Rams Capture NAIA District 26 Championship
Rams Slip by Barber Scotia
‘Bighouse" Gaines Coach of the Year- (NAIA and CIAA)
Bouncing back from a razor-
edge defeat by Norfolk State in
the CIAA finals last week-end,
the Rams defeated the Sabers-of
Barber Scotia College 88-89. The
thriller took place in Whitaker
Gymnasium, March 4 in front of
an ample crowd of 4,700 fans.
It was the Sabers who held the
lead with about five minutes left
in the first half, 37-33. However a
persisten Ram Une-up refused to
let the Sabers go into the locker
room with the lead. They
overcame that small deficit and
soared into the lead 55-49 at the
close of the half.
The second half brought the
Sabers onto the court determined
to come back. And, that they did.
They cut the Ram lead to one
with about 7 minutes left in the
game, 81-80. A Barber Scotia shot
from 15 feet out gave the visiting
team the lead at 82-«l. The Sabers
maintained that lead up until less
than a minute left in the contest.
It was 41 seconds to be exact.
However, two key free throws
sunk by George Gibson who had
16 for the night were deciding
factors. The Rams took the lead
89-88. Although the Sabers took
six shots in the remaining 38
seconds, none of them cleared the
h(wp and the Rams walked away
with another victory.
The win came despite the fact
that three Rams weren’t in tip
top condition. Tom Paulin, \dio
was injured in the CIAA
Tournament, still wasn’t quite up
to par. Don Helton and James
Pegues were also ailing.
The Ram victory qualified
them to meet Guilford College in
the NAIA District 26 tournament
i^hampionship the following
night.
High point man for the Rams
was Carlos Terry with 22 points.
Helton followed with 20 points.
Conley had 17 and George Gibson
16. These were the only Rams in
double figures. The Sabers had
four players in double figures.
McDaniel was high point man
with 17.
WSSU Upsets Guilford
The team of Helton and
Johnson was one of the
“dynamite” combinations that
helped the Rams clinch the NAIA
District 26 Championship over
Guilford, March 5. Horace
Johnson poured in 19 points and
Don Helton 23 to add to the 89 to 82
victory. Other Rams in double
figures were Carlos Terry with 14
and George Gibson with 16.
The Rams, who were predicted
underdogs in the contest trailed
the Guilford team throughout the
first half. The score at the end of
the first six minutes was 17 to 7
and it looked as though the R^s
would be of no threat to the
Quakers. However, as the first
half began drawing to a close,
Johnson fired up “his engine”
causing the Rams to bring
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smoke! In less than two minutes,
a ten jwint lead was turned into a
tie. Fine defensive play on the
part of the Rams held the
Quakers scoreless, while “hitting
everything that they shot”
allowed them to catch up.
At the half, the Quakers held a
very shaky 45-41 lead.
Most of the second half
belonged to neither team
exclusively. The play of both
teams was matched until
Guilford broke away from the
Rams as closing stages of the
game drew near. The score was
72-67. But the Quaker team
repeatedly made one mistake
after another and the Rams took
over and remained on top. The
latter part of the half belonged to
the Rams who outscored the
Quakers 22-10 in the last five
minutes. Two free throws and a
steal all by Don Helton in the last
second of the game pushed the
Rams out of the Quakers’ reach.
IJoyd Free led the Quakers
with 39 points. Sam Kennedy
followed with 22.
The victory left WSSU; with a
21-6 record.
Sanders Qualifies
Verdell Sanders, senior-
physical education major,
qualified for the Wrestling
Nationals to be held in Sioux City,
Iowa. Sanders, last year’s most
outstanding, quaUfied by taking
third at weight class 177 in the
National Association’s
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
Area Tournament at Elon
College. Sanders, a 5’H” Senior
from Charlotte, North Carolina,
lost in the semifinals of the two-
day tournament. Reginald
Sherard, A freshman from
Goldsboro, North Carolina
finished fourth.
During the earlier part of the
wrestling season, Sanders along
with Abner Joyner won the
Catawba Invitational Wrestling
Tournament. Both Sanders and
Joyner finished second in the
CIAA Wrestling Championships
last year, along with Terry
Dunlap, Curtis Phifer, and
William Hawkins. During regular
season, Verdell defeated the
CIAA Champ by outpointing him
13-2. Sanders finished the
wrestling season with a 10-4
record. Other wrestlers for WSSU
were:
134- I^rry Dunlap
145- William Hawkins
150- Reginald Sherard
158- Kenneth Allen
167- Abner Joyner
190- Andrew Sauls
Heavy Weight - Gary Raiford.
The M.M. Hauser Student
Union held it’s annual Billard,
chess, whist and ping pong
tournaments on Feb. 19-20. The
participation was tremendous.
Champions in the events are as
follows:
Billard Champ- 1st John
Connally- Twice a winner in
billiards (74-75), 2nd Larry
Ritter.
Billiards- Women- 1st Brenda
Hairston, 2nd Teresa Baker.
Ping Pong- 1st Philip Tatum,
2nd Lennis Harris.
Whist- 1st Evel\ n Thomas and
John Connally. 2nd Jan Epps and
Vivian Kelley.
Chess- winner undecided at the
time of this publication.