Feb. 26, 2005

Mobile flattens Badgers

Rams finish regular season with share of GCAC championship
Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005

By TOMMY HICKS
Sports Reporter - Mobile Register
MOBILE, Ala. -- A fast start led to an easy evening for the University of Mobile in its 76-50 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victory over rival Spring Hill College at the Outlaw Recreation Center Saturday night.

The Rams, ranked No. 4 in the country and co-champion with LSU-Shreveport of the GCAC regular season, shot a sizzling 61.2 percent from the floor in the first half, the same percentage as from 3-point range, in jumping quickly on the Badgers.

The fast start allowed Mobile, despite playing a bit sloppy at times in the final 20 minutes, to cruise to its 27th win of the year, setting the stage for next week's GCAC tournament in New Orleans.
The win marked six victories in the past seven meetings for Mobile against its rival.

" We came out shooting," Mobile coach Joe Niland said. "We're feast or famine with our shooting. Tonight, it was good. " It was still a tough game. Spring Hill is disciplined and they run their stuff well. They know their roles and they're going to make you work. I would have liked to have seen us play with a little more poise at times. We'll need that next week."

Mobile took charge right away, scoring the first five points and managing a 16-6 lead in fewer than eight minutes. At the midway point of the first half, on a dunk by Gimel Lewis, the Rams led 23-11 and followed with six more unanswered points for a 27-11 advantage with 9:27 left.

The Rams made their biggest statement with 3:39 to play in the half when Randy Jordan rebounded a missed shot with one hand and scored on a dunk putback in the same motion. The basket put Mobile in front 38-23 and the Rams would close out the half on a pair of Larry Burgess' 3-pointers, the second with just two seconds to play, giving Mobile a 48-30 halftime edge.

In the second half, Mobile extended its lead to as many as 23 points early and, despite a Spring Hill push, never lost control of the game.

" Burgess really hurt us, hitting those 3-pointers in the first half," Spring Hill coach Robert Thompson said. "You've got to give them credit. They shot the ball really well and they did a great job. " But I'm proud of my guys for hanging in there and playing hard the whole game. We've only got about five guys and they played a lot of minutes. I just told them to get ready (for the tournament). I want them to pack for five days (in New Orleans)."

Burgess was Mobile's leading scorer with 20 points, hitting 5-of-8 3-point tries and 7-of-12 from the floor. Chris Bolden, with three 3-pointers, scored 16 points, with Lewis scoring 12 and Tramaine Perry 11.

The Rams also won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Badgers 41-24.

Spring Hill was led by Scotty Fletcher's 17 points with Krisner Green scoring 13 points. Chris Baldwin had 10 points. Green scored 30 points in the previous meeting against Mobile.

Mobile is 27-5 overall and 16-2 in GCAC play and will be the No. 2 seed in the GCAC tournament. LSU-Shreveport, also 16-2, gets the No. 1 seeding based on a tie-breaker and also picks up the league's first automatic berth to the NAIA tournament. Spring Hill heads to the tourney at 8-23 and 3-15.

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