Mount Olive men rebound from road loss at Queens with double-digit win at home

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 2, 2007 2:24 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Erskine's deliberate offense and its collapsing defense frustrated Mount Olive College during first-half play Saturday afternoon.

The trend didn't continue in the second half.

Despite having three, sometimes four, defenders draped around him underneath the basket, Brandon Streeter turned in his fourth consecutive double-double (21 points, 10 rebounds) of the season. The Trojans slowly pulled away for a 60-45 victory in NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas action at Kornegay Arena.

Mount Olive, ranked No. 15 nationally, improved to 4-1 overall and collected its 11th straight decision against Erskine. The Flying Fleet sank to 2-2 overall and 2-1 against league opposition.

"Erskine's offense is tough to play against and you must defend it properly," said Mount Olive head coach Bill Clingan. "Our kids did defend it properly ... covered the back doors and played good pressure defense."

The Flying Fleet, which hasn't beaten Mount Olive since the 2002-03 season, dictated the tempo from the opening tip. The visitors held the high-scoring Trojans to just five points in the first five minutes.

Streeter snapped Mount Olive out of its offensive doldrums with a conventional three-point play just inside the 14-minute mark. That started a 9-1 run and gave the Trojans a lead they refused to relinquish.

Erskine pulled within a single basket, but Streeter collected seven of Mount Olive's final nine points for a 27-18 advantage at intermission.

"Brandon has really worked hard on his inside game," said Clingan. "Referees can't call the fouls ... a lot of things they miss. He's getting banged, but holding true. He was huge in there."

Erskine undoubtedly paid dearly each time Streeter got the ball in the second half.

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound senior forward controlled the offensive boards and consistently drew fouls against Flying Fleet defenders. He converted all four second-half free throws and finished 9 of 11 from the charity stripe for the game.

Clingan credited the increase of offense to associate head coach Joey Higginbotham, who detected a key element of Erskine's defense. When a Trojan player moved through the paint, a Flying Fleet defender tracked him.

That, said Clingan, helped open the middle for Streeter.

"When you get the ball in the middle of the defense and it collapses, you either score or kick the ball out, and they have trouble getting out to defend," said Clingan.

With Streeter dominating the middle, the Trojans opened up their offense on the perimeter. Kendrick Easley and Justin Melton each drained 3-pointers, all off Mike Holloman assists, as Mount Olive built a double-digit lead.

Erskine had one last run left and pulled within single digits midway through the second half. But Streeter and Josh Brown, who scored 15 points off the bench, combined for 15 points during a game-clinching 19-6 run.

Clingan emptied his bench with three minutes remaining.

Mount Olive scored less than 70 points for just the second time in 43 games since the 2005-06 season. The last time the Trojans scored less than 65 points was in 2002 when they endured a road loss at East Carolina.

"Our shooting is very poor right now," said Clingan, whose team shot just 35 percent (21 of 60) from the floor. "As a team, we have to do some things mentally right now. Our practices have to be better, more consistent which is tough this time of year with finals coming up.

"But, overall, it's a good conference victory."

ERSKINE (2-2, 0-2)

James Fraley 1 0 0-2 2, Jay Boulware 4 0 0-2 8, Brandon Wright 1 1 0-0 5, Victor Street 1 0 0-0 2, T.J. Taylor 2 1 1-1 8, Jaren Curry 3 0 4-6 10, Grayson Glur 0 0 0-0 0, Nick Riley 3 0 0-0 6, Nathan Jones 0 0 1-2 1, Wale Toyo 0 0 0-0 0, Kevin Shepps 0 0 0-0 0, Lee Nester 0 1 0-0 3, Matt Herring 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 15 3 6-13 45.

MOUNT OLIVE (4-1, 2-1)

Brandon Streeter 6 0 9-11 21, Lydell Walker 1 0 2-2 4, Kendrick Easley 0 1 1-2 4, Mike Holloman 3 0 0-0 6, Justin Melton 0 2 0-0 6, Josh Brown 6 1 0-1 15, Aaron Dobson 0 0 2-2 2, Montel Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Craig Hayes 1 0 0-0 2, Shaughnnon Washum 0 0 0-0 0, Chris Holloway 0 0 0-0 0, Kason Cheeks 0 0 -0 0. TOTALS -- 17 4 14-18 60.

Halftime -- MOC 27-18. 3-point goals -- MOC 4-20, Erskine 3-12. Rebounds -- MOC 42 (Streeter 10), Erskine 34 (Taylor 8). Assists -- MOC 18 (Holloman 4), Erskine 11 (Taylor). Turnovers -- MOC 13, Erskine 17. Blocked shots -- MOC 5 (Walker, Dobson 2), Erskine 2. Steals -- MOC 8 (Streeter, Holloman, Dobson 2), Erskine 3.