The Tribe Has Spoken

The Tribe won a hard-fought(oxy-moron?) exhibition game vs. Barton College tonight, one of D2’s top teams last year. It was really dominated by the Tribe guards, the highlight being Adam Payton’s 20 points.

About 4 or 5 times the Tribe would get a double digit lead, only to let BC back into the game. At one point BC was down by only 3 with less than 5 minutes left.

But Adam Payton and Laimis Kisielius dropped a couple 3’s to make the lead 12 and give the Tribe an exhibition win.

As I said, the guards really dominated this game. Adam Payton got 20 points, 3 3’s, and led the team in scoring. Laimis Kisielius was next in line with 17 and 6 trey’s. He also had 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. The next highest scorer, who I have thought for a while would be our best freshman, was David Schneider, who dropped 14 with 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 8 steals in a team-high 34 minutes. Nathan Mann was also in double digits with 12 points and hit 2 3’s.

The big men weren’t too hot tonight, scoring a total of 19 points(Darnell, Cofield, Stein, Sumner, Hess, Smith). The Tribe box score says Hess did not play, but he did and got some good PT. Alex Smith did not play. Danny Sumner had 2 points and a block, but they were both athletic plays. The points were on a big-time dunk and the block was great also. The 4 turnovers didn’t help out. Corey Cofield did not start, and got 7 points and 4 boards. Chris Darnell got 3 points but struggled from the foul line. Peter Stein started as the only true big man and got 7 points but only 2 rebounds.

Onto the Freshman, Sumner played pretty much how I expected. He made some huge plays, but hasn’t been consistent enough and didn’t really contribute outside of those few plays. Hess didn’t get much PT so it is tough to judge him. We found out point guard in David Schneider who lit it up, showing the ability to score and dish off assists. I want to be nice, because Matt McFadden is a great kid, but hopefully tonight he didn’t have his best game. 5 turnovers, no assists, 3 points and a rebound. It seemed to me Matt had butterflies, and I’m sure he will get better in the next few games.

We made some pretty bonehead plays that let them back in the game, the most vivid being Laimis throwing an in-bounds intended for Nathan Mann out of bounds, and we need much better play out of the big men, specificall Corey Cofield. I’m sure that will be the main focus going into Kansas State.

Here is the starting lineup:

David Schneider

Adam Payton

Nathan Mann

Laimis Kisielius

Peter Stein

I’m willing to bet Cofield not starting was Coach Shaver sending a message.

That’s all I got. Sloppy game for the Tribe, but I saw many positives.

Stat of the game:57.9% field goal shooting for the Tribe

Players of the game:David Schneider, Adam Payton.