Blog with Bryan Smithson

On Monday I was voted the player of the week in the Big South.  This is quite an honor to me as well as my teammates, who obviously made it happen.  More details in the link above the blog. 

We had our second straight sellout at the Justice Center last night.  If you are familiar with our gym you might think "So what's the big deal?"  There is a couple answers to that question.  1.  Our 5th year seniors have never seen one side of the gym sold out.  2.  The gym is so small that when a lot of people are yelling it is more deafening(sp) than when we play in big arenas.  3. Having a college basketball environment helps the team sustain a certain amount of energy throughout the game.  I think I could go on and on.  To make it simple: my first year there, there was several injuries and many of the older guys had to play out of position.  A couple of the guys and I would watch from the bench and could probably count the amount of fans in the gym.  LITERALLY.  One of my teammates enlightened me on the situation when he said: you know why they call this the Justice Center don't you?  I said no why?  He replied, " Because it is JUST US (justice) in here!!!" hahaha.... I couldn't help but to laugh but when you really think about it, it's not all that funny.  The good thing is we can laugh at it now.  Our fans have been great and they make it a lot of fun to play at home. 

Now, to get to the game.  High Point was a very tough team and the preseason favorite in the Big South.  They were fresh of a win vs. Winthrop and they were plenty ready to knock us off the schedule as well.  We had a real battle in the first half, and High Point took an 8 point lead before we came back to take the lead and then they finished the half on a run to put the score at 31-27 in their favor.  I had 3 points at halftime and they limited my looks at the goal in the half court setting.  They scored the first 2 points of the second half and then we went on a nice run.  We were able to get out in transition and limit Arizona Reid's (preseason player of the year) touches in scoring areas.  KJ hit me a couple times in transition for three pointers and that opened up  the lane and for me to create for myself and my teammates.  We won the game 74-58 as I scored 24 in the 2nd half and finished with 27 along with 7 helpers.  Kenny George had 12 and 9reb but altered a lot of shots on the defensive end.  KJ played a very solid game (pulled down an important 6 rebounds)- especially defensively, Vincent James had a good game, and Reid Augst made some things happen on the offensive end. Oh yea, freshman John williams and Senior Garrett Moles both contributed--especially on the defensive end.   Everybody contributed  something to the team last night even if they didn't play.  It was a very good team effort and now we are 2-0 with a chance to knock off VMI (2-0) at their place on Saturday.  check it out on the tube   @ 1pm est. on Sports South.