Jan. 12, 2004
Bulldogs Men's Basketball Return Home To Host Missouri Western This Wednesday
Truman State University Bulldogs
vs.
Missouri Western State College Griffons
Date/Time: Jan. 14, 2004, 7:30 p.m.
Arena (Cap.): Pershing Arena (3,000)
Location: Kirksville, Mo.
Complete release in .pdf format
Broadcast: Bulldog basketball games are broadcast on KRES 104.7 FM in Moberly, Mo. The games can also be heard over the web at www.regionalradio.com/html/kres.html.
Sports Director Brad Boyer does play-by-play with commentary from long-time Bulldog announcer, Hank Jannsen. The pregame show begins approximately 15 minutes before tip-off.
Truman (4-9, 1-3 MIAA): The Bulldogs, who continue to be competitive in conference action, will face a struggling Missouri Western squad on Wednesday night in Pershing Arena.
Truman was one minute away from its first MIAA road win of the season on Saturday, only to see Emporia State go on a 9-3 run and win the game by an 85-80 margin. Matt Beran had a big game as he continues to work himself back into the lineup following his injury. The senior scored a team-high 16 points and had seven rebounds and five assists.
Scouting Missouri Western (6-7, 0-4 MIAA): The Griffons have lost five straight coming into Wednesday's game, the program's longest skid since the 1986-87 season. Missouri Western opened the year with four straight wins, but the team is 2-7 since then, with both wins coming in overtime.
One of the biggest reasons for the recent slide is a tough schedule to open MIAA play with. Three of its four conference losses were by single-digits to teams in the upper half of the conference standing. Last Saturday, the team fell to Central Missouri by a 71-67 score as a late 11-0 run helped the Mules overcome a four-point deficit.
Missouri Western is averaging 75.2 points a game and shooting 43.9% from the field, both numbers near the bottom of the MIAA statistics. They Griffons do have one of the top three-point shooting teams in the league, hitting nearly 40% of their attempts and averaging 8.9 three-pointers a game.
Missouri Western has been led by Langston Grady who is averaging 16.4 points a game. Robert Bishop and Fred Battles are averaging over 11 points a game and all three of those players are netting at least two three-pointers a game. Justin Collins is the final Griffon in double-figures with 10.8 points a game and he has a team-high 7.7 rebounding average.
Bishop leads the team with 2.8 assists a game and Collins is tops in steals with 1.6 a contest.
Head coach of Missouri Western is Tom Smith, who is in his 16th season at the school. He has a 326-134 mark at Missouri Western and a 496-318 record in his 29th year as a collegiate head coach.
Series History: Missouri Western leads the all-time series by a 28-18 margin. The Griffons have won seven straight, including a 99-62 win in St. Joseph and an 80-57 victory in Kirksville last season.
At home, Truman is 7-14 all-time against Missouri Western. The last Bulldog win in the series was a 75-73 victory in Pershing Arena back in the 1999-2000 season.
Most Recent Games -
Emporia State-85, Truman-80
(Jan. 10, Emporia, Kan.)
In an exciting game that featured 10 ties and 17 lead changes, the Hornets were able to hold off the Bulldogs for an 85-80 win.
The Bulldogs led 77-76 with a minute remaining, but was outscored 9-3 down the stretch. A three-pointer by Greg Patton gave Emporia State the lead for good and a fast break layup gave the home team an 81-77 advantage with 40 seconds remaining. Truman's Grant Agbo had a three-point play to get the Bulldogs within one, but four free throws by the Hornets wrapped up the game.
Emporia State jumped out to an early 19-11 lead in the game but the Bulldogs fought back. Truman briefly led twice in the first-half and trailed by just a 38-37 margin at the break. Neither team led by more than five points in the final half, but the quick 5-0 burst by the Hornets in the final minute was enough to give them the win.
Truman hit one more three-pointer and outrebounded the Hornets 41-35 in the game. Emporia State, however, went to the charity stripe 12 more times in the game and turned the ball over five less times than the Bulldogs.
Five Bulldogs were in double-figures scoring, led by Matt Beran who came off the bench to score 16 points on seven-of-12 shooting from the field. He also recorded seven rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot. Another hot hand off the bench was Matt Brock who had 12 points, all coming on four first-half three-pointers. Agbo had a second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Andy Calmes added 13 points and a team-high six assists and Austin Kirby had 11 points.
Emporia State was paced by Tony Travis who had 24 points, six rebounds and six assists. Demond Perry had a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds. Patton recorded 11 points and seven assists and Thomas Vincent was in double-figures scoring with 10.
Missouri-Rolla-64, Truman-50
(Jan. 7, Rolla, Mo.)
Missouri-Rolla was hot beyond the arc as it defeated Truman in Rolla by a 64-50 score.
The Miners hit a three-pointer 22 seconds into the game which was a sign of things to come. Missouri-Rolla never trailed in the game, in large part because they hit 11-of-20 three-pointers. Truman shot 44.7% from the field, but hit just two three-pointers and turned the ball over 16 times in the game. The Miners shot 38.5% from the field, but grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and only turned the ball nine times.
Despite never leading, the Bulldogs stayed close in the first-half. They were down just three with two minutes remaining the half, but Missouri-Rolla went on a 8-2 run to take a 32-23 lead into the break.
