Newspaper Page Text
The COLI.IiXplATK
VOL. XXV
ATLANTR- l lliClSTlAN tOl.lMAKrll 10, 1H55
.NUMHKK
Bulldogs Earn National NAIA Bid
AC Crew Annexes
VSC Tourney Title
By Record kore
By PHIL iiOl'CillNS
The North State Conference ha:;
a new champion, and for iht* first
time Wilson is the home of the vie
tors. I
Atlantic Christian's fighting Bull
dogs brought home everything but I
Betty Jo Ring. Miss North Caro
lina. as they captured the 12th an-'
nual North State Conference tour
nament at Lexington.
In the final game, which match*
ed top-se<*ded lA»noir Rhyne and tht-
Bulldogs. AC set a new team scor
ing riHTord with 106 points; th*-
boys set a new free throw record
with S4; they snappd a 20 gamt
winning streak for Lenoir Rhyne; <
and the two-team total of 193 points
Is a tournament record. Billy Wid
geon brought home the “Most Va!= ^
uable Player" trophy, and three [
Bulldog stars were named to th
all tourney squad.
Folks In l^xington were not Im
pressed by the supposedly power
ful AC crew in the opening
round as they banged Ca
tawba 83-62. The ‘Dogs looked slug
gish and made numerous mistakes
in racking up their 3rd victory ov
er the In&ans this year. Billy Wid
geon and John Marley led the way
for AC. Widgeon with 24 and Mar
ley with 22.
Catawba gave McComas’ crew a
hard time in the first half as the
*Dogs rolled up a 36-31 lead by
Intermission. At one time during
the opening half Catawba moved
ahead 25-24.
AC puUeti away as the .secoi.rt
half progressed a^ ended with the
83-62 decision over the Indians.
The second round of play saw
AC do battle with the Panthers of
High Point, a team which had
knocked off the “popular” JCast
Carolina Pirates in the opening
round of the tournament. The Pan
thers boasU*d plenty of speed but
no height. The huge crowd of 4,000
saw plenty of running but the Bull
dogs ran fastest with the most
and emerged with an 82-69 win
Buchanan paved the way for th
winners with 22 points while Jerry
Williams canned 18 for the evening.
Lenoir Rhyne eami*d their way
to the finals by edging Appalachian
in the (^-^ing rour»d and then
then downing stubborn Elon in the
semi-finals.
TTie two clubs were natural.s for
the finals: the Bears were seeded
r»o. 1 and the* Bulldogs, no. 2 in
the tourney. They both have plenty
Shown above in some of the action which took plare in the l^nolr Khjne-.Atliintlc ('hrUtlan
basketball game in (ireenMboro on March 2. The HulldogH wun (he tilt 94 A5. to advancr to the
NAIA tournament at Kansas City.
A
Continued On Page Four
(’o-captaln*. Ronald Terclse and Jerry WllUams recrlve the championship trophy
Betty Jo King. MIj»» North Carolina. Inscribed on the award wa» “North Statr ( hampji — *55’*.
McComasmen Route Pirates 107-98 Widgeon Wins^ost Valuable”
In NAIA Playoff on Kinston Court
Br Plin. HOrCHINS | "Stung by defeat, the Plratei
The red hot Bulldogs continued' were rumored to be pointing for a
their blistering tournament pace | return game” with AC on a neutral
Monday night as they dumped the | court. TTie Gralngier High gym in
East Carolina Pirates by a 107-98: Kinston Is as neutral as can be
count in the NAIA playoffs at Kin- found and the North SUte Confer-
ence champs took the measure of
by 9 points, four worse than
the margin on the 'Dogs home
stoD. The Bucs, in their best of
fensive effort of the season, could
not cope with the 62 per cent shoot
ing accuracy of the 'Dogs and lost floor,
their second Ult to AC in the past AUantic ChrlsUan got off to a
nine days. quick start and after 3:57 had elap-
Howard Porter’s crew, stiU lick-' sed they led IM. but EC found the
ing their wounds from the shel-1 range and closed the gap ccmsider-
lacking they took from High Point' ably. At the end of the torrid first
in the North SUte Conference
Tourney, had three days of rest
while waiting for the Bulldogs to
return home but still could not mus-,
ter their forces enough to take the was a comment made concermng
cherished "Bohunk" back to "PI-j the last half, but the two club*
half AC led 56-51 and the folks in
the gym had not yet hoisted their
lower jaw back into place.
"Something has to give this half.'
rate Hollow.”
John Marley. AC’s all conference
and all tournament center, poured
27 point through the nets to lead
the evening’s fireworks. Jerry Wil
liams and Kim Buchanan were not
far behind with 22 and 20 points
while BiUy "P(*erface” Widgeon
canned 17. J. C. Thomas flipped in
24 for the Pirates. Cecil Heath, the
Hues’ likable captain, finished out
bis basketball career at the Green
ville school with his usual fine per
formance, He collected 16 points
for the game.
kept up their unbelievable pace. At
one time the Pirates had closed the
lead to a mighty slim i(0-89 margin
but the ’Dogs bore down to pull
further ahead.
"When AC’s last hopes were fad
ing, in went EC’s fouling team,"
the ball getters. After a few min
utes of banging on AC’s guards who i
went into a freeze, the Bulldogs
had widened their lead to 11 point*
mainly on free throws.
As the final gun sounded. Coach
McComas’s crew had won their 21st
game of the campaign by 107-98.
"Thii year's mo»t valuable play-
r award (joes V> Hilly Widgeon”
TlM-y wi-rc thi- words tl^at th<- IV
A »y»t<m IxKimt'd with when the
Ni-wp<)rl l*na?ih" won Uie ’55 edi-
tion of the "Most Valuable Play
er" trophy at U-xlngton.
