With simultaneous NFL playoff and Creighton road game action going on, it sounded like a good excuse to spend the entire day at the bar. So I called up some friends and we headed to the Crescent Moon, where we watched the Redskins get beat by Seattle on the one big screen TV in the bar. A couple of pints and one cheesy-bacon-ranch chicken sandwich later, I was properly primed for the game.
One of the good things about watching road Jays games at the bar is that you don't have to listen to the announcers. Particularly games produced by KMTV. Travis Justice is pretty limited as a play-by-play guy; I think he's solid as a color commentator on the radio broadcasts, but in the play-by-play role he's hard to listen to. It reminds me of Dan Fouts, a formerly decent commentator now struggling in a play-by-play role on ABC's college football. Justice takes a lot of heat from Jays fans, which I think is mostly unfair -- if he was paired with a polished play-by-play guy and could be the commentator, a role in which he excels on radio, everyone would be happy.
On the other hand, Scott Schumacher, the commentator on KMTV's broadcasts, is simply awful. When the trademarks of your broadcasts are uncomfortable interviews with Dana Altman and repeating what your broadcast partner just said in slightly different terms, its not a positive sign.
I hesitate to criticize, even when the camera operators fail to do simple things like check the white-balance on their cameras (seriously!), because I remember all too well the days when the Jays were never on TV. I also have a decent idea of what it costs to put on one of these broadcasts (hint: its not cheap). And looking at the ads during the games tells you businesses aren't exactly waiting in line to advertise. Its the same four or five advertisers, over and over again, and commercial breaks typically have just two or three spots -- as opposed to the usual four or five on FSN or ESPN games.
What I'm saying is...eh, I'm shutting up now. Thank you for broadcasting the games, whatever the production quality! Anyway...
When the lineups were shown on screen, I literally sent a little bit of Boulevard up my nose. Kenny Lawson, starting at the five? Dane Watts at the four? It was too good to be true! As I wrote in my postgame comments after the Indiana State loss:
"When Dane Watts, a potential all-Valley player at the "4", is playing the majority of the teams' minutes at center, its a problem. He's only 6'8" and he's just not big enough to play in the post. Its a disservice to both him and the team. Unfortunately, DA's hands are tied, because unless or until he's comfortable playing freshman major minutes at the "5", Watts is the man."
Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. So was my nose. Boulevard is just that good.
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Whether it was punishment for Chad Millard's poor effort on Wednesday night -- the lack of hustle after getting his pocket picked allowing an easy basket was compounded by his technical foul for swinging an elbow -- or just recognition that the Kenny Lawson Era is ready to begin, the change was evident from the get-go. The new-found intensity on defense, in my opinion, was largely stoked by having a true big man in the paint to play defense. And to be completely fair, it wasn't just Lawson; Kenton Walker played some big minutes too.
The proof is in the pudding, or maybe just in the stats: Missouri State shot just 18% in the first half, with the entire team playing the sort of all-out hustling defense the Jays are known for, but had gotten away from in two losses last week.
18% shooting! 4-22 from the field! Even in the second half, they shot just 9-23 for 39%. Just a solid, solid effort by the Jays.
Now...about that offense. The Jays offensively were not much better than they'd been in losses to ISU Red and ISU Blue. They turned it over 22 times, they shot just 22% in the second half, and they blew an 18-point lead. The difference was a stifling defense. Period.
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In that first half, the Bears made just four field goals, and both teams struggled to score. At the 8:50 mark of half, MSU had a 13-12 lead. That's some stellar offensive production, right there. 11 minutes into the game and Creighton had five field goals to Missouri State's three. Ouch.
One of the Jays' five field goals was another posterizing dunk from P'Allen Stinnett. It hasn't found its way onto YouTube (yet), but when and if it does, I'll be sure to post it here.
It looked, at that 8:50 mark, like this was going to be an ugly, low-scoring, defensive struggle. Then the Jays ripped off a 17-2 run to end the half, seemingly out of nowhere taking a 29-15 lead into the locker room. At the 6:41 mark, Kenny Lawson hit one of his patented mid-range hook shots to give the Jays the lead, and they would never relinquish it. Three-pointers by Booker Woodfox, Dane Watts and Casey Harriman over the next five possessions followed, and after P'Allen Stinnett tacked on a jumper to close the half, the Jays had a 14 point halftime lead.
The second half, however, saw the Jays shoot almost as poorly as the Bears had shot in the first half. However, at least to start the half, the Jays continued their hot streak. They built their largest lead of the night, 18 points, at the 18:02 mark on two Stinnett free throws. It was 35-17, and with the way the defense had been playing it looked like the game would be in the hands of the Human Victory Cigar, Dustin "The Nickel" Sitzmann in no time.
