THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240705
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
After playing the late game Wednesday night, the Norfolk State Spartans had about enough time to unwind, get a good night's rest and grab a little brunch before they had to be back on the court at the CIAA tournament Wednesday afternoon.
An ideal schedule, it turns out. The Spartans, raising their level of play a notch, put together two strong halves and dumped Shaw, 83-62, to advance to the conference semifinals in front of 6,169 in the Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
Norfolk State (23-4) will play Virginia State (16-12) at 7 tonight in a game that will be televised live on both Home Team Sports and WAVY. Virginia State upset Johnson C. Smith, 78-73, Thursday night.
``It's a challenge for the guys, playing two games about 16 hours apart,'' Norfolk State coach Mike Bernard said. ``But it keeps them on track. This team needs to play to stay focused.''
The Spartans finished off Livingstone, 84-71, about 11 p.m. Wednesday and had a 3 p.m. tipoff Thursday.
``It didn't matter,'' reserve center Matthew Thompson said. ``We just want to play. Even if we had to play at 9 in the morning.''
The way the Spartans played Thursday, Shaw (19-8) couldn't have beaten them at any hour. Determined to shut down Shaw's perimeter game, the Spartans ran at the Bears' outside shooters, who missed 26 of 29 3-point attempts.
``We normally shoot a pretty good percentage from 3-point range,'' Shaw coach Keith Walker said. ``All the credit goes to Norfolk State.''
The Bears usually shoot 36 percent from behind the arc. Thursday, they shot just 10 percent from long range, 31 percent overall.
``We knew if we could take that part of their game away, it would be very detrimental to their offense,'' Norfolk State's Derrick Bryant said.
Bryant was pretty detrimental to Shaw himself, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Corey Williams had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Blitz Wooten had 10 and 12.
``We're the No. 1 rebounding team in the conference,'' Bryant said. ``They're No. 2. I took that as a challenge.''
The Spartans' bench also took up Bernard's challenge to play better after a lackluster performance against Livingstone. The subs, led by Thompson and Rodney Carmichael, were able to continue what the starters began.
Wednesday, the starters built a big lead only to watch the bench give most of it back.
Thompson, a 6-foot-9 junior, gave Norfolk State a lift with seven points and seven rebounds. Carmichael had five points and nine boards as Norfolk State outrebounded the Bears, 62-44.
The Spartans trailed, 12-10, early but grabbed control with 11 minutes to go in the first half and never let go.
Defense kept Norfolk State in the game early. The Spartans shot just 38 percent in the first half but held Shaw to 29 percent, and took a 33-22 halftime lead.
``I can't remember the last time this team has been held to 22 points in a half,'' Walker said.
Norfolk State's shots began to find the mark in the second half as the Spartans began running. Many of their fastbreak baskets were the result of long 3-point misses by Shaw.
``Any time you dictate the tempo with defense and rebounding, you have a good chance of winning,'' Bernard said. ``This is the kind of ballgame we're going to have to play if we're going to win (tonight) and get in the finals.''
Norfolk State went to the final last season, losing to Virginia Union, 93-79. The Spartans last won the tournament in 1991. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff [color photo]
Maurice Whitfield helps fire up the Spartans, who took a 33-22
halftime lead and never looked back. Whitfield had four assists and
six points as NSU advanced to the CIAA semifinals.
by CNB