The Town Crier

[PointGuard]

Game #18: Colorado Buffaloes (6-11, 1-7) at Oregon State Beavers (3-14, 2-6)

After a short drive up I-5 we gave the team a day off to allow them to explore Portland and then went out to Corvallis the next day to prepare for the Beavers. We beat Oregon State by 10 when playing them on our court earlier this season. But they subsequently moved slightly ahead of us in the conference standings and possess a slightly better RPI. As usual we’re the underdogs, but I’d sure like to win this one to break our 7 game losing streak. With J.B. Parker out of commission again shortening an already short bench, we decided to press infrequently and back off on the intensity of our defense to not tire our players, and particularly our guards, as quickly.

Just as the referee was about to toss up the ball for the opening jump ball, the lights at the Gill Coliseum went out. I was wondering if that meant one of the teams was going to have a lights-out night. When power was restored, we scored 8 quick unanswered points. But with 10-1/2 minutes to go, the Beavers took their first lead of the night at 16-15. At that point they caught fire, scoring at will and opening a 37-21 lead with 3 minutes remaining in the half. The half ended with Oregon State stomping us 44-25. The game was sloppy with the Beavers making 12 turnovers and we having a ridiculous 19 turnovers in the half. PG Chris Smith and SF Mat Hunter both scored 5 points for us. PG Steve Richardson dropped in 12 points for the Beavers.

We muddled along in the early going of the 2nd half and I tore the players apart at the first timeout. They responded by cutting the lead to 9, but then let Oregon State pull ahead again by 16. We made a frenzied comeback in the last 5 minutes of the game and with 56 seconds remaining we were down by just a 67-63 score. We fouled their worst free throw shooter and he missed the first of a 1-and-1, but the Beavers pulled down the rebound. We immediately fouled their 2nd worst free shooter. Wouldn’t you know…he knocked down both foul shots to put us behind by 6 with 46 seconds remaining. We called a timeout to set up a 3 point shot for Chris Smith, but the Beavers covered him and he had to pass rather than shoot. George Seamon forced up a shot that was blocked and Oregon State recovered the ball. We fouled again with 31 seconds to go. The Beavers sunk both shots putting the game out of reach and we ended up losing 74-65.

Both teams hit well over 50% of their shots and there were more turnovers (23 by Oregon State and 27 by us) than rebounds.

Topping our scoring was SF George Seamon with 14 points. C Ryan Blackshear and PG Chris Smith both had 12 points and SF Mat Hunter scored 11.

This is one helluva long season.

[PointGuard]

Game #19: #12 Stanford Cardinal (15-4, 7-2) at Colorado Buffaloes (6-12, 1-8)

We’re going to try getting reserve guard J.B. Parker into the game to absorb some minutes on the court tonight. While he’s not totally healed, his absence for the past two game has exhausted our remaining players. It seems as though everyone has already put notched a W for Stanford and an L for us. I’d sure like to see us pull off a big upset, but looking at game films makes the Cardinal look pretty tough, particularly PG Mike Hall who is averaging 19.9 ppg and their two interior starters who have combined to average over 23 ppg and 18 rpg.

Stanford’s quickness gave us fits early…lots of steals and driving layups. With 12-1/2 minutes left in the first half with trailed 15-9. Even though our guys were grabbing their shorts, they overcame their exhaustion to come back and with 1:55 remaining in the half, PG Chris Smith dropped in a 3 that put us ahead 32-29. We closed out the half on a run that gave us a 40-29 advantage. Most all team stats were in our favor except for turnovers. SF George Seamon poured in 13 and PG Chris Smith had 11, and we held Stanford’s high-scoring Mike Hall scoreless. PF Jacob Anderson took a blow to his right knee. As a precautionary measure we decided to keep him out of the rest of the game thus ensuring our remaining 8 players would likely be gassed throughout much of the 2nd half.

