#01
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Section
Cliarlotte $0!E(t
SPORTS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2006
Brown
PHOTO/GunilS WIL SON
Charlotte Christian standouts Stephen
Curry (from left), Omar Carter and Ben
Walton have powered the Knights to a
31-2 record.
Knights’
time is
playoff
time
Charlotte Christian
rolls into playoffs with
high expectations
By Eric Bozeman
Km VIE aiARi/riTE post
Charlotte Christian Knights hqs com
pleted its transformation into a local boys
basketball power due in part to some
unusual suspects.
There’s the humble leader with profes
sional basketball blood lines. The quiet,
hard working shooting
threat, who seems content
to fly below the radar, and
the all around stand out
who has worked to fit into
the program.
Yes, Stephen Curry, Ben
Walton, and Omar Carter
are the culprits Charlotte
Christian Head Coach
Shonn Brown has enjoyed
using to mold his Knights (31-2) into
every high school team’s nightmare.
“Stephen can shoot the ball, get to the
basket, and he can change pace with the
best of them. He makes all the players
around him better,” Brown said. “Omar
has transitioned well into our school, at
the high school level he is very hard to
guard. He has the best hands, he’s quick
with the ball inside, and he can shoot the
three which makes him special. Ben is a
great shooter, he actually made the varsi
ty team as a freshman, and that is some
thing that doesn’t happen very often for
us. He’s been a very solid player for us,
and a leader light along with Stephen.
Ben does the dirty work, he normally
guards a team’s best player.”
Curry, a senior guard who is going to
play college basketball at Davidson next
Please see KNIGHTS/2C
Bobcats’ prize
pupil growing
up quickly
By Eric Bozeman
EOR VIE CHARIJOVTE POEI
Raymond Felton is proving to be an apt
pupil
The Bobcats (14-41) rookie point guard is
turning into an NBA floor leader by having
the advantage of moderate playing time,
and the opportunity to learn fix>m veteran
point guard Brevin Kni^t
Felton was averaging 9 4 points per
game, with 4 5 assists and 1.2 steals before
the All-Star break. The rookie had a sea
son hi^ cf 24 points against Seattle
“The season is going good so far, I stiU
have many more things to learn, but other
than that 1 think I’m doing fairly well for a
rookie,” Felton said.
The biggest adjustment Felton has had
to overcome is staying on the go, by play
ing in a different dty every few days
Felton says there is no such thing as tak
ing a ni^t off in the NBA
“Just all the traveling has been a sur
prise, but there’s been no surjaise on the ■
court. Everybody is just as big, if not big
ger. Everybody is just as strong, if not
stronger Everybody is just as quick, if not
quicker,” Felton said “All rf those things
you have to get used to, every ni^t you
Rease see B0BCATS/2C
When
isn’t enough
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Johnson C. Smith center Charles Clark is surrounded by Fayetteville State defenders in the Golden
Bulls’ 81-75 win Tuesday. Below, Clark (second from right) and fellow seniors Prince Parker, Bobby
Bienaimee and John Fulton wait out the final seconds of their last game at Brayboy Gym.
Postseason tournament no lock for Golden Bulls
By Herbert L. White
herb.whited ihecharloaepostrom
A 20-win season is no guaran
tee Johnson C. Smith will have a
spot in the NCAA Division II
basketball tournament
The Golden Bulls (20-6) have
been ranked as high as 15th in
the nation this season and were
23rd two weeks ago. But they’ve
yet to crack the South Atlantic
Region’s top six, which deter
mines who gets into the postsea
son.
The CIAA champion gets an
automatic berth, but an at-large
spot isn’t guaranteed Smith is
seventh in this
week’s rankings.
I think early on,
you saw reputa
tion mean a lot,”
Bulls coach Steve
Joyner said. “We.
were nationally
ranked because
they knew of
Johnson C Snith and what we
were doing early on and we were
lower in the region. Rig^it now, it
Joyner
looks like strength of schedule
means a lot more that wins and
losses.”
The CIAA’s reputation as a
top-fli^t league hasn’t helped
Smith. In past seasons, CIAA
teams who reach the 20-win
mark in the regular season were
usually assured a place in the
playoffs. But outside of 20-3
■Virginia Union, Smith is the
only other league team that
could earn an at-large berth The
Peach Belt Conference has three
teams in the top six. Virginia
Union is No. 1.
“I think you can compare the
rankings where (Peach Belt
member) Augusta State is in the
rankings ahead of us at 11-8 and
we’re 19-5. So strength of sched
ule obviously means a lot more
to them, so I think if you contin
ue to win you have a chance to
get there.”
Augusta State beat Smith 69-
67 Dec. 3.'
At least Smith has an argu-
See 20-WIN/2C
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Smith
49ers’
ultimate
role
player
By Eric Bozeman
FOR VIE CHARLOTTE POST
Thmeka Smith is a scorer
with a role player’s mentali
ty, a guard in a forward’s
body
‘Tf you looked at Meek just
standing in the mall or
something you’d think she
was a guard,” Charlotte
coach Amanda Butler said of
the 49ers’ 6-1 sophomore for
ward. “She’s not that big and
she knows that, but she’s
very quick.”
While averaging 21 min
utes of playing time per
game. Smith
averages 5.9
points and 3.5
reboimds She
is third on the
team in steals
with 30, and
she says it is
her lack of size
that gives her
the advantage
to do the little things it takes
to win ball games.
“I am a guard in a for
ward’s body My footwork is
a lot quicken than a lot of
post. players. I’m like an
Lmdersized post player, play
ing (power forward),” Smith
said. ‘T can jump higher then
them, get the rebound, and
be able to push it when we
need to be able to push the
ball.”
Smith has scored in double
figures five times this season
for Charlotte (19-6, 12-2).
Her 23 point scoring effort
against St. ^naventure was
a career high
“Whenever I get an oppor
tunity to score I’m happy
with it, but as long as I’m
able to do the little things
like set picks, make extra
passes, whatever it takes for
us to win a game it makes
me happy,” Smith said.
Senior guard Sakellie
Daniels says quick post play
ers like Smith only make the
49ers more potent in transi
tion.
“When we have our post
running like Thmeka, it’s a
big target, and Thmeka gets
up the floor a lot quicker
then some opposing post
players, so that is the big
advantage of having post
players that can run,”
Daniels said.
The 49ers lead the
See SMITH/2C
MEAC ROUNDUP
Hampton,
NSU indoor
track champs
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiie6 thecharlotteposleom
Hampton’s women did the
expected at last week’s
MEAC indoor track and field
championships. Norfolk
State’s men exceeded expec
tations.
The Pirates scored a cham
pionship record 168 points in
Landover, Md., breaking
Delaware State’s old marie of
155 set in 1986, Hampton fin
ished 82 points ahead of sec
ond place Norfolk State (86),
For the second straight
year, Hampton’s ^ette Lewis
was named outstanding per
former with 48 points, break
ing her own record of 46
points set last year,
“We had three goals coming
in; to win our fourth consecu
tive title, to laeak the team
points record and to have
Wette Lewis win the individ
ual points title again,”
See MEACySC