THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411200179
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOWELL, MASS. LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Corey Williams carried Norfolk State for a half Saturday afternoon, and the 6-foot-8 forward appeared quite capable of carrying the Spartans for another 20 minutes in their season opener against Merrimack College.
But he didn't want to, and Norfolk State coach Mike Bernard didn't want him too, either.
``Coach got on us at halftime and told us Corey can't be carrying us,'' guard Marvin Stinson said. ``Corey told us, too.''
The Spartans got the message, spread the scoring around, and ran away with a 97-70 victory in front of 300 in the New England Tip-Off Weekend at UMass-Lowell.
The Spartans (1-0) will meet UMass-Lowell, a 93-71 winner over Concordia, in the tournament championship today at 3 p.m.
Norfolk State, ranked as high as second in some preseason polls, wanted a test in its first game and got one Saturday - for a half, anyway.
``They made us have to play,'' Bernard said. ``And one of the reasons we came up here was we knew we'd be tested.''
Merrimack tossed in five 3-pointers in the first half and led, 34-28, with 4:38 left. Norfolk State was impatient on offense and lax on defense, as the Warriors also scored nine fast-break baskets.
Then Williams scored 10 straight points, six on consecutive 3-pointers, as the Spartans went on a 14-0 run to take the lead for good.
Williams, picked by several magazines as the preseason Division II player of the year, had 22 in the first half, 27 for the game.
``I felt like everybody was in a slump the first half,'' he said. ``So I picked up the slack a little bit.''
Norfolk State clung to a five-point lead at halftime. In the second half, the Spartans turned up their defensive intensity, and began putting hands in the faces of Merrimack's 3-point shooters.
Merrimack, 5-of-13 from behind the line in the first half, was just 2-of-13 in the second half.
The Spartans began running and Merrimack was done. Norfolk State opened the second half with a 29-11 burst. Forward Derrick Bryant scored 12 of his 20 points in it.
``Talent took over,'' Merrimack coach Bert Hammell said. ``I looked at the first half and said: `Hey, good.' Then I told our guys that good teams are going to come out and turn it up a notch.''
The Spartans turned it up several, and weaned themselves from their Williams dependency. Bryant had 15 second-half points, while Stinson and fellow guard Carnell Penn had 10 each. Penn finished with 14, Stinson 13.
Merrimack (0-1) used a three-guard offense, and got 23 points from Mike Goines and 16 from Daren Alix. The pair hit six 3-pointers. But the Warriors were outrebounded, 53-33, and shot just 29 percent in the second half.
Still, Merrimack had enough talent to make it interesting.
``They gave us a little outside, a little inside,'' Newborn said. ``It was no pushover game.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Merrimack's Mike Goines drives between Spartan defenders.
by CNB