Grizzlies cruise to 26-point win over Wayne State
DURANGO, Colo.— The Adams State College Grizzlies dominated the inside game and the boards as they posted a 74-48 going-away victory over the Wayne State (Neb.) College Wildcats on Saturday night in second day action of the Fort Lewis Iron Horse Inn Classic at Whalen Gymnasium. The Grizzlies, led by 18 Greg Baker (Lewisville, Texas) points and 14 Roman Moniak (Sacramento, Calif.) rebounds, snapped a 2-game mini-slide and improved to 2-2 on the year.
Wayne State, paced by 16 points from Tom Sherlock, fell to 2-3. The Wildcats had defeated Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference power Nebraska-Kearney, which was ranked 20th in the nation at the time, on Nov. 23.
Led by Moniak, who is now averaging a double-double (11.3 points, 10.0 rebounds), the Grizzlies had a big 54-38 advantage on the glass. ASC also outscored WSC 30-10 in the paint and held the Wildcats to a 28.3 percent (17-for-60) shooting effort.
Offensively, ASC heated up in the second half and shot 54.8 percent (17-for-31) from the floor turning a 13-point halftime lead into the big win. The Grizzlies were 11 of 33 (33.3 percent) shooting in the first half.
Baker, who was 8 of 18 from the field, scored 12 of his points in the second half and also finished with six rebounds. Junior forward Phil Brown (Shingle Springs, Calif.), making his first start of the season, finished with 15 points on a solid 6 of 10 shooting effort while Wes Jensen (Molalla, Ore.) hit three trays en-route to a 12-point effort. He also had eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Larry Charles, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) finished with nine points and a game and season-high seven assists in just 19 minutes of action of the bench. He also had a game and season-high four steals.
The Grizzlies never trailed and scored the first six points of the contest, three of which came off a game-starting Baker 3-pointer. Leading by five with 9:09 left in the first half, the Grizzlies went on a 9-0 run capped by a Charles, Jr. steal and fast-break layup to take a 23-9 lead.
The Wildcats would only cut that deficit to 12 before a Tony Danielson (Denver, Colo.) jumper and a Baker slam dunk put the lead up to 16.
Sherlock then cut that lead to 13 with just six seconds left in the half with one of his two long distance calls.
However, the Wildcats would get no closer than 10 in the second half as a 9-0 run over two minutes and 31 seconds put ASC ahead 52-32 with just 9:39 to go.
The Grizzlies committed just 11 turnovers on the night but were just 56.0 percent (14-for-25) from the free throw line. WSC struggled even more, hitting just 6 of 14 (42.9 percent) free throw attempts.
Moniak had seven rebounds on the offensive glass guiding ASC to an 18-12 advantage in that category. ASC’s 54 team rebounds are the second most in the Larry Mortensen coaching era, now a decade long.
The Grizzlies must now prepare for the beginning of RMAC play and will face a difficult foe right out of the gate. The Grizzlies will host Metro State (3-2), ranked 20th in the nation, on Friday 8 p.m. and will then entertain Lonnie Porter’s Regis Rangers (2-3) a night later at 8 o’clock.
Both games in Plachy Hall can be heard on KSPK-FM (103.5 in Alamosa) and via the internet at www.kspk.com.
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