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Section
Cliarlotte $Oie(t
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
Felton
Felton
predicts
playoffs
again
By Joedy McCreary
mEASSOC/ATeO PRESS
CHAPEL HILL - Raymond
Felton is back in the predic
tion business.
The guard, who as a rookie
last season predicted that his
Charlotte Bobcats would
make the playoffs, did it
again this month - but with a
big if: His key
teammates
must stay
healthy.
“I’m still
going to stick
to it, no matter
what,” Felton
said. ‘We have
that t3^e of
talent, and I have that much
confidence in my team.”
Speaking at the Smith
Center - the arena where he
became a college star - Felton
didn’t back down from last
year’s bold prediction that
Charlotte would reach the
postseason.
Plagued by injuries all sea
son, the Bobcats won their
last four games to finish 26-
56 - well shy of a playoff
berth. Emeka Okafor missed
the final 49 games with a
chronic ankle injury, Sean
May played in just 23 games
after undergoing two knee
surgeries and leading scorer
Gerald Wallace missed 27
games with various injuries.
“My thoughts are still the
same. I feel that if Gerald and
Emeka would have been
there with me ... Sean would
have been there and Emeka
would have been there, we
still would have made the
playoffs last year,” Felton
said.
“So I definitely know that
this year we will, if we keep
all those guys healthy,” he
added.
Felton, the point guard on
North Carolina’s 2005
national championship team,
was picked fifth overall by the
Bobcats and became a starter
midway through the season.
He averaged 11.9 points and
5.6 assists, and was named
rookie of the month in the
Eastern Conference for three
straight months from
February-April.
Now, Felton has several
trips scheduled to his old col
lege town.
The Bobcats are playing
two preseason games at the
Smith Center: Oct. 17 against
the Washington Wizards and
Please see FELTON/2C
POINT AFTER
SPORTS
Road diriH
Golden Bulls perfect away from campus home
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Johnson C. Smith receiver Marquis Belton has scored three touchdowns for the Golden Bulls -
all on the road. JCSU (3-1,1-1 CIAA) is unbeaten away from Charlotte going into Saturday’s con
ference game at St. Paul’s.
By Herbert L. White
herb.Wh/feSftiechariotteposf.com
There’s no place like away
from home for Johnson C.
Smith’s Golden Bulls.
Last week’s five-overtime 40-
37 win over Virginia Union
moved JCSU to 3-0 in road
games this season. The key?
‘We’re focused,” said comer-
back De’Audra Dix. “It’s about
being focused and knowing
that it’s going to be a tough
environment for us to win on
the road.”
“Right now, we’re just taking
one game at a
time,” said
receiver
Marquis Belton.
“After we finish
with these two
games on the
road, we have
three at home,
so I think we
can show everybody we can
win at home as well.”
Smith’s road success (3-1,1-1
CIAA)‘has already helped the
Bulls top their win total for the
previous three seasons com
bined. The Golden Bulls
squandered a 21-point first
half lead, fell behind twice in
overtime, then finally pulled
ahead for good on Yannick
Murray’s 22-yard touchdown
mn.
“We say every play is a big
play,” Dix said. Coach (Daryl
See ON THE ROAD/2C
Pats and Cats square off in classic rematch
Records, pride on line for Southwestern 4A rivals Independence and Providence
BEST GAME: Independence at
Providence. The Panthers have waited
a year for this game. Now that it’s here,
what will they do against
the Patriots, who have
owned the Southwestern
4A all these years?
Last year’s game was a
classic, with Providence
roaring out to a big lead,
only to have
Independence stonft back
to win at the wire. That
game, as much as any,
propelled the Patriots to their sixth
straight N.C. 4A title. Neither team has
forgotten that.
Independence is coming off its best
showing yet, a 44-0 pasting of
Weddington. Providence couldn’t have
been looking past South Mecklenburg in
a 20-15 win last week, could it?
