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

[PointGuard]

Record: 4-9
Home Record: 4-3
Away Record: 0-6
Ranking: NR
RPI: 315
PPG: 64.1 (276th in nation); Opponents’ PPG: 67.5 (154th in nation)
APG: 12.8 (276th in nation)
RPG: 34.3 (56th in nation)
BPG: 3.0 (118th in nation)
SPG: 4.9 (276th in nation)
TOPG: 13.2 (85th in nation)

[PointGuard]

Coaches Classic: Georgia Tech-72, Illinois-60
Preseason NIT: Florida-76, Duke-55
Hawaiian Classic: George Washington-87, St. Josephs (PA)-69
Midwest Invitational: Alabama-55, Georgia-53
Alaskan Classic: Texas Tech-56, UConn-51
Sunshine Shootout: Iowa-69, Vanderbilt-32
Las Vegas Winter Jam: Depaul-77, Rice-69
JAG Holiday Invitational: Michigan-57, Arkansas-49

[PointGuard]

1. Georgia Tech (15-0)
2. Florida (16-0)
3. Kentucky (13-0)
4. Duke (13-2)
5. Illinois (14-1)
6. Indiana (11-2)
7. Michigan St. (11-1)
8. Syracuse (10-1)
9. Georgetown (11-2)
10.Mississippi St. (14-1)

[PointGuard]

Game #14; Jan. 4, 2012; North Dakota Fighting Sioux (8-5) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (4-9)

We open conference play by hosting North Dakota, the team picked to finish atop the Great West standings. Jesse Kennard, their SG, is averaging 23.1 ppg.

We played solidly throughout the first half, and held a 5-10 point lead most of the half. The halftime score was 41-36 in our favor. Andrew Powers was on fire and scored 20 points, hitting 8 of 14 FG’s (including 2 of 3 three-pointers) and 2 for 3 from the foul line.

The Fighting Sioux came back in the 2nd half and took a 7 point lead midway through the half. We struggled and finally got the lead back with about 3 minutes to go. From there the lead went back and forth. With 52 seconds left we hit a jumper that got us within a point. We fouled their worst foul shooter with 46 seconds left. He missed the shot but North Dakota grabbed the rebound and we were forced to foul immediately. Their center hit the first but missed the second shot and we brought the ball up court. We called time out and Bivins scored on a pick and roll play to tie the game with 26 seconds on the clock. We stole the ball and played for the last shot, but Bivins 3 pointer went off the rim forcing overtime with the score knotted at 78-78.

OVERTIME: Carlos Holmes hit a jumper from the key to make it 80-78 with 4:49 remaining. We were called for a foul inside and North Dakota’s center again made one of two narrowing the score to 80-79. Andrew Powers’ shot missed, and North Dakota hit a 12 foot jumper to put them ahead 81-80 with 4:11 to go. Powers missed again but made up for it by picking off a pass on the other end and pushing it ahead to Johnny Chase for a driving dunk to regain the our lead at 82-81 with 3:34 left. The refs called an offensive charge against North Dakota. Greg Bivins hit a baseline jumper to give us a 3 point lead with 3:08 remaining. Following a North Dakota miss, Kevin Hill hit a 10-footer in traffic that put us a head by 5 with 2:40 on the clock. We failed to box out on the boards and North Dakota got 3 shots on their end of the court but missed them all. Bivins drove to the key and scored to make it 88-81 with 1:31 to go. Inexplicably Bivins then fouled unnecessarily near the midcourt line sending him to the bench with 5 fouls. North Dakota missed both free throws. Bobby Rivera was intentionally fouled but made just one of two making it 89-81 with a minute to play. North Dakota missed two 3-point attempts. Carlos Holmes brought it up court and immediately launched a 3 (to my consternation), but he made it giving us a 92-81 lead with 40 seconds left. We picked off another Fighting Sioux pass and Bobby Rivera scored on a 12 foot baseline jumper to end the game.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-94, North Dakota-81 (OT). CSU Bakersfield season record: 5-9; Great West record: 1-0 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Powers-28, Bivins-22, Hill-15.

Rebound leaders: Johnson-6, Chase-5, Jones-5.

Assist leaders: Kamoura-7, Bivins-5, Powers-5, Chase-3.

Player of the Game: SG Andrew Powers-28 pts, 3 reb, 5 assists, 4 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Greg Bivins-22 pts, 1 reb, 5 assists.

Other notes: Both teams hit 51% of their shots. We also hit 10 of 17 threes. The Fighting Sioux out-rebounded us 37-31, but we forced them to make 25 turnovers while we made only 15. That was the big difference in the game. We double-teamed Jesse Kennard. He scored 15 (well below his average) and had to do that on 7 of 20 shooting. The game could have gone either way in the 2nd half, but we dominated the overtime to come away with a great win in our conference opener.

[Wayne23]

What a great start and what a great sign. You beat the expected #1 in conf. Things could be looking up!

[PointGuard]

16-3 in OT was quite unusual alright. North Dakota just fell apart (except for rebounding) and didn't score at all in the final 4:11 (during which we scored 14 points).

[PointGuard]

Game #15; Jan. 7, 2012; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-9, 1-0) at New Jersey Tech Highlanders (9-5, 0-1)

New Jersey Tech was picked to finish 2nd in the conference. They don’t have a standout scorer but their entire lineup is able to score well. We’ll have to be at the top of our game to have a chance in this game.

Midway through the first have we had 8 fouls assessed against us and New Jersey Tech had not been called for one foul. I picked up an early technical. The half ended with us down 43-30…11 of the 13 points separating us from the Highlanders were due to their hitting 11 of 13 free throws while never got to the foul line…difficult when the refs call ZERO fouls against the other team through the entire 20 minutes of the half! Jeremy Jones and Kevin Hill both had 5 points to lead our scoring.

