Box Score
MAYVILLE, ND – The Comets entered Saturday's home contest against the University of Jamestown with a big task ahead of them after coming up with a win on Friday night against Presentation College.
Eric Staebler got the Comet offense going with a 3-point play, but the Jimmies hit back as the score remained close in the first 10 minutes of action. There were five ties in the game at 9, 14, 16, 19 and 22 in that time frame. The Jimmies pulled up by six, but had to try to fend off the Comets as they made a surge of their own. This led to some late possessions after a neck-and-neck battle at the end of the first half,
Cameron Epps did his best to drive the lane and barely get one over the rim to put the Comets ahead, 38-36. The battle at the boards was intense, with the Comets totaling 21 at the half to the Jimmies 19.
The second half began with the same back-and-forth battle to begin, but the Comets started a surge with seven straight scored by
Gorg Alhag. It helped the Comets to lift the lead to eight, this forced a timeout by UJ after the Comets went on a 14-8 run. The two teams traded buckets after that timeout, each scoring ten until the media timeout at the 9:22 mark.
That's when the Comets turned up the heat on the court, and took advantage of the Jimmies being unable to land a field goal for a stretch of minutes. Fueled by another
Gorg Alhag streak of seven points, the Comets built up their lead by as much as 18. In the final minutes of play, the Comets were able to hold a good lead and finish the game with an 80-66 victory over the Jimmies.
Leading scorer in the game was the Comets'
Gorg Alhag with 23, followed by
Daniel Lindgren with 13.
Garek Droog added eleven and
Cameron Epps put up ten.
The Jimmies were led by Kevin Oberweiser with 15, and Jon Purintun with 13.
Eric Staebler and
Garek Droog each had ten rebounds for the Comets, making a nice double-double night for Droog for both. The Comets shot 50.9% from the field and held the Jimmies to 37%. MSU also won the rebounding battle, 41-36.
Next action for the Comets will be an exhibition game against UM-Crookston at Crookston, MN on Tuesday, December 5th, game time is 7pm.
