Matt Braeuer played in the first half and helped immediately. Most noticeable was his three in the final seconds of the first half to produce the halftime score.
He checked in with 12:13 to play in the first half. His first shot was an airball, but he got it going after that. Later, he made two free throws and a layup off a backdoor pass from Gal Mekel. Braeuer leads WSU with seven points in five minutes.
Without his three – the kind of shot that always seems to go against WSU this season _ the first half looks quite different. WSU blew a chance to really seize control. The Shockers were up 15-3 with 12:58 to play and didn’t score again until 6:26 remained. By that time, the Aces had cut the lead to 15-8.
WSU committed 11 turnovers, which is really a killer. They are shooting well (8-15) and getting to the line. Evansville is a bad offensive team and the Aces are showing that tonight. WSU’s defense is good, but it doesn’t explain 5-for-25 shooting. WSU is locking up leading scores Shy Ely (0-1, two points) and Jason Holsinger (0-6, 0 points). Aces center Pieter van Tongeren has three fouls.
In all, a pretty ugly first half. WSU couldn’t handle the ball. Evansville couldn’t shoot it. I guess that is what we should expect from the worst teams in the MVC. Twenty-four fouls did not help the aesthetics.
2 Comments
At what point is it safe to start questioning Marshall? No excuse for losing to Evansville, especially in that manner.
At what point should we start questioning those players. If they’re unable or unwilling to execute the game plan, it should be on them, too.