Miners Ground Warhawks

It was another impressive defensive effort out of the Miners on Wednesday night. Louisiana-Monroe came into the game at 3-7, but on the heels of a 60-46 win over Centenary. This one was a game for the first ten minutes, but that quickly changed when Christian Polk hit a 3 with 9:36 remaining in the first half. The shot gave the Miners a 23-13 lead, and sparked a 12-0 run. The Miners kept their foot on the gas the remainder of the half, and enjoyed a 40-19 lead at intermission. 

It was more of the same in the second twenty minutes as the Miners pushed the lead into the mid 30s with unselfish play and relentless defense. The Miners held the Warhawks to 29% from the field in the first half, 40% for the game, and forced 15 turnovers while committing only 5. In the end, the Miners improved to 7-2 on the young season with a solid performance in a 79-49 win. 

Coach Floyd was also impressed with his team saying, "We only had five turnovers, we had that many in a minute and a half Sunday night." Coach also went on to praise his senior star's (Randy Culpepper) unselfish play. Randy only had 4 assists on the night, but it was very evident that he was looking for his teammates. Floyd was impressed with the overall team performance as well, "Pretty balanced...we had a lot of ball movement out there. I'd have to say that's our best all year in moving the ball." Indeed it was. A great performance by a good Miner team that continues to get better every day. 

Randy Culpepper led the way on this night, as he has done so many times before, with 18 points. However, this was a true team performance. The Miners finished with five in double figures for the first time this season. Jeremy Williams and Claude Britten had 14 points each. Christian Polk put up 12, and Julyan Stone added 10. 

Next on the slate, Texas Tech on Saturday night at 8:05 in the Don Haskins Center. The Red Raiders have been struggling a bit on the season, entering the contest at 5-5. Tech also played Louisiana-Monroe on the season, downing them by 19 in the opener. The Raiders have dropped their last two contests at Washington 108-79, and at home against TCU 81-77. This one should be an interesting matchup. As we all know the Miner football team plays in Albuquerque this Saturday, but there's plenty of time to make it to both games. If you can, do it, get out there and support our Miners.