Pressey comes through in clutch for Missouri

Missouri guard Negus Webster-Chan (14) grabs a rebound in front of Virginia Commonwealth center D.J. Haley (33) during the first half of Saturday’s game at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Webster-Chan finished with 12 points and Missouri won 68-65.

Missouri guard Negus Webster-Chan (14) grabs a rebound in front of Virginia Commonwealth center D.J. Haley (33) during the first half of Saturday’s game at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Webster-Chan finished with 12 points and Missouri won 68-65.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

— Phil Pressey had a tough semifinal at the Battle 4 Atlantis. He made up for it in the third-place game.

The junior guard and SEC preseason Player of the Year had 11 points, 8 assists and 2 huge shots to lead No. 13 Missouri to a 68-65 victory over Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday.

It seemed as if the loss to No. 2 Louisville when he committed eight turnovers was a lot more than a day ago.

“It’s a good way to start your season off, because we played three great teams,” Pressey said. “We learned something new every single game.”

Like Pressey can make big three-pointers and baskets.

Pressey gave the Tigers (5-1) the lead for good with a three-pointer with 1:17 to play. That capped a run of five consecutive possessions on which the teams exchanged the lead.

The Rams (3-3) turned the ball over with 57 seconds left. The Tigers called a timeout with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Pressey took the inbounds, dribbled off a few seconds, then made a move to the basket where he ducked under a VCU player and hit a flip shot as the shot clock hit zero.

“Just the way we drew it up,” Missouri Coach Frank Haith said jokingly. “When you’re a great player you have to work on tough and awkward shots. But he does practice those 1-foot shots, the step-back three, and he goes at it full speed. If you have a chance to do it in a game you have to do it at full speed. And he does.”

Troy Daniels of VCU missed a three and the Tigers ran out the clock.

“During the offseason I worked on those every single day,” Pressey said of the clincher. “My teammates have confidence in me to take those shots. It’s a big trust factor. I feel like they trust me to shoot them and that helps me out.

“I don’t look at myself as a go-to scorer. When the opportunity presents itself I score, but I’m a playmaker. Playmaking can lead to a lot of things.”

Laurence Bowers had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Missouri, which committed 23 turnovers in the loss to Louisville. They had 14 against VCU, including five by Pressey.

“It was a hard-fought game. Give a lot of credit to Missouri. They made some shots down the stretch,” VCU Coach Shaka Smart said. “Pressey has to be one of the best point guards in the country. I thought he distributed all night long.”

Negus Webster-Chan and Keion Bell had 12 points apiece for Missouri while Earnest Ross added 11.

Treveon Graham and Juvonte Reddic each had 12 points for the Rams while Rob Brandenberg added 11.

In other top 25 games, freshman Anthony Bennett scored 22 points and No. 18 UNLV (3-1) won 82-70 over Iowa State (4-2) in the consolation game of the Global Sports Classic in Las Vegas. ... Chris Crawford had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 19 Memphis (3-2) avoided losing all three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis with 52-47 victory over Northern Iowa (3-3) in Paradise Island, Bahamas. ... Willis Hall scored six consecutive points for the College of Charleston (3-2) to break the final tie and the visiting Cougars held on for a 63-59 upset at 24th-ranked Baylor (4-2).

SEC MEN

LSU 75,

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ST. 50

BATON ROUGE — Shavon Coleman had 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds and Johnny O’Bryant III scored 11 and had 10 rebounds to lift LSU over Mississippi Valley State Saturday.

LSU (4-0) has won all four of its games under first-year coach Johnny Jones. It marks the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Tigers have started a season 4-0, when the program won its last SEC championship.

After misfiring on 10 of its first 11 fieldgoal attempts, LSU went 10 of 15 from the floor over the final 12-plus minutes of the opening half. The Tigers turned an early five-point deficit into a 33-23 halftime advantage.

Mississippi Valley State (0-4) was led by Davon Usher’s 16 points. Blake Ralling added 15 points on five three-pointers for the Delta Devils.

SOUTH CAROLINA 74,

MISSOURI STATE 67

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — LeShay Page scored 22 points and Michael Carrera added 18 to lead South Carolina past Missouri State in overtime in a semifinal at the Hoops for Hope Classic.

Page was 6 of 11 from the field and led the team with six rebounds. Carrera was 6 of 7 from the field and made five rebounds. Brian Richardson added 14 as the Gamecocks (4-1) shot 56 percent from the field for the game. Marcus Marshall led the Bears with 17 points, and Christian Kirk and Anthony Downing each added 16. The Bears (2-3) shot 39 percent from the field for the game.

TOP 25 SEC WOMEN

FLORIDA STATE 73, NO. 17 VANDERBILT 59

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Leonor Rodriguez led balance scoring for Florida State with 16 points as the Seminoles defeated No. 17 Vanderbilt (3-3) 73-59 Saturday at the San Juan Shootout. Rodriguez hit four free throws in the final 50 seconds to ice the game. Natasha Howard (15 points), Alexa Deluzio (14), Chasity Clayton (13) and Chelsea Davis (10) also scored at least 10 for the Seminoles. Florida State’s Cheetah Delgado had nine assists and made four steals.

NO. 8 GEORGIA 72, NEW MEXICO 42

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Jasmine James had 17 points and six steals, and No. 8 Georgia blew out New Mexico. The Lady Bulldogs (7-0) held New Mexico to 29 percent shooting and forced 24 turnovers. The Lobos (5-1) had just 15 field goals for the game. Jasmine Hassell scored 15 for Georgia, which carried a 40-17 lead into halftime. Sara Halasz scored 14 points for New Mexico, and Caroline Durbin had 12 points and nine rebounds. But no other player on the Lobos scored more than seven.

Sports, Pages 31 on 11/25/2012