Feb.20, 2009 – The Truman men’s basketball team will take a three-game winning streak against the Missouri Western State University Griffons into the MWSU Fieldhouse for their final conference road game on Saturday night. The Bulldogs are coming off a 62-51 loss at Northwest Missouri on Wednesday while the Griffons were idle.
The Bulldogs were once again on the verge of overtaking an opponent in the second half after cutting the Bearcats 14-point lead down to just three with 5:57 left but Northwest guard Mike Larsen knocked down two straight three-pointers to end the comeback bid.
Larsen scored 11 of his 14 points in the final 5:30 to lift Northwest over Truman.
Stefan Garrison had a career night for Truman as he matched his high point total with 12 and set a new career high in rebounds with three. Garrison has scored 12 points in two of the four games he has played against Northwest.
Patrick Fandja led the Bulldogs with 14 points while the Bearcats were paced by Hunter Henry’s 19.
The Griffons are also coming off a defeat at the hands of Northwest Missouri in their last outing on Saturday night. Henry poured in 25 points for the Bearcats and added 13 rebounds as Northwest downed Missouri Western 79-66 in St. Joseph.
Marcus Rhodes led the Griffons in scoring with 21 points but Missouri Western struggled from outside hitting just 2-of-23 three-point attempts. The Griffs also had a poor night at the free throw line as they made just 10 of 20 attempts.
The Bulldogs and Griffons last met on Jan. 14th in Pershing Arena and Truman was able to pull out a 69-67 victory. Patrick Fandja knocked down a long jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulldogs their only conference win to date.
Fandja scored a career-high 23 points in the victory while Missouri Western was led by 16 points from Lonnel Johnson.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?:
The Bulldogs are looking for their first road victory of the season (0-12) and first in 10 MIAA games played. Truman’s last road win came at the hands of the Griffons back on Feb. 20, 2008. The Bulldogs won 73-68.
The Bulldogs have been mathematically eliminated from a postseason tournament berth.
The Griffons were on the outside looking in last year for the conference tournament but have positioned themselves to make this year’s dance. Missouri Western is currently in seventh place, a game back of Washburn for sixth and a game in front of Missouri Southern.
With a win over the Bulldogs, Missouri Western would move to .500 at home, .500 in conference play and be one game from .500 in their overall record.
BULLDOGS BITES:
- Senior Banks Estridge has regained the scoring lead for the Bulldogs at 10.1 points per game. Estridge leads the team with 77 assists and 43 steals. In the last five games, Estridge has averaged 4.8 assists and 2.4 steals.
- Estridge has scored 941 for his career. He is eighth in the conference in steals (1.62) and also is the team leader in free throw percentage at 77%.
- Ethan Freeman leads the team in rebounds at 5.6 boards per game. Freeman is second on the team with 52 assists and has shot 50% from the floor this season. He is second in scoring at 9.8 points per game.
- The Bulldogs have had 15 different starting lineups this season through 25 games. Only one combination (Fandja, Freeman, Estridge, Gabe Landau, Alex Henderson) has started four games together. Estridge is the only Bulldog to start all 25 games this year, while Freeman is second with 20 starts.
- In road conference games, the Bulldogs shoot 42% from the floor, 31% from three-point and 65% from the foul line. Truman averages 57.3 points per game and are a -4.0 turnover margin. Opponents are shooting 47% overall, 44% from beyond the arc and 72% from the line. Home conference teams are averaging 73.2 points per game against Truman.
- Estridge leads the team in scoring in road conference games at 10.3 points per game. Freeman is second at 9.2 and Vesko Filchev is third at 7.6. Filchev shoots 58% from the field and pulls down a team-high 5.2 rebounds per road league game.
- Over the last five games, opponents are shooting 56% (18-of-32) from outside in the second half.
- The Bulldogs are 5-0 when leading at the half and 6-5 with scoring over 60 points per game.
- Truman is averaging 61.8 points per game and has a season-high 97 against Central Christian College. The Bulldogs are fourth in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 69.2 points per game.
- Three Bulldogs have topped 20 points in a game this season. Patrick Fandja holds the season-high with 23 points against Missouri Western last time out. Fandja also had 22 against Washburn. Banks Estridge’s 21 against UNO and Northwest is third. Ethan Freeman scored 20 against William Woods.
- Fandja and Brandon Griffin have recorded the only double-doubles this season. Fandja had 23 and 11 against Missouri Western and 22 and 11 against Washburn on Dec. 13th while Griffin scored 19 and had 12 rebounds against Central Christian College on Nov. 20th.
SCOUTING MISSOURI WESTERN:
Missouri Western is 4-6 in their last 10 games but are still holding onto a possible berth into the MIAA postseason tournament. The Griffons had their two-game winning streak snapped by Northwest Missouri last Saturday night 79-66.
The Griffons have games left against both conference leaders in the final week of the regular season. They play Central Missouri in Warrensburg on Wednesday and finish with Southwest Baptist at home next Saturday.
Missouri Western scores on average 75 points a game while giving up 74.7. Griffon opponents are shooting well from outside hitting nearly 40% of their three-point attempts.
Lonnel Johnson and Dominique Thuston both average 14 points a night for the Griffons but Marcus Rhodes has been the leading scorer in the past two games. Rhodes scored 23 in a victory over Nebraska-Omaha and 21 against Northwest Missouri.
COACHES:
Jack Schrader is in his 14th season as head coach of the Bulldogs. He has an overall record of 153-230. Schrader has guided two Bulldog team to the NCAA Division II tournament. The 1998-99 team finished their season at the NCAA Final Four, while the 2005-06 team was a participant in the NCAA South Central regional.
Truman has only had three men’s basketball coaches since 1946, Boyd King (1946-1971), Willard Sims (1971-1995) and Schrader (1996-present). Schrader has twice been named the MIAA and NABC South Central region Coach of the Year.
Coach Schrader picked up his 150th victory of his career as Bulldog head coach in a 97-71 win over Central Christian on Nov. 20th. He is currently third all-time among Truman coaches trailing Boyd King (379 wins) and Williard Sims (310 wins).
Tom Smith is in his 21st season at Missouri Western and 33rd overall season coaching. Smith is 396-214 as a Griffon and is 565-398 overall. His 461 wins in MIAA games ranks first all-time.
SERIES:
This is the 58th meeting between Missouri Western and Truman and 27th meeting in St. Joseph.
The Griffons hold a 36-21 all-time advantage over the Bulldogs and a 18-8 mark in home games.
The Bulldogs have won the last three games in the series and will be looking to sweep the season’s pair of games for the second straight year.
Truman has won the last two games in St. Joseph with the Griffons last victory coming on their home court back on Feb. 8, 2006. The Griffons last win overall was a four-point victory in Kirksville on Feb. 14, 2007.
UP NEXT:
The Bulldogs have just one game remaining on their schedule as they will have their second conference bye on Wednesday night. Truman will look to play spoiler on Senior Day in Pershing Arena as they host the University of Central Missouri at 3:00 p.m. next Saturday.
The Mules are just a game back of Southwest Baptist for the MIAA regular season championship but will first play Northwest Missouri on Saturday and host Missouri Western on Wednesday before their trip to Kirksville.
Truman will honor seniors Banks Estridge, Patrick Fandja and Todd Kulage before the start of the game.
CANNED FOOD DRIVE SATURDAY:
The Truman Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is sponsoring a canned food drive at Saturday’s game with Central. It is part of a conference-wide initiative by SAAC committees with the goal of collecting the most food among schools. All donations will stay in the Kirksville community. A donation of a non-perishable food item will get you free admission into the game that Saturday.