Widgeon amazed the crowd dur
ing th< entire tjjurnament with his
array of shots His jump »hot was
uncanny, his set shots were dead
ly. and his drives could hardly be
stopped.
His three game scoring tutat
was 65 points for a 21.6 scoring
average. In one game he came
back Into (he game afti-r a bri(-f
rest and hit four field goals in a
ro«' to break the game open.
Down Bears 94-85
jFor District Crown
Owch Jack MoComa»'» valllant
Bulldogs "tipcned on guts" and U*-
n<»lr Uhynr » li**ur» ’ foldrd“ as the
AC crew k>attl(*d lt» way ti> th^
NAIA dutrk't 26 champumikhip «ik1
< trip to KMn»as Oty.
TTu* BuDdogK outlukt(*d thc« lic«M
through two grueling wr<*ks of
kftUill and finally kmx'ked thrm
*iff. 94-*5. Wedm^luy night in
iGrrrnslxjro. The game matched tbr
4me two aguad» that fought for
the North St^ile C<»nft renre Cham*
(Uonfthip at U'Xingtmi and U*nolr
Uhyne camc out t»n the Khort end
>f the kcore again Wedneaday'K
tilt wan AC‘» third win in four
tricN againKt l^m>ir Rhyne.
I Again, it wax John Marley who
[It'd the »ct>rlng for the l*>cjil». thlx
I timt' with 21 Ron Porcise and Kim
]Huchanun chtpp<*d in with 20 each.
; while Bill Tomllniion, AC‘n flashy
[reserve guard, hit 10 f«»r the night.
I Raeford W»‘11k ai>d Bob Ortmyer
I got 34 iind 27 reKp(*i'tlvely to hog
most of the scoring for the loaers.
I Atlantic Chrutlan <>)>rned fast and
I very quickly led 16-3. but the liears
rallied to close the gap AC‘s lead
' stayi-d Ix’twcrn 6 and 12 p<»lnU most
of the first half and at intermuslort
i they were out fron 41*37.
At one time during the final
I twenty minut4*s, "I*appy*’ llamll-
I t/>n'i cr»*w cume within 3 polntji.
but once again the 'Dogs rallied
their forces and surged into a com-
fortiibU* U'ad.
W(*dnesday's victory was the
eight straight for AC and the twen-
ty-rccond of the season a;* agalivit
six setbacks.
Sunday m<jrning the AC ac«*-
were to board a plane for Kantd>
City where they will scrap for na
tional honors in the NAIA tourm*y.
Chapel Program
Honors Champs
Ky Rl'BV HKiGINK
An ovation that seemed a«i though
it would take the roof of llow
ard Chap«*l was heard on Wedno*
I day. March 2. when Mr. Alien
I Sharp presldixl over the chapel pro-
I gram to honor our vlct4>rl(His Bull-
I dogs.
! Mr. Sharp nK'alh'd the staemmt
made at Uie o{M*nlng of the
son that.lt was our first stop on
U»e road t<» Kansas City. Ilie coach
aftd the lx>ys meant this atui thry
were d«*termln<*d to make It a reah-
ty.
I Mr. Sharp also stat4'<l that the
I reason th<* pii{x*rs have 1k*«ij io kui
I to u.H Is Ix'cause of our fighting
’spirit. According to Mr. Sharj). th-
Mi*)ys are loved by tlie itudent:,
the iH*oj>le of Wllurm, and “even
; the faculty."
'l*hen the coveti*d first place tour
nament trophy was preM'nti-d to
the Coach and the champions, with
an average of 91.3 {M*r game. Wh«.*n
, the (.’oach receiv**d the tro|>hy, the
applause was not only most gra
cious. but als«> thunderous In lt«
(>ff<’ct. Coach NU'Comas stated that
he and the bfjys really a)]prcclat4<l
Uie support and following of Xh*'
faculty, students, and the j>eople
of Wilson.
Next Jim H(4>be, assistant coach,
earnestly stated that “as long as
Hv keep old Roostrr' around ev>
erything will t>e all right.’*
Resounding applause follow
ed each Bulldog as he was hon
ored on stage. They were
Jerry Williams. Ronaki PercUe.
John Marley, Billy Widgeon, Jim
Peebles. Kim Buchanan, CliarlM
Hester, Ronald Baker, Bill Beach'
am, BiUy Tomlinson, Nicky Laz2o,
Continued On Page Four
BILLY WIDGEON
Atlantic Christian, Lenoir Rhyne
Dominate All-Tournament Team
Atlantic Christian and I>enoir. Raeford Wells, Klon’s 6’S" Ed Ju-
Rhyne dominat<-d the All-Tourna- ratlc. and High (Quint's 6’4” Jack
ment team after the I2th annual | Powell. Tho second five on the all-
North State Conference Touma-' tourney squad U U-milr Rhyne’s
ment. i Bob Ortmyer and Kloyd Proptt,
A vote by sportowrilers and an-1 AC’s Jerry Williams, High Point’*
nouncfn'S showed that Rllly Widge-' Boti Davidson, and Appalachian's
on was the only unanimous choice! Dave Abernathy,
on the mythical star-studded squad TTie first team all-toumey teams
The first team was compost of {shows an average height better
AC’s 6'U’’ John Marley. and 6’1’’ than 6'5" per man, with Wldgetin
Billy Widgeon, Lenoir Rhyne’s 6’6" I at 6’1’’ the "shorty" of the crowd.