Men's Basketball 2009- 2010
Andrews University 65
Holy Cross Saints 61
Monday, February 01, 2010 By Dowin Coffy
Cardinals Show No Signs of Lethargy
Around noon on Friday, January 29, I caught up with Ronaldo Green, the electric freshman point guard. He told me that he had to get his hair cut by 2, so he could make it on the bus for a road trip to Wisconsin, to play Silver Lake College (details on a later story). Under the aforementioned circumstances, most teams coming from a long weekend road trip, should be tired and out of sync. That was definitely not the case this game, as the Cardinals put together one of their best performances of the year.
“Ryan Little and Jerome Murray dominated the game; I like how Little was on fire from the three, he could not miss, and Tchamba fluffed it up”, was Andy Helm’s analysis.
“The Steve Nash of Andrews University”, said Freshman Simone Carter.
Little, put on a Steve Nash-like performance against the Saints. (not the Who Dat Saints of New Orleans but our neighbors across the border in South Bend, Saints)
Little quietly scored 30 points distributed 3 assists and came up with 2 steals. Wrap your frontal lobes around this, 8 for 8 from the 3-point line in a regulation game. That happens approximately every other Ice Age. With 24 points coming from downtown little only needed 1 other bucket from the field and 4 free throws to reach the 30 point marker.
The other half of the dynamic duo, Jerome Murray also played basketball in a manner reminiscent of Chris Bosch (sticking with the NBA comparisons). Being an academic institution, I know statistical analysis is a strong point to many of the readers of this article and statistically Murray shot the ball as good as it gets. Murray only needed to attempt 8 shots to score 17 points.
The aforementioned Green had a strong game running the point. Even though he shot a woeful 0-5 from the field, he distributed 5 assists, and one impressive pick pocket of a much taller Saint ball handler in full stride. The Cardinals finally shot the way Coach Paulsen wants them to shoot, going 23-44 from the field. 10 of 14 from the freeby line.
The Cardinals as a team tallied 18 assists, 3 times more than the Saints. (Sweet) Ben Weakley led the Cardinals with 6 assists.
Cardinals Slow Start Leads to Loss
By Dowin Coffy
To play against a United States Collegiate Athletic Association division I power house involves bringing you’re A game to the court from start to finish. The Rochester Warriors a tournament semi-finalist last year and ranked number 4 in the latest USCAA coaches poll, showed why they deserve that ranking. The Cardinals brought their A game but for only one half, and I quote the great University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, it does not matter how you start, its all about how you Finish.”
The Warriors led by Adrian Schaffer’s 18 points cruised to an impressive 74-54 win against the depleted Cardinals. Rochester used all kinds of pressure to force 21 turnovers. The Warriors used their ultra quick guards to come up with 14 steals. Andrews actually won the 2nd half scoring 31 points to Rochesters 30, but the big first half put together by the Warriors was enough to handle the Cardinal charge.
Ryan Little had a big game, scoring 24 points off of 8-15 shooting. Little was on target from downtown hitting 63 percent of his attempts from that distance (5 for 8).
Freshman Ben Weakley played another strong game in the trenches against the bigger, longer Warriors, who employed a platoon approach utilizing their decided advantage in numbers. Weakley shot a sizzling 83 percent from the field, missing only 1 shot attempts (5 for 6). He also managed to grab 6 rebounds, and always the sweet passes came up with 3 assists.
The Cardinals shot 51 percent from the field (20 of 39) and for the first time hit 80% of their freethrows.
Freshman Brandan Garret (who by the way had another good game) said, “The game was close for the first half, then they pulled away in the second half by shooting a lot of threes.”
In retrospective analysis the Cardinals attempted 1 less three pointer than the Warriors (14 to the Warriors 15). The Warriors scored 27 points off of three point shots meaning they connected on 9 of their attempts. That totals to 36 percent of their points, leaving 64 percent from inside the arc.
Andrews Cardinals 54
Indiana University-Northwest Redhawks 43
By Dowin Coffy (Sports Analyst and News Reporter)
Cardinals Putting it Together
One of the many tests of a basketball teams’ character is how they respond to adversity. In a season full of adversity the Cardinals have come together as a cohesive and disciplined unit to earn back to back victories. With a roster of only 8 players, an astounding 6 of the 8 or 75% of the team are freshmen. Leading those freshman is the sharp shooting senior guard Ryan Little, who put together a dazzling performance in front of an enthusiastic and energized crowd. Even after the game as news spread by word of mouth that the Cardinals had won again, people were beginning to say things like, Are you serious? And I need to start coming to games?
