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Tyler, Brown Key Surge as Lions Trim GorillasBy WENDEU REDDEN Glob* Sports EditorCarl Tyler and Percy Brown combined for 12 points during the final four minutes as Missouri Southern repelled Pittsburg State University’s stretch drive to trim the Gorillas 74-67 in Young Gymnasium Saturday and square its Central States Intercollegiate Conference record at 1-1.The victory avenged a 69-65 loss to the Gorillas at Pittsburg in November and boosted Southern’s seasonal record to 9-5. Pittsburg State is now 8-5 and 1-1 in league play.Until Tyler and Brown tookcharge offensively, the game was up for grabs. Pittsburg State, much better than the seventh-place berth awarded by conference coaches in a preseason poll, battled back from an 11-point deficit to trail by 59-57 with 5:10 left.Tyler, who finished with 23 points to lead all scorers, drove to the baseline and scored twice and added a layup on a long pass from Wade Graskewicz on an inbounds play. That made it 65-60 with 3:11 left.Reuben Abies scored four straight points for the Gorillas to pare the deficit to a single point.Brown, the 6-4 senior forwardwho had been limited to three field goals until then, took over at that point. He converted three offensive rebounds into goals, enabling Southern to open a 71-65 lead with 54 seconds left. Jim Waid followed with a goal at 0:35 to ensure the decision.“Short on rest, long on guts,” was Southern Coach Chuck Williams' opening comment after the physical battle. “I could tell our kids were tired during the opening minutes of the game, but they sucked up and played hard all night against a very good ball club.”Missouri Southern enjoyed success with a 1-2-2 zone defense late in the first half and duringthe first 10 minutes of the second half. Williams brought the Lions out of the zone with about eight minutes left, switching to a man-to-man.“Pittsburg made an adjustment against our zone and it caused us a couple of problems. I was concerned that it might create more problems so we went back to our man defense. I wanted to get us moving because I knew we were going to have to suck it up the final three minutes.”Pittsburg Coach John Hickman said he was surprised that Southern pulled out of the zone but added, “Chuck’s a lot like me. I don’t like to play a zonethat much and I don’t think he does either. “I’d rather lose playing man defense that get beat by someone shooting 20-footers unmolested. ”Hickman said one of the keys to Southern’s win was when Tyler took Pitt State guard Chuckie Allen to the baseline and scored three straight times in a span of 1:02.“We just couldn’t get Tyler under control,” the Gorillas coach stressed. “I thought we did a good job getting (Willie) Rogers and Brown under control, but we couldn’t control Tyler. I was proud of our team. They played with a lot of heart. We’re definitely not a seventh-place ball club and I think we’re going to prove it.”Tyler, in topping 20 points for the fourth time this season, connected on 7 of 11 shots from the field and added 9 charity shots in 15 tries. Rogers had 15 points and Brown and Waid chipped in with 12 each. Southern shot 48.3 percent from the field on 29 of 60.Derek Thomas, Pitt State’s all-conference sophomore forward, led his mate? with 17 Allen, the Gorillas’ quick play-maker, counted 11 points and reserve forward Mark Mann had 10. The Gorillas were 29 of 68 for 42.6.(See TYLER. 4B)
Newspaper Details
Joplin Globe
Joplin, Missouri, US
Sun, Jan 10, 1982
Page 11
Full Page
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Joplin P.
MO, USA 25 Feb 2024
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