The Miners then ran away with the game early in the second-half. Truman, already trailing 39-29, went six and a half minutes without scoring as Missouri-Rolla went on a 13-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Truman's Grant Agbo recorded his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. He was 10-of16 from the field in the game. Austin Kirby added nine points and Matt Beran had eight points and six rebounds.
Missouri-Rolla was led by guards Ike Muonelo and DeAndre Johnson. Muonelo had 20 points and four three-pointers while Johnson added 17 points and five three-pointers. Brian Westre had 12 points and Josh Shaw led the team with nine rebounds. Muonelo also recorded team-highs with three assists and four steals.
Freshman Star: Grant Agbo continues to add achievements to his outstanding freshmen campaign. Last week, he recorded the first double-doubles of his college career with 21 points and 10 rebounds against Missouri-Rolla and 11 points and 10 boards against Emporia State.
Agbo leads the team with 13.8 points a game and is second with 6.3 rebounds a contest. At his current pace, his scoring average would be the fourth-best in Bulldog history for a freshman.
He has scored in double-figures in every game he has played in this season. He has led or tied for the team-high in scoring in five games and in rebounding in three contests. He has twice scored over 20 points a game, the only Bulldog to do that this season.
Agbo ranks among the MIAA leaders in scoring (12th), rebounding (12th) and field goal percentage (10th). The only other freshmen among MIAA leaders in the most recent report are Emporia State's Ed Desir, who is tied for fifth in blocks, and Truman's Adam Ogle, who is eighth in blocks.
Bulldog Freshmen Top 5 Single-Season Scoring Average Leaders (Since 1958-59)
Les Selvage, 1962-63 20.1 Rodney Brooks, 1977-78 15.7 Steve Schieppe, 1987-88 14.5 Bob Young, 1973-74 13.1 David Wild, 1965-66 13.0
Beran Returns To Form: After sitting out nearly a month with an injury, Matt Beran had his best game last Saturday against Emporia State. Beran was seven-of-12 from the field and two-of-two from the free throw line for 16 points. He also added seven rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes of playing time.
For the season, he is averaging 11.4 points and 7.0 rebounds a game. Beran is not eligible for the MIAA leaders list since he has not played in the required 75% of the team's games, but his current rebounding average would tie for eighth in the conference and his scoring average would be just outside the top 20.
Lindsey's Contributions: Derek Lindsey has done a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs this year. The sophomore guard has started 11 games, the second-most on the squad, and has played the fourth-most minutes.
For the season, Lindsey is averaging 5.6 points and 4.8 rebounds a contest. He leads all guards on the team in rebounding average. Lindsey has also recorded 25 assists, five blocks and six steals in 13 games.
Improved Shooting: Since the start of MIAA play, the Bulldogs have been shooting the ball much better. In non-conference games, Truman shot the ball 38.6% from the field, 24.8% from three-point range and 58.7% from the free throw line. In conference play, those numbers are 44.1%, 41.8% and 67.9%, respectively.
Bulldogs in the MIAA: Truman currently ranks fifth in the conference in scoring defense and is 10th in scoring offense. Truman is third in the MIAA in offensive rebounds and sixth in rebounding margin and blocked shots.
Individually, Grant Agbo is 12th in scoring and rebounding and 10th in field goal percentage. Adam Ogle is eighth in the MIAA in blocked shots.
Misc. Notes: Truman is 4-0 when leading at halftime and 0-9 when tied or trailing at the break ... over the last five games, opponents have hit at least eight three-pointers and are shooting 51.6% from beyond the arc ... the Bulldogs have had at least one block in every game this season ... Truman has gone to the free throw line an average of 33.8 times in its four wins, just 14.4 times in its nine loses.
1,000 Wins: The Truman men's basketball program won the 1,000th game in program history earlier this season against Harris-Stowe. This year is the 84th season of Bulldog basketball and the program has an all-time record of 1,001-886 (.530).
Bulldog Coaching Staff: Jack Schrader is starting his ninth season as head coach of the Truman men's basketball team. Prior to being named the head coach, he served as an assistant coach at Truman for four years under Willard Sims.
In eight years under Schrader, the Bulldogs have made five appearances in the MIAA postseason tournament. He has a 94-139 (.403) career record at Truman and, in 1998-99, led the team to one of its best seasons that concluded with an appearance in the 1998-99 NCAA championship semifinals. Truman claimed the MIAA postseason tournament championship that year and Schrader was named the conference's co-coach of the year and the NABC regional coach of the year.
Prior to coaching the Bulldogs, Schrader coached professional and high school teams all over the world. He was a member of the Arizona State Sun Devils for three years and was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1975 and played professionally in Europe.
Assisting Schrader for the fourth consecutive year is Tim Deidrick. Deidrick started his coaching career under former Bulldog head coach Willard Sims in 1992 as a student and graduate assistant. He also coached at Scottsdale Community College (Ark.) and St. Louis Community College before returning to Truman in 2000.
Up Next: Truman will head on the road this Saturday to take on Washburn. The Ichabods are currently 12-0 on the year and ranked 24th in the country. Washburn has a showdown on Wednesday against Northwest Missouri, the other undefeated MIAA team.