DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997              TAG: 9703050681

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   65 lines

COPPIN STATE HAS NCAA ON ITS MIND AS MEAC TIPS OFF TOP SEED IS ON A HOT STREAK AS IT OPENS PLAY AT NSU'S ECHOLS ARENA TODAY.

Coppin State looks to repeat South Carolina State's feat of a year ago: turning the No. 1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament seed into an automatic NCAA berth.

Top-seeded Coppin State (18-8), which has won four in a row and 14 of 15, begins tournament play today at 3 p.m. against ninth-seeded University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at Echols Arena. UMES (11-16) defeated Howard 76-70 on Monday in the play-in game to advance to today's quarterfinals.

Hampton, which joined the MEAC this season, will not compete in the men's tournament. Under NCAA Division I reclassification guidelines, the Pirates are ineligible to receive an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament for eight years and therefore will not compete in the conference tournament. The women's team, however, is not subjected to the same rule and will compete in the MEAC tournament.

Coppin State is led by junior Antoine Brockington, an all-conference first-team pick and the MEAC's second-leading scorer at 17 points a game. Brockington, a 6-2 junior guard, also averaged two assists and two steals a contest.

Terquin Mott, a 6-8 forward/center, is in the top 10 in scoring (15.2 points per game), field goal percentage (.549) and leads the conference in rebounding (8.96 per game). Mott is the only player on this year's all-conference team who was selected last year. Brockington and Mott were the only teammates on the all-conference first team.

``They have great inside-outside balance,'' South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander said of the Eagles.

Coppin State leads the conference in scoring (78.7 points a game), field goal percentage (46) and free throw percentage (73). Defensively, Coppin State was in the middle of the pack, finishing fifth and sixth respectively in scoring (72.3 points a game) and field goal percentage (.445).

Second-seeded South Carolina State (13-13), which lost to Kansas last year 92-54 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, has hit a skid coming into the tournament. South Carolina State had won seven in a row before a four-game slide.

The Bulldogs dropped a one-point decision at North Carolina A&T on a last-second shot and followed that with an overtime defeat at Coppin State.

``Both of those emotional and draining losses took their toll,'' Alexander said.

Those two defeats were followed by a pair of blowouts but the Bulldogs finally responded with a 71-61 home victory against N.C. A&T on Saturday.

South Carolina State is led by Roderick Blakney, the conference's player of the year. The 5-foot-10 junior guard leads the conference in scoring (23.1 points a game) and averages six rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals a contest.

N.C. A&T (13-12) also comes into the tournament struggling.

The Aggies have lost four in a row and six of the last eight, including a four-point home loss to Coppin State last week.

N.C. A&T is led by Kimani Stewart, a first-team all-conference pick.

Stewart averages 14.3 points and 7.7 rebounds, shoots 56 percent from the field and has 19 blocks - finishing in the top 10 of all categories.

Of the remaining five teams in the tournament, none finished with an overall record better than .500.

Howard (21-5), the defending women's tournament champion, earned the No. 1 tournament seed by going undefeated in conference play.

The Lady Bison are led by Amanda Hayes, the women's player of the year.

Hayes, a 5-8 senior guard, averages 15 points a game and leads the conference in assists (118).

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