March 14, 2008
North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
SPORTS
3
Men’s Basketball Team Stopped in Conference Semis
By Jarad Brown J. JL
Decree Sports Writer
Newport News, Va.—The
sought-after conference tournament
championship still eluded the NCWC
men’s basketball team as it lost in
the semi-finals, 83-81, to Greensboro
College on a last-second shot.
The Bishops finished the season
with a 12-15 overall record and say
farewell to seniors Lenny Hall and
Jarvis Cobb.
Once again the Bishops followed
a mediocre conference season (4-8 in
the USA South Conference), with a
strong postseason run.
“This one is a tough one to swal
low,” said reserve guard James Jones
after the Greensboro game. “We really
wanted to go out big for Lenny and all
our seniors.”
Leading 81-80 with 26 seconds
remaining, Wesleyan saw its fourth
straight game be decided inside of
three seconds when the Pride’s RJ
Smith made a three-pointer from the
comer with one tick left on the clock.
Wesleyan’s first 24 points were
via the three-pointer as Trey Drake
and Jarmel Arrington came out on
fire. Two free throws by Hall at the
8:51 mark gave the Bishops their first
points from elsewhere and secured
their biggest lead of the half at 26-17.
The ensuing 8-0 run by the Pride
cut the lead to one, and a Jason Sharpe
lay-up with 4:57 remaining tied the
game at 28-28. But Hall and Cobb
answered for the Bishops by combin
ing to score 11 points over the final
four minutes of the period. Wesleyan
held a 41-34 lead at the break.
In the second half, it took Greensboro
just five minutes to force the contest’s
third tie at 48-48. The next 12 minutes
would feature seven more ties, the
final coming at 74-74 with 3:31 left in
regulation.
The Pride looked to take control as
they put together a 6-0 run to go up
80-74, but the Bishops
would not go down
without a fight. Drake
began the rally with
his sixth three-pointer
of the game at the 1:47
mark. Two Arrington
free throws with 58
seconds left cut the lead
to one, and two Adam
Coleman free throws
with 26 seconds left
gave the Bishops an
81-80 advantage.
Greensboro’s Adam
Nicholson then held
the ball for the game’s
last shot. After he was
forced to pick up his
dribble behind the arc,
he passed the ball to
Smith in the comer,
where the sophomore guard made
the eventual game-winner with one
second left.
The Bishops did manage to get a
great look for the tie when Coleman
received a long pass from the baseline
and took a 12-foot jumper, but the ball
bounced off the rim and backboard
before falling to the floor
The Pride shot 47 percent to the
Bishops’ 36 percent, but Wesleyan
made up the difference with its 15 treys.
Arrington led all scorers with 35
points and seven three-pointers. Drake
added 20, with a perfect 6 of 6 from
three-point range. Hall, the Bishops
all-time leading scorer, chipped in 13
in the final game of this career and
finished with 1,981.
Seniors Lenny Hall (left) and Jarvis Cobb concluded their
NCWC careers last month in the conference semi-finals.
Hall finishes as the team's all-time leading scorer.
Sports Information Photos
The Bishops had won a close
game of their own in the first round,
upsetting Femim College, 80-78. The
game was played at Averett a day after
reports of a gunman on the Ferram
campus forced postponement of the
contest.
Hall paced the Bishops with 23
points and hit the game-winning shot.
“It was real team effort,” Coach John
Thompson said of the Ferrum game.
“Everyone played well, with Lenny
hitting the big shots and
Cedric Townsend coming
off the bench and giving us
positive minutes. It takes all
of us to win and we got that
in the first round.”
Prior to the Greensboro
game. Coach Thompson
had been upbeat about
his team’s chances. To
continue in the tournament
he intended to rely on his
team’s biggest strength at
the end of the season, their
togetherness. “We’ve really
pulled together over the
season,” he said, “and are
like a family now working
and fighting for each other”
Coach Thompson took a
positive view of his team’s suc
cess at the end of the season.
“We play so well in the tournament
because of the coaching and scheduling
we do in the regular season,” Thompson
said. “At the end of the year we’re
tested and ready for the pressure of the
tournament.”
