Mitchell leads MSU’s 107-74 win By Dave Morrison
Sports Editor
The first time Mountain State guard Alvin Mitchell walked into the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center he broke out in a cold sweat.
Seems he had a phobia with domes.
He showed no sign of that Tuesday night in the Cougars' 107-74 win over West Virginia Wesleyan.
Mitchell had 31 points, hit 4 of 6 three-pointers and grabbed four rebounds as Mountain State improved to 4-0.
"I played my worst game in the Big East in a dome at Syracuse," the former Cincinnati Bearcat said. "I had two points and I got ejected. So yeah, I probably had a phobia about domes. But I'm starting to get used to the place, and the big thing is we're starting to jell as a team."
That was obvious early as the Cougars broke in front 14-3, and by the time the first-half smoke had cleared from the net on MSU's side of the court, MSU had a 60-27 lead.
Mitchell had a third of those with 20.
"Alvin shot the ball extremely well," MSU coach Bob Bolen said. "I thought the big thing is we shared the ball. And I thought Nick (Aldridge) got us started early with some nice passes and we followed his lead. We assisted on 29 of our 45 made field goals."
Aldridge had 16 points, seven rebounds and a team-best eight assists.
Wesleyan got 21 points from Neven Zeravica and 20 from Wyoming East product Justin Caldwell.
"They're a real good team," Caldwell said of MSU. "They played at a different level than we did tonight. They were bigger, stronger and faster."
The closest the Bobcats would get in the second half was 28.
But a Mitchell three and a slam dunk started a 13-0 run that closed the door on the evening's proceedings.
The lone question was who would put the Cougars to the 105 mark to give the crowd of 1,227 a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A.
That turned out to be Winston Robinson with a pair of free throws with 4:16 left.
Wesleyan outscored MSU 10-2 over the final 4:16.
"I'm not going to take anything away from them, they have a great team," Wesleyan's Bill Lilly, nephew of legendary Oak Hill coach Jim Lilly, said. "I love playing this game, but I'm getting tired of my halftime message being, ‘Let's win the second half.' We kind of wilted after they got off to that fast start."
Marcus Hunter made his first start of the year and responded with 14 points and six rebounds, and Andrew Lee had 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Big man Paul Sturgess, the Cougars' 7-foot-8 center, saw his first extended playing time and had six points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Ten MSU players played 10 minutes or more and 10 scored.
"I guess I've gotten over my phobia of domes," Mitchell said. "More importantly, I hope that this is a sign that we are starting to play together as a team. We did a better job in each area, especially defense."
MSU travels to Morgantown on Sunday to play an exhibition game against West Virginia University. Tipoff is 1 p.m. Wesleyan plays an exhibition against Marshall at 7 p.m. next Tuesday in Huntington.
2008 National Runner-Up
2007 National Championship Participant
2006 Sweet Sixteen
2005 'Elite' Eight
2004 NAIA National Championship
2003 National Runner-Up
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