Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Nov. 5, 1998, edition 1 / Page 20
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Page 20 November 5,1998 NCAA Men's basketball 1998-99: Looking to the challenge Chrissie Taylor The Pendulum Challenge. Confidence. Suc cess. These three words describe goals that the 1998-99 men’s bas ketball team hopes to achieve. The challenge starts early in the season. The team will face the University of Virginia, Old Do minion University and the Univer sity of Colorado even before their home opener on December 2 against VMI. “We know our challenge and want to make everyday a challenge for us,” head coach Mark Simons said. “We started the day the kids got here at the end of August with our goals for the season and pre season conditioning.” Add these teams to the com petition: Davidson College, who was first in the Southern Confer ence last season, 14 Big South games and Stanford University, a Final Four team in ’98.This may be the toughest schedule Elon has ever faced. What does Elon want to bring back from these games early on? The number one thing is confi dence,” Simons said. “We are going in to win. These games will show us what are weaknesses are and what we need to work on.” If a team does lose early on, they may tend to lose their healthy and positive attitude. Simons and first-year assistant coach Joel Haskins want their team to understand that playing a touch sched ule is how-^ou get better. “We have a tremendous chal lenge early on, but if the team stays focused with our goals and does not get sidetracked, we have a chance to surprise some early on and be very competitive in the Big South,” Haskins said. Success. The third goal. The team will measure a successful sea son differently than in the past. They lose three strong players in Chris Kiger, Adam Roberts and Ken Spell, but they also have brought in a strong recruiting class. We are very pleased with the kids approach so far,” Simons said. “At practice they are competitive and working hard. This team is as tight has we have had in a while. For this early in the season they compliment one another well.” The Players- Experience and Youth The team lost Kiger, Rob erts and Spell in the backcourt, but they are returning sophomore Dennis Gaskins and junior Joey Schwetz. “We are going to depend on Joey for more scoring than in the past. Before he sat back and watched Chris and Adam,” Simons said. Along with these two re turners the Fightin’ Christians have freshmen David Hall, Brendan Rowell and Andrew Toole to help score and bring the ball up the court. The team’s experience in side is strong. Seniors Qint Walker and Mike Thomas, 6 foot 7 and 6 foot 5 respectively, 6 foot 6 junior George Dennis and 6 foot 9 sopho more Matt Acker all have played significant roles and are familiar Elon football overpowers Flames 36-14 with an 11-yard touchdown scam- Josh Phoebus The Pendulum Don’t play Elon after a loss. It won’t be pretty. The Fightin’ Christians seem to bring their best after a tough loss. Liberty came as no excep tion. After a heartbreaking over time loss to 13th-ranked Western Kentucky last week, Elon came out with a dominant offensive showing as they overpowered the Flames 36-14, upping their record to 4-5. On the offensive side, it seemed to be business as usual. Derrick Moore led Elon with 168 yards rushing (season-best) on 23 carries as the offense chalked up 415 yards on the ground, 484 over all. The defense was unbreak able, holding the Flames’ offense to a single TD through three quar ters. Kelly Forrest led the defense with 8 tackles and a sack. The Fightin’ Christian of fense struck first with 3:53 left in the opening quarter on a 30-yard field goal by Austin Boone. Elon increased its lead to ten on a two-yard run by Darren Bethea with 10:35 left in the half. The Flames responded with 4:25 remaining, cap- Eion recovering a fumble Jenny Jarneke/7/7e Pendulum ping a four-play, 79-yard drive with a 12-yard TD that made it 10-7. Just like a good heavyweight fight, though, Elon counter-punched per by running back Steven Ferguson, and a 39-yard Austin Boone field goal to make it 20-7 at the half. Going into the second half, the only thing Elon left in the locker room at halftime was its mercy. After a missed field goal on its first drive, Elon scored on three of its next four possessions, including a 41 -yard TD pass from Moore to Broadie that made it 29-7. The play was a result of great protection from the offen sive line, a perfect throw and sweet catch. Elon dominated the Flames in both time of possession and turnovers as it held the ball thir teen minutes longer than Liberty and had a 3-0 turnover advan tage. “I’m pleased with our team’s ability to succeed in criti cal situations, but I believe our best football is still ahead of us” head coach A1 Seagraves said. with the competition. With the addition of 6-foot- 10-inch junior transfer Morgan Bell, the team will have a solid front line. “We will use a lot of combi nations early on until we find a solid 7-8,” Simons said. What about the freshman? 1. They can play. 2. They may be the best re cruiting class in the conference according to assistant coach Adam Chaskins. 3. They are strong and ath letic. 4. They are all good defen sively and they all can score. All four of the freshman may have been able to play at higher levels. “Hall is an incredible de fender and really does it all, Toole can score with his jumper and Rowell is strong on the penetra tion,” Chaskins said. Freshman Chris Adams has more competition in the back court with strong returners. He may not get as much playing time at first, but he is one of the top pure ath letes on the team and a strong de fensive presence. “These guys have game smarts, athleticism and they just know how to play,” Chaskins said. The Big South Starting in January the team will begin their Big South Confer ence games. Although Radford, UNC Asheville and Charleston Southern are picked to finish one, two and three, the Christians think they will fair well overall. The team swept both Coastal Carolina and High Point University last season. They hope to use home court advantage and support from the students this season to bring in more victories. They have seven home conference games compared to last seasons, when they had just one. New on Board Haskins is impressed with the team so far. “They seem to be together. They have good work habits for the most. Some are still learning how to work,” Haskins said. He will know more when the team begins its season. “When they go through adver sity, we’ll find out if they hang their heads or come backand workharder,” Haskins said Now the challenge is looking them in the face. With the additon of Haskins and the four freshman, to combine with the experience of Simons and the returners, the team hopes to achieve the confidence and success they strive for. This Week in FElon Athletics ••• Come and Support Your Fightin’ Chistians! Men’s Basketball @ Home (Exhibition) Monday, November 9 @ 7:30 p.m. Alumni Gym Men’s Soccer @ Duke (Season Finale) Saturday, November 7 @ 2 p.m. * Wanted: Two students to alternate as mascots for basketball games.' All Football and Men’s Basketball Games can ne heard LIVE on 1150 AM, WBAG!
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Nov. 5, 1998, edition 1
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