The Bisons led the game most of the way, but they couldn’t hold of the Delta State offense at the end of the game, which ended in an 87-83 DSU victory. Rick Hamilton led the Bisons with 20 points, showing a much-needed scoring spark from someone not named Matt Hall. That wasn’t enough to stop DSU’s three-headed scoring monster, though. Turmaine Rice had 29, Johnny Hodge had 21, and Marlon McCoy had 19 for the Statesmen. Those three players took 50 of DSU’s 61 shots for the game, but that certainly didn’t hurt their cause.
Here are the stats:
| HU | DSU | +/- | |
| Eff | 112.0 | 118.6 | -6.6 |
| TS% | 62.8 | 62.7 | 0.0 |
| OR% | 36.7% | 30.0% | 6.7% |
| TR | 20.2 | 13.4 | 6.8 |
| Player Name | MIN | GS | ISP | ITP | IPP | Floor% | %TP | ORtg |
| Andrepont, Patrick | 23 | -0.7 | 2.42 | 9.24 | 7.25 | 26.2% | 13.2% | 78.5 |
| Hall, Matt………. | 38 | 9.6 | 7.93 | 15.79 | 16.36 | 50.2% | 22.5% | 103.6 |
| Sims, Brandon | 10 | 0.5 | 0.97 | 2.57 | 2.78 | 37.6% | 3.7% | 108.1 |
| Hamilton, Rick…… | 26 | 10.9 | 7.39 | 14.82 | 17.19 | 49.8% | 21.2% | 116.0 |
| Barnett, Steven….. | 25 | 9.3 | 3.91 | 5.60 | 9.50 | 69.9% | 8.0% | 169.6 |
| Kee, Cole……….. | 24 | 6.2 | 4.20 | 9.23 | 11.84 | 45.5% | 13.2% | 128.3 |
| Bibb, Reggie…….. | 15 | 2.3 | 1.61 | 3.44 | 3.88 | 47.0% | 4.9% | 112.9 |
| Morgan, Trent……. | 25 | 6.4 | 2.32 | 5.15 | 5.68 | 45.2% | 7.3% | 110.4 |
| Howard, Brian……. | 5 | 0.7 | 0.16 | 0.16 | 0.36 | 100.0% | 0.2% | 225.8 |
| Thies, Jacob…….. | 9 | 2.8 | 1.85 | 3.56 | 4.88 | 52.1% | 5.1% | 136.9 |
| Player Name | MIN | GS | ISP | ITP | IPP | Floor% | %TP | ORtg |
| Hodge, Johnny……. | 27 | 17.4 | 7.79 | 13.61 | 18.93 | 57.2% | 19.7% | 139.1 |
| Neely, Justin……. | 16 | 1.5 | 1.98 | 5.44 | 5.45 | 36.4% | 7.9% | 100.2 |
| Williams, Josh…… | 21 | 0.1 | 1.91 | 4.59 | 4.16 | 41.6% | 6.6% | 90.6 |
| McCoy, Marlon……. | 40 | 18.7 | 10.05 | 17.55 | 22.59 | 57.3% | 25.4% | 128.7 |
| Rice, Turmaine…… | 39 | 20.3 | 8.42 | 17.89 | 22.58 | 47.1% | 25.9% | 126.2 |
| White, Derrick…… | 20 | 1.6 | 0.87 | 2.27 | 2.41 | 38.2% | 3.3% | 106.3 |
| Townsend, Luke…… | 6 | -1.0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 1.4% | 0.0 |
| Fizer, Anthony…… | 2 | 0.0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0 |
| Clark, David…….. | 23 | 5.0 | 2.88 | 4.88 | 5.82 | 59.0% | 7.1% | 119.3 |
| Jenkins, Brian…… | 6 | 1.3 | 1.02 | 1.70 | 2.11 | 60.1% | 2.5% | 124.0 |
Thought I’d give you some of the opposing team’s individual stats for once, since they had some impressive performances.
It’s unusual for a game to be decided almost solely by the turnover battle, but that appears to be what happened in this one. Both teams struggled in shooting defense (or were just great offensively), but the Bisons turned it over about 20% of the time, compared to DSU’s 13%. True shooting was almost even between the teams, and HU had a slight rebounding edge.
Rick Hamilton’s line for the Bisons looks pretty good until you see that he had 5 of the Bisons’ 19 turnovers. He and Andrepont struggled against the athletic and opportunistic DSU defenders, and their games suffered as a result.
Cole Kee played well in a rare boost of playing time. Andrepont fouled out of the game, so I’m guessing that’s why we saw more of Kee, and Kee didn’t disappoint. 13 points on 8 shots isn’t too bad, especially considering his usual level of performance.
The Bisons were great in most of the other aspects of their offensive performance other than turnovers. They shot 50% from the field, 50% from outside, and they made 18 of 23 free throws. DSU has struggled defensively in their past games, so it’s good to get another good offensive performance against them.
With this loss, the Bisons fell all the way to fifth place in the standings, since each of the other 5-3 teams won their games (DSU being one of them).
Elsewhere in the GSC
Christian Brothers edged out still-winless Arkansas Tech on the road, 63-60. Nick Kohs returned from his injury and played an otherwise unremarkable 13 minutes. Kevin Weybright again carried the load for the Bucs, scoring 21 points (but turning the ball over five times). The CBU offense was quiet, but ATU was pretty much silent. Terrance Whiters had 19 points and 5 turnovers for the Wonder Boys, who fell to 0-9 in conference play. Christian Brothers is now 6-4 and in a three-way tie for second place.
Henderson State thoroughly crushed Southern Arkansas under the weight of their defense, winning 72-41 and setting marks for the lowest scoring output and biggest win in GSC West games this season. Dee Dee Drake had an efficient 18 points, leading both teams in scoring. Cory Green’s 5-of-13 shooting was easily the best individual performance for the Muleriders, which should say a lot about their team play.
Ouachita Baptist took down Arkansas-Monticello in their continued quest for GSC respectability. Brandon Dawson had 22 points for the Tigers (who have now won six in a row), as did Nate Newell for the Boll Weevils, only Newell required 23 shots from the field and 12 free throw attempts to reach that total. He hit just four of his 23 field goals, marking the second game this season in which he attempted 20+ shots and made fewer than 5.
If anyone knows the NCAA single-season record for missed field goals, I’m all ears. Newell’s total is 287 in 20 games (148 made in 435 attempts). Arkansas Tech’s Terrance Whiters (293), CBU’s Kevin Weybright (290), and Matt Hall (297) are the only other players in the division who have attempted as many shots as Newell has missed. Having said all that, Nate has been better than league average in offensive efficiency, and there’s something to be said for that. When I figure out what it is, I’ll let you know.
Coming Up
Tomorrow’s games include the Bisons at home against OBU, which should be fun, given OBU’s recent hot streak. SAU will host Arkansas Tech in what will probably be the Wonder Boys’ last chance to win a game this conference season. Henderson State will visit Christian Brothers, where they will try to gain even more ground on the field of second-place teams.
jfwiii.net 
Pete Maravich was 522/1168 from the field his senior year.
Nate’s got some catching up to do.