Men's Basketball Notes: Central Christian

Central Christian (Mo.) College @ Truman – Tuesday, Nov. 15, 7:30 pm
Pershing Arena; Kirksville, Mo.
Audio: 104.7 FM – KRES (Moberly, Mo.); Also streamed online at CentralMOInfo.com
Video: Available via link at TrumanBulldogs.com
Live Stats: Available via link at TrumanBulldogs.com

Full Game Notes: PDF version

Game Preview:
The Truman men's basketball team will play for its home crowd for the first time this season on Tuesday night, as the Bulldogs welcome Central Christian (Mo.) College to Pershing Arena at 7:30 pm.

Truman is coming off an 0-2 start to the season at the Abilene Christian Classic in Abilene, Texas, where the squad fell to a pair of Lone Star schools last Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs fell on a last-second heartbreaker to the host Wildcats in the season-opener 70-68 before putting together a second straight late rally on Saturday night before falling 69-63 to Angelo (Texas) State. Redshirt freshman Mike Carlson led the Bulldogs with 15 points in the opener before junior Tom Norton led the team with 20 points against the ASU Rams.

On Tuesday night, the Bulldogs will look to pick up win No. 1 in the Matt Woodley era as the purple and white bring in Central Christian College out of Moberly, Missouri. Members of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), the Saints are of to a 1-1 start through their first two contests. CCCB headed to Springfield, Mo., to face Baptist Bible College on Monday (Nov. 14) night before visiting Kirksville on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs and Saints have played five times in the series history, all coming in Kirksville, where Truman has posted a 5-0 record. The last meeting came three years ago on Nov. 20, 2008, when the Bulldogs defeated CCCB 97-71. The only Bulldog on the squad that played in that game was senior Vesko Filchev, who started and scored six points and added five rebounds in 12 minutes.

About the 'Dogs:
(all statistics in this section are from 2010-11)
Fans of Bulldog basketball will be glued to their roster cards for the first few games of the season, as seven new faces (and one returning redshirted player) will be lacing up for the purple and white in 2011-12. Familiar faces include the squad's lone senior – center Vesko Filchev (9.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) – and sharpshooting guards Gardner (42 3-ptrs) and Tom Norton (10.3 ppg, 62 3-ptrs). Sophomores Pat Sodemann (4.8 ppg, 86% FT), Marek Bush (2.2 ppg) and Justin Strickland (1.5 ppg) also return, alongside local product junior Matt Patterson (1.7 ppg).

A pair of junior college transfers – EJ Hicks and Nick Stromer – will look to bring their two-year experience to the squad, while five true freshmen – Jackson, Dominic Kacich, Andrew Vander Zwaag, Tyler Anderson and Patrick Burmester – will also compete for playing time. Carlson, a returning redshirted freshman, saw significant playing time in the three exhibitions and looks to earn a starting role this year.

Woodley comes to Truman to take the reins of the Bulldog program following a two-year stint as the head boy's basketball coach at Waukee (Iowa) High School. Prior to that, Woodley coached nine seasons as a Division I assistant, most recently serving three years as a top assistant at Washington State – a member of the Pac-12. He is joined by assistant coaches Todd Lorensen (UNO) and Matt Fitzpatrick.

MIAA Coaches/Media Poll:
In the annual conference coaches and media polls, released on Oct. 26 by the conference office, Truman was picked tenth in both out of 11 teams. Missouri Southern was the preseason favorite in both.

Scouting the Saints:
CCCB comes into this week's play with a 1-1 record but hasn't been shy about getting the ball up and down the floor. In their season opener, the Saints fell 106-95 to Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College before rebounding two nights later to down Lincoln Christian University 114-103.

In that second game, junior guard Terry Jones scored 40 points, hitting 16-of-23 shots from the field including three triples. Senior forward Kris Holford scored 22 points and had seven assists, while both freshman Hayden Hagerman and junior Jonas Stillings added 15 points.

Jason Lykins is in his second season at the CCCB helm.

Home Openers:
The Bulldogs are 7-3 in their last ten home openers, winning two of those seven times against Central Christian. Last season, the Bulldogs handed Culver-Stockton a 90-59 setback to open the home schedule. Truman has won three straight home openers dating back to a 71-66 loss to Hannibal-LaGrange on Dec. 1, 2007.

Bulldog Tip-Ins:
·       The Bulldogs went 7-19 last season, including a 5-17 mark in the MIAA.
·       Truman was 6-7 (4-7 MIAA) in Pershing Arena but just 1-12 (1-10 MIAA) away from home in 2010-11.
·       The team's top two scorers from last season – Alex Henderson (14.7 ppg) and Ethan Freeman (11.5 ppg) – both graduated. However, the next four top scorers all return, headlined by Tom Norton's 10.3 ppg average last season.
·       Norton hit a team-high 62 three-pointers last season and connected at a 37.3% rate. He also shot 83% (50-for-60) from the charity stripe.
·       Vesko Filchev averaged 9.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season, while shooting 51.4% from the floor.
·       Then-freshman guard Isaac Gardner and Pat Sodemann each averaged 16.8 minutes per game, with Gardner scoring 6.7 points and Sodemann scoring 4.8 points. Gardner hit 42% from three-land (42-for-100), while Sodemann was an 86% foul shooter (30-for-35).
·       The Bulldogs averaged 69.2 points per game, while allowing 75.8 (-6.6).
·       Truman had an assist/turnover ratio of 0.9, while opponents were at 1.2.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will head to Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday night for a 7:30 pm showdown with Grand View University. The game will serve as a homecoming for both head coach Matt Woodley and assistant coach Todd Lorensen, as Woodley's father – Mike – is the head football coach, while Lorensen was a 1,000-point scorer in his three years as a player at the school. He also had a one-year stint as an assistant men's basketball coach following his playing career.

Print Friendly Version