As fan Andy Helm put it, “it was a great game, Stroke that Ryno.”
When asked to clarify the aforementioned phrase Helm, and fans Gaetan Tchamba and Micheal Choi proceeded to explain that is what Ryan Little supposedly says after hitting three pointers. Which he hit a lot of, going 4 of 7 from downtown. Little led all scorers with 21 points (6 of 10 from the field), to go along with 2 assists and a steal, while playing all 40 minutes.
The Cardinals youth played an important factor as point guard Renaldo Green played superbly and committed only 2 turnovers, while having most of the ball handling duties. Christian Tchamba had another off night from the field going 5 of 16, 1 of 7 from down town, but played much bigger than his size and grabbed 5 rebounds, enroute to scoring 11 points. Ben Weakley should change his name to Ben Strongly after playing a strong game down in the trenches. Weakley shot 4 of 6 from the field for 9 points and almost got a double-double due to the fact that he snatched 11 boards, and not to mention he always is a sweet passer (3 assists).
Promising freshman Branden Garret hit the go ahead bucket with 9 minutes left in the first half to give the Cardinals at 17-16 lead in which they never relinquished. Garret finished with 4 points.
The Redhawks zone defense stifled Jerome Murray down in the post and he managed to put up only 4 shots, making 1. But good players are never out of the game, just because they are not getting the ball enough to put up lots of points. Murray impacted the game with his high flying blocks and rebounds. Murray skied for 5 rebounds and absolutely demolished 2 lay-up attempts by unassuming Redhawk players.
The Cardinals slow the ball down offense resulted in them only attempting 44 shots but the knocked down 45% of them (20). Cardinals had twice as many assists 12 to 6 as the Redhawks, as the girls game bore witness to; he who wins the battle on the boards will win the war. The Cardinals snatched 35 rebounds to the Redhawks 21, and twice as many offensive rebounds (7 to 3).
The Cardinals played great defense this game and held the Redhawks to 32% shooting (16 of 50).
The coach’s son Pete Trgovich led the Redhawks with 13 points.
Future Looks Bright For Young Cardinal Team
Andrews University 67
Lake Michigan College 66
By Dowin Coffy
This article is probably one of the easiest I will ever have to write, the reason? Jerome Murray. This game can be summed up in two words JEROME MURRAY. The Cardinal’s freshman center chose a great game to have his coming out party, totally dominating from start to finish. Although Murray dominated in the paint, the two schools, separated by only 10 miles, played a very entertaining and suspenseful game.
Murray, who is from Orlando, FL, did his best to impersonate another famous Orlando resident, Dwight Howard. Murray scored 28 points, while taking only 19 shots and hitting 12 of them. Aggressive and confident play led to easy baskets for the 6’3 leaper. Scoring 28 points is a feat in its own, but Murray extended his dominance to all aspects of the game. He piled up 13 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. If not for foul trouble even bigger numbers could have been posted.
While Murray played a great game, there is no I in team. Another freshman was instrumental in this game. Freshman center Ben Weakley (the sweet passing big man), anchored a strong defensive effort that held Lake Michigan’s 6’6 behemoth T. Mcdaniels to 16 points. Forcing him to shoot 5 of 14 from the field. Weakley finished with 6 points, finding the bottom of the net on all three of his shot attempts to go along with 4 rebounds (3 offensive).
With all this talk of freshman, leave it to another freshman to contribute heavily to the Cardinal victory. Freshman guard Christian Tchamba scored 10 points (2 of 6), but most importantly went 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
The Cardinals committed 16 turnovers themselves, and in a game where both teams took the same number of shots from the field (53), the cardinals connected on three more than Lake Michigan did. (26) or (49%)
Another interesting stat line that may only interest me, is that the Cardinals did not connect on a single 3 point attempt, going 0 for 13 from behind the 3-point line.
The Cardinals dominated the boards holding a 37 to 19 rebounding advantage, while also dishing out 2 times as many assists as the visiting team (14 to 7).
The Cardinals are now 3-5, with the next game in Detroit against Marygrove College on December 2.
