| Hastens, ei-Sha* varjead* UU ,o NCAA tenh | GlMMCfe
SPORTSWEE WS~
Sponsored by March 20,1997 B Section
tetftfflT IT%I1 WTomotIVEJL
IMMk%MMAn. m\ 1m\ NETWORK
CHEVROLET . GEO . TOYOTA OlISSAN ? SMARTCARS
t ,
North Forsyth advances to State Championship game after miraculous comeback
Charette Guthrie accepts her tro
phy as MVP of the Western 4-A
Regional. See story on page 2.
By SAM DAVIS
Chronicle Sports Editor
Facing a one-point deficit
with only four seconds left in the
game and with Greensboro Page
in possession of the basketball,
North Forsyth's chances of
advancing to the State 4-A
championship game looked
bleak.
But Mike Muse, North's
coach, refused to let his team
give up hope. As a result, the
Vikings will be playing for the
State 4-championship on Satur
day night at Carmichae! Audito
rium in Chapel Hill.
"We took a timeout and 1
told our girls 'we've come too
far'," Muse said. "'We've been
fighting all year. There's no need
to give up now. We're going to
get a five-second call, get the
ball back and win the ball
game."
The events didn't unfold the
way Muse said they would.
However, the Vikings did get the
break they needed when Page
several mistakes within a matter
of seconds and North converted
on them to score the winning
points.
After getting the ball out of
bounds, Page line four players
up at midcourt for the inbounds
pass. North, deploying a full
court defense, got the break it
needed when Keta Broom's pass
bounced off he hand of Candace
Lynn and was headed toward the
sideline. Lynn chased the ball
down and threw it back over her
head before she went out of
bounds. Nicole Soots grabbed
the ball and was fouled as she
tried to get off a shot with
approximately two seconds left
on the clock.
"She got hammered on the
play," Muse said. "But 1-thought
she was going up with the shot.
They (referees) called it on the
floor and gave us a one-and-one
with no time left on the clock.
That's a lot of pressure with a
one-and-one instead of two
shots."
Soots stepped up to the line
and made the first shot to tie the
game. "They (players) said it
bounced on the rim, but 1 didn't
see that," Muse said. "I was
looking at her body and her
hand. When she released it, I
thought it had an excellent
chance of going in. Then on the
second one, it was.all net. It
barely moved the net."
The way things have fallen
in place, Muse said destiny
seems to be on the Vikings side.
"We're playing well and we've
Continues on B2
Carmen Griffin hopes to be a sec
ond generation State Champion.
Her father, Willie Griffin, was a
member of the 1969 4-A State
Champions from Atkins High
School.
Despite success on court,
African Americans still
aren't gaining access into
athletic administration
The anniversary of a notable sports feat
came and went without very much fanfare.
But even a year after the fact, it is still
worth mentioning.
In 1971, Charlie Davis of Wake Forest
became the first black player to be named the
Most Valuable Player in
the Atlantic Coast Confer
ence. Since then, 20 of the
26 awards have been
given to African-Ameri
cans.
Tim Duncan became
the latest when he won the
award last week.
Today, the prolifera
tion of African-American
players in the ACC and
other NCAA Division I
programs is pretty much
taken for granted.
African-American athletes are by and large
the ones making the plays to generate billions
of dollars of income at NCAA Division I
schools. However, they are still under-repre
sented in the coaching and athletic administra
tion ranks. That is the cause that Davis is cham
pioning today.
Davis, 26 years removed from being a colle
giate athlete, says very little has changed behind
the scenes in big time programs since he left his
native New York to come south and make histo
ry at Wake Forest.
Although African-Americans make up a
vast majority of the scholarship athletes in foot
ball and basketball, that kind of success hasn't
been felt in areas where it is needed.
For example, there are only four African
American athletic directors at NCAA Division I
schools. African-Americans also make up only
5.4 percent of the number of associate and
assistant athletic directors at NCAA Division 1
schools.
Continues on B3
Gaines: Dean Smith
deserved win No. 877
By SAM DAVIS
Chronicle Sports Editor
It is a fitting trib
ute that North Caroli
na's Dean Smith now
owns the record for
victories in college
basketball, according
to Bighouse Gaines, a
legendary coach in j
his own right.
Gaines, the for
mer Winston-Salem
State coach, who
stands No. 3 all-time
behind only Smith
and Adolph Rupp.
said that Smith
deserves the record.
Gaines was on hand ,
to watch North Car- /
olina defeat Colorado j
last Saturday at the <
Dean Smith picked up win
So. 877 in Winston-Salem
ast Saturday when the
Tarheels defeated Col
orado.
Continues on B5
Mis-seeded and Mistreated:
Coppin State finally got
respect of NCAA field
By COURTNEY DANIEL and SAM DAVIS
Chronicle Sports Writers
Finally, a historically black college got the last
laugh in the NCAA Tournament. Although Cop
pin State faltered in the second round of the
NCAA East Regional, the Eagles proved to the
basketball world that they too could play basket
ball against quality opponents.
Traditionally the NCAA does not seed teams
from historically black colleges and universities
where their talent deserves, and this year's NCAA
Tournament seedings were no exception.
Coppin State and Howard (the Women's
Continues on B4
Carver falls to Hickory in Regional championship game, 64-55
By SAM DAVIS
Chronicle Sports Editor
HICKORY - For the second
consecutive season Carver's
boys basketball team found out
that the road to the State 3-A
championship game leads
through Hickory - the city and
the^eam.
I; The Yellowjackets, winners
WTthe North Piedmont 3-A Con
Terence regular season champi
onship, dug a hole for them
selves early and never recovered
in a 64-55 loss to the Hickory
Red Tornadoes in the Western
3-A Regional.
I Hickory, playing in front of
a partisan crowd on its own
home court, gathered the early
momentum and never let up.
The Tornadoes led the entire
game and beat back a Carver
?rally in the fourth quarter to
earn their second straight berth
in the state title game.
Carver was sent home for
the second straight season just
one game short of a trip to
Chapel Hill to play for the State
3-A championship.
Coach Alfred Poe of Carver
said his team had too deep a
hole to pull itself from in the
last part of the game.
"In the first quarter we got
ourselves in foul trouble and we
were already at a disadvantage
at their home court with their
home crowd." Poe said. "They
must had 2,000 fans in there
i
? ? . *
tonight.
But, Poe said he was
pleased with his team's effort
The Yellowjackets fell behind
by as many as 12 points in the
fourth quarter before getting the
lead down to four points in the
final minutes.
"I feel bad for the seniors,'
Poe said. "This was their final
chance after getting here lasl
year. The kids really gave it all
they had. They really busted
their tails to get us here.
"I have to take my hat off tc
the seniors," Poe added. "When
most of them came in we were
struggling, but they're leaving
with the program at the top
They did a heck of a job for this
program."
The Yellowjackets were hit
; with some touchy fouls in the
first quarter in their man-to-man
I defense. By the end of the quar
: ter they had already committed
: seven fouls and Hickory was in
: the bonus.
Because of their foul trou
' ble, Carver went to a zone
I defense. Hickory riddled it with
t two three-pointers and an 8-0
I run in a 1:10 span to put Hicko
1 ry up by a 15-4 score at the 2:21
* mark. Carver got its first field
? goal of the quarter at the 1:55
i mark on Delayo Dodd's shot in
: the lane to close the gap to 15-6
; at the end of the first quarter.
Hickory got its lead up to
Continues on B2
I I .
i
Antoine Barnes and Tony Ingram of Carver fight for a loose ball in the
Yellowjackets' win over T.C. Roberson in the semifinal game of the
Western 3-A Regionals.
*