Box Score
MORRIS, MN – The Comets faced the UM-Morris Cougars in a rematch of last week's matchup on Tuesday night. MSU was able to come away with the win last week, they were hoping to do the same in Morris, MN this time.
The teams were evenly matched in the first half, as the two familiar foes must have watch last week's game film and learned from their mistakes.
Eric Staebler got things off to a good start for the Comets, the Morris, MN native returned home and scored five of the first eight Comet points. The Cougars seemed to answer back with buckets of their own, keeping things tight throughout the first half. Some big bench production on the Comets end was a big factor in helping them build the lead near the end.
Cameron Epps was once again in the zone, nailing shots from behind the arc three times and collecting 13 in the first half, followed up by
Daymarcco Green's 11. As a team, the Comets shot 15 of 31 from the floor, going 8 of 17 from the three-point line to carry them to a 7 point lead at the half.
Part of the way through the second half, some hot shooting proved to be a deciding factor in the game, as the Comets had a little back-and-forth action early in the half before things broke loose. The score was at 50-48 with the Comets leading before they stretched that lead to a 73-54 score in a hurry, due to a handful of Comets contributing on the run.
Cameron Epps continued to be hot from the arc as he nailed 3 more three-pointers in that stretch. It helped build a comfortable lead as the Comets kept the Cougars in the cage in the final minutes, pulling away with an 82 -72 win on the road.
Coach Tighe felt the team was strong on execution for the evening. "It was a very good team effort defensively, and we executed time and score very well. There are areas to improve upon, but it's nice to head into the conference season with a win tonight."
Leading all scorers was
Cameron Epps with 22, an impressive 18 of them from downtown. Right behind him was
Daymarcco Green with 20, a perfect 3-3 on 3's, and
Gorg Alhag finished with 10.
Eric Staebler almost had a double-double with 8 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, the Comets had the rebounding advantage, 38-31, and had 58 of their 82 points from the reserves on the bench. They also continued to attack from long distance, shooting 45% by going 14-31. The team also nearly made half their overall shots, going 30-63 from the floor.
The Comets begin NSAA conference play at home this weekend, with Presentation College at 7:30pm on Friday and the University of Jamestown at 5pm on Saturday.
