Black colleges bow out early in Big Dance
Sixteenth-seeded MEAC men's champ Delaware State put up a great fight battling Syracuse Region No. 1 seed Duke in a first round game in Charlotte Friday but the other black college champs in the NCAA Div. I Tournaments had tougher times.
SWAC men's champion Alabama A&M fell in the play-in game last Tuesday while women's champ Alcorn State was overwhelmed Saturday by Big Ten champ and Kansas City Region top seed, Michigan State. MEAC women's champ Coppin State ran into a talented North Carolina squad Sunday on its home floor.
Oakland 79
Alabama A&M 69
The SWAC men's champ, playing in the
opening round (play-in) game Tuesday in Akron for the
third time in four years, came up short for the third time.
Vann Pettaway's Bulldogs, who led early before being down 39-35 at the half, could get nothing going in the second half as they fell behind by as many as 20 points and couldn't make up the deficit. Pettaway said the grind from his team playing its fourth game in six days may have finally caught up with them.
"We may have needed just one more day to get our legs back," said Pettaway, who suggested the SWAC look at playing its championship game earlier in the week if the winner is likely to be in the play-in game.
SWAC Player of the Year and Tournament MVP Obie Trotter led the Bulldogs' effort with 24 points. Joseph Martin had 22 and Rickey Ricketts 11.
Duke 57
Delaware State 46
Delaware State, trying to be the first 16-seed
to knock off a top seed in the Tournament, battled
ACC Tournament champion Duke on near even terms in
the first half and cut a 20-point second half lead to
single-digits before gallantly falling in Charlotte.
DSU head coach Greg Jackson's game plan called for spreading the floor and working the shot clock to limit the Blue Devils' possessions. The strategy worked to near perfection as the Hornets, after falling behind 12-3, went on a 13-1 run to lead 16-13 with just under 12 minutes left in the half. They were tied at 28 with 4:59 left but went the rest of the period without a field goal to trail 36-28 at the break.
The drought continued early in the second half as Duke built a 55-35 lead. But the Hornets fought back, going on an 8-0 run to get back to 55-43 and later cutting the lead to nine on a Tracy Worley three-pointer with under seven minutes to play. They had several chances to get closer but couldn't pull it off. The packed house at the Charlotte Coliseum got behind the underdog Hornets as they hung with the Blue Devils.
"Tonight, our kids put forth a great effort," said Jackson. "We were concerned about our effort coming in. There's no question, after this ballgame, we gave it our best shot. We played an outstanding basketball team, a team I think will be around for a long time in the NCAA Tournament. The kids showed a lot of patience and a lot of desire to be able to hang around until the talent level took over.
"We wanted to be able to stick to our game plan. We knew coming in that we would not be able to run up and down the floor with Duke. We tried to limit their possessions and tried to make their big people come out and play wing defense. I thought we did an outstanding job for the first 18 minutes of the ball game of doing that. We allowed ourselves to stay in the ball game. Anytime you do that, you give yourself a chance to win a ballgame. They are so big inside we were not able to get to the bucket. I thought that was the key to the ballgame, that we didn't make our easy shots. We allowed their defensive pressure to hurt us in the first part of the second half."
Worley, with 13 points, was the only Hornet to reach double figures. The Hornet defense limited ACC Player of the Year, guard J. J. Redick to one of seven shooting and just seven points.
Michigan State 73
Alcorn State 41
Kansas City Region top-seed Michigan State struggled with turnovers and its shooting, leading
only 30-17 at the half before a 16-3 run early in the
second half put away the SWAC champs.
Alcorn State had a chance to get closer in the first half but could not convert what appeared to be easy baskets to cut into the lead. The Lady Braves shot only 23.4% (15 of 64) from the field for the game.
"We missed some easy, easy baskets that were very disappointing to me," Alcorn State coach Shirley Walker said. "I don't know why we rushed because we were right down there in the paint. That was a weakness on our part."
The Lady Braves finished with only ten turnovers to 18 for MSU, but were outrebounded 53-22 by the taller Lady Spartans. Shikhia Sims' 11 points led Alcorn State and Tnonealyer Powers added 10 for the Lady Braves, who had quickness but not the size to keep up with their taller opponent on the boards.
North Carolina 97
Coppin State 62
A devastating three-quarter court press led to a
25-0 first half run by UNC that all but ended Coppin
State's effort on the Tar Heel's home court in Chapel Hill.
UNC forced 17 first half turnovers and shot a blistering 71% (22 of 31) from the field to run out to a 54-21 lead at the break. The Lady Eagles found it tough to throw over or go around the taller and quicker ACC champs. UNC shot 62.3% (36 of 61) for the game, the second highest percentage Coppin State has ever allowed, which included 54.5% (12 of 22) from three-point range.
UNC point guard Ivory Latta was particularly effective canning nine of 13 shots, including five of seven from behind the arc to lead the onslaught with 27 points. Coppin State was led by 14 points from MEAC Player of the Year, Sherrie Tucker and 11 points from Leisel Harry.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.