Blue Raiders End Exhibitions With a Win

William Pippen led the Blue Raiders with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting in a 70-55 win over visiting West Florida in the final exhibition for Middle Tennessee.

Pippen and company, however, got things started on defense. The Blue Raiders forced a shot clock violation, blocked three shots, and held the Argonauts to 0-of-6 shooting in the first two minutes of the contest. The Argos' shooting woes didn't end there. The visitors never connected on a field goal until the 10:15 mark of the opening half, allowing the Blue Raiders to open up a 19-4 advantage.

"We were active and forced turnovers early," said head coach Randy Wiel. We were able to run our offense and get the ball inside when we could. Our big guys played pretty well in the first half."

The second half saw a downturn for the Blue Raiders, although Wiel indicated that it was to be expected. His strategy in the exhibition series was to find his top eight or nine players and the second frame was spent with some players getting one final look in a game situation.

"I want to go with the guys that I feel are the top eight or nine. We accomplished what we wanted to tonight because we got to take a look at some guys in different combinations."

The Blue Raiders also got big contributions from Iiro Tenngren, who netted 16 points and tallied five boards. Bryant Mitchell led all Middle Tennessee rebounders with six.

The Blue Raiders won't have long to wait before tipping off the regular season. Middle Tennessee is slated to take on Bryan College on Saturday night at 7 PM in the Murphy Center.

  Newspaper Box Score  West Florida vs Middle Tennessee  11/12/01 7 PM at Murfreesboro, TN  At Murfreesboro, TN  MIDDLE TENNESSEE 70, WEST FLORIDA 55  WEST FLORIDA  SNELL, Travis 5-7 0-2 12; TURNER, Bernard 5-8 2-2 12; COLLIER, Eric 4-6 3-7  11; CORBITT, Andre 4-11 2-3 11; SHEMWELL, Matt 1-5 1-1 3; RYALS, Sean 0-3  2-2 2; TANNER, Marcus 1-7 0-0 2; FAUST, Shawn 0-3 2-3 2; TAYLOR, Tuck 0-2  0-0 0; PONDS, Jason 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 12-20 55.  MIDDLE TENNESSEE  PIPPEN, William 6-10 2-2 18; TENNGREN, Iiro 6-11 4-5 16; PARHAM, Eric 4-7  0-2 9; NOSSE, Lee 2-6 2-2 6; HUMPHREY, John 2-6 1-2 6; GUNN, Tommy 2-7 0-0  5; ANDERSON, Charles 1-2 2-2 4; MITCHELL, Bryant 1-1 2-4 4; WILKES, Dee 0-3  2-2 2; JACKSON, Steven 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 15-21 70.  West Florida..................   26   29  -   55  Middle Tennessee..............   50   20  -   70  3-point goals-West Florida 3-17 (SNELL, Travis 2-2; CORBITT, Andre 1-2;  SHEMWELL, Matt 0-4; RYALS, Sean 0-2; TANNER, Marcus 0-2; FAUST, Shawn 0-2;  TAYLOR, Tuck 0-1; PONDS, Jason 0-1; TURNER, Bernard 0-1), Middle Tennessee  7-23 (PIPPEN, William 4-6; PARHAM, Eric 1-4; GUNN, Tommy 1-5; HUMPHREY, John  1-4; WILKES, Dee 0-2; JACKSON, Steven 0-1; NOSSE, Lee 0-1). Fouled out--West  Florida-None, Middle Tennessee-None. Rebounds-West Florida 33 (CORBITT,  Andre 8; COLLIER, Eric 8), Middle Tennessee 36 (MITCHELL, Bryant 6).  Assists-West Florida 13 (FAUST, Shawn 4), Middle Tennessee 16 (WILKES, Dee  6). Total fouls-West Florida 15, Middle Tennessee 18.