Robert Harris, senior guard, and Chris Montgomery, junior guard, came off the bench with strong shooting performances Thursday night. Harris with 13 points, shot 3-5 with one three-pointer, and went a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Montgomery, with 12 points, shot 5-7 from the floor with 2 three-pointers.
Sophomore Forward Damone Pledger led the team in scoring with 14 points going 6-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the free throw line. Gino Smith and Anthony Passley both scored 10 points with both players shooting 3-7 and 4-4 from the line.
The first half of the contest started out very competitive. The game was tied five times with four lead changes all within the first 11 minutes. With good foul shooting and a couple jumpers the Marauders fired off a 10 point rally giving the home team the lead by 9 points. Minutes later, the Marauders went on another rally scoring 9 unanswered points, leading by 15. Chris Montgomery ended the half with a buzzer beater from long range to regain a 15 point lead for the Marauders.
After the break there was no contest as the Marauders controlled every aspect of the game. The Blue Knights never could get anything going as the Marauder lead kept climbing higher and higher. The Marauders led by as much as 25 points in the second half. Central State ended the game with 23 point victory (79-56).
The Marauders shot 52 percent (29-55) from the floor and 44 percent (4-9) from the perimeter. Behind Robert Harris’s 6-6 performance from the line, as a team the Marauders shot an impressive 85 percent (17-20) from the charity stripe. Harris rarely misses from the line as he leads the team in free throw shooting percentage for the season with 83 percent (73-88).
Urbana lost their 13th game of the season dropping their record to 14-13. Central State improves their record to 21-5. Thursday night’s victory was just as important as Monday night’s as they will remain ranked 6th in their division. The Marauders play their final game of the season on Saturday at 3 o’clock at home. They will play host to the University of the District of Columbia who only has one victory on their schedule.
For more information on team rankings and NCAA tournament rules visit the NCAA official website at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022510aac.html