BEST BET FOR A RECOVERY: East
Mecklenburg. The Eagles went down
for the first time this season in a 28-20
loss to Myers Park. Ardrey Kell’s (1-4)
first-year program should provide the
perfect tonic.
NEXT BEST BET FOR A RECOV
ERY: Olympic. The 'Trojans lost a heart-
breaker to Charlotte Catholic, but
Harding High shouldn’t be too tall a hur
dle for Olympic. The Trojans are playing
good defense and the offense is diverse,
which should help them cruise on
Friday.
RYAN’S HOPE; Butler tailback Ryan
Houston keeps adding to his
Mecklenburg County touchdown record.
The senior pushed the standard to 74
last week after a three-touchdown effort
against Ardrey Kell, and it could’ve been
more if the Bulldogs hadn’t gone to the
bench early in the third quarter.
Up next for Houston and Butler:
Weddington, which didn’t show much
defensive muscle last week against
Independence.
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Providence High and running back Steven Hatley (24)
escaped South Mecklenburg with a 20-15 win last week.
On Friday, the Panthers take on Independence.
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Marc Davis, 16, earned six wins and five sec
ond-place finishes at Hickory Speedway in
the NASCAR Limited Late Model series.
Success
puts racer
on fast track
to upgrade
Davis, 16, won a third of 18
starts at Hickory Speedway
By Herbert L. White
hert3-wh/fe®ftiectiariotlepost.com
Marc Davis is aiming to follow his historic
summer with a strong autumn.
Last week, he drove in GM Busch series
development tests with other young NASCAR
prospects at Caraway Speedway in Virginia.
Davis had the best cornering speeds in the big
ger, heavier Busch car prepared by Richard
Childress Racing.
“It’s a whole different beast with more horse
power,” he said.
Davis, 16, had a historic summer, winning
six times in 16 starts at Hickory Motor
Speedway in NASCAR’s Limited Late Model
series to become the second Afhcan American
to win there. Davis, a Mitchellville, ■ Md.,
native, is in his first year with Joe Gibbs
Racing through the Driver for Diversity pro
gram, a racing development program for
women and ethnic minorities. Drive for
Diversity supports eight drivers in the Dodge
Weekly Series and 12 crewmembers in the
Busch and Truck series.
“The diversity program is a real source of
pride for all of us at Joe Gibbs Racing,” said
J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. “Thanks to (the
late pro football hall of famer) Reggie White’s
vision, our diversity program was the first to be
founded and the first to win races. It’s a prov-
Please see BREAKTHROUGH/3C
Hosley wins Tee
to Green title
Tim Hosley won the 'Ibe to Green tourna
ment Sept. 23-24 at Riverbend Golf Course in
Shelby.
Hosley fired a two-round total of 144, a shot
ahead of Chris Hamilton and four better than
Harold Varner.
• 'The foursome of Mitchel Humphries, Josh
Queen, Randy Horton and Charles Maynor
won the Boys and Girls Club tournament Sept.
22 at Cherokee National Country Club in
Gaffney, S.C.
'The foursome finished with a total net score
of 52, a couple of shots better than Scott Cline,
Richardson Garret, Hunter Hughey, Trip
Edwards.
Herbert L. White
Braves sitting
this October out
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA - The ending was inevitable, but
no less painful for the Atlanta Braves.
Right up until the end, they held out hope of
somehow making it back to the playoffs -
albeit as a wild-card team rather than a divi
sion champion.
But their bid ended a full week before the end
of the regular season, leaving a meaningless
homestand for a team already looking ahead to
2007.
“The way the season’s been going, even
though-we didn’t want to think we were out of
it, it would’ve been tough,” Andruw Jones said.
“Guys didn’t stay healthy. Not doing the right
job, not playing good defense, not hitting when
we need to hit, not pitching where we should
pitch.
“It’s been a season like that.”
The Braves had not missed the playoffs since
1990. 'The following season, they went from
worst to first to spark a run of 14 straight divi
sion titles, unprecedented for a major U.S.
See SUBPAR/3C