Updated Nov 20, 2009 - 12:05 pm
Redhawks Top Talented Bulldogs 85-84 in Front of Chieftain Greats
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(Courtesy of regular Husky Digest contributor Jason McCleary)
Men's Basketball is back in the Key Arena. Seattle University, in only their 2nd year playing D1 level basketball game in almost three decades (when they were known as the Chieftains), won their first home game this year 85-84 against Fresno State. A hard fought effort by both teams, Seattle U came out on top with the win at the end of the game. Coach Cameron Dollar received his first victory as head coach, after leaving the University of Washington to pursue a head coaching job.
The night started off honoring a Seattle U great and a top 50 NBA player who goes by the name of Elgin Baylor. Baylor led Seattle U team to the final four and was an 11 time NBA all-star. Baylor played for many years on the LA Lakers teams that also featured Jerry West (the man in the NBA logo) and Wilt Chamberlain (who is arguably the best big man ever, the other choice being another former Laker, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
The Seattle U court was named after Baylor today and will be from now on called "Elgin Baylor Court". Joining Baylor for the ceremony were a couple dozen Seattle greats of years past including Eddie Miles, Clint Richardson, the O'Brien Twins and John Tresvant.
After the festivities were over honoring the legend, Baylor saw a great game along with the other 4,713 fans. Both teams came out the gates real sloppy. Seattle U and Fresno State looked real anxious and forced a lot of shots in the first 5 minutes of the game. Junior college transfer Charles Garcia came out forcing plays and playing out of control but was still a force to be reckoned with and finished the game with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
The first half seemed to be all Seattle U, with Garcia leading the way showing the skills of a big man that will someday be in the NBA. Major contributions from the whole team had the bulldogs in the passenger seat the first half of the game. Two major players who got the Redhawks out and running were Aaron Broussard and Chris Gweth.
Broussard gave Fresno State fits, with his shooting ability as a forward and strong will to take the ball to the rack. Gweth played the SG position real well hitting open shots and slashing assertively to the rack. Garcia would dominate getting to the rim and went to the free throw line 18 times in the game, though only hitting 10 of 18.
With all that said, Fresno State was only down 8 points at the half, 39-31. The star players were dormant in the first half for the Bulldogs, but all would change in the second half. NBA prospect Paul George came out strong in the second half. George hit from the three point line and handed his business in the post.
In the second Garcia showed a lot of what he can do and how skilled he is as a 6'10" forward. Garcia received contributions from two other players in the second half, as the Redhawks had 5 players to finish in double digit scoring. Guards Mike Boxley and Cervante Burrell helped take the burden off of Garcia's back to help with the scoring.
But Fresno State was still fighting and getting huge play out of freshman sensation Greg Smith, who only had two points at half time but finished the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Fresno Also got huge play out of Paul George who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds as well.
George later fouled out at the 4 min mark which was critical for the Bulldogs. Former ASU Sun Devil Sylvester Seay, whose Pac-10 career was marred by injury, was also effective with 15 points.
Fresno State had the lead when George fouled out but that would all change. Coach Cameron Dollar must have noticed something in the offense of Fresno State and realized that they really didn't have a ball handler who can dribble under pressure. The Redhawks ran the full court press the last 4 min of the game, forcing Fresno State to turn the ball over, but the game came down to the wire.
With 45 seconds left in the game and Fresno State up 1 point, the Bulldogs had troubles getting the ball past half court. Broussard forced a steal and missed the lay-up, but Garrett Lever laid it back up to take a one point lead.
Smith then got the ball in low with 24 seconds left and made a basket to put the Bulldogs up 1. Fresno State seemed like they could have it in the bag, but Gweth found Burrell for a lay up to put the Redhawks back up one.
Fresno State still had a chance to take the lead, but a costly turnover cause by guard Steve Shepp, who until then had played a solid game off the bench with 13 points and 8 assists, sealed the game for Seattle U. There is nothing like a great neck to neck battle to kick off basketball at Seattle's Key Arena once again.
Burrell said, "This is just a starting point for us" and added, "We are just out to make statements, and this was a good beginning to make a statement".
Seattle U is now 1-2 and will next take on Weber State this Sunday (November 22nd at the Key Arena at 2:10 PDT).
Key Observations
Charles Garcia will be a great player and prospect for the NBA. He needs to work on playing in the post and not over doing it. I can see why the Huskies were so high on this guy.
Seattle U as a team has a lot to work on and will have to learn how not to just watch Garcia play and get more involved. They have talent on the team and athletes to fit Coach Dollar's system.
Coach Dollars ran his D just like he did at the University of Washington and is rubbing off on his players. They showed real good defensive pressure on the ball.
There were a number of Husky sightings in the house, showing their support for Coach Dollar. Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Venoy Overton were the most conspicuous, attracting the TV cameras and whooping it up for the home team, with whom they play a lot of pick-up ball in the summer.
I think it's safe to say that the Bulldogs from line of Smith, Seay and George have the look of a Pac-10 team, talent wise.
Had the Bulldogs been able to keep 2008 signee Reggie Moore, to add to fellow Rainier Beach guard Mike Ladd (whose grandpa Gary was a Chieftain star back in the day), Shepp and Brandon Sperling (whose foul trouble led to Shepp playing so many minutes), Fresno could really have a team that could go places this year.
As it is the Bulldogs should challenge in the WAC, which bodes well for this Seattle U team and their quest for post-season play in March.
Here's the box score courtesy of the Seattle U Athletic Department.
Jim Basnight has been following Basketball with an emphasis
on the Washington Huskies for 40 years. He was the
publisher of the Rivals/Yahoo.com Husky Sports site from
May 2005 through August 2008 and has continued to cover
Husky Basketball, as well as the Cougars, Seattle U and all
of the other NW teams. His basketball coverage and analysis
pieces have been published in Scout, Realdawg and many
other internet outlets. Jim also helped launch the Seattle
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