After spotting Xavier a 10 point lead early (17-7), Portland St. went toe-to-toe with their A-10 foe until about 10 minutes into the second stanza, mostly because of the work of their big 3: Dominguez, Jamie Jones (14 pts) and Andre Murray (3 of 5 from beyond the arc). Outside of those 3, PSU has only 5 points. Xavier’s lead, which has now grown to 21, can be attributed to the balance they’ve played with and their ability to get into the lane. Five Musketeers have at least 7 points (4 are in double figures) and 5 have at least 3 rebounds. Xavier’s depth has started to wear on the Vikes and their support. While the packed arena was once heavily in their favor now seems indifferent and content to wait for the marquee match up of the session to follow between Florida St. and Wisconsin.

Check back in to www.slopemedia.org for all of your NCAA tournament coverage.

-Sam Aleinikoff

Wow. Jeremiah Dominguez (known to his fans sitting directly behind us as “JD”) is fun to watch. This guy tries to get his hand in the face of a Xavier shooter on defense and can barely reach high enough to distract the shooter. His quickness and handles though are unbelievable.

Knowing nothing about PSU and watching JD in practice yesterday here at Taco Bell Arena, I thought he could be at best a little used reserve, or maybe a manager practicing with the team. Clearly I didn’t watch enough because this guy is great. If Portland St. can work their way back (they’ve now fallen behind by 11 with 15 minutes left in the game), Jeremiah Dominguez is going to be known by college basketball fans around the country.

Check back in with www.slopemedia.org for all of your NCAA tournament coverage.

-Sam Aleinikoff

Despite a loud crowd heavily in favor of Portland State, Xavier has pushed their lead to 42-35 at the half.

Xavier has made the tournament 8 out of the last 9 years and its beginning to show. This team is just bigger and stronger than Portland St. They have the talent, athleticism and size of a perennial tournament team. Portland St. does not. The tallest player on the Portland St. roster is 6 ft 8. Xavier carries 5 players at least that height. The pesky Vikes are still hanging around though. Every time the Musketeers look poised to pull away, PSU (not to be confused with Penn St.) seems to get a big play.

Despite his height (5ft 6), Jeremiah Dominguez has been effective on the offensive end, splitting traps and double teams beyond the arc to get in the lane. His awkward, flat, yet consistent 3 point shot has fallen a couple times and he has gotten to the charity stripe as well. In addition to leading his squad in scoring (13 points at the half), he leads the Vikings in rebounding. Dominguez truly is the engine that keeps this PSU team going.

Down 7 at the half, Portland State needs to be stronger with the ball in the second stanza to stay in the game. They’ve lost the ball several times while going down the lane and the active Musketeer hands have helped to lead to 7 more shot attempts for Xavier than Portland St. When PSU has been able to get shots off though they’ve been successful, shooting 59% from the floor and nearly 42% from beyond the arc.

So far, the shots have been falling for Xavier too, mostly because of the quality looks they have been able to get off by rotating bodies and keeping fresh. Nine Musketeers have played at least 6 minutes and 8 have scored. Xavier’s bench has also outscored the Vike’s bench 15-2.

Dominguez has been the lone truly successful ball handler for PSU and in order to keep this game close he needs to be on the court. His two fouls aren’t a problem yet, but if he picks up a quick third it would mean trouble for the underdogs.

Portland St. will come out of the break with momentum from a corner trey by Andre Murray to close the half. Check back in at www.slopemedia.org to see if the Vikes can build off that long range shot and for all of your NCAA Tournament coverage.

-Sam Aleinikoff

After Xavier jumped out of the gates to a 17-7 lead, Portland St has climbed back into the ball game with an 8-2 run behind 3 point shooting and the support of their Green and White clad faithful. So far, Jeremiah Dominguez has been the main scoring threat for the Vikes, converting twice from beyond the arc with an unconventional, flat shot that eventually rattled down. The 5-6, Senior Point Guard also hit on a floater in the lane. However, after 2 early fouls, Dominguez has had to take a seat.

The current score here in Taco Bell Arena is 22-17 Xavier, which has been propelled by getting the ball inside to their bigs and kicking back out to open shooters.

Keep it here on www.slopemedia.org for all of your NCAA tournament coverage.

-Sam Aleinikoff

The story of the game has been Leo Lyons. He is just too big, too physical, and too dominant for the Big Red. Lyons is currently 8-14 from the field for 17 points and 8 rebounds including one possession where he got 3 offensive possessions before laying the ball safely in the hoop. In the words of Harrison D. Sanford who is sitting next to me, “He’s a worker”.

However, Cornell is still fighting. Foote was able to work down low of Lyons with a nice post move moving his point total up to 8 points on the night. Wittman is also still working hard. He just pumped faked a 3 - got Carroll in the air. Take a dribble in for 2. This put Wittman’s game total up to 15 and he leads the Red in that category.

All-Ivy League first team selection, Louis Dale’s rough night from the field continues. He is currently 1-11 from the field for a total of 3 points.

