Showing posts with label 2008 MEAC Basketball Tournament Champions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008 MEAC Basketball Tournament Champions. Show all posts

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Bulldogs Rally to Claim 58-57 Victory over Bethune-Cookman

Courtesy: CitadelSports.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel Bulldogs rallied from as many as 15 down to claim a 58-57 victory over the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats Saturday night. Demetrius Nelson and Cameron Wells recorded double-figures for the Bulldogs with 18 and 10 points, respectively. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Wildcats, 29-22 with 18 of their rebounds coming in the second half. Not only diCourtesy: CitadelSports.comd the Bulldogs win the battle on the boards, but their bench outscored the Wildcats, 17-7. Bethune-Cookman was in control for most of the game.

“We were able to get stops, therefore, we didn’t have to go against their press as much,” said Head Coach Ed Conroy. “We were able to get into more of a rhythm and it was easier to look for things that we really wanted to, which was Demetrius Nelson inside. It all started on our defensive end. Our guys did a good job there with the intensity and communication, which led to us executing and getting the ball to Demetrius.”

On offense, the Bulldogs shot 47.9 percent from the field and 25 percent from the 3-point line. The Citadel continued to dominate from the foul line, shooting 63.6 percent. Bethune-Cookman shot 50 percent from the field and from behind the arc, and shot 60 percent from the foul line.

Bethune-Cookman scored the first four points of the game to take an early 4-0 lead on the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs scored their first basket of the game at 18:30 after a layup by Nelson. The first half was a back-and-forth battle for both teams with four tie scores and four lead changes. The Wildcats managed to stay in control going into halftime after they scored seven of the last nine baskets in the half. Bethune-Cookman claimed a 12-point lead at the end of the half after Alexander Starling nailed a 3-pointer to close the half.

Austin Dahn led the Bulldogs in scoring in the first half with six points, followed by Nelson with five points. Bethune-Cookman had two players in double-figures in the first half with C.J. Reed leading with 14 points. Starling recorded 10 points.

The second half opened with the Wildcats taking a 15-point lead after Jerry Jones converted a three-point play. Bethune-Cookman wouldn’t stay in control for very long as the Bulldogs continued to chip at the lead. With 15:19 on the clock, the Bulldogs cut the lead to five after Wells nailed two free throws. With 13:51, Wells hit a basket to cut the Wildcat lead to three, getting the Bulldogs within reach of a lead. The Bulldogs were able to get within one after Streeter hit a layup, making the game 45-44. Nelson followed with a layup to give the Bulldogs a one-point advantage. The Wildcats refused to go away with three tie scores and five lead changes.

A layup by Nelson with 3:48 would seal the deal and give the Bulldogs a permanent lead, putting them up, 54-52. The Citadel managed to get up by as many as five after Wells hit a jumper to put the Bulldogs up, 58-53. The Wildcats continued to battle, cutting the lead to three after back-to-back free throws by John Holmes. Reed was able to get the Wildcats within one with six seconds on the clock after he scored a layup. A quick foul would put Wells on the line for a 1-in-1. A missed foul shot gave the Wildcats one last chance to take the game. Reed shot a 14-footer that rolled off the rim to give the Bulldogs a 58-57 victory.

The Bulldogs had only four turnovers in the second half and forced five turnovers against the Wildcats. They shot 56 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the line, which was much improved from the first half. The Bulldog defense held Reed to nine second half points and only allowed Starling to score four points in the second half. Reed finished with 23 points, while Starling collected 14. The Wildcats drop to 6-7 on the season, while the Bulldogs improve to 6-7, tying their winning record from last season with six wins.

“This is an excellent basketball team,” added Conroy. “They are very well coached and they made us pay.”

Box Score

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Hampton U. picks up basketball transfer

Photo: George DeGrout, #31 averaged 19.03 ppg, 10.52 rpg, 1.27 apg, 1.14 steals while shooting 62 percent from the floor for Allegany College of Maryland.

A former star forward at Norcom High School commits to Hampton University's men's basketball team.

George DeGroat, a former standout at Norcom High in Portsmouth, has given a commitment to Hampton University's men's basketball team.

The 6-foot-5 forward has played the past two seasons at Allegany Community College in Maryland, and prior to that spent a year at Genesis One Christian School in Mendenhall, Miss. He averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds this past season.

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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Maryland survives against Coppin State

Photo: Coppin State University head coach Derek Brown watches action as the Lady Eagles gives the Terps all they could handle in NCAA Tournament game. CSU ends season at 22-12.

Rashida Suber scored 25 points and Shalamar Oakley had 20 for Coppin State, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions.

COLLEGE PARK, MD - The silence in the arena was as telling as the numbers on the scoreboard.

Playing at home against unheralded Coppin State, Maryland found itself locked in a duel with historic ramifications. Only once had a No. 1 seed lost in the opening round, and with 17 minutes left in the game, the mighty Terrapins were in danger of becoming the second such victim.

Maryland finally pulled away to an 80-66 victory Sunday, but the performance was uninspired, unimpressive and hardly worthy of a team that spent the entire season ranked in the top five.

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Short trip, rough road for Coppin State Lady Eagles

Photo: Coppin State 2008 MEAC Tournament Champions.

Not getting to travel bothers team more than magnitude of task vs. Terps

In the end, it didn't matter that the Coppin State women's team won its third Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title in four years, that it won 16 of its past 17 games or that it has one of the slickest backcourts in mid-major basketball.

The NCAA sentenced the 22-10 Eagles to a No. 16 seed in the Division I tournament and sent them down Interstate 95 to College Park for a Sunday afternoon, first-round matchup against top-seeded Maryland in the Spokane Regional.

Assembled in a large upstairs room in the school's cafeteria for the ESPN selection show, the Eagles let out a whoosh of disbelief, then clapped at the proceedings.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

After the thrill, into lion's den--Coppin State

Photo: CSU Coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell team becomes the first team with 20 losses to make the NCAA tournament.

Coppin-Mount St. Mary's winner plays North Carolina

Baltimore rippled with the excitement of March Madness last night when the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament bracket was unveiled. The shudder of reality will come later.

For Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's, two teams that beat the odds to reach the 65-team tournament, reality is a date in Dayton, Ohio, tomorrow night in a play-in game out of the East Regional.

Then there is this: Coppin (16-20) and Mount St. Mary's (18-14) are playing for the right to play North Carolina, the top-seeded team in the tournament, in a first-round game on Friday at Raleigh.

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