OMARI

[PointGuard]

Dec. 20: Seatle Redhawks (5-5) @ Grambling Tigers (5-5)

We rolled to another easy victory, stomping the Redhawks 79-57. We outplayed Seattle in all aspects of the game. I was happy to have PG Brian Fox get back to producing offensively. He finished as our high scorer with 16 points. C Correy Parker was our only other player scoring in double figures and he had 14 points plus 13 rebounds for a big double-double. But 11 of our players scored in this game. We’ve now won 3 straight with 2 of those being on the road.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 23: Grambling Tigers (6-5) @ Auburn Tigers (4-5)

We scored on our first possession and hung with Auburn for 3 minutes. But then they pounced and we played dead for 5 minutes allowing them to build a double digit lead. During the final 10 minutes of the half we gamely fought back to cut into the lead and go to the locker room down by just a 36-29 score. We fell behind by 17 points with 14 minutes remaining in the game. While we made a couple mini-runs, we never seriously challenged and lost 68-54. PG/SG Jon Benoit again was our high point man with 14 points. C Correy Parker backed him up with 10 points and 6 boards.

[PointGuard]

Dec. 27: North Texas Mean Green (2-8) @ Grambling Tigers (6-6)

We took the lead immediately and then never gave it up in this game. By the end of the half we were up 50-30 which meant everyone on our bench got to play in the 2nd half. The game was never in doubt in the 2nd half and we eased to an 83-59 drubbing, changing North Texas nickname from Mean Green to the Green With Envy. We knocked down 63% of our shots, crushed North Texas on the boards (+17), and made 2 fewer turnovers than the Not So Mean Green. We were led by C Correy Parker’s 22 points and 6 rebounds. PG Brian Fox had a strong game with 14 points and PF Brody Rowland scored 11 points.

[PointGuard]

It’s Time For Conference Play!

New Year’s Day has passed. And with it, we’ve passed from pre-conference play to begin contending with our conference competitors. We did OK in pre-conference play, winning 7 of 13 games. That’s not too bad since just 3 of those 13 games were home games and we played some pretty strong teams. I think that’s prepared us for going up against Southwest Athletic Conference teams. Alabama A&M was the only SWAC team with a better win/loss record…and we played a tougher schedule that did they. I believe that’s born our by us having a NET ranking that’s 92nd best in the country while the next best Net ranking for a SWAC team is #181. The media has projected us to win the conference crown. Even though that’s put a target on our back, I think we’re up to the challenge. Following a lengthy recovery from a broken finger, Aleem Charles will return to the starting lineup in about a week-and-a-half…and that should be a big shot in the arm for us also.

Here's our player stats after pre-conference play:

PPG: Aleem Charles-12.5; Correy Parker-11.9; Jon Benoit-10.7; Brian Fox-7.8; Brody Rowland-6.8; Rico Canty-6.6; Brad O’Neil-4.9; Ukko Noronen-4.9; David Heyward-4.2; Antawn Detmer-3.4; Paul Swan-2.8; Greg Howell-2.6; Charles Whitney-1.7; Bret Caldwell-1.3; Scott Burris-0.0

RPG: Aleem Charles-8.0; Correy Parker-6.0; Rico Canty-4.5; Brody Rowland-3.6; Brian Fox-3.2; Brad O’Neil-2.5; Jon Benoit-2.2; Ukko Noronen-1.7; David Heyward-1.6; Antawn Detmer-1.5; Paul Swan-1.3; Greg Howell-1.2; Charles Whitney-0.5; Scott Burris-0.5; Bret Caldwell-0.3

APG: Jon Benoit-1.4; Brian Fox-2.4; Scott Burris-2.0; Aleem Charles-1.7; Brad O’Neil-1.7

[PointGuard]

Jan. 3: Grambling Tigers (7-6, 0-0) @ Jackson State Tigers (3-10, 0-0)

We had a very slow start but took a small lead midway through the half. At halftime we trailed 38-36. Jackson State had scored 8 more points on free throws than us due to the refs calling more than twice as many fouls on us than them. The first 10 minutes of the 2nd half were pretty much a standoff, but we steadily edged ahead in the final 10 minutes and came away with a hard-fought 71-65 victory. PF Brian Fox scored 19 points plus had 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. SF David Heyward and SG Paul Swam came in off the bench to score 12 points apiece.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 6: Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (5-9, 1-0) @ Grambling Tigers (8-6, 1-0)

We had a nice double-digit lead during the middle of the first half, but the Wildcats stormed back to edge ahead 28-27 at halftime. The lead shifted back and forth throughout most of the 2nd half. But we took control in the final 6 minutes to achieve a solid 67-53 win. Scoring in double figures for us were: PG Brian Fox-12 points; SF Ukko Noronen-11 points, and PG/SG Jon Benoit-10 points.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 10: Prairie View Panthers (2-12, 1-0) @ Grambling Tigers (9-6, 2-0)

The Panthers held the lead almost the entire first half, and we were behind 39-34 at halftime. We were unable to wrest the lead from Prairie View during the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, but when we did jump ahead, we stopped the Panthers with a lock-down defense and quickly went ahead by double digits. We then held onto our lead to win 80-68. Our starting guards, Jon Benoit and Brian Fox scored 23 and 17 points, respectively. C Correy Parker added 10 points.

BUT….Correy Parker broke his ankle late in the 2nd half and will be lost to us the rest of the season. So while it’s great to have Charles back, not being able to pair him up with Corrie is a tough blow and big-time deterioration of our inside effectiveness. Woe is me! Hey! I’m allowed to whine about injuries.

[PointGuard]

Jan. 13: Grambling Tigers (10-6, 3-0) @ Alabama A&M Bulldogs (9-6, 1-1)

Now that Aleem Charles is back, we expected to have a dynamic duo inside, but Correy Parker’s major injury in our last game wrecked that. I’d hoped to gradually work Aleem back into the rotation, but now he’s going to have to jump right back in as our key man inside. We started well, going ahead 10-5 and at that point all 5 of our starters had 2 points apiece. We held onto a small lead for 19 minutes but got cold late in the half and let the Bulldogs take a 36-32 lead to the locker room. The 2nd half was an up and down affair with many lead changes. Down by 3 with 22 seconds to go, we called a timeout to set up a 3 point play and it worked beautifully to tie the game with 17 seconds. The Bulldogs worked the clock down and got it inside to Jerome Sanders for a backdoor drive and he slammed it home with 3 seconds remaining to beat us 71-69. Playing on the road is tough, but we blew the game by missing 50% of our free throws. C Aleem Charles had a great comeback from his injury by scoring 15 and pulling down 13 rebounds plus making 2 steals and 2 blocks. SF Ukko Noronen continued to play well coming off the bench, scoring 14 points in 18 minutes of play. PG/SG Jon Benoit scored 11 plus had 4 assists. We’re definitely missing Correy Parker, though. The loss dropped us into a 3-way tie for 1st with Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M.