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

[PointGuard]

Jerell Brown was named a quarterfinalist for the Norton Award on January 28th.

[Wayne23]

Frustrating loss to Chi. ST. Tough luck.

[PointGuard]

Hopefully we can stick it to 'em if we meet again in the conference tourny.

[PointGuard]

Game #22; Jan. 31, 2016: #23 CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (16-5, 5-3) at New Jersey Tech Highlanders (14-7, 4-4)

We beat New Jersey Tech 81-60 on our court earlier in the year, but playing them on the road will be tough. The Highlanders have won 10 of 11 at home this year, including recently wins over Seattle and Chicago State. SG Darius Williams is averaging 20.0 ppg and has hit over 50% of his shots. We’ll give him some attention.

While we didn’t shoot well (38%), we used defense (35% shooting and 9 turnovers by New Jersey Tech) and a 19-14 rebounding advantage to roll up a 36-23 halftime lead. Randy Durham scored 13 points for us.

We opened a 44-23 lead within the first 3 minutes of the 2nd half. Our dominance continued throughout the half resulting in a runaway win.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-75, New Jersey Tech-47. CSU Bakersfield season record: 17-5; Great West record: 6-3 (2nd place).

Scoring leaders: Durham-17, Jrl Brown-16, Evans-13.

Rebound leaders: Calton-9, Jrl Brown-7.

Assist leaders: Durham-5, Jrl Brown-4.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-16 pts, 7 reb, 4 assists, 1 steal.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Awvee Calton-6 pts, 9 reb, 1 steal, 1 block.

Other notes: We held the Highlanders’ shooting to 29%. We hit 44% of our shots. We out-rebounded New Jersey Tech 39-30 and had a 17-8 turnover advantage. We scored 32 points in the paint to the Highlanders 6. We scored 26 fast break points; New Jersey Tech scored just 2. The Highlanders’ Darius Williams scored just 4 points on 2 for 9 shooting.

[PointGuard]

Game #23; Feb. 3, 2016: Houston Baptist Huskies (11-11, 4-5) at #23 CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (17-5, 6-3)

We beat the Huskies 76-60 in our first meeting this year. SG Aaron Renn is scoring 18.7 ppg but his shooting percentage is low.

Aaron Renn hit 6 of his first 7 shots (including 3 of 3 from 3 point distance) to score the Huskies first 16 points for a 16-11 lead. Even though he scored just 3 more points the rest of the half, he and the rest of the Huskies hit 9 of 13 shots from beyond the arc and rode that shooting to a 41-34 halftime lead. Our leading scorer was Jerell Brown with 10 points. During the break we decided to go strictly with a man-to-man defense in the 2nd half.

We scored the first 7 points to tie the game at 41-41 with 17 minutes to play. A minute-and-a-half we took our first lead on a steal, fast break and slam. We expanded our lead to 10 with 8 minutes to play. Our defense in the 2nd half won the game for us as the Huskies could only hit 25% of their shots (and 33% of their 3’s).

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-74, Houston Baptist-60. CSU Bakersfield season record: 18-5; Great West record: 7-3 (2nd place).

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-22, Calton-16, Jarmond-13, Evans-10.

Rebound leaders: Calton-8, Jrl Brown-7, Evans-6.

Assist leaders: Durham-6, Curry-4, Calton-3, Evans-3, Jrl Brown-3.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-22 pts, 7 reb, 3 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Awvee Calton-16 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists.

Other notes: We hit 47% of our shots while dropping Houston Baptist’s shooting to 40% for the entire game. We were out-rebounded 35-30, but more than made up for that by forcing the Huskies to turn the ball over 20 times and making just 9 ourselves. We had a 36-10 advantage on points in the paint. Mitchell Jarmond and Awvee Calton were a dynamic inside duo, combining for 29 points.

After the game we got the good news that North Dakota stomped Seattle (in Seattle), so that we are now just 1 game behind the Redhawks.

While our RPI dropped to 14th best in the country, we rose in the Media Poll to #19 and to #21 in the Coaches Poll.

We’re 26th on the “Who’s In” list on the Bubble Watch and Seattle is 51st on the same list.

