Today I just listened to the game while I did some things around the house to get prepared to leave my exciting holiday vacation and prepare to head back to work tomorrow, send the kids to school and have life start back to what may be considered “normal” for most.
What was nice is that it almost seemed as though the Jays have signs of returning back to normal today as well by getting that elusive first conference win today against Evansville 72-64.
Well I should say they “survived” in the win against Evansville. The Bluejays took a 12 point lead at the half and everyone seemed to be involved. Casey Harriman had 7 points, Chad Millard scored his first basket in almost one full calendar year, Justin Carter had 5 rebounds, P’Allen Stinnett had 4 assists and the Bluejays as a team had 5 steals. What stinks is that I didn’t realize what the stats were since Evansville forgot to wake the live stats guy to have that up and running and I stared at Missouri State vs. Evansville for at least the first half of play. Then to only have the luxury of the radio broadcast available, so much for getting a score update on a regular basis. Anyway, this had the making of a blowout.
But as soon as things were looking great they just as fast started falling apart. Colt Ryan, the freshman phenom for Evansville so far this season, was held to 11 points at the half. Then at the midway point of the second half, in Jason Holsinger and Shy Ely style, started taking things over for the Purple Aces and helped bring Evansville back into the game. The next thing you know, Evansville was in the lead with 6:48 to go and it almost looked like the wheels were falling off again for the Bluejays. Ryan finished with 26 points and 5 assists. This guy is probably going to be pretty fun to watch over the next four years, but could be a pain in the Bluejays side.
Fortunately this time, the Jays kept their composure and hung in there and the veterans stepped up. Justin Carter hit a few free throws, Kenny Lawson started dominating the middle scoring, rebounding and blocking shots, P’Allen Stinnett hit a three-pointer and Harriman grabbed three big rebounds in the final couple of minutes and the Bluejays got out of town with a win desperately needed. Kenny had another career day and has been the most consistent player for the Jays this season. His line ended with 18 points, 11 rebounds and a career high 7 blocks in 27 minutes of play. What a game by Kenny.
What I really liked about today’s game was the fact that the veterans on this team stepped it up and really worked hard to get this win. Chad Millard, Kenny Lawson, Casey Harriman, P’Allen Stinnett, Cavel Witter and Justin Carter worked their tail’s off down the stretch to make sure they would not lose this game. This is the leadership that everyone has been waiting for and I hope it continues.
Now we get to look forward to a home game Wednesday night against Drake who has been beat up on by other Valley teams so far this season. Here is a random fact that I heard from Panon our great numbers guy–Creighton will be playing their fourth straight conference team that was winless in Valley play when they played them (UNI was 0-0 to start the season, Indiana St. was 0-1 going into the CU game and Evansville was 0-2 entering today.) With Drake sitting at 0-3, don’t think they won’t be playing hard to look for a win even if it has to be in Omaha. The pulled off a stunner last year. Let’s just hope the Bluejays can continue to survive.