Mid-Continent Notebook - Tulsa World (1-25-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Mid-Continent Notebook

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

1/25/2006

Cold Spell: Valparaiso lost two more key players and didn't look like the same team that had vaulted into a first-place Mid-Continent Conference tie by winning six games in a row.

The Crusaders shot only 36.8 percent in Thursday's 90-76 loss at Chicago State and only 41.4 percent in Thursday's 73-61 loss at Southern Utah to fall two games out of first.

The same team shot 53.6 percent in its winning streak and averaged 89.8 points per game.

Valpo played both games without three of its top eight. Reserve forward Shawn Huff broke his left foot last Monday, and starting center Mohamed Kone is sidelined pending an NCAA investigation.

Guard Jimmie Miles has missed five straight games with a viral infection.

The 6-foot-11 Kone was greatly missed at Chicago State. Without the league's top shot blocker, the Crusaders couldn't keep the speedy Cougars out of the lane and were outscored 38-24 in the paint.

At Southern Utah, Valpo missed 11-of-18 free throws.

"A lot of those were one-and-one's," said Valpo coach Homer Drew. "If we make our free throws, we have a chance to take it down to the end."

Huff is expected to miss four to six weeks, but the Crusaders could hear something on Kone's case any day. It centers on questions about a flight the Senegal native took from Florida last fall to enroll at Valpo.

TV time: Valpo's tough week probably damaged its chances of hosting one of 13 Bracket Buster television games, while ORU's TV chances took a tumble with Tuesday's loss at Western Illinois.

Pairings are due Sunday or Monday for the Feb. 18 lineup of 50 games matching the top mid-major schools trying to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The pairings are based on the same criteria used to choose the NCAA field.

Before the WIU game, ORU's ratings percentage index (148 at Kenpom.com) was 16th among teams designated for road games. The Eagles needed to move closer to the top 13, not further away.

Valparaiso has slipped further down among teams designated for home games.

"Right now, I think we've probably played ourselves out of a TV game," Valpo athletic director Mark LaBarbera told the Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune.

Award winner: Chicago State guard Royce Parran was the Mid-Con's Player of the Week, scoring 20 points in each of two Cougars wins.

The 5-foot-9 junior made 3-of-4 treys against Valpo and dished nine assists in Saturday's win over Western Illinois.

Against WIU, Parran made the tying foul shots with 2.3 seconds left, and after a Leathernecks turnover, threw a pass that Michael Henderson tipped in as time expired.

Reverse trend: Chicago State's win over Valparaiso was only its third in 29 meetings but the second in a row. The Cougars upset the Crusaders in the first round of last year's conference tournament.

Getting better: Centenary's 75-66 win at Oakland was its second in three games, its most productive span under first-year coach Ron Flaska.

With four wins overall and two in conference play, the Gents are already ahead of their 3-24, 1-15 marks of last year, when they were ninth and missed the conference tournament.

With only two holdovers from last year, Flaska brought in six junior college transfers and four freshmen.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult year in a lot of ways, but we thought we could improve and maybe surprise some people," the former TCU and Arkansas assistant said.

Local tie: Eric Holmes of Broken Arrow will have a homecoming when the Gents visit ORU Thursday night.

Holmes is averaging 3.4 points and 2.0 rebounds in 17 games.

An All-Stater in high school, the 6-foot-4 Holmes played on Redlands Community College's NJCAA national runner-up team in 2004.

Big man sits: Southern Utah's 6-foot-9 Lubor Olsovsky served a one-game suspension imposed by the school for taking off his jersey and throwing it at officials in the aftermath of a close loss at Centenary.

Olsovsky sat out Thursday's win over WIU but returned with five points and seven rebounds in Saturday's win over Valpo.

Fast breaks: Senior forward Dan Oppland is fifth in Valpo career scoring with 1,554 points. . . . Southern Utah is fifth nationally in 3-point percentage (.417). . . . George Hill made a school-record 10-of-10 shots in a 95-59 win over UMKC. . . . ORU's Caleb Green (8.9) and Larry Owens (7. are 1-2 in Mid-Con individual rebounding. . . . Southern Utah's Nate Janes posted his first collegiate double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against WIU. . . . WIU shot 68.4 percent in the second half of Saturday's loss at Chicago State.