THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9603300451
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Players of the year in 10 different conferences hope to make that same kind of music when they give solo performances in the 44th annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament next week.
The 64-player field and tournament pairings were completed Friday in the PIT's annual drawing party at The Max.
The 10 conference MVPs who will compete:
Bernard Hopkins, Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial Athletic Association)
Marcus Mann, Mississippi Valley State (Southwestern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)
Malik Rose, Drexel (North Atlantic)
Raimonds Miglinieks, Cal-Irvine (Big West)
Jeff Nordgaard, Wisconsin-Green Bay (Midwestern)
Chris McGuthrie, Mount St. Mary's (Northeast)
Shawn Harvey, West Virginia State (West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)
Moochie Norris, West Florida (Gulf State)
Anquell McCollum, Western Carolina (Southern)
Derek Fisher, Arkansas-Little Rock (Sun Belt)
Wednesday's opener at 7 p.m. in the Churchland High School gym will send Beach/Barton Ford, the 1995 champion, against the Portsmouth Sports Club. Mann, Hopkins and Nordgaard will play for Beach/ Barton Ford.
Wednesday's 9 p.m. game will have Dolsey Ltd. facing WTKR. Dolsey has the services of Rose and Miglinieks. McGuthrie will be in the WTKR lineup.
Thursday's 7 p.m. game will pair Bill Lewis Chevrolet against K-Plus. Norris and Harvey, an NAIA All-American, have been assigned to K-Plus.
At 9 p.m. Thursday, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, with McCollum, will oppose Sales Systems Ltd., featuring Fisher.
Forty-one of the 64 players were first-team all-conference selections. Four are members of Final Four teams - Kentucky's Mark Pope, Massachusetts' Dana Dingle and Donta Bright and Mississippi State's Darryl Wilson.
Coincidentally, Pope and Dingle, opponents in today's NCAA semifinal, will be Sales Systems teammates.
Also playing in Wednesday's opener for the Portsmouth Sports Club will be NIT champion Nebraska's Erick Strickland.
The PIT field includes the nation's leading scorer, Texas Southern's Kevin Granger, and seven of the leading 20 pointmakers.
It also has the country's No. 1 rebounder in Mann, the leading player in assists in Miglinieks and steals leader Pointer Williams of McNeese State. Williams will play for Beach/Barton Ford.
The semifinals will be Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. with a 3:15 p.m. consolation game between Thursday night's losers.
Saturday's championship game will start at 7:30 p.m. The consolation championship game will begin at 1:30 with the third-place game at 5:30.
Game tickets can be purchased at any TicketMaster outlet. For information, call 393-5144. For group sale tickets, call 446-6827 or 393-2559. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
PIT Rosters
BEACH/BARTON FORD: Todd Lindeman, Indiana; Marcus Mann,
Mississippi Valley State; Bernard Hopkins, Virginia Commonwealth;
Jeff Nordgaard, Wisconsin Green Bay; Derrick Bryant, Norfolk State;
Kevin Granger, Texas Southern; Pointer Williams, McNeese State;
Darren McLinton, James Madison.
Coaches: Rufus Outland, Tony Holloway.
PORTSMOUTH SPORTS CLUB: Chris Ensminger, Valparaiso; Ben Wallace,
Virginia Union; Demetri Hill, Florida; Roman Rubchenko, LSU; Kwame
Evans, George Washington; Erick Strickland, Nebraska; Danny Hurley,
Seton Hall; J.J. Williams, Hampton.
Coaches: Mike Donovan, Gerald Wilkerson.
DOLSEY LTD.: Sammie Haley, Missouri; Malik Rose, Drexel; Quinn
Harwood, Davidson; Glen Sekunda, Penn State; Ron Riley, Arizona
State; Damon Watlington, Virginia Tech; Raimonds Miglinieks,
Cal-Irvine; Elliot Hatcher, Kansas State.
Coaches: Martin Oliver, Sandy Williams.
WTKR: Amal McCaskill, Marquette; Micheal Meeks, Canisius; Carlos
Strong, Georgia; Eric Eberz, Villanova; Chris Robinson, Western
Kentucky; Rasul Salahuddin, Long Beach State; Craig Thames, Toledo;
Chris McGuthrie, Mount St. Mary's.
Coaches: Eddie Webb, Billy Mann.
BILL LEWIS CHEVROLET: Ben Handlogten, Western Michigan; Derrick
Battie, Temple; Russ Millard, Iowa; Kenny Roberts, Brigham Young;
Donta Bright, Massachusetts; Katu Davis, Georgia; Damion Santiago,
Rutgers; Duane Simpkins, Maryland.
Coaches: Rabbit Howard, Dave Trickler.
K-PLUS: Mikkel Lawsen, Iona; Theron Wilson, Eastern Michigan;
Shawn Smith, Virginia Tech; Tim Moore, Houston; Adrian Griffin,
Seton Hall; Shawn Harvey, West Virginia State; Frank Seckar,
Vanderbilt; Moochie Norris, West Florida.
Coaches: Tommy Kilpatrick, Billy Skeeter.
NORFOLK NAVAL SHIPYARD: Simeon Haley, Missouri; Jamie Feick,
Michigan State; Jerome Lambert, Oklahoma State; Terrance Brandon,
Georgia State; Richard Keene, Illinois; Brian Tolbert, Eastern
Michigan; Anquell McCollum, Western Carolina; John Giraldo,
Monmouth.
Coaches: Tex Murray, Pop Pitts.
SALES SYSTEMS LTD.: Mark Pope, Kentucky; Art Long, Cincinnati;
Matt Gaudio, Penn State; Dana Dingle, Massachusetts; Shandon
Anderson, Georgia; Rusty LaRue, Wake Forest, Darryl Wilson,
Mississippi State; Derek Fisher, Arkansas Little Rock.
Coaches: Leo Anthony, Mac Carroll.
by CNB