Exhibition Opener SIUe vs MacMurray-thoughts

SIUE came away with a 30 point triumph over MacMurray last night in exhibition play, a few performances stood out, scoring was distributed nicely, and once the Cougars found their rhythm they looked tough to beat.
You can read more later on in the day, I just submitted my "view from the sidelines" column on the game, TJ should be getting the game story in shortly and they will be posted on Alestlelive.com sooner than later.
First, the good from last night, SIUE had six players scoring in double figures. That's huge to have that many guys on your team who are able to contribute that much offense. This comes with the team missing their leading scorer and starting center, whom we learned from coach Lennox Forrester after the game were benched for "violating team rules." Senior guard Stephen Jones was in the same boat. All things considered, the Cougars played well and pushed aside a sluggish start.
Last night yielded some impressive performances, notably sophomore guard Kevin Stineman, junior guard David Boarden and freshman guard LeShaun Murphy. You can throw junior guard Cody Rincker into the mix as well, scoring 12 points.
Stineman hustled better than anyone on the floor.
Boarden led the Cougars with 8 rebounds, which was impressive considering he fills a 6'4 frame, Rincker made his case to become a key component of the bench, and was SIUE's hottest three point shooter, going 4-6, and Murphy showed he can be an explosive player capable of swinging momentum in a heartbeat.
Boarden and Murphy seem to be the perfect answer to the question of "who will replace Barry Wellington and Brandon Dunson?"
They fit the role seamlessly.
The post game could be better for the Cougars, Zeke Schneider did not play well at all, Dobrivoje Mavrak got off to a nice start, but his play tapered off considerably in the second half, but that will improve with Bundalo in the lineup.
Overall, not a bad effort, but still things to improve upon come the regular season opener.

Posted in: Archives,David Boarden,Exhibition,Kevin Stineman,Lennox Forrester,LeShaun Murphy,MacMurray,SIUE,Vadalabene Center