For the fourth straight year an
unpredictable and forgettable regular
season conference record morphed
into a sti'ong post season mn by the
Battling Bishops. Wesleyan was a
disappointing 4-8 in regular season
conference play in 2008, and yet
finished one missed shot from the
toumament finals.
“It’s been extremely fmstrating”
said Coach Thompson. “We have
definitely underachieved in the regular
season.”
Jones added, “We have had a real
problem closing games out for the past
couple of years; we explode in the first
half, but can’t find the same intensity
to start the second. We came into the
season thinking we were the best team
in the conference with the best player
(Hall) in the conference, and we were
going to breeze through the regular
season.”
Last year, Wesleyan lost to Averett
in double-overtime in the finals after a
5-7 regular season conference record
and wins in the first and second rounds
of the toumament.
(Sports Information contributed a
significant portion of this article)
‘Tobacco Road’ Rivalry Is Followed
With Interest by Wesleyan Community
Bishop Women Defeated
Greensboro—^The North Carolina
Wesleyan women’s basketball team saw its
2007-08 season come to an end on Febra-
ary 26, falling to top-seeded Greensboro by
a 89-51 score in USA South Toumament
first round play. The Bishops finished with
a 7-18 overall record.
Greensboro (19-7) raced to a 49-34
halftime lead and quickly put to rest any
thoughts of a comeback with a 14-2 run
to start the second half. The Bishops
struggled offensively in the period,
shooting just 24 percent from the floor
GC’s Danielle Duncan led all players
with 27 points and 18 rebounds. Nikki
Wilbom and Dione Eccles added 22 and
11 points, respectively. The Pride shot
51 percent from the floor and out-re-
bounded the Bishops 56-38 on the night.
For Wesleyan, Essence Chambers
netted 14 points and Courtney Brown
12. Gretchen Tobias pulled down a
team-high eight rebounds.
Tuesday night’s game marked the
end of the careers of seniors Cheyenne
Hall and Shawnte Dickens. Hall
finished with seven points and six
boards, while Dickens tallied six points
and pulled down six rebounds.
Two Earn Conference Honors
Following the season, Chambers,
a junior, was selected a Second
Team All-Conference honoree, while
freshman Gretchen Tobias was chosen
to represent the Bishops on the league’s
inaugural All-Sportsmanship team.
named to the conference’s All-Sports
manship team after exemplifying
tremendous character throughout
the season, according to Coach John
Brackett. Known for her husde, the 5’9”
forward was ranked in the top-10 in the
league in
rebound
ing with
7.3 per
game.
(Articles
courtesy
of Sports
Informa
tion)
Freshman Gretchen Tobias earned
conference sportsmanship honors.
By Jenna Davis and Jarad Brown
Decree Staff Writers
For many years now, Duke, North
Carolina-Chapel Hill and North Carolina
State have been battling it out in the ACC.
All three teams have caused upsets and
won National Championships, and have
played each other over 200 times. Well
into the 2007-2008 season, this rivalry has
not cooled down a bit.
Duke and UNC are both fighting for
ACC supremacy. This rivalry is really big
in North Carolina and apparendy very big
on NC Wesleyan’s campus as well.
Asked to identify a favorite basketball
team among Dujce, NC State and UNC,
most respondents picked Duke or UNC.
“State hasn’t consistentiy been on the
same level as Duke and Carolina in recent
years,” Steve Bahnaman, reference &
electronic services librarian, said, in
theorizing on the campus’s preference for
Duke and UNC.
Baseball Team Jumps to 13-3-1 Start
i:||l
r.
Junior Essence Chambers was a
second-team USA South selection
Sports Information Photos
Chambers, a native of Burlington,
led the Bishops in scoring at 15.8 points
per game, which placed her eighth in
the USA South. She led the league with
88 steals and was in the top-10 in free
throw percentage (73.4%) and assists
(82). This is Chambers’ first USA South
All-Conference award.