November 17, 2009
Grace Bible College Tigers 73
Andrews University Cardinals 55
Captain-less Cardinals Mauled by Tigers
By Dowin Coffy
Playing without one of their most integral players the Andrews University Cardinals could not fend off the Tigers of Grace Bible College. Cardinal captain Stephan Blackwood could not make it out of biology lab in time to dress and play. Nevertheless the Cardinals came out determined to overcome, and played the whole game without him. The Cardinals put up 44 shots and connected on 20 of them for the night, for those of you who like statistics that is 45% from the field. Once again Ryan Little led the scoring pathway with 15 points off of 6 of 11 shooting. Little also helped the cause by grabbing 3 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists.
The Cardinals played a tough and very competitive first half scoring 33 points while giving up 38 points. The Tigers put up a lot of shots 56 for the night and connecting on 29 of them(51%), most teams do not lose when shooting over 50 percent from the field.
The second half saw the Tigers come out with a decisive run 3 minutes into the half from which they never looked back. The Tigers seized the momentum and rode it to a 20 point lead midway through the second half.
The big surprise performance of the night was by freshman Christian Tchamba who managed to score 11 points shooting 3 of 8 from the field. Only one of his shots was not a three point attempt but he led the team in rebounds with 5.
Rounding out the double digit scorers for the night is Robert Lee who as normally shot a high percentage from the field (4 of 8) from 10 points to go along with 3 rebounds and 1 assist.
The Cardinals now drop to 2 and 3 for the year and play one the road against Taylor University and Hope College College JV before returning home to face Lake Michigan College in the annual battle of US 31.
November 14, 2009
Andrews University Cardinals 66
Moody Bible Institute Archers 52
Stephan Blackwood knew when the season began that a lot would be demanded of him; he finally stepped up and delivered. Blackwood was red hot from the field shooting an astounding 71 percent (10 of 14) for 22 points. He was not just satisfied with putting up a lot of points though; he grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, and stole 4 passes for a great overall game.
“Well basically I try to come out and bring the team energy, make lay-ups and I figure if I go hard the whole team will go hard, and that’s what ended up happening,” said Blackwood
A team is not one individual though, the Cardinals used stifling defense to force 23 Archer turnovers, 17 of them off of steals. The cardinals also owned the glass 26 to 12. Robert Lee continued his hot shooting from the field going 6 of 8 for 14 points, 2 for 2 from downtown. Freshman center Jerome Murray contributed 10 points going aggressively to the basket. Guard Christain Tchamba had a great game defensively, his active hands deflected passes and were constantly in the passing lanes, making it difficult for the Archers to pass.
Impressive statistic that stands out is freshman center Ben Weakley with 4 assists for the second straight game, a big man with sweet passes.
As a team the Cardinals attacked the basket and did not settle for bad jump shots, that is reflected in the 51% shooting from the field ( 25 of 49).
“We played better as a team, and we passed the ball, and we played harder, he told us to get it together and play as a team and not to worry about the score board and play hard,” said Freshman Jean Romulus.
November 11, 2009
Home Sweet Home
By Dowin Coffy
Two road games, two losses, one home game, one win, there is just nothing quite like playing in the friendly confines of the Johnson Gymnasium for the Cardinals. Playing in their first home game of the year, the Andrews Cardinals rode point guard Ryan Little’s 13 points, 6 assists, and 7 rebounds along with a strong defensive effort that forced the Crusaders(Great Lakes Christian College) into shooting 30 percent (12-40) and 11 turnovers to a resounding 58-37 victory. Little also contributed two steals and a block shot for a complete all around game in leading his team as a captain.
The new-look cardinals sporting a whole new cast and only three re turners overcame nerves and a slow start to coast to a 20 point lead 5 minutes into the third quarter. Defense was key for the Cardinals as exemplified by one stretch in particular, Stephan Blackwood hustled back on defense and blocked a shot off the backboard which lead to an easy lay-up on the other end, and the ensuing Crusader possession freshman center Jerome Murray swatted an ill-advised Crusader shot which lead to an easy Robert Lee lay-up on the other end. Lee finished shooting a scorching 50 percent from the field (3 of 6) 2 of 3 from downtown for 8 points.
“We still got a lot of work to do, we’ve had our ups and downs from the beginning, we just have to stay focused, and it’s only up from here, just keep working hard, said Robert Lee
Another notable performer was Jerome Murray hitting 63 percent of his shots (5 of 8) for 10 points, to go along with 4 steals a block shot and two assists.
The Cardinals are now 1-2; the next home game is Saturday November 14 against annual rival Moody Bible College.