Men's & Women's Division II Regional B'ball Championships
Union, J.C.Smith, Norfolk St.,
Albany St. to duel at regionals
By CRAIG T. GREENLEE
Chronicle Sports Editor
Thanks to this year's playoff
pairings, you can be assured that a
black college team will get a legit
imate shot to play for the men's
Division II title. That's because
the four schools who were chosen
to play in the South Atlantic
? Regional Championships are pre
dominantly black ? three from
the CI A A, the other from the
SIAC.
Virginia Union, Johnson C.
Smith, Norfolk State and Albany
State are the combatants who will
decide who keeps playing and
who goes home to wait for anoth
er season to begin.
The regionals will be played
tomorrow and Saturday at the
Cumberland County Civic Center
in Fayetteville. The winner
advances to the Elite Eight in
Springfield, Mass. on March 26
28. The Elite Eight concept is the
Division II answer to the Final
Four in Division I. Tip-off times
for this weekend's games were not
available a t presstime.
On opening night, Smith (24
6) squares off against Norfolk
(22-8) in one game. Virginia
nion (25-3) faces Albany State
9-8) in the other.
The Smith/Norfolk matchup
is a replay of the CIAA tourna
ment semi-finals two weeks ago.
The Golden Bulls won that round
57-52 .
The Spartans, however, are
itching to get even for that tourna
ment loss. They do have a size
advantage over Smith, but they
are also minus their ace player.
Marc Whitfield (20.3 ppg, 3.4
apg, 2.8 steals a game) is out for
the season because of a partially
torn knee ligament.
As a result, Norfolk will go to
a slow tempo and place more
emphasis on its inside game
which features Fred Benjamin and
Larry McCloud, a pair of 7-foot
ers who<pan make things very
tough in the paint. For the Spar
Photo courtesy of Norfolk State
Fred Benjamin could make all
the difference In the world for
Norfolk State In the reglonals.
tans to win; Benjamin and
McCloud must stay focused, par
ticuarly during crunch time.
Guard David Donerlson, Nor
folk's prime scorer in Whitfield's
absence, can't do it all by himself.
If he has to become a solo act,
Norfolk's season will end tomor
row night.
The Golden Bulls, on the
other hand, will continue to do the
things that helped them reach the
CIA A final?.. ICS will extend
defensive pressure to create
turnovers, and push the ball up the "
floor to get easy scoring opportu-_
nities. Mark Sherrill and Colum
bus Parker, must have decent
shooting performances in order to
reach the regional finals.
Union, the CIAA tournament
champion, has to be the favorite to
win against Albany State, the
SIAC tournament champs. The
Panthers tend to wear people
Please see Page B2
Norfolk State looking to land a spot
in the national championship game
By CRAIG T. GREENLEE
Chronicle Sports Editor
Black college women's team
aren't taking a back seat to the
men when it concerns this year's
Division n playoffs as four teams
prepare to battle for regional tro
phies starting tomorrow.
Game times were hot avail
able at presstime.
Norfolk State and Johnson C.
Spith were placed in the South
Atlantic Region which will be
played in Norfolk, Va. on the
NSU campus. ?
St. Augustine's, the team that
ended the Spartanettes' 40-game,
conference winning streak, is in
the New England Region which is
being held at Bentley College in
Massachusetts. Fort Valley State,
the SIAC tournament winner,
starts post-season play in the
South Region at Carrollton, Ga.
First round winners move on
to the quarterfinals on March 20
and 21. The semi-finals will be
held March 27 and the finals will
be played on March 28. Game
times and sites had not been deter
mined at presstime.
The Spartanettes (24-6) are
pitted against conference rival
Smith (22-8) in the first round.
Photo courtesy of Norfolk State
Natasha Miller takes care of
the board work for St. Aug's
Lady Falcons.
NSU stomped the Lady Golden
Bulls 87-70 in the conference
tournament semi-finals.
If the defense stays eonsis
tentJNorfolk should advance to
the regional final. But if they let
up, like they did in a 102-98 regu
lar season loss to St. Augustines,
they'll wind up fighting it out for
the regional consolation trophy on
Saturday night.
Jennine Tanks and Cassandra
Hall are the prime offensive
weapons for NSU. But the one to
watch is freshman Lisa Rice,
CI A A tournament MVP.
Smith's best chance for a win
would be to employ more of a
half-court set to keep Norfolk
from quickening the game's
tempo. By doing that and han
dling the Spartanettes' defensive
pressure, JCS puts itself in a good
position to manufacture an upset.
Inca Harvey and Shani Baraka are
Smith's prime performers.
The NSU/JCS winner will
take on the winner of the North
Dakota vs. Bloomsburg (Pa.) on
Saturday.
St. Augustine's (23-2) opens
regional play against 25-4 Stone
hill College. The Lady Falcons
are armed with a very explosive
offense (93.4 ppg), with much of
the ammunition being provided by
CIAA Player Of The Year Car
olyn Brown (22.7 ppg, 40.9%
three-point shooting). SAC isn't
just a run and shoot operation.
Board work is a prime part of
the philosophy. Natasha Miller
grabbed 11.7 rpg and is one rea
son why SAC outrebounded
opponents by a + 1 1 .3.
The St. Aug's/Stonehill victor
plays the winner of the Franklin
Pierce/Bentley contest for the
regional title.
Down south, Fort Valley State -
(21-8) is primed to tackle West
Georgia (25-4) in the first round.
The Lady Wildcats got the playoff
bid after stopping Alabama A&M
84-81 in the SIAC tournament
finals last week.
Valley is spearheaded by
Debbie Ray, SIAC tournament
MVP. Ray ranked among the
SIAC's best ih scoring (18.2 ppg),
rebounding (10.3 a game), field
goal percentage (.518) and
blocked shots (24 rejections in 24
games).
The Valley/West Georgia
winner faces the Delta State/Flori
da Tech winner.
Free throw shooting gives Bison 67-65
comeback victory over Florida A&M
By Chronicle Staff
Howard University's
Howard Holley played roughly
half the game, but when he was
on the floor he made it count.
Holley hit three of four foul
shots over the last 1 :30 to lift the
Bison to a 67-65 win over Flori
da A&M in the MEAC men's
basketball finals last Saturday at
Norfolk, Va.
As tournament champion,
the Bison get an automatic bid
to the NCAA Division I play
offs. Howard's record is now
17-13.
For Florida A&M, this was
a case of having caught the big
fish, but letting it escape at the
final moment of capture. The
Rattlers held a commanding 18
point lead (46-27) with about 16
minutes left to play in the sec
ond half. At the half, FAMU led
37-22.
But Howard staged a relent
less comeback by canning some
three-pointers. The Bison
outscored A&M 45-28 in the
second half.
With under two minutes to
go, Julius McNeil hit a three to
tie the game at 62-62. Holley
gave Howard a one-point lead at
64-63 when he converted both
ends of a one-and-one free
throw situation.
Art Crowder added a pair of
free throws for HU then DeLon
Turner fired in a three for A&M
to cut the Bison's lead to 66-65
with 26 seconds left on the
clock. Holley was intentionally
fouled and hit one of two to pro
vide the final margin of victory.
A&M had one final opportu
nity to force an overtime period.
But Reginald Finney's putback
attempt rimmed out at the
buzzer.
Howard didn't get spectcu
lar individual scoring. But col
lectively, the Bison got ample
" balance. Milan Brown led the
way with 13 points;, Crowder
finished with 12 and McNeil
chipped in with 11. Charles
Solomon rounded out the double
digits scoring with 10 points.
MEAC Rookie Of The Year
Tommy Brown handed out eight
assists.
Turner, this year's MEAC
Player Of The Year, was the top
guy for the Rattlers with 18
points and 16 rebounds. Joey
McGear added 16 points and
nine boards, while Finney tallied
11 points and 10 rebounds.
Kevin Colson contributed 10
points in the loss.
In the final analsyis,
turnovers proved to be costly for
the Rattlers. So costly, that the
miscues nullified their huge 46
26 rebounding advantage over
the Bison. By game's end,
FAMU had committed 19
turnovers to Howard's seven.
The Bison helped their
cause by shooting better in the
last 20 minutes of the game
(57.1 percent compared to 27.3
percent in the first half).
Bulls are Junior
Hornets 6-9s
tourney champs
. - ' . ? %SBi
?? ' ? <
Kenneth Allison ot the Bulls takes a hug*
basket during last Sunday's championship gams.
.
"
By Chronicle Staff
Youngsters who play in the 6-9s Junior Hornets
at the Carl Russell Recreation know how to provide
ment and thrills for spectators. That's somewhat
since most of these youngsters are just beginning
how to play organized basketball. / |
Pistons 27-24 to win the Junior Hornets tournament cham
pionship. "
This game was a true, back and forth affair that saw
several ties and lead changes. But in the end, it wit the
Please see Page B3 ^IStl
j' '' 1
Photo by Chnnkh Staff ?
The Pistons Kenny Harris takes aim at the tree throw
line. Kenny Faulkner, Brandon Steward and Gregory
Dalton await their turn to shoot.