A native of Fairfax, Va., Tobias was
Virginia Beach, Va. - Behind a solid pitch
ing performance by junior right-hander Ben
Moore, the North Carolina Wesleyan baseball
squad was able to salvage a USA South split
with Christopher Newport by downing the
Captains by a 9-6 score on Sunday, March 2.
The win improved the Bishops’ record to
13-3. A day later, the team played to a 4-4
tie against Virginia Wesleyan, a non-league
opponent, after the extra-inniiig contest was
called due to darkness.
With the games against CNU, the Bishops
turned from non-league action to match-ups
with USA South foes. Prior to the weekend
series, the Bishops had played 12 of their
first 13 games at home, entertaining northern
teams from Ohio, Virginia and New York in
the hospitable Carolina sunshine. In the early
going, the only Wesleyan losses came in the
season opener, 10-2, at Mount Olive and 5-3
to Piedmont at home.
So far the Wesleyan offense has been hot
as the team has scored at least nine runs in
nine of its first 17 games. The Bishops have
been led by the hitting of senior centerfielder
Matt Smith and freshman pitcher/first base
man Jason Gay. Both completed the first 17
games with .407 averages. The leading run
producers have been catcher/DH Justin Batts
(17 RBIs), Smith (15) and infielder Travis
Beausoleil (14).
Coach Charlie Long has received solid pitching
from his team, Moore leading the way with a 3-1
record, .304 ERA, and 22 strikeouts in 26 innings
of work. Two victories have been recorded by
four other pitchers, Justin Diener, Kyle Robertson,
Doug Roenker and Jonathan Shearon.
Against CNU, Moore struck out ten and
allowed just one earned run in 8 2/3 innings
en route to the win. The Bishops, 1-1 in
league play, had dropped a 7-3 contest to
CNU on Saturday.
Sunday’s game proved to be a pitcher’s
dual as the two teams remained scoreless until
the sixth inning. It was then that Beausoleil
singled home Justin Rahm to give the Bishops
a 1-0 lead.
CNU managed to tie the score with a run in the
seventh, but Wesleyan exploded for eight mns in
their final two at-bats, Batts highlighted the offensive
production with a two-mn homer in the ninth.
The Captains made it interesting with four
unearned runs in the bottom of the frame. After
recording the first two outs of the inning, the
Bishops watched as CNU loaded the bases on
a walk, error, and infield single. A bases-loaded
double by Trae Bailey scored all three, prompt
ing Long to bring in Jon Lucas for the final out.
Beausoleil and Batts each finished with
two hits to pace the Wesleyan offense.
Saturday’s game saw CNU take a 1-0 lead in
the bottom of the first on a Chris Despins RBI-
single that scored Mike Giarrizzi. The Captains
scored two more in the bottom of the third
The Bishops cut the lead to 3-2 by scoring
single runs in the top of the fifth and sixth innings.
Batts and Chris Pecora each collected an RBI.
CNU took control by scoring four in the bot
tom of the eighth inning for the 7-3 final. Kenny
Moreland picked up the win by tossing eight
innings and allowing two runs on seven hits.
Kyle Robertson (2-1) suffered his first loss
of the year, He gave up three runs on eight'
hits in six innings of work. Pecora was 3-for-5
at the plate.
While in Newport; News, the Bishops
also took on Ramapo College of New Jersey,
beating the Roadrunners, 15-2.
(Article courtesy of Sports Information)
Duke and UNC, two schools located
just a little more than ten miles apart, are
once again among the top basketball teams
in the country, with UNC bolding on to
the number one ranking in recent weeks.
The proximity only intensifies the rivalry,
according to assistant football coach Isaac
Mooring, a former UNC Tar Heel.
Music director Gene Heavner expressed
the feelings of many basketball enthusiasts.
“Any ACC game is going to be a good
one regardless of rankings or records, so it
really doesn’t matter,” he said.
James Jones claims three favorites
among the ACC teams. “I like Duke,
Carolina and Maryland, but it’s definitely
in that order,” Jones said. “As long as they
aren’t playing Duke, I don’t mind Carolina
winning.”
