MSU holds off D&E in season opener
By Dave Morrison, Sports Editor, The Register-Herald
For a short time, it looked like a classic Mountain State University beatdown of an outmanned opponent.
The Cougars took a 20-2 lead over Davis & Elkins and seemed to be clicking on all cylinders.
Not so fast.
The Senators had other ideas.
D&E closed to within three at the half, 49-46, and was down by one, 68-67, before MSU finally put away the pesky visitors 89-78 in the NAIA No. 2 Cougars' season opener Tuesday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
"I was never concerned one bit," Senators' coach Bruce Martin, a former prep standout at Shady Spring and later Clemson University, said. "I expected it. We had some first-game jitters, it's a new coach, new system and really a new team. I was confident we'd come out of it."
While they battled valiantly, they couldn't stop MSU's big man, Nick Aldridge, who had 40 points in the game on 16 of 21 shooting and 10 rebounds.
"Our game plan was to keep the ball out of the pivot's hands," Martin said. "We even ran two men at him and he still did that to us. He's a beast."
Aldridge saw the setup early and adjusted quickly.
"What I tried to do was make a quick move before the help got there and if it did make a quick pass to get someone an open shot," Aldridge said.
Andrew Lee added 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for MSU and Alvin Mitchell had 14. Nobody else had more than five.
After MSU went up 20-2, it was the long-range shooting of the Senators that propelled them back into the game.
D&E went 9 of 18 from three-point range in the first half, cutting a once huge Cougars' lead to just three at the half.
"You definitely want to put teams away when you get up on them like that, but sometimes you get lackadaisical," Aldridge said. "That's what we did. We didn't do a very good job on defense tonight."
Al Turner led D&E with 26 points and Danny Manuel added 14 points.
Tim Turner had three of the Senators' nine first-half threes, but he was held scoreless in the second half and finished with 11 points.
"We had a hard time defending their quick guards," MSU coach Bob Bolen said. "I want to give them credit. They did a good job executing their sets. We have a long way to go on defense."
Mountain State will get a chance to improve on the defensive end when it hosts Ohio Valley at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Beckley Raleigh County Convention Center.
Reprinted by permission
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