Page 8 - CROSSROADS - December, 1975
Coach Hussey Has High Hopes M ^
Of Posting Top Cage Record
Facing one of its
toughest schedules yet,
the 1975-76 Belmont
Abbey Crusaders’
basketball team has high
hopes of turning in one of
its best records under
fifth-year head coach
Bobby Hussey.
Belmont Abbey will
field one of its youngest
teams ever under Hussey
who has never had a
losing team at Belmont
Abbey. Hussey’s four
year record at Belmont
Abbey stands at 63-52
following last season’s 16-
14 mark.
“I feel like this can be
one of our best years ever
at Belmont Abbey,” says
Hussey. “We have an
exceptionally young
team, but I think the
players’ enthusiasm and
desire will more than
offset our youth.
“We have a very tough
opening schedu^le
beginning with Old
Dominion, the defending
NCAA Division II
national champions last
season, and Atlanttc
Christian both on the
road.
“We also play Pfeiffer
and Gardner-Webb on the
road before Christmas,
and our only two home
games prior to Christmas
are against Livingstone
and Lenoir Rhyne.
“We’re also looking
forward to the WBTV
Carolina Roundball
Classic that will be
played at Belmont Abbey
this season. The top
NAIA area teams will be
here including Gardner-
Webb, Barber-Scotia,
Johnson C. Smith, Lenoir
Rhyne, Catawba,
Pfeiffer, and
Livingstone.”
Although Belmont
Abbey lost its career
scoring leader in Carl
Bell, who tallied 2,201
points during his four-
year slay, the outlook for
the young Crusaders is
good with three starters
returning.
Senior forward Curtis
Carter leads the retur
nees. Carter, a 6-6 three-
year starter from Winn-
sboro, S.C., was the
team’s leading rebounder
and second-leading
scorer with 13.7 points
and 10.4 rebounds per
game last season, and
should provide the
leadership that Belmont
Abbey seeks this season -
having been elected co
captain of the team.
Teaming with Carter in
the frontcourt will be
another starter from last
season, 6-7 sophomore
center Desmond Dennis.
Crusaders get ready for tough season.
Dennis, from
Washington, D.C., was
third last season in both
scoring and rebounding
with 10.7 points per game
and 7.1 rebounds per
contest.
Expected to start at the
other post position in
Belmont Abbey’s
doublepost offense is 6-11
sophomore Glenn
Tambon, of Queens, NY,
who played last season on
the Crusaders’ junior
varsity squad.
Junior Clint Bryant of
Suitland, Md., and
sophomore Terry Comer
from Robbins, N.C.,
along with freshmen
Jimmy Crawford and
Greg Leslie are also
expected to shoulder a
great deal of the front-
court responsibilities.
Bryant saw limited
duty last season behind
Bell while Comer spent
the season on the junior
varsity squad. Crawford,
a 6-6 center, led his
Charlotte, N.C., Catholic
High School to the North
Carolina 2A playoffs last
season while Leslie, at 6-
7, averaged 20.2 points
and 18 rebounds per
game in his senior season
in leading Hopatcong,
N.J., High School to a 24-2
mark.
The Crusaders’ back-
court will also be ex
perienced with 5-8 Bobby
Moran set to quarterback
the Belmont Abbey of
fense this season. Moran,
of Bethesda, Md.,
displayed the leadership
to his teammates to be
named co-captain along
with Carter for the 1975-
76 season, and is set on
improving his 4.2 scoring
average.
Moran will be pressed
for playing time by
another 5-8 sophomore.
Derrick Gabriel. Gabriel
is a walk-on from the
New York City area who
played most of last
season on the junior
varsity squad before
moving up in the latter
portion of the season.
The wing guard
position will be the
youngest, most inex
perienced link in the
Crusaders’ lineup. At
present, 6-4 Paul Carver
and 6-3 freshman Mitch
Anderson head the list of
candidates for that
position.
Carver, from Forest
Hills, N.Y., was another
junior varsity player last
season; while Anderson
helped lead his Hunter
Huss High School in
Gastonia, N.C., into the
finals of the North
Carolina 4-A playoffs.
Craig Wink, a 6-3 junior
from Brooklyn, NY, and
6-2 Mike Littlejohn from
Lincolnton, N.C., are also
working hard at the wing
guard and John Garbark,
of Charlotte, N.C.’s-
Myers Park High School,
and Steve Delaney, a
senior from Brooklyn,
N.Y., are battling for
playing time at point
guard.
First Carolina Classic
Set For Wheeler Center
Final plans have been
announced for the 1st
Annual WBTV Carolina
Classic basketball
tournament to be held
December 18-20 at
Belmont Abbey.
The tournament,
conceived by WBTV, will
feature eight of the top
area small college teams
in action against each
other.
The opening session
begins Thursday af
ternoon at 2 and will
feature Barber-Scotia
against Pfeiffer with
Lenoir Rhyne battling
Livingstone in the next
game.
Gardner-Webb and
Belmont Abbey kick off
the opening night session
and that game will be
followed by a contest
between Catawba and
Johnson C. Smith,
regionally by WBTV,
Channel 3, following the
Saturday NFL game.
Tickets can be obtained
through participating
schools, from the
Belmont Abbey Athletic
1
Bjme
Tr!l
Department, WBTV and
from Charlotte Belk
Stores.
The tournament will be
single elimination with a
consolation bracket,
assuring each team of
two games.
Saturday’s final
competition will be
capped by the cham
pionship at 3:30 p.m.
which will be televised
Abbey Students Begin
Unique New Corporation
College Services, Inc.,
a unique new cor
poration, has just begun
functioning. What makes
this new enterprise so
different is that the
President, Vice-
President, Secretary and
Treasurer positions are
all filled by two Belmont
Abbey College students.
Robert D. Ipock and
James E. Ferguson, both
born and raised in Gaston
County, came upon the
idea of utilizing the vast
amount of student
manpower on campus,
and making it available
to the community. Ac
cording to both men, the
primary purpose of the
corporation is to provide
an income of some sorts
for students struggling to
get through college. Most
of the students who will
be working for the cor
poration will have had
experience on the Ab
bey’s maintenance crew.
Therefore, College
Services will be
specializing in paint jobs;
both inside and outside
work. They will also be
available for almost
anything involving
manual labor; cleaning
gutters, yard work,
washing windows; the
possibilities are in
numerable. Bob Ipock
put it very well, “We’ll be
the people to call if
someone just needs a
couple of strong arms,
and don’t have any idea
who to call. We’ll be
catering to your average
homeowner.”
College Services
currently has a contract
with Abbey Plaza to
clean its parking lot, and
the corporation is willing
to perform similar
services for any other
business interested.
Bob Ipock and his wife,
Beverly, live at 108
Belvedere Street in
Gastonia. He is a junior
and majoring in
Business. Jim Ferguson
is also a junior and
majoring in Distribution
Management. He and his
wife, Susan, live at 417
Maple Street.
If interested, or in need
of further information,
please call Bob at 867-
8187, or Jim at 922-8213,
or write to them at the
above addresses.