A guard on the Wesleyan basketball
team, Jones cringes at one particular mo
ment from the rivalry. “My worst memory
is Jason Williams missing free throws
that would have iced the game against
the Heels,” he said. ‘That’s because as a
player, my real Achilles heel is and has
been free throws and we play the same
position. So I can really identify with that.”
Everyone has their own reason for liking
one team or the other Student Richard
Tibbs pulls for Duke, in part because he
hopes to attend seminary there. Senior
Noah Parsonsremembers puUing for
Carolina as a little kid in order to be differ
ent from his cousin who was a Duke fan.
Family loyalty is a primary reason that
members of the Wesleyan community
support UNC or Duke. Heavner has family
members who attended Duke. Book Store
Manager Rachel Dix’s daughter attended
UNC. “With all the money I spent there,”
she said, “do I really have a choice?”
Dr Lisa Kirby, assistant professor
of English, noted tiiat her husband is a
resident at Duke Medical Center “So I
guess I have to be a Duke fan.” She added
that this is not her only reason for being a
Duke fan. She said that she saw pictures
of “K-ville” and witnessed tiie school
spirit of the Cameron Crazies, calling it an
“awesome experience.”
An ardent Tar Hell fan, student Brock
Griffin articulated the experience of many
on the Wesleyan campus. “I’ve always
been a Carolina fan because I was raised in
a Carolina-fan family.”
Bahnaman grew up a Blue Devils fan
because bis father attended Duke. “Duke
and Carolina is a great rivalry because both
teams have been on the top for so long,”
said Bahnaman. ‘There’s so many crazy
memories of the rivalry, most of which
are bad ones for Duke, but the most recent
would have to be the Henderson-Hansbor-
ough bloody nose incident. That was crazy.
My favorite memory is when J.J. Reddick
was a freshman. Duke was down 17 in the
second half, he scored 20 and tiiey won
the game.”
Asked to name his favorite in the
rivalry, junior Russell Rouse expressed the
passion felt by many hoops fans. “I was
bom in North Carolina not Duke, and I
ain’t a blue devil so it’s gotta be all about
Carolina,” he said.
Rouse has an even fonder reason for
loving Carolina over Duke; being a part
of the rivalry. He believes the rivalry is all
about the fans. “The fans push the rivalry
and make it bitter,” he said. “Without the
fans, the players probably wouldn’t care
that much.”
Besides being a part of the rivalry himself.
Rouse has another good memory that spawns
his love for Carolina, “In 1993 at Duke, Jerry
Stackhouse did a reverse slam dunk on three
Duke defenders and then stomped down the
court shaking his head,” said Rouse, a no.se
tackle on the Bishops football team. “I still
get goose bumps every time I think about it.
Stackhouse is from Kinston, my hometown,
and so if he can do something like that in his
sport, so can I in mine.”
Despite the fact that there are numerous
Duke and Carolina fans, many people from
Wesleyan are not fans of any ACC team
or at least not Duke or Carolina. Allen
Meszaros, an IS technician, said that he did
not like the ACC. “I’m a big Notre Dame
fan,” he said, “but if it was down to my last
option I’d choose Carolina over Duke.”
Steven Burant felt the same way as
Meszaros. “But I like Coach K, so I’ll have
to say Duke,” the senior said, referring
to Blue Devils Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Senior Allie Style, bad similar sentiments
as Burant. “I don’t really care (which
teams wins in the ACC) as long as it’s not
Duke. I hate Duke.”
For some people, though, the rivalry
means more than just Carolina versus
Duke. For Mooring, a former member of
the Carolina football team, it’s a pretty in
tense. “I like and went to Carolina because
that’s how I was brought up,” he said. “I
mean I was raised with Tar Heel blue in my
veins. I never knew how deep it was until I
saw people bleeding for this rivalry.”
Mooring remembers being in a
pre-game meeting with his position coach
who was unhappy about the players’
pre-game mentality. The coach slammed
a glass down, shattered it and gashed his
hand open. “He just slung some blood off
and looked around at us. That’s when I
knew it was more than just a rivalry. It was
hatred.”