Notable Quote:
Randy Wittman yelling at the ref again: “You’re sleep walking ref”

Currently Missouri 65 - Cornell 50 with 3:33 to go.

(Jake Mastbaum)

The paid attendance for the first session (Marquette vs Utah St. and Missouri vs Cornell) was just announced here in Taco Bell Arena. It was 11,997 (much more than we ever get in Newman Arena, in fact that is almost triple the capacity in Newman Arena.

Those 11,997 are starting to lose interest after the Tiger lead has been pushed to 16. Cornell is still playing good basketball. In fact they are getting good possessions on the offensive end. (e.g. Louis Dale driving to the lane for a lay-up….and-1). However, Cornell can no longer stop Mizzou on the defensive end. Missouri is starting to look like they can score at will.

The pure athleticism of Missouri is starting to show. The pressure has not let up at all and you can visibly see the fatigue and frustration of the Cornell players while Missouri looks like they can go 6 overtimes like Syracuse - UConn (maybe not, but you get the point). Cornell is starting to foul a lot more than they were earlier in the game and you can only attribute this to fatigue.

You still gotta love Randy Wittman yelling at the ref….

“Common ref, get your head in the game. You’re asleep tonight”

Missouri 56 - Cornell 41

11:16 to go

(Jake Mastbaum)

Out of the time-out, Ryan Wittman is able to connect from long range. Then after stopping Mizzou on the other end, Wittman had what we like to call, a Heat Check.

Wittman brought up the ball and immediately fired a 3 that just rimmed out. He was feeling it, he thought he was on fire, but after missing that 3, I would say, he failed the heat check.

Cornell is in a very critical moment of this game. The Red are down 10 with about 14 minutes to go. A run by Mizzou here could out the game out of reach. However, a run by Cornell could put them right back in it.

Lets see what happens….

(Jake Mastbaum

Missouri 40 - Cornell 31

16:37 to go

Some early second half highlights

Alex Tyler dunk in transition
Foote hits his first field goal of the game
DeMarre Carroll 3 pointer

Cornell switches to a 1-3-1 defence
-But Carroll able to exploit it and lay in a running jumper

Jason Battle turnover
-Matt Lawrence able to put it in for two off the steal.

Donahue calls time out to limit the Missouri damage and momentum

Missouri is on a 11-6 run since halftime.

A Cornell fan can only be incredibly enthused with the first half of basketball that this Cornell team has played. It was exactly the opposite of the first half of basketball that the Red played in last years NCAA Tournament against Stanford (who is not in the tourney this year under first year head coach Johnny Dawkins). Against Stanford, Cornell was out of it early. Not the case today!

You have to love Cornell being able to break the press with ease and now finally hitting open 3’s (thank you Ryan Wittman, Chris Wroblewski, and Geoff Reeves)….(they are still missing a lot of shots). You have to love the Cornell section which is located right behind press row hooting and hollering, showing support for their team. You have to love Randy Wittman who is in the first row behind press row screaming louder than anyone. You have to love Chris Wroblewski getting an offensive rebound and putting it back in for 2 right as time expires in the half. Most of all, you have to love Cornell holding Mizzou’s leading scorer, DeMarre Carroll (who averages 16.8 ppg) to only 2 first half points.

What you don’t love is an aly-oop pass from Matt Lawrence to Leo Lyons for a slam to put Missouri back on top or Leo Lyons completing an and-1 play after a media time out. You have to hate J.T. Tiller forcing a turnover on Brian Kreefer on the press and throwing it ahead to Leo Lyons for a slam.

At half time in Taco Bell Arena it is Missouri 29 - Cornell 25

1st Half Stats:

Cornell Scoring Leaders
Ryan Wittman - 8 pts
Chris Wroblewski - 7 pts
Geoff Reeves - 5 pts
Alex Tyler - 4 pts

Missouri Scoring Leaders
Leo Lyons - 9 pts
J.T. Tiller - 6 pts
Zaire Taylor - 5 pts

Cornell is shooting 31% from the field, 28% from 3
Missouri is shooting 37% from the field, 16% from 3

One thing to note is that Cornell has not had much offensive production out of Jeff Foote (he does have 5 rebounds). Maybe they don’t need it today with the guard play that have been getting, but one would think that Cornell would have a tough time holding on in the second half without any production from the all-ivy second team member. Foote may be taller, but he is not stronger than the post payers of Missouri (Leo Lyons and DeMare Carroll) and the physicality of the Mizzou big men is really evident and seems to disrupt the game of the senior center Foote.

If Cornell wants to stay in this ball game they need to hit their open looks. They have 8 offensive rebounds so far in the half. They cannot rely on getting so many second chance looks.

Cornell fans may be surprised to see to see how easy they were breaking the Missouri press that got so much attention in the days and weeks leading up to the game. However, Missouri has a different first half and second half press. The second half press is much more rigorous that the first half press. It is safe to say that Mizzou will be going all out with their press in the second half because of how close the game is.

Lets just say this…

Cornell only down 4 at the half. Can’t really complain with that.

Stay here for your Cornell tournament coverage.

(Jake Mastbaum)