THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210365
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 51 lines
With some help, Norfolk State found a way to limit St. Paul's Antwain Smith's offensive production - keep him on the bench out of the game.
Smith was ejected with 2:26 left in the first half and NSU never trailed from that point en route to a 57-44 victory in the second annual Freedom Classic at the Arthur Ashe Center before a crowd of 5,036.
The Spartans (9-5, 3-2) knocked St. Paul's (9-3, 7-2) out of first place in the CIAA's Northern Division. Elizabeth City State, idle on Monday, leads St. Paul's by a half game and NSU by a full game.
``What set the tone was Tajai Young did a good job on Smith before he left the game,'' NSU coach Mike Bernard said. ``I think he got frustrated.''
Smith got tangled up with NSU players at St. Paul's offensive end throughout his time in the game. He was charged with a flagrant foul early in the first half and was hit with another against Young which led to his ejection.
``I felt heart-broken,'' Smith said of the ejection. ``I felt I let the team down.''
Smith, the conference's second-leading scorer (20.4), bombed the Spartans for 25 points in an earlier game. He scored 19 of those points in the second half of that contest but was just limited to four points on Monday.
``Norfolk State did what it had to do to win the game,'' St. Paul's coach Ed Joyner said. ``We, starting with me, let the officials take us out of the game and it carried over to my players.''
Joyner yelled and gestured at the officials throughout the contest and finally received a technical foul with 7:19 left. At that point though, NSU had already established control of the game. The Spartans opened the second half with a 10-2 run for a 37-28 lead and led by eight the remainder of the second half.
One of the keys was guard Dion Woods, who responded from Saturday's six-point effort with a game-high 21 points. Woods hit three 3-pointers but also scored by penetrating to the basket and making layups.
``Saturday we weren't able to get into the offense,'' Woods said of the 73-64 loss to ECSU. ``They had a press on us.''
Monday ``we controlled the tempo of the game. We just played hard.''
The Spartans got their usual production from forward Rodney Carmichael, who collected his fifth straight double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Still NSU had one area of weakness that was not corrected after Saturday's game - free throw shooting. NSU was 8 of 20 (40 percent). The Spartans also shot under 50 percent from the line on Saturday.
NOTES: The Spartans return home for games against Shaw Thursday night at 7:30 and Virginia State Saturday night at 7:30. After Saturday, NSU plays eight of its final nine regular-season games on the road.