THE COMPASS
S\ ‘‘Together we will find the right direction’’
i'' SPRING 1981 ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. FIRST EDITION
CIAA CHAMPS 1981
I
XT
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DAILY ADVANCE REPORT
The Vikings of Elizabeth
City State University stole a
stunning victory beating
Virginia State for the first
time this season, in overtime,
83-78, to become the CIAA
tournament champions.
Virginia State had been the
Cinderella team of the
tournament, just barely
qualifying after beating St.
Paul’s in a tiebreaker and
squeaking by Norfolk State
and North Carolina Central in
the first two rounds-coming
from ten points behind on
both occasions.
But their luck ran out
against Elizabeth City, who
tied the game up 74-74 on a
last second, 25-foot shot by
Donnie Carter. The crowd of
10,230 could not believe what
they saw. Darryl Brown’s
four points in the overtime
turned what looked like a'sure
loss into an overtime victory
for ECSU.
Boo Boo Gaskins scored 29
points against the Trojans,
Brown 12 and Carter a lone-
but infinitely valuable- two
points. Gaskins’ tally made
him the all-time leading
scorer for the Vikings.
Elizabeth City had earlier
beaten Fayetteville State 97-
76 first round, and St.
Augustine 57-52 in the second
to qualify for the finals. With
a record of 16-6 in the con
ference, the Vikings head for
Emmitsburg, Md. for the
NCAA Division II tour
nament.
In the last game of the
tournament, the Vikings and
the Trojans fought a tough
battle for the lead throughout
the game. With only 1:33 left
in the game, the Trojans had
possession of the ball, and
dribbled a minute and a half
off the clock before Jerome
Whitaker hit a 20-footer with
four seconds left, breaking
the 72-72 tie.
The Vikings called
timeout... and another
timeout. ECSU coach Bobby
Vaughan brought in Carter
who had only played a hand
ful of minutes during the
game, shooting only once.
It looked like a double play.
Darryl Brown’s inbound pass
was taken to Pierre Bland,
who zinged it to Carter, who
pumped it from 25 feet, the
net swishing as the buzzer
went off.
“If it hadn’t worked, I was
a goat, so it worked and they
called me a great coach,”
Vaughan laughed.
“We hadn’t planned to get ic
to Carter,” he added. The
idea was to get it to Gaskins
or Brown or Bland, but Carter
just happened to get it.”
In the overtime the Trojans
missed the first shot, and
Linwood Hines scored off of a
shot by Gaskins with 4:10 left
to play. Brown followed with
a driving layup to put ECSU
four points ahead.
Whitaker scored with 2:27
remaining, but Brown scored
on another layup, and Bland
hit two free throws with 26
seconds left to steal the win.
Brown, who hadn’t seen
much playing time this
season, played most of the
second half, and finished with
12. “We don’t plan one
alternative,” said Vaughan.
“(James) Hardy wasn’t
playing well and Carter
doesn’t play well against a
tight man-to-man defense, so
we switched Gaskins to
forward and put Brown at big
guard. Virginia State was
playing a small team and we
hoped Gaskins could post low
against one of their small
guards.”
“This is the way it’s been
all season for us - a different
guy comes through every
game,” he added.
Virginia State, 19-10, had
led by three points at halftime
(37-34) and pulled ahead by
nine, 59-50, with 11:05
remaining.
But Robert Wyche, who
finished with 12 points for the
Vikings and led the comeback
along with Gaskins, evened
the score at 66-all with 4:19 to
go.
Gaskins led all scorers with
29 points for Elizabeth City,
15 in the first half. Brown and
Bland added 12 apiece. Hines
led in rebounding with 16.
Virginia State was paced by
Darrell Stith and Julius
Norman with 20 points each.
Although Stith was only 6-of-
16 from the floor in the first
half, the Trojans were able to
go up by as much as 10 in the
first half.
Norman was named the
tourney’s most valuable
player. Gaskins, Bland, Stith
and Norman were named to
the All-CIAA Tournament
team along with Donald
Sinclair and John Bishop of
North Carolina Central and
Anthony Boggan of St.
Augustine’s.