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

[PointGuard]

Hector’s done a fantastic job marketing the Bakersfield Drillers of the NBA’s Development League. Some great season and mini-season ticketing packages, tremendous free publicity about the 4 ex-Roadrunners players who will be on the team (I think a lot of OUR fans will also be going to Drillers games this year), some wild promotions for different games, a Drillers’ Mariachi Band for the games, a kid’s End Line Club, a promotion to honor whoever will be the 10,000th fan this year, free tickets for disadvantaged youth, creative group ticket offerings, etc, etc.

Not only is Hector going to fulfill his desire to right what he saw was a wrong inflicted upon the ex-Roadrunners players, he may very well actually make money with his new toy, the Bakersfield Drillers.

[CoachC]

Unfortunately, the in game AI coaching would be the easiest to fix by programming. Ah, well, it is what it is.

[PointGuard]

Game #4; Nov. 25, 2016: CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-0) at #21 Cincinnati Bearcats (2-1)

We take on the first of several big challenges during our pre-conference schedule. The Bearcat’s PG Eddie Harris has simply been shredding the nets, hitting 52% of his FG attempts including 46% of his 3’s, to average 23.0 ppg thus far. But Ryab Willias, their SF, also can score points in bunches. He’s only averaging 11.7 ppg this year but scored 21.8 ppg last season.

We came out flat, shooting poorly and dropped behind right away. We finally tied it up at 18-18 with 9-1/2 minutes to play in the half, but we were getting jobbed by the refs. With 3-1/2 minutes until the intermission, we took a 26-24 lead, capitalizing on Bearcat turnovers. When the horn sounded to end the half, we were up 32-30. I’m proud of how our guys controlled the tempo, particularly in the last 10 minutes of the half. We hit 42% of our shots. Cincinnati hit 40% of theirs. We controlled the boards 18-14 and had a 9-6 turnover advantage. If Cincinnati hadn’t gotten to the line so much more than we did where they scored 6 more points than us, we would have had a sizeable margin. Jerry Yearwood had a great half, scoring 16 points. Ryab Willias scored 9 points early in the half for the Bearcats, but we throttled him back once we double-teamed him.

We were blazing hot to open the 2nd half and took a 46-38 lead with 15:40 to play. But Eddie Harris kept the Bearcats in it with some great 3-point shooting, and Cincinnati regained the lead 51-48 with 13 minutes left. We scored 8 straight points to regain a 5 point lead. At that point we clamped down defensively and continued to chip in shots, gradually expanding our lead until the very end to come away with a BIG win on the road.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-81, Cincinnati-67. CSU Bakersfield season record: 4-0.

Scoring leaders: Yearwood-24, Calton-14, Holt-12, Gilbert-8, Pastner-8.

Rebound leaders: Gilbert-12, Calton-8, Jarmond-5, Yearwood-5.

Assist leaders: Yearwood-5, Holt-4.

Player of the Game: PG Jerry Yearwood-24 pts, 5 reb, 5 assists.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Jeff Gilbert-8 points, 12 reb, 2 assists, 1 block.

Other notes: We dropped in 46% of our shots while holding Cincinnati to 37% shooting. We held a 13-10 turnover advantage, but the big difference in the game was our total domination of the boards, 44-24. We grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to just 6 for the Bearcats. We scored 34 points in the paint, Cincinnati scored 12. We got 19 second chance points, Cincinnati had 8. We scored 25 fast breaks points, Cincinnati just 5. Eddie Harris hit 5 three-point shots for the Bearcats in the 2nd half to finish with 19 points.

While we knocked Cincinnati out of the polls, we were unable to crack the Top 25. But our RPI rose to 8th best in the nation.

4 of our 5 starters are scoring in double figures. Jeff Gilbert is now averaging 9.5 rpg also.

Jermaine Vershaw had one of Cincinnati’s big men stomp down on his foot under the boards and got his foot bruised. We’ll keep him out of practice for a few days but he should be ready to play for our next game.

[CoachC]

Hint: don't ever let the Roadrunners play the Lobo's....Gary has connections with ACME.

[CoachC]

4 games into a 33-0 season... keep it going!

[PointGuard]

Game #5; Nov. 29, 2016: Virginia Commonwealth (3-1) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (4-0)

VCU is led by SG Brant Odle who is scoring 18.0 ppg.

I come down with the flu and have to miss this game (meaning I forgot to check the box to play this game out). Scott Roberts, my 1st assistant coach, takes the reins and ably fills in for me.

We were on fire in the 1st half, opening a 20 point lead and heading to the locker room with a 45-30 advantage.

We played like we had a big lead and were in no danger in the 2nd half. While that was in fact the case, I was unhappy that we let them narrow the gap.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-72, VCU-64. CSU Bakersfield season record: 5-0.

Scoring leaders: Yearwood-17, Holt-17, Calton-10.

