Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993 TAG: 9304050076
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
DAY STAYS WITH THE BIG SHOTS
At the Final Four, Doug Day reached another final four.The Radford University bomber reached the shooting semifinals of the College Basketball Slam Dunk and 3-Point Championship on Sunday night.
Day made 20 of 50 shots - better than his 36.9 percentage behind the arc for the Highlanders in his senior season. Jackson State's Lindsey Hunter was the best marksman in the nationally televised competition on ESPN.
Fogelman Arena on the Tulane campus was jammed with spectators, including rap star Hammer, who paid $10 to see the slammers and shooters.
"I wish I could have won, but there's been nothing like this experience," Day said. "This all has been overwhelming. I can't describe what being here means to me and just meeting some of the people I've met."
Day was a last-week addition to the competition, but he wasn't complaining. He replaced Kansas guard Rex Walters, who couldn't shoot because the Jayhawks reached the NCAA Final Four.
"I was kind of upset I wasn't picked right away, but it all worked out," said Day, who is the NCAA's career leader in 3-pointers made and attempted (401 of 1,068).
The Radford guard's competition was more celebrated, as was obvious when Dick Vitale strolled past Day on the bench to talk to a couple of the shooters before they fired.
The eight men's shooters included two first-team consensus All-America choices in Indiana's Calbert Cheaney and Bobby Hurley of Duke. Both clanged their way out of the competition in the first round.
Also firing were Hunter, Cincinnati's Nick Van Exel, Allan Houston of Tennessee, Evric Gray of Nevada-Las Vegas and Lucious Harris of Long Beach State.
Each player shot as many balls as possible, up to 25, in one minute, five each from five spots around the arc. Five white bonus balls, if made, were worth two points each.
Day was the first-round leader despite making only nine of 25 shots, for 12 points. Van Exel (10 points), Gray (nine) and Hunter (nine) were the others to advance.
The Blacksburg resident improved in the semifinals to 11-of-25, but his 12 points were beaten by Hunter's 17 and Gray's 14.
Day arrived in town Thursday and will return home Tuesday. The competitors had their travel expenses paid by Intersport Television, which staged the competition. They also received a per diem and free tickets to the Final Four semifinals and championship game.
"It's been a nice way to end my career," Day said.
J.R. Rider of UNLV, who was declared ineligible in March after it was discovered a tutor had done classwork for him, won the slam-dunk contest, with Northeast Louisiana's Louis Davis the runner-up.
In the women's 3-point shooting, Russian native Anna Pavlikhina of Virginia Commonwealth and Diane Pimpton of Mississippi needed a 24-second shootout to break a tie after three rounds and 75 shots. Pimpton won.