Tribe pulls away from Branch West

By Hannah Dolle, Herald Staff

Despite the lack of defense, the Indians dominated the court in its second and last exhibition against Branch West Basketball Academy at the Convocation Center Monday. The Academy lost in a 90-106 game.

I don't think coach is going to be very happy with our defense," Nick Rivers, a senior guard of Memphis said.

"Most of the (Branch West) points came from dunks and lay-ups and that made us look real terrible on the inside. That's something we gotta work on."

Head coach Dickey Nutt was unhappy with the Indians defensive performance. "We had some good points, and we had some obviously disappointing phases."

"Defensively, I just don't know what to think. I don't think we are very good right now.We've gotta be a lot better defensively. It's a matter of the big guys, they are not sprinting like they should," Nutt said. "All in all it was a win and we did what we had to do to win the game."

The "big guys," specifically seniors Jason Jennings, a center of Bald Knob and Kolin Weaver, a forward of Cleburne, Texas, both played well in different aspects of the game, but lacked the speed Nutt was looking for.

Weaver, who only downed five of the 14 shots attempted and was aggressive defensively Nutt said. Jennings scored 13 points for the night.

Jennings' scoring was stronger, he made seven of the 10 attempts, but he lacked the aggression of Weaver. "Conditionally, Jason is not ready yet and it really shows, but he did some good things," Nutt said.

The Indians were slightly hurt by illnesses and an injury. Terrence Salisbury was unable to play because of a broken nose sustained in practice last week. Rivers and Nutt both agreed the loss of Salisbury, a transfer guard of Memphis, cost the Indians some points and a lack of defense.

"We missed Terrence tonight. I think he is the difference maker in our team. He's a big 6-5 athlete that can really play on the perimeter," Nutt said.

According to Nutt, Salisbury will probably be out this weekend when the Tribe takes on season openers Central Methodist and Briar Cliff.

Kim Adams, who suffered from a chest cold and bad cough refused to be taken out of the game. "He really concentrated on finishing the game and had great energy," Nutt said. Adams achieved a double-double with 13 rebounds and points.

Leading the game in scoring was Edmund Saunders of Branch West with 23 points. Athletically, Saunders was a challenge for the Indians.

"He's a real strong athlete. For those that don't know he was on the U-Conn team that won the national championship," Rivers said.

Rivers was the leading scorer for the Indians with 22 points and made 50 percent of both his free throws and field goal attempts.

"Nick really had a complete game tonight. I thought he was very patient and very team oriented," Nutt said.

A big surprise to the whole team was freshman Evgueni Sokolov, with 10 points in the game. "I thought Evgueni came in and did some really good things. The thing I like about him, and I've told the team, we've gotta have a better sense of urgency out there."

"It seems like they are little uncertain, and that's when the cool comes out of them. That cool will get you beat," Nutt said.