NICEVILLE, Fla. - The Middle Tennessee men's golf team remained in fifth place after 36 holes at the Sun Belt Conference Championships following a disappointing afternoon at the Bluewater Bay Resort course. On an ideal scoring day, the Blue Raiders turned in the third worst score of round two with a 301. "Individually, we had three guys play really good golf today, but as a team it was a very disappointing round," head coach Johnny Moore said. "We had two guys make up 11 strokes from day one and two more who gave 10 shots back. You can't give shots back on this course and expect to be successful. Hopefully we can get things turned around, make a few putts, and finish this thing off the right way on Wednesday."
New Mexico State owns the 36-hole lead with a 578 followed by South Alabama at 585 and North Texas with a 587. Louisiana-Lafayette is in fourth with a 594, while Western Kentucky is tied with the Blue Raiders at 602.
Senior Charlie Gibson registered an impressive 73 on Tuesday to jump into a tie for 15th, while Chris Webb put up a 76 to stand in 25th all alone.
Sophomore Josh Nelms fired a round of 72 to help erase Monday's 80 and is tied for 26th. Nelms' 72 marked his best round ever at the SBC Championships.
Blake Bivens and Kenny Green, both of whom helped pace the way on Monday with 75s, shot disappointing 80s in the second round. Bivens and Green are currently tied for 34th overall.
The final round of the 2004 tournament gets underway Wednesday morning.
TEAM SCORES
1 New Mexico State U. 292 286 578
2 South Alabama, U. of 292 293 585
3 North Texas, U. of 290 297 587
4 Louisiana-Lafayette 297 297 594
5 Western Kentucky U. 306 296 602
Middle Tennessee 301 301 602
7 Denver, U. of 308 298 606
8 Arkansas State U. 312 295 607
9 Arkansas-Little Rock 302 306 608
10 New Orleans, U. of 312 315 627
MT SCORES
T 15 Charlie Gibson 76 73 149
25 Chris Webb 75 76 151
T 26 Josh Nelms 80 72 152
T 34 Blake Bivens 75 80 155
T 34 Kenny Green 75 80 155
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