[PointGuard]

Game #24; Feb. 7, 2016: #19 CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (18-5, 7-3) at North Dakota Fighting Sioux (10-13, 4-6)

North Dakota just got done ripping first-place Seattle (in Seattle nonetheless) 59-45. They’ve won their last 3 of 4 including not only Seattle, but New Jersey Tech and Chicago State.

We beat the Fighting Sioux 73-53 earlier this year, but that was on our court. They play a lot of 2-3 zone. I always get nervous when we go up against zone defenses.

After the refs called their 9th foul against us with just one called against the Fighting Sioux, I picked up a technical with 6 minutes left in the first half. The first half was ugly. Neither team looked sharp. Both teams hit less than 40% of their shots. We turned the ball over 9 times, North Dakota had 11 turnovers. We escaped with a 35-33 lead. North Dakota’s advantage of having the refs on their side (giving them 13 more trips to the line that we got) was offset by our inside men grabbing offensive rebounds and sinking some put-backs. Jerell Brown dropped in 4 of 6 from 3 point distance and scored a total of 14 points.

We continued to shoot poorly in the 2nd half while North Dakota shot better. Then eventually overtook us and then pulled away at the end of the game. We deserved to lose.

Final Score: North Dakota-66, CSU Bakersfield-59. CSU Bakersfield season record: 18-6; Great West record: 7-4 (2nd place).

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-23, Evans-8.

Rebound leaders: Jsh Brown-9, Jrl Brown-6, Saunders-5, Calton-5.

Assist leaders: Curry-4, Durham-3.

Player of the Game: North Dakota’s Julius Knight, 10 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists, 3 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Jerell Brown-23 pts, 6 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals.

Other notes: We hit a miserable 35% and North Dakota hit 42%. The Fighting Sioux got 13 more trips to the line, scoring 7 more charity points than us. We were out-rebounded 43-39. North Dakota turned the ball over 18 times, but we were unable to capitalize since we made 16 turnovers.

[PointGuard]

Game #25; Feb. 10, 2016: Seattle Redhawks (19-5, 9-2) at #19 CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (18-6, 7-4)

Had we not lost the last game we played, we’d be fighting for a share of 1st place in the conference in this game. We lost to Seattle 72-68 when playing them in Seattle earlier this year. SG Adam Givens is now scoring 26.2 ppg for the Redhawks. We need to keep him in control. Seattle likes to use a 3-2 zone defense.

Seattle out-played us through most of the first half and carved out a 28-18 lead with 4 minutes to play. But we then clamped down defensively and cut their lead at the end of the half to 30-27. They out-rebounded us 15-10 and outshot us 44% to 37%. Our leading scorer was Isaac Bryson with 8 points.

We scored the first 4 points in the 2nd half to take a 31-30 lead, but then the game went back-and-forth for the next several minutes. At that point Seattle pulled away and took a 51-42 lead with 9 minutes to play. We cut their lead but were never able to get back on top.

Final Score: Seattle-58, CSU Bakersfield-53. CSU Bakersfield season record: 19-6; Great West record: 7-5 (2nd place tie).

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-14, Evans-9, Durham-8, Bryson-8.

Rebound leaders: Jrl Brown-5.

Assist leaders: Durham-5.

Player of the Game: Seattle SG Adam Givens-20 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists, 2 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Jerell Brown-14 pts, 5 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block.

Other notes: Seattle trounced on the boards, 38-22. They also hit 45% of their shots and held our shooting to 37%. Our 20-10 advantage on turnovers wasn’t enough to turn the tide. Seattle proved they are a very good team and nailed down the conference championship as well.

Our RPI tumbled to 24th best in the nation. We maintained our #19 ranking in the Media Poll but dropped to #24 in the Coaches Poll.

Seattle finally got ranked #25 in the Media Poll but still is unranked on the Coaches Poll. Their RPI is now 27th best in the country. I'm sure Seattle and it's fans are fuming about being ranked below us.

Randy Durham injured his wrist in practice. The injury was minor and he will be able to play in the next game but won’t start.

[PointGuard]

On Feb. 11th, Jerell Brown was named as a semi-finalist for the Norton Award.

[CoachC]

You gotta lot of pressure on ya this year, coach! don't disappoint us fans!

[Wayne23]

Time to turn it around!