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Thursday, March 4,2004- Page 11
Men’s Basketball earns a trip to National Tourney
KENICHI YAKOTA
Staff Writer
A successful season for the Meth
odist Men’s basketball team landed them
in the NCAA National Tournament.
Beating Shenandoah with a score
of72-58, the Monarchs took home hard
ware and the conference championship
at the USA South Athletic Conference
Tournament last Saturday.
Coach Smith describes the key
component for the success of the team
as defense, which led the team to victory
in the semi-finals against North Carolina
Wesleyan College on Friday.
“They were up on us by ten points
in the first half and we kept them down to
27 points in second half. We played well
very defensively,” Smith said.
In the championship game, the
Monarchs shot down two of
Shenandoah’s leading scorers.
“Those two scorers make 20 points
on average, but they only scored 10
points. We thought that was very impor
tant in the game,” Smith said. “In the first
five minutes of the second half, we put it
away by getting up 24 points. 1 think the
game was over at that point.”
Three Monarch players re
ceived accolades; Sam Porter won
toumament MVP while Arthur Hatch
and Seth Thomas made all-toumament
team.
Smith’s team is now preparing
for the first match in the national tour
nament
“We practice just like we always
practice,” Smith said, “working on the
defense, a lot of shooting, mnning of
fense. There might be more energy be
cause the guys are excited about the
national toumament. However, I am
not changing my practice plans, because
we did something right to get here.”
As far as the actual game, Smith
commented, “We want to continue to
play good on defense and pressure the
guards. We can mn on them if we got
rebounds or steals. We also want to
continue to playing well with intensity
and confidence. We played with a lot
of confidence last week.”
This is Smith’s first time lead
ing Methodist to the NCAA national
toumament as head coach. The last time
Methodist went to the national touma
ment was in 1997 where Smith went as
the assistant coach.
“It is pretty exciting. The players
\
t
Eddie Lamar and Sam Porter fight for the rebound in this game against
Wesleyan. Lamar has been a key player on the basketball team all semester.
The smallTALK staff would like to congratulate the team and wish them well
on their trip to the Nationals.
and I are very excited about it. But, as a
coach, my job is to keep players even.
Not to get too excited. Not to get down
either,” Smith said. “The ultimate goal is
the national title, but we will take one game
at a time, and prepare for the next game.”
Monarch Men’s basketball team
left for Salem, Va., where the national tour
nament takes place. Monarchs will play
at 7 p.m. tonight against the 12"'- ranked
Randolph-Macon College.
Athlete Feature: Lowell Fischer
T.C. SESSOMS
Staff Writer
Senior Lowell Fischer is a key
player on the Methodist Men’s tennis
team. He is also no stranger to adver
sity. His tennis carrer at methodist was
seriously endangered during his fresh
man year after he suffered from a shoul
der injury, and to make things worst
earlier this year he was on crutches for
2 months after an unfortunate roomate
tackle during a football game(ankle/
knee). After the proper rehabiliation
and serious encouragement from his
team mates he is returning back to the
team for his fmal semester here at Meth
odist. Lowell worked his way through
try outs and earned the number five spot
on the team. His performance verses
North Carolifta Central University this
year proved how much he wanted to
get back to the top. He won his
mathches, 6-0, 6-0 in singles and
teamed up with Mark Ryman to pro
duce a 8-4 victory in Men’s doubles.
The highlight of Lowell’s tennis
carrer at Methodist came agaisnt Sa
vannah College of Art and Design. It
was his biggest comeback ever in
competitve tennis. He came back and
won after losing the first set, being down
5-2 in the second and third sets, and
fighting off 5 match points down the
stretch.
The courts are not the only place
that Lowell has been known to shine.
He has maintained his GPA around 3.0
and is one of the best students the Pro
fessional Tennis Management Program
has to offer. He worked at Treyburn
Country Club in Durham, North Caro
lina last summer as the Assitant Tennis
Professional. He hopes to take the skills
he mastered there into the future as he
works to become a head tennis pro
fessional one day.
When asked what will he miss
most about his time playing carrer at
Methodist he responded, “I will miss
playing with and against all of the great
players here, as well as coach Roberts
and the entire PTM staff”
Lowell Fischer is a Senior here at
Methodist College. His sister Tanya
Fischer also attends Methodist
College and plays for the Softball
team. Fischer hopes to become a
Tennis Professional one day.