead to nine points at the
four minute mark, 58-49. The Lady Cougars hit 8-of-10 free tosses
down the stretch to seal the win and hit 19-of-25 overall.
"That play right there where Chelsea got up and converted the
three-point play inspired the team," explained Lady Cougars coach
Dan Lumpkin. "She's playing with a mask on a broken nose and the
rest of the team fed off her to finish the game."
Anthony paced the Lady Cougars (7-5) with 20 points and eight big
steals while Jones, Brown and Gasper all chipped in with 10 points
apiece. Smith led the Lady Parsons (7-5) with 15 points while
Summer Starr added 14.
"This was a big win for us; we owed them one after they beat us at
their place," stated Lumpkin. "It was a tremendously physical game
and it will really help us prepare for this type of play in our
conference games. Snead is a good team. We started slow down there
too, but this time we were able to get some stops and score at the
same time and take control in the second half."
COUGARS 66 PARSONS 64
Just like the ladies did in their game, the Cougars started off
slowly in the men's contest, but unlike their female counterparts,
the Cougars never quite warmed up in the first 20 minutes. Brandon
Graham hit a three-pointer and slammed home an offensive rebound
while Austin Watkins added a trey of his own as the Parsons opened
the game with an 8-0 run. The Parsons would hit four more shots
from behind the arc in the half while the Cougars connected on only
one of their 10 tries from downtown. The Cougars would trail by as
many as 15 points and by 12 at halftime, 34-22, shooting only 31
percent from the floor compared to 45 percent for the Parsons.
Still trailing by 12 points at the 12-minute mark in the game, the
Cougars employed their full-court press and with great results, as
several turnovers ensued. A three-pointer from Filipe Goncalves cut
the lead to single digits during an 8-0 Cougar run as the
Parsons’ lead shrunk to a 51-48 advantage.
"We don't like to press for 40 minutes, especially when we are
shorthanded, but once we started we stayed with it and it worked
out well," stated an exhausted Cougar coach Lee Cigliano. "It not
only caused them problems and took them out of their game, but it
gave us the energy and the momentum to come back."
Two more shots from three-point land by Goncalves and a layup from
Ralph Eason helped slice the lead to only one point with 59 seconds
to go. Following two huge defensive stands, Travis Jones gave the
Cougars their first lead of the night, 65-64 from the charity
stripe with only 42 ticks left on the clock. Jones added another
free toss with eight seconds left and the Cleveland State defense
forced one more turnover with two seconds to go to seal the amazing
comeback win.
"Somehow we found a way to come back and win this game; it wasn't
always pretty, but we didn't give up and just kept coming against a
very good team," the coach continued. "I can't think of a better
example of a total team effort than tonight. We just had nine
players available and all nine contributed in some way."
Goncalves and Jones led the Cougars (10-2) with 13 points each,
Eason added 12 points and Gabe Dando finished with 11. DeMarcus
Robinson paced the Parsons (4-6) with 12 points while Graham and
Austin Watkins added 11 each. The Cougars shot 53 percent in the
second half to more than make up for the frigid first half.
Cleveland State will now travel to Chattanooga State on Saturday at
2:00 for a big Region VII showdown with the Tigers.