Rebound leaders: Gilbert-9.

Assist leaders: 3 players with 2 each.

Player of the Game: SG Brett Holt-17 pts, 3 reb, 3 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Awvee Calton-10 pts, 4 reb, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Other notes: Even though our shooting cooled in the 2nd half, we still hit 52% for the entire game. The second half was a real lackluster performance on our part, but we never were seriously threatened.

[PointGuard]

Game #6; Dec. 2, 2016: CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-0) at #20 New Mexico Lobos (5-3)

Our second big test of the year comes as we travel to New Mexico to take on the #20 Lobos. New Mexico won the Midwest Invitational Tournament this year. The Lobos are good at attacking the boards, and their center Darrin Joseph is a big hulky guy who will give our center Jeff Gilbert a real run for his money on the boards. The Pit is a tough place to play in, so we will need to try to keep the Lobos fans out of the game.

We played evenly with the Lobos for the first part of the half, but then we made some turnovers that resulted in a couple quick buckets. At that point the crowd totally took us out of our game. The fan intensity level just kept overwhelming us. Even though we held New Mexico to 38% shooting, we hit just 30% of our shots. The refs awarded the Lobos 9 more free throws (on which they scored 8 more points) than us. That resulted in a 29-19 halftime deficit for us. Our leading scorer, Jeff Gilbert, had a mere 5 points.

We made a couple runs that cut the margin to 4 or 5 points, but New Mexico was able to immediately resurrect their double digit lead each time. We not only battled the Lobos but their fans noise and taunts. Then after the refs began piling fouls upon us, the Roadrunners coach (whoever he is!) messed up late in the game, repeatedly working the ref which led to a technical…then going after the refs even more vehemently which gave the Lobos more technical foul shots and ball control that allowed them to run away with the game. [Note to self: watch which button you’re clicking on!!!]

Final Score: New Mexico-69, CSU Bakersfield-45. CSU Bakersfield season record: 5-1.

Scoring leaders: Gilbert-7 (your read that right, our high point man had 7 points).

Rebound leaders: Jarmond-8, Gilbert-7, Calton-6, Yearwood-5.

Assist leaders: Yearwood-3, Benjamin-3.

Player of the Game: New Mexico’s PG Jonathan Hemphill-13 pts, 7 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SF Mitchell Jarmond-6 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist, 2 blocks.

Other notes: New Mexico outshot us 42% to 35%, but we out-rebounded them 40-33. Even though we made too many turnovers (15), we forced the Lobos to make 16. But New Mexico got 19 more free throw attempts than we did and subsequently scored 13 more points than us from the line.

Even though we lost, our RPI improved to #4 in the nation, since we are going on the road to take on very good teams.

[PointGuard]

In the game against New Mexico, the CSU Bakersfield coach worked the ref too aggressively near the end of the game, getting a well-earned T. But then he blindly began trying to advance the game, but did so forgetting to move the cursor from “work the ref” to the “advance arrow”. The game wasn’t progressing, the coach was madly clicking away wondering why the game wasn’t proceeding. When the coach finally figured out what a bozo he had been, the refs apparently were INCENSED. From there on, each time the opponents scored or missed a shot, they either got the ball back at half court or got a technical foul shot. The poor Roadrunners never got to touch the ball the rest of the game. CSU Bakersfield wouldn’t have won this game anyway, but what would have been an 8-10 point loss became a 24-point-loss debacle.

Just a word for the wise, watch what you’re doing!

(It’s been rumored that the reason the Roadrunners lost this game is that New Mexico coach has connections with ACME and retooled the game screen so that it worked against Roadrunners.)

[Wayne23]

Ya gotta watch that New Mexico coach.

[PointGuard]

Game #7; Dec. 6, 2016: Missouri State Bears (2-2) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-1)

We shot poorly in the first half (33%), but forced the Bears to turn the ball over 13 times whereas we only had 5 turnovers. That allowed us to take a slim 29-25 lead to the locker room. Mitchell Jarmond and Jerry Yearwood each scored 7 points. I get on the players during the half letting them know we need to get tougher in the 2nd half.

We play a little better in the 2nd half, and slowly increase our lead to win going away.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-63, Missouri State-49. CSU Bakersfield season record: 6-1.

Scoring leaders: Yearwood-23, Calton-9, Jarmond-9.

Rebound leaders: Calton-10, Gilbert-9.

Assist leaders: Calton-4, Holt-3, Yearwood-3.

Player of the Game: PG Jerry Yearwood-23 pts, 3 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Awvee Calton-9 pts, 10 reb, 4 assists, 3 steals.

Other notes: While we only knocked down 38% of our shots, we held the Bears to 31% shooting. We held a 37-31 rebounding advantage, and we forced the Bears to make 21 turnovers while only making 12 ourselves.