Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[PointGuard]

CSU Bakersfield........9-4.....RPI: 79
New Jersey................8-5.....RPI: 139
Seattle.....................7-6.....RPI: 169
North Dakota.............6-7......RPI: 81
Houston Baptist..........6-7.....RPI: 199
Utah Valley................5-8.....RPI: 156
Chicago St................5-8.....RPI: 193
TX Pan American........5-8.....RPI: 232

The Great West teams did better against non-conference teams this year than in prior years and RPI’s (heading into conference play) are better as well.

[Wayne23]

Lookin' good, Coach!

[PointGuard]

Game #14: Jan. 2, 2014; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (9-4) at Utah Valley Wolverines (5-8)

Utah Valley won 5 of their first 7 games, but has a 6 game losing streak coming into tonight's game. Our goal...make that a 7 game losing streak.

We jumped out to a 14-0 lead, hitting 5 of our first 6 shots. We held a double digit lead the rest of the half, finishing ahead 38-26. We hit 49% of our shots while the Wolverines put 44% of theirs in the hoop. Justin Williams, Ali Lyde and Jerell Brown each had 8 points.

Utah Valley came out and took it to us in the 2nd half, tying the game at 45-45 with 12:17 remaining. We quickly re-established a small lead but at the 4:28 mark the Wolverines hit a jumper that put them ahead 52-51. With 16 seconds to play, Darius Dunn was fouled. He made the first to tie the game 57-57 but missed the second. Ali Lyde rebounded but his put-back missed and Utah Valley grabbed the rebound. They defended well forcing their center to take attempt a 3-pointer at the buzzer which clanged off the rim.

Overtime: We controlled the jump and Jerell Brown popped in a 14 footer 12 seconds into the OT. Darius Dunn drove to the right baseline and put a quick jumper up that found the silk at the 4:19 mark to give us 61-57 lead. With 3:44 remaining, Utah Valley sunk 2 free throws to cut our lead to 2. Jerell Brown took a pass to the right of the key and drove to the basket to slam down a dunk at 3:20 making the score 63-59. Brown then stole the ball inside and fired it up court to a streaking Ali Lyde who laid it in to give us a 65-59 lead. The refs tried to keep things close by calling us for yet another foul. The Wolverines made 1 of 2 cutting the lead to 65-60 with 2:43 left. Jerell Brown was fouled on a shot and made both free throws making it 67-60. Another foul called against us and the Wolverines sunk the first, missed the second, but grabbed the rebound and put it back in to close the score to 67-63 with 1:21 to go. Then an errant pass was stolen and Utah Valley got a driving layup to make it 67-65 with 1:04 left. The refs called another foul on us. I was livid. The Wolverines sunk both shots to tie the game 67-67 with 48 seconds to play. A quick series of misses and turnovers ensued and gave us the ball with 6 seconds on the clock. Darius Dunn brought it up court quickly, drove to the right of the key, pulled up, and drilled a 12 foot jumper to give us the win.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-69, Utah Valley-67 (OT). CSU Bakersfield season record: 10-4; Great West record: 1-0 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-22, Lyde-16, Dunn-11, Williams-8.

Rebound leaders: Lyde-8, Jsh Brown-8, Pastner-6.

Assist leaders: Dunn-5, Jrl Brown-4, Kamara-4.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-22 pts, 1 reb, 4 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Ali Lyde-16 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: We shot poorly in the 2nd half to drop our shooting to 42% while Utah Valley hit 44%. We had a 19-14 turnover advantage which was key to our win.

Half of our 14 games thus far have been exceptionally close—2 overtimes and 5 games decided by between 1 and 4 points. Bring on the Zantac.

[PointGuard]

Game #15: Jan. 5, 2014; Chicago State Cougars (6-8, 1-0) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (10-4, 1-0)

Chicago State has played a little tougher schedule thus far, including away games against #23 Villanova and #11 Florida, both of which they lost. But they beat favored New Jersey Tech in their first conference game this year.

We moved out to a lead early in the first half, then continued to stretch it throughout the game. We held a 42-28 halftime lead and never looked back.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-80, Chicago State-59. CSU Bakersfield season record: 11-4; Great West record: 2-0 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Lyde-25, Jrl Brown-22, Hill-9.

Rebound leaders: Lyde-8, Jsh Brown-7.

Assist leaders: Dunn-4, Kamara-4, Jones-3.

Player of the Game: PF Ali Lyde-25 pts, 8 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Jerell Brown-22 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal.

Other notes: We made this one look easy. We hit 50% of our shots (and 48% of our 3’s) while limiting the Cougars to 38% shooting (they only hit 17% of their 3’s). We pulled down 35 rebounds to Chicago State’s 32. The only negative was that we made 15 turnovers…far too many...the Cougars made 14.

[CoachC]

way to beat that west coast juggernaut chicago state!

[CoachC]

Better get out of that conference after this season, PG! In real life it's no more next season. Don't understand it.. a west coast conference with teams from Chicago and New Jersey? made perfect sense. apparently they were borrowing one of Franks's rooms.

[CoachC]

At least now we understand the reason for the conference demise.. PG did it!

[Wayne23]

Hay! In promoshun/Regelashun they got confrinses like that alla time so why not hear?

Frank Bailey

[PointGuard]

Well, even more absurd that having Chi St and NJ Tech in the conf was for it to be called the GREAT West Conf.


The only way GREAT should have been paired with this group of teams was if it were to have been called the "Great Scot, Why Did They Create This Conference".

[PointGuard]

Game #16: Jan. 9, 2014; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (11-4, 2-0) at North Dakota Fighting Sioux (7-8, 1-1)

According to most everyone, North Dakota is a better team than their record would indicate. They’re led by SG Herb Dahl, who again this year is averaging over 20 ppg (22.8).

We moved out to a 10-5 lead, but then North Dakota’s 2-3 zone stymied us. We ended up hitting 39% of our shots (0 for 9 from 3 point distance), turning the ball over 10 times, and being totally humiliated on the boards (24-12). North Dakota shot poorly also (35%), but Herb Dahl drilled 4 three’s and scored 13 points. We left eh court trailing 32-24. Jerell Brown led our scoring with 8 points, but shot horribly.

In the refs picked up where they left off, calling nearly all the fouls against us and I got a quick technical. North Dakota held their lead but we rallied midway through the half and tied the score at 49-49 with 6:08 remaining. We then went stone-cold and North Dakota hit some big shots to resurrect their lead at 57-49 with 2 minutes to play. We pulled within 4 but the Fighting Sioux responded by expanding their lead.

Final Score: North Dakota-62, CSU Bakersfield-53. CSU Bakersfield season record: 11-5; Great West record: 2-1 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-12, Powers-11.

Rebound leaders: Lyde-5, Williams-5, Jrl Brown-5.

Assist leaders: Dunn-4, Powers-3, Kamara-3.

Player of the Game: North Dakota’s SG Herb Dahl-21 pts, 5 reb, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Andrew Powers-11 pts, 4 reb, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.

Other notes: We finished the game hitting just 38% of our shots and were 2 of 18 from three point distance. North Dakota hit just 37% of their shots but hit 10 of 28 threes. They also had 9 more free throws that us and scored 9 more points from the line (Oh-h-h-h-h-h, and wasn't the point differential in this game 9 points also? ). We lost the battle of the boards 41-27, but had just 12 turnovers to their 23.