Racers' rough play rattles center
Bob Bajek/Sports Editor
Issue date: 3/10/10 Section: Sports
|
Fouls ran amuck, with Eastern committing 21 infractions to Murray State's 17. The Racers post players were playing aggressive team defense on Eastern's senior center Ousmane Cisse and red-shirt freshman forward James Hollowell inside.
It was so rough Cisse collided with junior guard Curry McKinney trying to gain a defensive rebound.
"I had contact with Curry McKinney," Cisse said. "My head and his head came together. For a moment, I couldn't tell what was going on because my head was very dizzy. But I wanted to keep playing. I was going to play through it."
Cisse came out of the game for a few minutes, but then returned.
Other Panthers to leave after getting physically shaken up were Hollowell and senior guard T.J. Marion. Both fell hard on the floor and appeared to hurt their knees. On the final key possession, junior guard Tyler Laser was dribbling the ball upcourt.
Laser's shot was denied by Murray State senior forward Tony Easley.
"A lot of times in that situation, people will settle for a three," Laser said. "I thought if we could get something inside and have us defend and get a steal, we could've won the game. I penetrated and the big fella stepped up and I tried going into him to get some contact. I scored on him a few possessions before that. I felt I was fouled and they just didn't call it."
Miller said the non-call did not matter.
"It was a game of contact," Miller said. "We had to be aggressive and go at it. That was our intent. Coming down, there wasn't a flow in it and you want to get aggressive to the basket or something inside-out to get an easy shot."
Murray State head coach Bill Kennedy said his squad is lucky to come out with a hard-fought victory.
"Our guys found a way to win," Kennedy said. "I liked our toughness. I liked our defensive presence. These guys stepped up when they had to. I'm just glad we got the win and the game out of the way." Kennedy said.
Eastern did a good job making his team shoot 19-of-59 from the field and senior forward Danero Thomas was 3-of-19.
Seasonal, career marks
Cisse gained some career marks after Friday's game. The center from the Ivory Coast tied Eastern legend Henry Domercant with most games played in a Panthers uniform.
No. 45 also ended his career with 792 rebounds, good for fourth all-time. Domercant had 798. On the blocks list, Cisse tied Todd Bermann (1999-2002) for sixth with 64 rejections.
When talking about the end of his career and what he'll miss, Cisse was lost for words.
"I don't think I could answer this question right now," Cisse said. "Just the opportunity to play as a Panther."
Hollowell also finished on a high note. He had 36 blocks this season, which is fifth best in program history for a season. Former Panther Eric Frankford (1995) has a program leading 55. If Hollowell averages 36 denials for the next three seasons, he will overtake Kevin Duckworth (1983-86) as Eastern's all-time leader in blocks as Duckworth has 123 blocks.
Racers advance to Dance
After defeating the Panthers, Murray State faced No. 2 Morehead State (23-10, 15-3 OVC) in the tournament championship game. The Racers sped ahead of the Eagles for a 62-51 victory and the OVC Tournament title.
Murray State's freshman guard Isaiah Canaan had 16 points while junior guard Isacc Miles and B.J. Jenkins each scored nine points.
For Morehead State, junior guard Demonte Harper scored 20 points.
Morehead State junior forward Kenneth Faried was held to 10 points and 12 rebounds. Faried was both the OVC Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
This is the 14th time the Racers will play in the NCAA Tournament and their 30 wins are the most in league history.
Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or rtbajek@eiu.edu.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story