The 2nd half mirrored the 1st with the refs calling 9 fouls against us and 2 (non-shooting) against the Highlanders. We lost by 20, but 16 of that point differential stemmed from New Jersey Tech hitting 16 of 19 from the charity stripe while we got no free throw attempts the entire game.

Final Score: New Jersey Tech-74, CSU Bakersfield-54. CSU Bakersfield season record: 5-10; Great West record: 1-1 (2nd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Hill-11, Powers-9, Bivins-8, Jones-8, Chase-8.

Rebound leaders: Chase-13, Jones-6.

Assist leaders: Bivins-3.

Player of the Game: New Jersey Tech’s SG Adam McLean-13 pts, 3 reb, 3 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Johnny Chase-8 pts, 13 reb, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 blocks.

Other notes: We wuz robbed! 19 fouls against us, 2 against New Jersey Tech. Not much else to say about this game.

[PointGuard]

Game #16; Jan. 11, 2012; Seattle Redhawks (7-8, 2-0) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (5-10, 1-1)

Seattle is the only undefeated team in the Great West Conference.

Hitting 60% of our shots we opened a lead and gradually expanded it. We left the floor with a 40-30 advantage. Carlos Holmes scored 12 points to lead our scoring.

We maintained a reasonable lead throughout the 2nd half to achieve a solid win.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-71, Seattle-64. CSU Bakersfield season record: 6-10; Great West record: 2-1 (1st place tie).

Scoring leaders: Powers-21, Holmes-16, Hill-12.

Rebound leaders: Hill-5, Powers-5.

Assist leaders: Bivins-4, Holmes-4, Rivera-3.

Player of the Game: SG Andrew Powers-21 pts, 5 reb.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Carlos Holmes-16 pts, 4 assists, 2 steals.

Other notes: The only major difference in team statistics was turnovers where we forced 16 Seattle turnovers while making only 10 ourselves.

[PointGuard]

Game #17; Jan. 14, 2012; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (6-10, 2-1) at Houston Baptist Huskies (6-10, 0-3)

We let Houston Baptist get too many easy shots as they hit 52% and popped in 6 of 8 threes. The Huskies held a 40-36 advantage at the end of the 1st half. Greg Bivins tossed in 13 points to lead our scoring.

The 2nd half was a barn-burner. Both teams played with tremendous intensity and while the Huskies maintained a small lead through most of the half we gradually tied them and then the lead went back-and-forth the final 5 minutes. Andrew Powers drove into the key and popped in a jumper with 58 seconds left to give us a 70-69 lead. Then the Huskies center moved across court into the key, turned and put in a shot over the arms of David Johnson making it 71-70 with 46 seconds to play. Johnson’s 5 footer missed and Houston Baptist hit a 3 to put them ahead 74-70. We called a timeout to set up a 3, but the Huskies stole the ball and tossed it down court for a driving dunk, effectively ending the game.

Final Score: Houston Baptist-76, CSU Bakersfield-70. CSU Bakersfield season record: 6-11; Great West record: 2-2 (3rd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Bivins-22, Powers-17, Johnson-10.

Rebound leaders: Chase-10, Johnson-8.

Assist leaders: Bivins-7, Holmes-3.

Player of the Game: Houston Baptist’s C T.J. Taylor-12 pts, 9 reb, 5 assists, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Greg Bivins-22 pts, 3 reb, 7 assists.

Other notes: Houston Baptist made 51% of their FG attempts and hit 8 of 17 threes. With the way we played in the 2nd half, I thought this was going to be our first away game, but it wasn’t to be. Sort of a "nice try, no cigar" game.

I was informed that after the game, Justin Williams was complaining that he should be playing SF instead of Jeremy Jones. I spoke with him, but doubt it did any good.

[PointGuard]

Game # 18; Jan. 18, 2012; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (6-11, 2-2) at Chicago St. Cougars (8-9, 2-2)

Things stayed close until the very end of the first half as Chicago St. moved out to a 43-36 lead at halftime. The Cougars were successful on 53% of their FG attempts. Again the refs called no fouls on our opponent, while calling 10 against us. Our leading scorer was Greg Bivins with 6 points.

We came out of the locker room and put on a scoring run that gave us a 48-43 lead just 3-1/2 minutes into the 2nd half. We held onto a small lead, then while up by 6 with 2 minutes to go, the refs called a foul and I foolishly got a technical. After the series of free throws our lead was cut to just 3 points. Neither team could score for the next 1-1/2 minutes. After a Chicago St. turnover, we brought the ball up with 33 seconds left on the clock. To my surprise, the Cougars didn’t intentionally foul allowing us to run out the clock. I guess their coach decided they had a better chance of us throwing the ball away, travelling, or having the ball stolen.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-76, Chicago St.-73. CSU Bakersfield season record: 7-11; Great West record: 3-2 (2nd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Bivins-12, Powers-11, Settles-9, Hill-8, Chase-8, Williams-8.

Rebound leaders: Settles-8, Bivins-7, Jones-6, Hill-5.

Assist leaders: Holmes-3.

Player of the Game: PG Greg Bivins-12 pts, 7 reb, 1 assist.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Mike Settles-9 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist.

Other notes: Chicago St. had 13 turnovers, but we only had 7. This was a major factor in our being able to take 10 more FG attempts that Chicago St. (and hit 4 more FG’s than they did), giving us our first road victory.

After the game, we all went out to a pizza parlor to celebrate our first win on the road.