Block 3 Result - GM38 - Riverside 133 Stillwater 124

[Jim Ransel]

Final home game of the block, and I have to be honest, I saved this one in the end because I was too damn nervous to play it. We had beaten the mighty Splash earlier in the block on the road, so it was not impossible that we might come away with a victory. But...we were skeptical.

However, absent a mystery game played just prior where we started out down 25-5, we've been playing pretty solid ball all block, and this one is probably the best of them all. Stillwater did have us down early, 19-10, but we took the lead by the end of the 1st and pushed it to an 11-point lead within the first two minutes of period 2. We never relinquished the lead after that, though Stillwater did knock on the door a few times. Our early struggles were mostly the result of a failed double-team strategy on Michael Jordan. He did his thing while we allowed Dennis Rodman and Damon Stoudamire to reach double-figure scoring early in the game. After that, we decided to just play it straight, with a couple of exceptions, and I think that strategy decision ended up being really important.

Alonzo Mourning was an absolute beast. He scored 47 points (17-25 FG) and had 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He did miss 10 free throws, and as a team we missed 15. I suppose had we not missed all those free throws, we could have been in a position to not be worrying about a last minute surge by the Splash, but we held them off regardless. Derrick Coleman had 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Gary Payton had 19 points and 9 assists. Jordan ended with 42 points on 17-36 shooting. Grant Hill (12-15 FG) was dangerous as could be. He had 29 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds before fouling out. His run of dazzlers in the 3rd quarter kept Stillwater alive while Riverside was having an awesome offensive quarter. Stoudamire had 16 points and 13 assists, and Rodman had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

SCORING SUMMARY              1  2  3  4    T
Stillwater                  29 35 33 27  124
Riverside                   35 32 38 28  133

TEAM STATISTICS
Stillwater                  Riverside
     Fast Break Pts  22          Fast Break Pts  28
  Second Chance Pts   4       Second Chance Pts   9
Points in the Paint  30     Points In the Paint  46
       Biggest Lead   9            Biggest Lead  15
     Team Turnovers   0          Team Turnovers   0
               ----FG--- ---3PT--- ---FT---       REBOUNDS
NAME        MIN  MD AT PCT MD AT PCT MD AT PCT +/-  OF DF  T AS PF ST TO BK PTS
E.JOHNSON    22   1  2  50  0  0      0  0      14   2  3  5  1  6  0  3  2   2
M.JORDAN     37  17 36  47  3  7  43  5  6  83   4   0  3  3  3  2  2  0  0  42
G.HILL       30  12 15  80  0  0      5  5 100  12   1  4  5  9  6  1  1  0  29
D.STOUDAMIRE 40   7 21  33  0 11   0  2  2 100   0   1  4  5 13  3  2  2  0  16
D.RODMAN     28   5 10  50  0  0      2  2 100  12   5  8 13  3  5  2  1  0  12
T.PORTER      8   0  3   0  0  3   0  0  0      -9   0  1  1  2  2  0  1  0   0
D.ELLIS      21   2  4  50  0  2   0  0  0     -24   0  2  2  0  3  0  0  0   4
B.REEVES     26   5  7  71  0  0      3  4  75 -23   0  3  3  2  4  1  1  0  13
M.ABDUL-RAUF 11   0  5   0  0  3   0  0  0     -13   0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0   0
A.LANG       13   2  4  50  0  0      0  0     -15   1  1  2  0  4  3  2  0   4
S.BURRELL     4   1  1 100  0  0      0  0      -3   0  0  0  0  0  1  0  0   2
Stillwater   48  52108  48  3 26  12 17 19  89      10 29 39 34 35 12 11  2 124
               ----FG--- ---3PT--- ---FT---       REBOUNDS
NAME        MIN  MD AT PCT MD AT PCT MD AT PCT +/-  OF DF  T AS PF ST TO BK PTS
D.COLEMAN    38   6 10  60  0  0      2  3  67  12   6  9 15  5  1  2  1  1  14
G.PAYTON     39   5  8  62  0  0      9 12  75   3   0  4  4  9  4  0  3  0  19
M.RICHMOND   35   6 12  50  0  3   0  5  5 100   1   0  3  3  7  0  1  3  0  17
A.MOURNING   36  17 25  68  0  0     13 23  57  10   0 13 13  0  3  2  3  4  47
T.BEST       24   2  5  40  1  2  50  0  0       1   0  0  0  5  1  0  1  0   5
O.POLYNICE   13   3  4  75  0  0      0  0     -10   0  3  3  0  3  1  1  0   6
J.MASHBURN   13   1  3  33  0  0      0  0       8   2  1  3  1  0  0  1  0   2
B.STITH      24   6  7  86  0  0      7  8  88   8   0  4  4  4  4  0  2  0  19
M.PRICE       9   2  4  50  0  1   0  0  0       6   0  1  1  1  0  0  2  0   4
C.ROGERS      8   0  1   0  0  1   0  0  0       2   0  1  1  0  0  0  1  1   0
G.McCLOUD     1   0  0      0  0      0  0       4   0  1  1  0  0  0  0  0   0
Riverside    48  48 79  61  1  7  14 36 51  71       8 40 48 32 16  6 18  6 133
DAZZLERS                NORM  FB TOT
STI  G.HILL                5   0   5
STI  T.PORTER              0   2   2
STI  D.STOUDAMIRE          2   6   8
RIV  G.PAYTON              0   1   1
RIV  M.PRICE               1   0   1

STAR OF THE GAME
A.MOURNING

GAME STORY
Riverside sent the crowd home happy as they beat Stillwater by the final tally of
133 to 124.  Alonzo Mourning had 47 points for Riverside.  Grant Hill had 29 points
for Stillwater.  Michael Jordan added 42 points.  Riverside's(34-15) next game
will be at home vs. Ubly while Stillwater(28-6) plays on the road vs. Kohler.