Stanford kept making small runs that cut into our lead, but our guys repeatedly fought back to re-establish a comfortable lead. Midway through the 2nd half we led 61-47, but several of our guys were running on fumes even though I was shuttling players in and out. I couldn’t believe I was watching the same team that had lost 8 straight games. Stanford could get no closer than 8 points and we closed out the game with a fantastic 81-68 victory. We ended up hitting 54% of our shots while holding Stanford’s shooting to 36%, and we out-rebounded the Cardinal 39-35.

We finished with 5 players scoring in double figures led by SF George Seamon with 20. PG Chris Smith hit for 15, SF Mat Hunter popped in 14, and C Ryan Blackshear and SG Stacey Walker both scored 10. Smith and Walker each dished out 7 assists and grabbed 7 rebounds. Hunter also had 7 rebounds. We only allowed PG Mike Hall to score just 6 points.

Beating the 12th ranked team in the nation was a huge confidence builder for our team.

[Wayne23]

Great win!

[PointGuard]

Game #20: Washington Huskies (10-9, 5-5) at Colorado Buffaloes (7-12, 2-8)

Another horrible start as we come out totally flat and fall behind 22-1 after 8 minutes of play. We hit just 14% of our shots compared to Washington’s 45% throughout the entire half and trail 36-13 at the break. Reserve PF Jacob Anderson scored 6 to top our anemic scoring. For Washington PF Joshua Williams dropped in 11.

We shot a little better in the 2nd half, but not good enough to put a scare into the Huskies and end up being drubbed by the U Dub 65-45.

Our only player to score in double figures was PG Chris Smith with 12 points. PG Kelly Phillips scored 21 for Washington.

It’s disappointing to see the guys play so poorly at home after our big win over Stanford. But it just goes to prove that we really don’t have it this season. Just have to play it out and hope we come up with an upset here and there. And also hope some of our players have a big upside potential that develops for next season.

[PointGuard]

Game #21: Colorado Buffaloes (7-13, 2-9) at Washington State Cougars (4-16, 0-11)

Five of our last seven conference games are on the road. Not a positive outlook for a team with a 2-9 conference record. But the first of these away games is against Washington State which has yet to win a conference game. But playing at home against us, the Cougars are favorites.

The game was close early but then we had trouble getting the ball into the hoop midway through the half allowing the Cougars to pull away and take a 33-24 lead to the locker room. We were outshot 52% to 37%. SF George Seamon was our only player to shoot well and he scored 14 points.

We didn’t score for the first 9 minutes in the 2nd half. By then we trailed by 23 points. We never recovered and were stomped 67-48. Washington State hit 49% of their shots (including 53% of their 3’s) while we could only manage to get in 34% of our FG attempts (and only 24% of our 3PA’s), and the Cougars out-rebounded us 34-18.

SF George Seamon finished with 16 points and PG Chris Smith added 11.

The loss leaves us tied for 10th place and just one game ahead of last place Washington State. Not scoring for 9 minutes and losing so badly to Washington State added insult to injury to our lackluster season. But this team has had other 8-10 minute periods where our offense has totally disappeared. These leave me feeling like I’m crawling through the desert without water. Three weeks left until the end of this f’ng season.

[PointGuard]

A 3-day vacation

I spent the 3 days between our debacle in the last game and our upcoming game at Cal Berkeley together with Jacky in San Francisco. Wish I could say it was a fantastic reunion. But sightseeing around the Bay Area didn’t offset my bad mood about how the Buffaloes are playing plus the growing discord between Jacky and me over when she would be moving to Colorado to be with me. So she returned to Youngstown and her job there and I rejoined the team when they got to Berkeley. I’m not sure which is going worse, the Buffaloes’ season or my marriage.

And speaking of Youngstown, the Youngstown State Penguins now are 10-11 (6-6) and tied for 6th place in the Horizon League. Also pretty sickening. And Steve Porter was fired from his job as the newspaper’s sports section reporter due to pressure from the university after he wrote a series of negative articles about the university, the team and the coaching staff.

[Wayne23]

Good times all around! Oh well. rebuilding is tough.

[PointGuard]

Game #22: Colorado Buffaloes (7-14, 2-10) at #25 California Golden Bears (16-5, 7-5)

No one gives us a chance to win this game. If we listen to them we may as well stay home and forfeit the game.

We hung with the Bears the first 4 minutes but they clamped down defensively and gradually drew away from us. With 6-1/2 minutes remaining in the half we were down 30-13. The half ends with California on top 40-21. We turned the ball over 13 times in the half. C Ryan Blackshear led our scoring with 6 points, but SG Mario Burleston tossed in 13 for the Golden Bears.

California capitalized on our mistakes as we turned the ball over 21 times. Those who expected us to get beat were right. We were thumped 73-47.

SF George Seamon was our only player to score in double figures as he scored 16. SG Mario Burleston scored 21 for the Golden Bears. SF Jesse Herbert hit 7 of 9 FG’s and scored 16 plus had 6 assists, 4 rebounds, a block, and 8 (yes 8!!!) steals. The guy was a freaking human vacuum cleaner.

We remain in a tie with Arizona State for 10th place, both still one game ahead of cellar-dweller Washington State. Arizona, Oregon, and Stanford are in a 3-way tie for first place with 10-3 conference records. I think Arizona has the easiest remaining schedule and Stanford the most difficult one.

[PointGuard]

Game #23: USC Trojans (15-7, 9-4) at Colorado Buffaloes (7-15, 2-11)

We played well early but our defense disappeared midway through the first half allowing USC to take a 28-21 lead with 8 minutes to play.
We pulled it back together and crept to within 4 at the half, trailing 36-32. PG Chris Smith lit things up for us with 14 points. USC’s reserve PG Erick Brinson scored 11 points during his 7 minutes of play.

We came out in the 2nd half and within 2 minutes took a 41-39 lead. With 7 minutes remaining in the game, the score was knotted at 53-53. USC then scored 8 unanswered points. After playing well for the first 13 minutes of the 2nd half and being in position to win, we scored just 3 points in the final 7 minutes for a disappointing 66-56 loss at home.

PG Chris Smith had a tremendous game with 22 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks. SF George Seamon chipped in 10 points. For USC, PG Erick Brinson scored 20 and SG Ryan Kincade hit for 17 points plus grabbed 8 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Game #24: Colorado Buffaloes (7-16, 2-12) at Arizona State Sun Devils (9-15, 2-12)

We have yet to win a game on the road, but this sure would be a good time to turn things around. I decide to shake things up by starting Vee Kurtbek at C rather than PF and giving Mat Hunter his first start at PF. Ryan Blackshear and R.J. Reis just haven’t been able to do much for us at the C position so we don’t have anything to lose by trying something different.

We hung with the Sun Devils for much of the first half but then went into one of our patented free falls and found ourselves trailing 32-20 with 3:39 left in the half. By the end of the half we were behind 44-29. We were outshot by Arizona State 68% to 35% and out-rebounded 17-8. PG Chris Smith, C/PF Vee Kurtbek and PF/SF Mat Hunter all scored 6 points. SG Jim Robinson scored 11 and C Craig Jones had 10 for the Sun Devils. You can’t win when the other team hits 57% of their shots and you only can manage to drop in 36% of yours plus letting them control the boards 34-20.

By the first media timeout in the 2nd half we’d narrowed the gap to 46-39. At the 2nd media timeout we’d fallen behind 51-40. When the 3rd media timeout came, ASU led 58-43. At the final media timeout the score was 68-50 in favor of the Sun Devils. And the game ended with us sustaining a 74-56 drubbing. The loss dropped us into sole possession of 11th place.

PG Chris Smith led our scoring with 14 points and PF/SF Mat Hunter added 10.