Shockwaves

Final: WSU 51, UE 50. Murry with a three with 8.3 seconds to play. That play was going nowhere. Murry rescued it, with help by Ramon Clemente’s screen. I don’t think that will be the last game-winner we see from Murry. Gregg Marshall called it a pivotal win and he is right on target. WSU has a chance to climb out of the bottom four. Crushing loss for the Aces, who played very well on defense. They were much more impressive than I expected.

33.7 remaining: UE 49, WSU 48. Ely at the line after missing his first free throw.

35.3 remaining: UE 49, WSU 48. Murry gets away with mugging Williams and forces a turnover. Kyles dunk to cut the lead to one.

1:41 remaining: UE 49, WSU 45. Shockers need to be perfect.

3:13 remaining: UE 47, WSU 42. Badly missed threes by Murry and Ellis give the ball to the Aces. WSU is 1 of 12 from three, 13 of 38 overall. Aces own the boards 34-25.

4:59 remaining: UE 45, WSU 42. Shockers are back in the game after baskets by Durley and Hawkins. So is the crowd.

6:44 remaining: UE 44, WSU 36. Evansville sucked the noise out of CKA with Kaylon Williams’ three-point play for a 44-33 lead. Durley responds with a three-point play of his own. Garner and van Tongeren both have four fouls. It may be too late to matter much. Or WSU’s depth might pay off in the final six minutes.

7:58 remaining: UE 41, WSU 30. UE is in the bonus, which means it will give the ball to Ely a lot and let him shoot free throws the rest of the game. WSU needs to find a scorer quick. Murry has nine. Hannah has six. The Aces are not giving WSU anything easy. An 11-point lead looks like 20.

11:12 remaining: UE 34, WSU 28. Turnovers ruin more chances to rally. Griskenas fumbles the ball out of bounds. Durley throws a pass away. WSU is 8 of 25 from the field and 1 of 6 from three. 11 of 18 from the line. Foul trouble looms as an issue for the Aces. They show no sign of backing off on defense.

15:46 remaining: UE 30, WSU 23. Shockers lose a chance to seize momentum with a screening foul on Clemente and a travel by Hannah. WSU has 13 turnovers.

Halftime: UE 26, WSU 19. Fabulous defensive half by the Aces. Their man-to-man kept WSU pushed way out on the floor. The Shockers never got any kind of rhythm going. WSU is 4 for 15 from the field. UE is out-rebounding WSU 18-11. So far, the Aces are the more physical, confident team.

3:46 remaining: UE 20, WSU 15. WSU 3 of 12 from the field. WSU is 9 of 14 from the line. Fouls could be a problem for the Aces. Lacey, Garner, Williams and Haarsma have two.

6:09 remaining: UE 20, WSU 13. Shockers 3 of 8 from the field. UE’s defense is very good. How did the Aces get blown out at home by Creighton? I guess that is the MVC this season.

11:23 remaining: UE 18, WSU 9. The officials stopped the game on an inadvertant whistle. Physical game and the crowd is already unhappy.

11:54 remaining: UE 16, WSU 9. Van Tongeren has taken three charges. Two were legit. One was borderline in my eyes.

15:26 remaining: UE 8, WSU 2. WSU’s points are on two Murry free throws. He has twice drawn fouls on long shots. UE looks sharp. Their big men are taking it to WSU.

UE starters - Garner, Ely, Williams, Holsinger, van Tongeren. WSU – Hannah, Clemente, Murry, Hawkins, Durley.

Officiating note - Rick Hartzell, former UNI AD, is doing his fifth game in five days, according to bbstate.com. He traveled from Stillwater to Detroit to Youngstown to Normal to Wichita. John HIggins is doing his eighth game in nine days, a journey starting in Columbia, Mo. and ranging as far as Pennsylvania. He had Friday off. Can that be good for anyone?

Bradley wore throwback jerseys (from 1985-86) last night. Indiana State wore their 1979 look at least twice this season. WSU’s jersey history is pretty bland. Not much consistency. Not many distinctive looks. My guess would be that the MTXE-era jerseys with the old West lettering are the only ones that stand out. This season’s are about as generic as it gets. Anybody have any other favorites that might work for a throwback night at WSU?

A Shocker win today opens the door to some goal-setting.

• Avoid finishing last.
• Finish higher than ninth, the preseason prediction.
• Avoid the play-in round at the MVC Tournament.

Should WSU get to 3-6 it can begin realistically thinking about those goals. It is especially important to beat Evansville at home. The Aces (4-4) are one of the teams WSU is trying to step over.

Around the Valley

• Aces coach Marty Simmons gave his team two days off this week before the WSU game.
• UNI’s defense is a big part of the first-place story.
• SIU’s Justin Bocot scored 14 points in his hometown. SIU lost to Illinois State.
• Drake guard Craig Stanley had 12 rebounds against Creighton, twice as many as Bluejay centers. Creighton fans left the Qwest Center early after a miserable second half.
• Things are getting better at MSU.
• Bradley coach Jim Les likes his team’s defense in their old-school jerseys. Peoria Journal-Star columnist Kirk Wessler is impressed with BU’s ability to overcome inexperience and stay in the MVC race.