Men's basketball keeps fans on edge of their seats
Issue date: 2/5/07 Section: Sports
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McNeese State appears to have found a way to win, but Coach Dave Simmons wishes it wasn't so nerve racking. "It seems like we play better when we're down in the score," he told members of the media during his weekly press conference Tuesday.
"Right now we're playing good in spurts but we need to try to expand those periods. Sometimes it seems that when we're down, we begin looking for that home run shot and it has worked at times."
Over the course of the last five games, all Southland Conference outings, the Cowboys have had three go into overtime and in one other they came from 13 points behind to win the game.
Two of those three overtime games were also victories for the Cowboys who have now won two in a row and three of their last five.
They are 3-3 in league play and are ranked third in the eastern division of the SLC, trailing second place Southeastern Louisiana (4-3) by one-half of a game and first place Northwestern State (6-2) by two games.
The Cowboys open a three game road trip on Thursday against the Lions in Hammond. That game will be the second outing of a doubleheader, the school's women's team meeting in the opener.
The Lions are one of only two teams in the eastern division with a winning overall record, their mark being 12-8.
"Right now we're looking at taking the games one at a time and trying to get some momentum going," Simmons added.
One of the sparkplugs on the team has been junior point guard John Ford, who scored 12 of his team's final 18 points in the come-from-behind victory over Lamar on Sunday.
"He's doing an outstanding job of running the club," Simmons said. "He gets batted around pretty good out there but he always comes back."
Simmons said that in his opinion Ford has already established himself as an all-conference player this season.
The Alexandria native ranks second on the team in scoring with a 12.1 average, leads in assists with 3.3 per game, is tops in free throw shooting with an 81.7 percentage (49 of 60), is averaging 3.6 rebounds per game and is tops in steals with 32.
"Right now we're playing good in spurts but we need to try to expand those periods. Sometimes it seems that when we're down, we begin looking for that home run shot and it has worked at times."
Over the course of the last five games, all Southland Conference outings, the Cowboys have had three go into overtime and in one other they came from 13 points behind to win the game.
Two of those three overtime games were also victories for the Cowboys who have now won two in a row and three of their last five.
They are 3-3 in league play and are ranked third in the eastern division of the SLC, trailing second place Southeastern Louisiana (4-3) by one-half of a game and first place Northwestern State (6-2) by two games.
The Cowboys open a three game road trip on Thursday against the Lions in Hammond. That game will be the second outing of a doubleheader, the school's women's team meeting in the opener.
The Lions are one of only two teams in the eastern division with a winning overall record, their mark being 12-8.
"Right now we're looking at taking the games one at a time and trying to get some momentum going," Simmons added.
One of the sparkplugs on the team has been junior point guard John Ford, who scored 12 of his team's final 18 points in the come-from-behind victory over Lamar on Sunday.
"He's doing an outstanding job of running the club," Simmons said. "He gets batted around pretty good out there but he always comes back."
Simmons said that in his opinion Ford has already established himself as an all-conference player this season.
The Alexandria native ranks second on the team in scoring with a 12.1 average, leads in assists with 3.3 per game, is tops in free throw shooting with an 81.7 percentage (49 of 60), is averaging 3.6 rebounds per game and is tops in steals with 32.
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