Sun Belt basketball goes 7-0

[MeanGreen61]

http://basketball.sunbeltsports.org/x/article/3383

Men's Basketball Scoreboard

Sun Belt schools go 7-0 in first day of full action!!!

November 19th, 2004

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New Orleans 81, Siena 73

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Bo McCalebb missed only three shots and scored 29 points, leading New Orleans past Siena 81-73 Friday in the seventh-place game of the BCA Invitational.

Chad Barnes and Ben Elias both had 13 points for the Privateers (1-2), who shot 55 percent. Jamie McNeilly added 10, and McCalebb dished out nine assists.

The Saints (0-3) were the only winless team in the tournament. Tommy Mitchell was 6-of-7 from the field and finished with 16 points to lead four players in double figures.

A day earlier, McCalebb was held back by foul trouble in a loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, but the only problems he had in this one were at the free throw line. He made only 5-of-11, which kept him from reaching the scoring record of 32 points by Arizona State's Eddie House.

McCalebb was 11-for-14 and got the bulk of his points on mid-range jumpers, using his quickness to beat defenders off the dribble before pulling up for shots. He also hit two 3-pointers.

The Privateers took the lead for good on a basket by Elias, the start of a 20-6 run in about 8½ minutes of the second half that gave them control. McCalebb had seven points in that stretch, and Shawn Malloy finished it with a three-point play on a dunk.

Siena got within six with about two minutes left on a 3 from Antoine Jordan, but McCalebb responded with a 15-foot jumper on the baseline. New Orleans sealed the victory by going 8-for-12 from the line down the stretch.

Louisiana-Lafayette 84, Louisiana Tech 63

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Behind Tiras Wade's 20 points, Louisiana-Lafayette defeated Louisiana Tech 84-63 Friday night in the LSU Louisiana Classic.

Trailing for only four minutes of the first half, the Ragin' Cajuns (1-0) took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Spencer Ford with 13:39 left in the half.

Up 20-17 midway through the first half, Louisiana-Lafayette scored six straight to push the lead into double-digits.

Thanks to six 3-pointers in the first half, Louisiana-Lafayette's biggest lead came on the final basket of the half, a 3-pointer by Chris Cameron.

Louisiana Tech (0-1) cut the Cajun lead to 51-43 with 15:22 left in the game, but Louisiana-Lafayette responded with eight unanswered points.

Paul Millsap led Louisiana Tech with a game-high 25 points and 14 rebounds. He was the only Bulldog in double-figures.

Orien Greene had 18 points and eight assists for the Cajuns. Brian Hamilton and Dwayne Mitchell each added 11 points.

Louisiana-Lafayette advanced to the tournament's championship game Sunday.

North Texas 100, Angelo State 66

DENTON (AP) Michael Jones and Leonard Hopkins scored 16 points apiece, leading to a season-opening 100-66 win over Angelo State on Friday night.

Jones was 8-of-14 from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds. Hopkins shot 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line.

Ty Thomas added 11 points for the Mean Green on 5-of-14 shooting. Quincy Williams and Justin Barrett had 10 apiece.

Matt Hardin scored 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting for Angelo State (2-1). RaShawn Childs had 12 points for the Rams.

Michael Sturn grabbed nine rebounds for the Mean Green, who outrebounded Angelo State 59-35.

Florida International 65, Florida Atlantic 62

MIAMI (AP) Ivan Almonte scored 16 points and pulled in five rebounds Friday as Florida International opened its season with a 65-62 victory over regional rival Florida Atlantic, also playing its first game.

Ismael N'Diaye added 14 points and Junior Matias 12 for the host Golden Panthers, while Byron Burnett helped out by snaring 14 rebounds, 10 of them on defense.

Quinton Young was high man for Florida Atlantic, scoring 26 points - 24 on three-pointers - before fouling out late in the game.

Robert Williams was next for the Owls with nine points. He also had 11 rebounds.

Florida International led 34-27 at the half.

Middle Tennessee 95, Lambuth 54

MURFREESBORO, Tenn (AP) Mike Dean scored 19 points and Marcus Morrison added 18 as Middle Tennessee beat Lambuth 95-54 in its season opener Friday.

Dean opened an 18-2 Blue Raider run with a 3-pointer at the 19:32 mark to make the score 28-6.

A jump shot by Michael Cuffee at the 1:53 mark put MTSU up by 32 points. The Blue Raiders led at the half 48-17.

MTSU (1-0) extended its lead to 40 points in the second half.

Morrison, who was selected player of the game, was 7 for 12 on field goals and 4 for 5 on 3-point shots.

Cuffee had 13 points and Brian Lake 12. Kyle Young and Bryan Smithson scored 10 each.

Chris Cole led the Eagles (5-2) with 19 points, while Bilal Simmons had 12.

Western Kentucky 76, Tennessee State 73 (OT)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) Antonio Haynes' running shot in the lane with 13 seconds to play in overtime Friday night and two subsequent free throws with seven-tenths of a second remaining lifted Western Kentucky to a 76-73 come-from-behind victory over Tennessee State.

Haynes led all scorers with 32 points in the season-opening game for both teams. Haynes was 9-of-17 from the floor, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range and 10-of-11 from the line.

The Hilltoppers trailed throughout the second half and by as many as 12 points with 11:51 remaining before tying the game on Haynes' free throw with 5.7 seconds to play in regulation. Western Kentucky trailed for most of the overtime period as well until Haynes' shot with 13 seconds in the extra period gave the Hilltoppers their first lead since late in the first half.

Tennessee State's second-half lead melted away, as the Tigers went the final 6:44 without making a shot from the floor.

Western Kentucky had its problems from the free-throw line in the second half, shooting just 5-of-15 foul shots.

Freshman Courtney Lee added 15 points for Western Kentucky, while Anthony Winchester scored 13.

Rod Flowers, a transfer from the University of Cincinnati, led the Tigers with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Wayne Arnold scored 15 for Tennessee State. Eric King, a transfer from St. John's, added 14 and Bruce Price 10.

New Mexico State 65, Western Michigan 61 (OT)

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) Mike Mitchell and Antwan Alexander combined for 10 of New Mexico State's 14 points in overtime as the Aggies defeated Western Michigan 65-61 victory in the first round of the Top of the World Classic on Friday night.

New Mexico State built a 40-32 lead with 10:55 remaining in the game. But then the Broncos' Ben Reed and Levi Rost combined for 19 points and Rost hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 51-51 and force the overtime period.

In overtime, Western Michigan (0-1) took the lead 55-53, until a 3-point shot by Josh Jenkins put the Aggies on top with 2:19 to play. The Aggies kept the lead for the rest of the period on free throws by Mitchell and Alexander.

Jenkins led the Aggies with 14 points, and Trevor Lawrence added 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Levi Rost scored 17 points for the Broncos, last year's Mid-American Conference champions. Reed added 15 and Brian Snider 13 for Western Michigan.

The Broncos were 26-for-75 from the floor and 6-for-28 from the 3-point line. They didn't score for the first 5:25 of the game.

New Mexico State wasn't much better, hitting 22-for-51 from the floor and 4-for-18 from the 3-point line.

Western Michigan outrebounded New Mexico State 46-36, led by Joe Reitz, who had eight boards.

New Mexico State plays Northwestern and Western Michigan meets Portland in the second round on Saturday.

[Gakusei]

Great stat. I really am hoping that this is the year the Sun Belt really turns up some wins in OOC play and drops that nasty "mid-major" label. It sucks reading the preseason rags and seeing the conference ranked behind the WCC and the Big West. <_