Not so fast. It would be seven minutes before the Jays next field goal, a span that saw a whopping NINE turnovers. A 10-0 Bears run cut the lead to 35-27, but over the next six minutes the Jays were able to keep their lead above six points, momentarily growing it back out to double digits on a couple of occasions.
But you got the sense, both because of the Jays lack of offense and because the Bears were at home, that there was one more run left in Barry Hinson's team. And at the 5:25 mark, it began. With the Jays up 46-40, Deven Mitchell hit two free throws to cut the lead to four.
Stinnett made one of two free throws at the other end to push the lead back out to five at 47-42. Dale Lamberth hit a running jumper at the 3:43 mark to make it 47-44 Jays. A minute later, Spencer Laurie hit a three pointer to tie the game at 47-all, the first tie in the game since the first half.
Josh Dotzler then came down, drove inside, and put up a shot. He was called for charging, but the shot counted. I'm still waiting for an explanation on this. It must be some bizarre rule that I'm ignorant to, because is it just me, or can a shot count on a charging call? Like I said, I'm still waiting for the explanation. Regardless, it was 49-47 Jays, 1:09 to play, and MSU was shooting two at the other end. Chris Cooks hit both shots, and the game was knotted up at 49.
Suddenly, this defensive struggle, this ugly game, had some real drama! On the ensuing possession, Stinnett caught the ball on the left of the lane and was fouled while shooting a jumper. He missed the first free throw, and disgustedly threw his mouthpiece toward the bench. Some would call this defiant act evidence of his lack of maturity or poor sportsmanship; I call it much welcomed fire and enthusiasm. I loved it, truth be told.
He sank the second throw, and the Jays were up 50-49 with 56 seconds left. After inbounding the ball in the backcourt, the Jays press was able to force a turnover with 49 ticks left. They milked the clock down to under 20 seconds, and the play was clearly drawn up to get the ball inside to Watts for a shot attempt. When two defenders collapsed down on him, he kicked the ball back outside to the first blue jersey he saw open -- which also happened to be the worst shooter on the floor. Dotzler missed a wide-open three, and Missouri State now had a chance to win the game with any basket.
They worked the ball to Spencer Laurie, who had made 3-6 from behind the arc in the game, and got him an open look. At the buzzer, his desperation shot sailed just long, and the Jays escaped with a 50-49, hard-fought win.
Over the last 5:25 of the game, the Bears outscored Creighton 9-4. Luckily, the Jays had a six-point lead when that run began, allowing them to eek out a one point win.
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The Crescent Moon has Karaoke at 9pm on Saturdays, that most repellent of public displays. You know what would be great, though? Karaoke announcing. Think about it: at a sports bar, you let a guy take a microphone and do commentary over the speakers -- perhaps five or ten minutes at a time. Let him bring a buddy or two with him to be his color commentators. I don't see a downside to this, frankly. If nothing else, it would save us all from having to listen to guys like Joe Buck and Jim Nantz. I should patent this.
Anyway, because of the amount of whistles in the CU game, the game ran late and was cutting into Karaoke time. It was a one-possession game, and the entire bar (minus two of my buddies, who were strangely riveted by the Ben Roethlisberger Super Happy Interception Party Time Show showing on tiny TVs across the room) was fixated by the game.
This did not sit well with the Karaoke coordinator, who in the midst of singing her opening number came over and did something to the big screen. Reports are conflicting on her true intents; some thought she was merely attempting to turn the volume down, while others thought she was trying to turn the TV over to an AV input displaying lyrics to the song.
Either way, with 16 seconds left in a one point game and the entire bar watching, she just about caused a riot. We'll all enjoy your ballad when the game is over, just be patient, will you? She saw the room coming unglued and immediately retreated, but she had to cycle through the 8 inputs on the TV to get back to the game signal just in time to see Missouri State miss a potential game-winning shot just as the final buzzer sounded.
Whew!
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While we walked to the next bar where we hoped to watch the conclusion of the Steelers-Jags game in a Karaoke-free zone, one of my buddies said, "Man, that game was ugly!"
I replied, "No, no, my friend. It was not ugly, it was a win."
A win. And a damn big one at that. 10-3 overall and 1-2 in the Valley, coming home to play a feisty Evansville team. You bet.
POLYFRO HEEE-HAW PLAYER OF THE GAME: P'Allen Stinnett took a well-deserved public tongue lashing from Dana Altman this week after his chest-thumping antics and incessant whining threatened to cut his minutes. The MVC refs gave him the Jamar Howard treatment on Wednesday in Terre Haute, calling five ticky-tack fouls and getting him out of the game. He could have responded by sulking. He instead responded with 18 points in 26 minutes, and his free throw with 16 seconds left was the margin of victory.
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