‘Cats remain perfect at home

    Many coaches over the years have told their teams one thing: defense wins championships.  Despite the fact that the NCAA Tournament is still months away, the GCSU men’s basketball team used a suffocating defense to secure their tenth win of the season Wednesday night against Armstrong Atlantic State University.
    The Bobcat defense allowed just 52 points, their lowest total of the season, and tied their season high for steals with ten in a 76-52 win.  Graham Martin, a sophomore guard, who shot 80 percent from behind the three-point arc, paced the Bobcats with 16 points.
    “Coming into the game, we wanted to push the ball and run,” Martin said.  “We wanted to focus on defense and stop penetration and kickouts.”
    The Bobcats grabbed an early lead before Armstrong fought back and eventually gained a lead of their own in the first half.  But the Bobcats showed why they have not lost at home this season.
    A block by freshman Reece Wiedeman eventually set up one of Graham Martin’s 3-pointers, a baseline beauty that regained the lead for the Bobcats, a lead they would not relinquish.
    Three GCSU players reached double digits in scoring, continuing the trend of a balanced offense that has served the team well thus far.  The team is 7-0 when at least three players have double digit scoring totals, as opposed to 1-2 when they do not.
    Head coach Terry Sellers thinks that there are a couple of reasons why the team is playing at such a high level.
    “(During the) last two games, good defense has stepped up,” Sellers said.  “We’ve also got great team chemistry.  I never realized, until two or three years ago, how important it was.  These guys work hard and have a great attitude.”
    Bobcat players and fans survived a scare in the first half when senior center Aaron Clark suffered a hard foul by the Pirates’ Andrew Webber while trying to pull down a rebound, resulting in a cut around Clark’s eye.  Clark left the game, but returned later in the half.  He finished with ten points and six rebounds.
    “Right now we’re shooting the ball well,” Clark said.  “We’re playing good defense, a good cohesive team defense.  We can win a lot of games holding them to 50 or 52 points.”
    With a 10-2 record in hand, many Bobcat fans are remembering last year when the team got off to a hot start (10-1) before dropping their first three conference games.  However, the team’s leadership, players and coaches, are trying to keep the locker room at an even keel.
    “We’ve got younger guys who haven’t been here before, but we’ve got seniors and guys from community college who help keep everyone mellow,” Clark said.
    The Bobcats will be looking to stay undefeated at home Saturday as they welcome the Francis Marion University Patriots.  Then the team will go on the road Monday to face Clayton State University before returning home to play Georgia Southwestern State University on Wednesday.
    “We’re a quarter of the way through a long season,” Sellers said.  “In order to continue winning, we’ve got to continue to improve.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 18 2008. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry