D'Alessio has put charge into Bowie State's program
BY SAM DAVIS
THE CHRONICLE 0
KALF.IGH - Bowie Slate's
men's basketball team enjoyed a
lot of firsts during the 2001
2002 season, but came short on
the one that it wanted most. The
Bulldogs advanced to the
ClAA's semifinal round after
recording the first 20-game sea
son in school history, but fell
short of a berth in the champi
onship game.
Coach Luke D'Alessio was
named the ClAA's coach of the
year after his team posted a 9-1
record in the ClAA's Eastern
Division and finished the regu
lar season at 19-7.
Bowie added to that total
when it got past Fayetteville
State in the quarterfinal round of
o
the CIAA Tburnament.
The Bulldogs accomplished
all of their firsts in only three
seasons under D'Alessio.
D'Alessio's team won only
seven games in his first season,
but the Bulldogs stepped up
considerably in his second sea
son and started the season by
winning their first six games and
nine of their first 10. On the sea
son. the Bulldogs went 19-9 to
give Bowie its first winning sea
son in 30 seasons. Not only that,
the Bulldogs finished 10-6 in the
CIAA. which was the first time
the Bulldogs had ever posted a
winning mark within the confer
ence.
"The success we had at the
end of my first season carried
over to last year." D'Alessio
said.
Bowie took a step further in
the tournament, capturing a vic
tory over Livingstone in the
opening round of the tourna
ment before being defeated by
eventual tournament champion
Johnson C. Smith. The Bulldogs
began the 2001-2002 season
with great promise and set the
tone early by capturing a victory
over Winston-Salem State in the
second game of the season.
The second-place finish in
the Eastern Division gave
Bowie a bye in the opening
round of this year's tournament.
The Bulldogs started strong
against Fayetteville State in the
quarterfinals but got tight after
rolling out to a 21 -point lead and
had to hold off a late Bronco
rally to win and earn a berth
against J.C. Smith in the semifi
nals.
Johnson C. Smith's defense
stifled the Bulldogs in the semi
final battle and Bowie never
challenged. The Bulldogs trailed
43-33 at halftime and never got
closer than 8 in the second half
before dropping an 84-67 loss
with 18.053 fans in attendance
at the Entertainment & Sports
Arena.
"I really don't know what
went wrong but we just didn't
put together a good game,"
D'Alessio said. "It's one thing to
win during the regular season
but I think our lack of experi
ence in the tournament really
hurt us. We never got acclimated
to this arena, the crowd and the
aura of this tournament."
The Bulldogs, featuring
many former standouts from the
%
city ot Baltimore, where D'A
lessio spent many seasons as the
head coach in the junior college
ranks at Catonsviile Community
College, didn't live up to their
billing as the top scoring team in
the CIAA.
"It was one of our worst per
formances of the season," D'A
lessio said. "But I have to give
Johnson C. Smith a lot of credit
for that. Their defense was real
ly good. They came out and
challenged us on our perimeter
shooting."
Tim Washington a 6-8, 240
pound transfer from American
University, scored 23 points and
grabbed eight rebounds, but got
little help from the rest of the
Bowie starters. Omarr Smith
came off the bench to score 17
points, but that wasn't enough to
help the Bulldogs overcome the
defending champions.
Probably the biggest disap
pointment was the lack of scor
ing from Jamal Shivers, an All
CIAA player who had only 8 .
points on 2-for-l4 shooting
from the field. Stephen Moss
Kelly, a 6-6 forward from Oak
land, Calif., had only 4 points.
Still, D'Alessio said the
future is bright for the Bowie
program.
"We feel good about our
program and where we're head
ing," D'Alessio said. "This is
basically a junior team and we'll
have just about everyone com
ing back next season. We have a
6-8 transfer from Rutgers com
ing in and with what we have
coming back I think we're only
going to get better.'1
Hanes Hosiery All-Stars take 63-41 victory over Sprague Street
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Hanes Hosiery's 14-and
under All-Stars went on a
20-4 run
in the
fourth
quarter
and
rolled to
a 63-41
victory
over the
Sprague
Street
All-Star*
last week
in a City/
County
Recre
ation
Center
battle.
The
Hosiery
trailed for most of the first
half against a scrappy
Sprague Street team. But
Hanes Hosiery woke up in
the second half behind the
play of Marcus Harris, who
scored 15 points: Tay
Springs, who scored 14; and
Bernard Lyons and Jonathan
Williams, who scored 11
points each.
Hanes Hosiery put on an
offensive show during its
fourth-quarter spurt, running
set plays, and clamped down
qn defense with a 2-1-2 full
court trap. DeAron Smith.
Trey Bailey. Myron Hair
ston. Sherrod Brannon and
Rico Dodd led the defensive
effort. Hanes Hosiery, which
was coached by Art Blevins.
John Harris. Keith James
and Hurk Shaw, advanced to
the State 14-and-under Tour
nament in Sanford.
Galloway leads Hanes
Hosiery 16-and-under All
Stars to 59-48 victory over
14th Street
Eugene Galloway set the
tone early with his physical
presence and Hanes Hosiery
jumped out to an early lead
and never looked back in
capturing a 59-48 win over
14th Street.
Galloway finished the
game with 20 points, 14
rebounds and seven blocked
shots to lead his team to vic
tory. Hanes Hosiery, which
also, got 14 points and nine
rebounds from Valario
Bethea, will advance to play
in the SWAC State Tourna
ment on March 9.
Matt Fagan, Ronnie Gist,
Whykette Morrison and
Devaun Harrison also played
well for Hanes Hosiery,
which was coached by Art
Blevins. Ann Chance, Mark
Worthy and John Harris.
Lakers hold off Pistons 52
51 in Hanes Hosiery 13-15
division
Trey Bailey scored 20
points and Wilbert Johnson
scored 15 as the Lakers
handed the Pistons their first
loss in Hanes Hosiery Youth
Basketball. Steven Gamble
pitched in with 9, Denis
Cody scored 6 and Debo
Smith added 2.
Whykette Morrison led
the Pistons with 15 points.
Johnathan, Williams had II
points, Bernard Lyons
scored 9, James Squire
added 8. B.J. Dubose tallied
6, and Patrick Blackwell
chipped in with 2.
Sonics 47, Hornets 43
Jay Switzer scored a
game-high 24 points and
Devin Harrison added 9 to
help the Sonics take a victo
ry. Cedric Braddy backed
them with 8. Tay Springs
scored 3 and Red Crosby
added 2.
Ronnie Gist led the way
for the Hornets with 15.
DeAron Smith scored II,
James Davis had 6, and
Adrian Mitchell and Cortez
Mclntyre scored 3 points
each.
Raptors 36, 76crs 29
Donnez Johnson scored
15 points and was too much
for the 76ers to handle in a
Raptor victory. David
Williams backed Johnson
with 6 points, and Wayne
Crowell and Dwayne Penn
chipped in with 5 points
each. Fred McClure added 4
points.
Fred Turner scored 14
points and Tristan Martin
added 8 points to pace the
76ers, who fought hard to
make it a tight game. Tyrell
Russell had 3 points and
Tremaine Clement and Jerry
Summers added 2 points.
Spurs 42, Jazz 38
The Spurs, led by Devaun
Harrison's 25 points, fought
back from a 10-point deficit
to defeat the Jazz. Marcus
Harris, the Spurs' floor .
leader, scored 9 points to
support Harrison. Myron
Hairston scored 6 points and
Atphonso Smith added 2
points and nine rebounds to
back them.
The Hones Hosiery
Eric Tate led the Jazz
with 15 points and Rico
Dodd scored 10 points and
grabbed 10 rebounds. Craig
Amos had 8 points. Chris
Grash had 3 and Matt
Edwards rounded out the
scoring with 2 points.
Yellowjackets hold off Cav
aliers 13-11 in Hanes
Hosiery 7-12 division
Vonderick Davis scored 7
points to pace the Yellow
jackets to a victory over the
Cavaliers in a tight hattle.
Davis got help from William
Miller. Anthony Davis and
Kevin Clark, who scored 2
points each.
Perry Rowdy scored 8
points to lead the Cavaliers.
Harrison Davis added 3.
while the rest of the team
played solid defense.
Blue Devils 19, Tarheels 16
Malcolm Springs scored
13 points to pace the Blue
Devils to victory. Wes Harri
' 14-year-old All Stars
son added 3 points. Antoine
Simmons scored 2 and Jamie
Dodd chipped in with 1
point.
Kendall Wicks led the
way for the Tarheels with 8
points. Marquise Pullen
scored 5, and Leon Smith
added 3.
Seminoles 24, Terps 20
Alphonso Green scored
14 points and the Seminoles
toppled the top team in the
division. Casey Felder
backed Green with 8 points.
Johnathan Noah and Gerald
McCloud scored 1 each.
Lakers 17-ai
host tryouts
Lake Family
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Tryouts will be held for the
Winston Lake Lakers 17-and
under AAU basketball team on
Tristan Martin scored all
of his team's 20 points for
the Terps, who got solid
defensive play from the
remainder of their team.
Wolfpack 37, Deacons 12
Tyrone Dunlap scored 13
points and Demario Block
son and Trashawn Blockson
scored 9 each to lift the
Wolfpack to an easy victory.
James McKeever added 6
points in the win.
Chandler Cheeks scored
9 points to lead the Deacons
and Steven Brown added 3.
id-under to
at Winston
r YMCA
Sunday. March 10, from 3
5 p.m. The tryouts will be held
at the Winston Lake Family
YMCA on Waterworks Road.
CIAA Notebook
from pa BI
is out there signing guys to
-help fill out the roster."
In only u matter of days,
the Falcons will begin prepar
ing for the upcoming season
when spring football drills get<
under way.
"We know it's going to
take time to build a program."
said Williams, who also dou
bles as the school's athletic
director. "But we feel very
confident that in time we will
be able to compete with the
other top schools in the confer
ence."
St. Augustine's is one of
three CIAA teams that will add
football back to their list of
intercollegiate sportfs; Shaw
and St. Paul's also will launch
their programs. However, both
Shaw and St. Paul's will play
at the club team level for this
year while St. Augustine's will
immediately jump into the fray
in CIAA competition.
Shaw could be called "Sec
ond-chance" University
With the number of players
on his team who originally
attended school elsewhere, it
is understandable why coach
Joel Hopkins' Shaw team
might be considered a second
chance squad. Three of the
Bears' top three players came
to Raleigh after first playing at
Division 1 schools and finding
themselves in hot water with
their former coaches.
J R. Raymond might be the
most notable of the three. Ray
mond played for two seasons
at Oklahoma and started until
he got himself in trouble with
coach Kelvin Sampson. A for
mer third-team member of the
Big 12's All-Rookie Team.
Raymond decided to leave the
Sooners after averaging in
double figures for two Ty
sons.
Raymond played for Hop
kins at Ml. Zion Christian
Academy in Durham before
signing with Oklahoma.
Kenyon Booker, a 6-9 for
ward. was also a member of a
Big-10 program. Booker, a
Florida native, played at
Nebraska before heading back
to the East Coast to join the
Shaw program. Booker and
Steve Bynes played in the
same area, as Hopkins' top
pupil. Tracy. McGrady.
McGrady played for Hopkins
at Mount Zion before becom
ing a first-round pick of the
Toronto Raptors in the NBA.
Jarett Kearse. a 6-8 point
guard/forward, came to Shaw
from the University of West
Virginia. He hails from the
same hometown as Ronald
Murray, the CIAA's Player of
the Year, who was discovered
by Hopkins playing on the
blacktops in Philadelphia.
Pupil wins duel against for
mer teacher
When Shaw squared off
against Fayetteville State in
the semifinal round last Friday
night, the game matched Mike
Bernard against Joel Hopkins,
one of hjs former players, in a
coaching duel.
Bernard was the head
coach at N.C. Central during
Hopkins' playing days as an
E^le. In 1989 Hopkins was
on the N.C. Central team that
lost in the semifinals of the
CIAA Tournament but went on
to capture the NCAA Division
II national championship.
Getting a good look at the
merchandise
Nearly every NBA team
had a scout present during the
tournament to watch Ronald
Murray perform. Murray, a 6-4
guard, who led the CIAA in
scoring with a 25.8 scoring
average, is rumored to be one
of the top guards coming out
for the upcoming NBA draft.
At the start of the season,
most NBA analysis considered
Murray a draft possibility.
However, his stock has contin
ued to rise throughout the sea
son and now there is specula
tion that Murray could become
a lottery pick. It doesn't hurt
that Joel Hopkins, Murray's
coach, was the man behind the
early development of Tracy
McGrady. who has tumed.into
one of (he NBA's rising stars.
Sean "P Diddy" Combs one
of the faces in the crowd
Saturday's CIAA Basket
ball Tournament champi
onship games drew some
20.000 fans to the Entertain- ;
ment & Sports Arena, but none
drew njore attention than
entertainer Sean *"P Diddy"
Combs. Combs, who was in
town to perform at a CIAA
event sponsored by former
Winston-Salem State and NFL
wide receiver Yancey Thigpen.
tr^tde a grand entrance midway
through the game and sat at the
press table along a sideline of
the court.
Combs signed autographs
for fans close by while his
entourage prevented fans from
getting too close to the contro
versial performer.