Feb. 17, 2004
Bulldogs Men's Basketball Faces Missouri Western in St. Joseph on Wednesday
Truman State University Bulldogs
vs.
Missouri Western State College Griffons
Date/Time: Feb. 18, 2004, 7:30 p.m.
Arena (Cap.): MWSC Fieldhouse (3,750)
Location: St. Joseph, Mo.
Complete game notes attached 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.
Food Drive: Truman fans will receive free admission to the Bulldogs' home game this upcoming Saturday by bringing canned food goods for the Captains Roundtable food drive.
Truman (6-17, 3-11 MIAA): The Bulldogs will look to keep their postseason hopes alive this Wednesday when they travel to St. Joseph, Mo. for a contest against Missouri Western.
Missouri Western and Missouri-Rolla are both tied for seventh-place in the MIAA standings, two games ahead of Truman. Southwest Baptist is also tied with the Bulldogs in ninth-place. Two of these four teams will likely fill the final two spots in the Sonic/MIAA postseason championship.
Last Saturday, the Bulldogs struggled for their third consecutive game, losing 70-54 to nationally-ranked Washburn. Truman has averaged just 54 points over the last three games and have lost those contests by an average of 18 points.
Scouting Missouri Western (11-12, 5-9 MIAA): The Griffons saw a two-game winning streak come to an end last Saturday with an 82-54 setback on the road at Missouri-Rolla. The team is just 4-4 on the year at MWSC Fieldhouse, but has won three out of the last four at home.
Missouri Western has one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league, averaging 7.65 a game and hitting 38.9% of its shots from beyond the arc.
Three Griffons are averaging double-figure scoring, led by Langston Grady with 15.9 points a game. Robert Bishop averages 12.6 points and Fred Battles is putting up 10.3 a game. Battles is second in the MIAA with a .465 three-point percentage and has hit 46 on the season. Bishop is another long-range threat with 40 three-pointers on the year.
Justin Collins and DeVonte Kings are both averaging 9.0 points and grabbing over seven rebounds a game. Those two are also both shooting over 50% from the field.
Head coach of Missouri Western is Tom Smith who is in his 16th season at the school and 29th as a collegiate head coach. He recently won his 500th game and has a career record of 501-323. At Missouri Western, he has a record of 331-139.
Series Record: Missouri Western has won eight straight against Truman and now leads the all-time series by a 29-18 mark. The last win by the Bulldogs in the series was a 75-73 victory in 1999-2000.
The Griffons are 14-10 all-time in St. Joseph against the Bulldogs. Truman has not won at the MWSC Fieldhouse since a 88-85 victory during the 1994-95 season.
Earlier This Season -
Missouri Western-67, Truman-61
(Jan. 14, Kirksville, Mo.)
The Griffons struggled from the free throw line for most of the night, but hit some key shots down the stretch as they escaped Kirksville with a 67-61 road victory over Truman.
Missouri Western held the lead for most of the second-half, but Truman was within two points twice in the final minute. Both times, the Griffons went to the free throw line and knocked down both shots to keep it a two-possession ballgame. Missouri Western would go on to win as the Bulldogs missed their final three field goal attempts.
The Griffons led throughout most of the game, but by never more than eight points. Both teams started out cold from the field. The score was tied at 16 with nine minutes remaining in the first-half, when Missouri Western went on a 8-0 run which helped it lead at the break by a 30-24 score.
Truman had its only lead in the final half at 52-50 with 6:40 remaining, but the Griffons quickly retook the lead and was able to hang on the rest of the way.
The Bulldogs shot 81.8% from the free throw line, helping them to stay in the game despite shooting below 40% from the field. The Griffons outrebounded Truman by three boards and the visitors turned the ball over five less times than the Bulldogs.
Truman had a player record a double-double for the third straight game. This time it was Matt Beran who had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Grant Agbo had a team-high 15 points and Chip Sodemann was in double-figures with 11.
Missouri Western was led by the duo of Robert Bishop and Langston Grady who scored 16 and 15 points, respectively. Steve Carter added nine points and 10 rebounds.
Most Recent Games -
Washburn-70, Truman-54
(Feb. 14, Kirksville, Mo.)
The sixth-ranked Washburn Ichabods used a large run to start the second half to turn its game with Truman into an easy 70-54 win Saturday at Pershing Arena.
Washburn never trailed in the game, going into halftime with a 34-22 lead after slowing pulling away from Truman throughout the half.
In the second-half, the Ichabods went on a 20-6 run over the first nine minutes to open up a 26-point lead. The Bulldogs would never get closer than 16 the rest of the way.
The Ichabods shot just 37.7% from the field ,but outrebounded Truman by a 44-34 margin and forced eight more turnovers than they gave up. Washburn scored 21 points off turnovers, compared to just four for the Bulldogs.
Truman shot 39.6% from the field and was just 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Washburn had balanced scored with three in double-figures, led by Jeremy Cunningham with 15. Travis Robbins had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while J.P. Meitner scored 10 points.
Truman had two players in double-figures as Matt Beran and Andy Calmes each scored 10. Beran just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
Missouri-Rolla-82, Missouri Western-54
(Feb. 14, Rolla, Mo.)
The game Saturday between Missouri-Rolla and Missouri Western was in many ways a carbon copy of the first meeting between the teams -- only this time it was the Miners that delivered the crowning blows early in an 82-54 rout of the Griffons at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.
The Miners played well in many aspects, shooting 54.9 percent from the field, including a blazing 15-of-26 from three-point range (57.7 percent), while turning the ball over just five times for the game.
