THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702160233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. LENGTH: 59 lines
Coach Mike Bernard disagreed with the call. In fact he hated the charging foul called against Maurice Whitfield with six seconds left that foiled Norfolk State's comeback bid.
Whitfield fouled out on a questionable call inside the paint with the Spartans down by one point as NSU eventually fell to Elizabeth City State 76-73 before a standing room only crowd of 5,483 at Vaughan Center. The Vikings (17-4, 13-2 CIAA) clinched at least a tie for their first Northern Division title since 1981.
``We put forth the effort and it was taken away from us,'' Bernard said. The call ``was not even close.''
All either coach could talk about afterwards was the physical nature of the game.
The teams combined for 57 fouls and 82 free throws.
``The game was ugly,'' ECSU coach Barry Hamler said. ``There were too many fouls called.
``Norfolk State (15-8, 10-5) was not able to get into the flow and we were not able to get into the flow because free throws were taken every trip down the floor.''
Five players fouled out including NSU's Greg Jones and Tajai Young. Nine players had at least two fouls by halftime and 10 finished with at least four. And in a closely contested game in which the largest margin was ECSU's 61-54 lead late in the game, the head coaches got into a shouting match during the first half.
NSU led most of the game but saw the shift change as ECSU scored six straight points for a 58-52 lead midway in the second half.
The Spartans, 32 of 44 (73 percent) from the foul line, tied the score at 67 on a pair of free throws by Young with 2:12 left.
ECSU then took the lead for good at 70-67 on a 3-pointer by Herb Lewis with 1:50 left. Lewis was six of six from the field and 2 of 2 from behind the 3-point line on way to a team-high 20 points.
But in a season of unlikely heroes, the Spartans almost had another one in Sean Blackwell.
The junior center scored on consecutive layups inside the 1:26 mark and then grabbed a rebound on an ECSU miss with 26 seconds left as the Spartans trailed 72-71.
Following the charging foul against Whitfield and the subsequent free throws by Adrian Bell, the Spartans still had another chance.
Young went to the line for a pair of foul shots with three seconds remaining. He hit the first one and intentionally tried to miss the second one. The ball slammed off the glass, hit the front of the rim and reversed back down the net.
Anthony Harris, who finished with 16, then sealed the victory with two free throws with one second remaining.
Rodney Carmichael, who was 12 of 13 from the free throw line, finished with 20 points. Whitfield added with 18. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot
Rodney Carmichael of Norfolk State works his way into position for a
rebound against Elizabeth City State on Saturday.