Just short

Possible winning shot misses

By RICH JOHNSON
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

Everything seemed set up for a miracle, but the shot — like the T-Birds — came up short.
SUU came back from an eight-point deficit with 1:55 left, trailed by one point and had the ball with 5 seconds remaining, but Kevin Henry’s shot glanced off the rim and Oakland beat the ’Birds 85-83 at the Centrum Saturday night.
“We got a good shot at the end,” SUU coach Bill Evans said. “One play doesn’t make or break a basketball game. It’s a combination of different things.”
Mike Helms — the leading scorer in the Mid-Continent Conference — scored 28 points for the Golden Grizzlies, who improved to 4-3 in conference play (11-9 overall). SUU dropped to 3-4 (8-11 overall).
With SUU down 84-80, Jay Collins nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one. On the ensuing inbound play, Henry drew on offensive foul from Helms — promptly disqualifying the Grizzlies’ star.
“I just figured if I manned up with him and Jay stayed in back of me, we’d eventually get a foul and he wouldn’t touch the ball for sure,” Henry said. “We didn’t want the ball to go to his hands.”
Collins barely got the inbound pass in before a five-second violation, and Henry had the look
but was unable to convert it into two points.
The T-Birds fouled Oakland’s Rawle Marshall, who hit his first free throw and missed the second. The ’Birds grabbed the rebound, but without any timeouts, SUU was unable to get a shot off.
SUU trailed 80-72 after the Grizzlies’ Kelly Williams hit a free throw. Collins hit a 3-pointer with 1:51 to play to pull the ’Birds within five at 80-75.
After an Oakland free throw, David Palmer added a 3-point basket of his own, and — after Helms made one-of-two free throws — Donnie Jackson scored a layup to cut the lead to 84-80.
Three other players scored in double figures for the Grizzlies. Courtney Scott scored 18 points, Marshall added 15 and Pierre Dukes had 11.
“We couldn’t stop them,” Evans said. “They couldn’t get us stopped either, but that’s the thing I feel worst about is our inability to stop them.”
SUU trailed 39-24 with 5:45 remaining in the first half, but the T-Birds went on an 18-4 run to close the half.
“We executed better and made baskets,” Evans said. “It’s about throwing that orange ball in that red rim. If you can’t do that, then you’re going to struggle a little bit.”
Oakland led 43-42 at the break.
“I didn’t think we could score 80 points against them,” Evans said. “I told the guys at half, they can’t score 40 again or we’re not going to win this one.”
Both teams grabbed 39 rebounds. Jackson led the T-Birds with 12 and Palmer added 11.
“We know we can play defense when we put our heads to it,” Henry said. “We went in and people were getting rebounds. Donnie got some terrific rebounds.”
Collins struggled from the field for much of the game, shooting just 5-for-18 on field goals and 3-for-12 on 3 pointers. However, Collins hit key shots at the end of the game and finished with 20 points and 9 assists.
“Jay’s a good player,” Evans said. “I think he is struggling right now shooting the ball, but players go through slumps, teams go through slumps and coaches go through slumps.”
Henry also had a solid offensive game for the T-Birds, adding 15 points.
After starting the season 7-2 at the Centrum, the ’Birds dropped two home games in one week. SUU had just come off a 56-53 loss to IUPUI on Thursday.
“It’s probably the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve lost two home games in a row,” Evans said. “I think we have a pretty good basketball team. We’re still trying to find ourselves a little bit.”
Now with SUU at the midpoint of the Mid-Con season, the ’Birds will have to play five of the next seven games on the road. SUU is 1-7 away from Cedar City this year.
“People have come in here and beat us, why can’t we go there