In addition, they held the Griffons to their third-lowest point total in a conference game since Western joined the MIAA in the 1989-90 season.
After Fred Battles hit a three-pointer to draw the Griffons to within one at 13-12 at the 12:42 mark of the first half, the Miners rattled off 14 straight points in less than four minutes to go up by the score of 27-12. Missouri-Rolla built the lead to as much as what the halftime margin was -- 21 points -- by the end of the half and held no less than a 19-point lead in the second half.
The Miners had five players finish in double figures, with Jermaine Burks leading the way with 19 points as he was 7-for-9 from the field. Josh Shaw also made seven of his nine attempts as he ended up with 17, while DeAndre Johnson had 16 points and six rebounds.
Kerry Darting added 15 on five three-pointers, as the Miners hit at least 10 in a game for the 13th time this season. It was the first time, however, they had hit 10 since the Jan. 28 game at Missouri Southern.
DeVonte King led Missouri Western with 17 points, while junior G Justin Collins added 12.
Bulldogs in the MIAA: The Bulldogs are third in the MIAA in scoring defense, allowing just 69.3 points a game. Truman is also in the upper-half of the league statistics in field goal percentage defense (4th), rebounding offense (5th) and defensive rebounds (4th).
Individually, Grant Agbo is ranked eighth in field goal percentage, tenth in free throw percentage, 11th in rebounding and 14th in scoring.
Matt Beran is ranked sixth in field goal percentage and tenth in rebounding.
Adam Ogle is tenth in the MIAA in blocks.
Truman "D": The Bulldogs biggest improvement this season has come on the defensive end as they are allowing 69.3 points a game. If they keep that pace, it be the lowest mark since the 1998-99 season, when Truman advanced to the NCAA semifinals.
Cold Shooting: After shooting over 50% in two straight wins over Southwest Baptist and Missouri Southern, the Bulldogs have struggled offensively. Over the last three games, Truman is averaging just 54 points a game and is shooting 38.2% from the field. Over those games, the Bulldogs are also shooting 23.5% from beyond the arc.
Second Time Around: Three of Truman's four freshmen are struggling as they face conference opponent for the second time.
After scoring in double-figures in his first 17 games, Grant Agbo has been held to single-digits in four of the last five games. Agbo is not getting as many shot attempts the second time he sees an opponent. In the four games he was held under 10 points, he is averaging less than five field goal attempts a game.
Austin Kirby and Adam Ogle's scoring has also gone down over the last five games. Kirby averaged 5.4 points the first nine MIAA games and just 2.6 points since. Ogle averaged 3.2 points through the halfway mark of the conference schedule and 1.6 points since.
The lone freshman who has improved of late is Andy Calmes. Over the last five games, Calmes is averaging 9.4 points and shooting 51.4% from the field. During the first nine MIAA games, Calmes averaged 5.8 points and shot 43.9% from the field.
As a team, Truman averaged 67 points the first-half of the MIAA season and just 57.8 points over the last five games.
Career Leaders: Matt Beran currently has 638 career rebounds, just the 11th player in Truman history to grab over 600 boards. He needs nine more to move into the top 10 list.
Beran has also recorded 881 points in his career, which currently ranks 28th in the Truman record books. He needs 40 more points to break into the top 20 in that list.
Only nine other Bulldogs in the history of the program have recorded over 800 points and 600 rebounds. Beran is also currently tied for fifth in career blocks with 69.
Another senior has also been climbing the career chart. Aaron Mueller has hit 104 three-pointers for his career, which ranks eighth in Bulldog history.
Regional Rankings: Through games played on Feb. 8, four MIAA schools were ranked in the South Central region, including three in the top four spots. Washburn is first, Northwest Missouri is third, Emporia State in fourth and Pittsburg State is ninth.
Misc. Notes: Jack Schrader is 2-15 in his career against Washburn ... Tom Smith is 33-10 in his career against Truman, going 27-5 while at Missouri Western and 6-5 while coaching at Central Missouri from 1975-80.
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 1,003-894 (.529).
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 96-147 (.395) 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 returns home on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. game against Emporia State. The Hornets are 18-5 on the season and 10-4 in conference play.
Senior Night: The Bulldogs will celebrate Senior Night on Feb. 25 when Truman host Missouri-Rolla. The women's game begins at 5:30 p.m. and Truman's seniors will be honored between games.
The men's team will be honoring their two captains, Matt Beran and Aaron Mueller.
Until this year, Beran appeared in all but two games. An injury this season sat Beran on the bench for five games, yet he is still on pace to play 100 games within his time donning a Bulldog jersey. Beran has started nearly a third of the 94 games he has played.
Over his tenure, Beran has averaged 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. Last season, he earned honorable mention all-MIAA honors.
Matt is the son of Bill and Ruth Beran. He is a two-time member of the MIAA commissioner's academic honor roll. Last season, he was also named to the CoSIDA academic all-district second-team and was an academic all-MIAA selection.
Mueller has played in every game but one during his Truman career. He earned starts in 39 contests and is one of 20 Bulldogs in the history of the program to appear in at least 100 games.
Mueller has averaged nearly four points a game for his career and has hit just over one three-pointer per game.
Aaron is the son of Kirk and Kathy Mueller. He is a two-time member of the MIAA commissioner's academic honor roll.
Bill Beran Donations: The men's basketball team and Campus Christian Fellowship (CCF) would like to thank the fans at the Truman/Central Missouri game for donating over $4,000 to help offset medical expenses for Bill Beran, the father of senior forward Matt Beran. Donations can still be made by sending money to the Bill Beran Fund, Victor State Bank, 201 Washington Street, Victor, IA 52347.