THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190587
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: 46 lines
Two straight close road losses forced Norfolk State to take care of business early and often Tuesday night.
The Spartans took an 18-point halftime lead and never looked back on the way to an 86-49 victory over Johnson C. Smith before 1,781 at Brayboy Gymnasium.
NSU (16-8, 11-5 CIAA), which snapped a two-game skid, ends the regular season with Saturday's 7:30 p.m. game at N.C. Central before going on to the CIAA tournament in Winston-Salem next week.
``They say you learn something from a loss and we learned a whole lot after Saturday night,'' guard Maurice Whitfield, who had 13 points and nine rebounds, said of the 76-73 loss to Elizabeth City State.
After dropping consecutive nailbiters, the Spartans enjoyed an opportunity to coast. The victory marked the most points NSU has scored this season and the team's largest margin of victory.
``This is undoubtedly the most complete game on both ends of the floor for 40 minutes,'' Spartans coach Mike Bernard said.
The Spartans shot 61 percent (20 of 33) from the field while limiting the Golden Bulls to 33 percent (8 for 24). Nearly half of the Spartans first-half offense came from leading scorer Rodney Carmichael.
Carmichael, averaging 18.6 going in, scored 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting before intermission. He scored six straight points to give NSU an 8-4 lead and and scored eight of the team's nine points later in the half for a 39-17 lead.
``The last two games, I felt I may have been forcing it a bit,'' said Carmichael, who finished with 29. ``I just wanted to get as many easy baskets as possible.''
In between a pair of Carmichael bursts, Tajai Young, who had 14 points, put on his own exhibition for the Spartans. Young hit a 3-pointer and then consecutive layups to give NSU the lead for good 17-12.
Just barely over a minute into the second half, Whitfield tossed a pass from halfcourt and hit Carmichael for an alley-oop.
``He's been saying I don't jump as high as I used to,'' Carmichael said of Whitfield, referring to their days as opponents in junior college. ``Maybe now, he'll throw it to me a little bit more.''
In another possession, Maurice Howell lost the ball during a layup attempt with no defenders around. However, teammate Greg Jones was right there - picking up the ball out of and finishing the layup.