N.C. State one stop on long road tour for N.C. Central

Eagles learning hard lesson on road

N.C. Central coach Henry Dickerson said that if his players can get through this season, they will be able to handle just about any hurdle they face in life. In its second season of Division I basketball, N.C. Central is traveling 25,344 miles for 21 road games in 14 states, including today's 7 p.m. game at N.C. State. The Eagles have scheduled seven teams from BCS conferences, including Wake Forest, South Carolina and Miami. When injuries hit on top of everything else, a dismal record became almost inevitable for N.C. Central.

The Eagles are 2-22 and ranked last among the 347 Division I men's teams in the Sagarin computer ratings through Sunday's games. NCCU was 4-26 last season. "No matter what they go through in life, this will truly prepare them," Dickerson said of his players. "It seems to me that everybody should go through it to see what it's like." N.C. Central was hurting before it even played its opener. Projected starting forwards Lamar Pittman and Dami Sapara suffered season-ending knee injuries.

In the Eagles' most recent game against Savannah State, 6-foot-9 center Stevy Worah-Ozimo broke an arm. The Eagles are a virtually guaranteed win for many of their opponents, which enrich N.C. Central's athletics budget for playing on the road without demanding a return trip. N.C. State (11-8) will pay N.C. Central $50,000 for playing at the RBC Center in Raleigh. Dickerson said players spend so much time on buses and jets that he has to cut short practice in order for them to keep up with their school work.

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Cleveland Cavaliers Sign Trey Johnson of Bakersfield Jam

NEW YORK - The Cleveland Cavaliers today signed Trey Johnson of the Bakersfield Jam, making him the seventh GATORADE Call-Up of the 2008-09 NBA Development League season and the 126th overall since the league began play in 2001. Johnson is the first member of the Jam to earn a call-up this season. Johnson, a 6-6 guard, has appeared in and started 25 games for the Jam this season where he averaged 20.1 points, 4.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 39.2 minutes. Johnson scored in double-digits 23 times this season, including three games where he scored 30 or more points.

For his efforts this season, Johnson earned the right to play in the 2009 NBA D-League All-Star game which will be held on Saturday, Feb. 14 on Center Court at NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by Adidas. Johnson will need to be active on an NBA D-League roster in order to participate.

A two-year contributor at Jackson State, Johnson averaged 27.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 35 games during his senior season (2006-07) when he was named All-SWAC Player of the Year, also earning a spot on the NABC All-NCAA District 8 1st team, and SWAC Tournament MVP honors.

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Georgetown's Gadsden- Gilliard make college pick--SCSU

One of the area's top uncommitted prospect made his college choice on the final weekend before Wednesday's National Signing Day. Georgetown standout Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard will play both football and basketball at South Carolina State, Georgetown coach Tyronne Davis said. Gadsden-Gilliard will sign a football scholarship with MEAC champion S.C. State, Davis said. The Bulldogs will allow Gadsden-Gilliard to also play basketball.

"They made him a good offer," Davis said. "Kinard really is a good football player. He can play both sports, but I think for his size, he'll be a good college football player." Gadsden-Gilliard, a 6-foot-5, 235 pounder, was the Toast of the Coast Basketball Player of the Year as a junior and was named a North-South All-Star in football as a senior. Gadsden-Gilliard will play tight end and likely forward at S.C. State.

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Former Hornet Roy Bright expected to sign with Australian Basketball League

THE Albury-Wodonga Bandits are poised to add what will be the marquee attractions for this year’s squad. The Border club is expected to announce by the end of this week the signing of US import Fernandez Lockett and possibly fellow American Roy Bright.

Lockett, a 194cm forward, averaged 10.7 points and 6.8 rebounds for Austin Peay State University last year and was the Governors’ leading rebounder during the past two seasons. Bandits coach James Madigan said Lockett was athletic and if signed, would excite fans with his explosive ability. “No one is an absolute definite right now but Lockett is the one we would like to have,” Madigan said. “I’ll be talking to the committee over the next couple of days about two imports.

“At this stage, getting some Australian NBL players is too far off. “We need to make some decisions now as the immigration process now takes a bit longer than it did before so we need to act in the next couple of days if we’re going to bring the Americans in. “One is 6-5, the other 6-6 and they can play both forward spots. Because I’m not going to bring in a whole new team, we’re going to need players who are extremely versatile.”

The other potential signing, Bright, averaged 19.1 points and 5.3 boards as a senior at Delaware State University last year. The 197cm swingman was rated highly enough to have the Philadelphia 76ers invite him to a pre-draft workout before the 2008 NBA draft. He was also the second pick in the US CBA draft by the East Kentucky Miners and has also played in the US NBDL as well as in the Dominican Republic and Latvia.

Roy Bright Highlights


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FOOTBALL RECRUITING: ASU attempts to put minds at ease about probation

Few people know more about NCAA rules than Alabama State head coach Reggie Barlow. And, oh, how he wishes he knew much less. During his two years as Hornets head coach, Barlow has picked up a career's worth of compliance and enforcement knowledge, as he's guided the football program through the longest NCAA investigation in history. While neither he nor any of his coaches or players were di­rectly involved in any rules vio­lations, Barlow was still forced to get neck deep in the process in order to quell any costly miscon­ceptions that could damage the program.

Last spring, when the NCAA issued a notice of infractions that accused the school of hun­dreds of violations, Barlow acti­vely sought out media inter­views in an attempt to explain the violations had occurred un­der a previous staff and more thanfour years earlier. Since December, when the NCAA issued its final ruling that left the program on five years probation and facing a postseason ban, Barlow has been back on a mini-lecture tour. This time though, he's doing most of his explaining in the living rooms of coveted re­cruits.

"We've been forced to put out a bunch of fires," Barlow said. "You would like to think that other (coaching staffs) wouldn't use bad information, but it's ob­viously happening. We've got a lot of questions from kids and their parents. That's perfectly fine, we expected that. But some of the questions, you know someone has been filling their heads with (bad information)."

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Tired of losing to Valley, JSU gets early lead, rides it out

Jackson State was getting tired of Mississippi Valley State. The Tigers have been picked to win the SWAC the last two seasons, and did advance to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. But, in 2008, expecting to repeat, JSU stubbed its toe on Valley. As talented as JSU was last year, Valley won both of the regular-season matchups and then rallied late to win the final one that mattered most - for the SWAC Championship and NCAA berth.

Though the Delta Devils are built around new players and a first-year coach, that didn't dim the Tiger smiles after a 64-58 victory inside the Athletics and Assembly Center on Saturday. "It's just a little bit of relief," JSU guard Darrion Griffin said. "It was a little bit too close for comfort. "(That last game was) eating at us. We think about it all the time. To get the victory against them makes us feel like we can beat any team in the conference."

Jackson State stuck to its recent blueprint for success by busting out to a 12-point lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Valley would never lead for a single second of the 40 minutes, but it also refused to get blown out. The Delta Devils chipped away at the lead and trailed 31-27 at halftime. A dribble-drive layup by Julius Cheeks cut the lead to 35-34 at the 16:05 mark, but Valley never got any closer.

Photo Gallery: Jackson State-Mississippi Valley

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Former pro has DSU rolling to the top

Delaware State's second year head bowing coach and touring professional Kim Terrell-Kearney is on the verge of building the Lady Hornets into a national bowling powerhouse. DSU is ranked No. 4 nationally ahead of defending NCAA champion Maryland-Eastern Shore, which slipped to No. 5 after placing first in the preseason poll.

DOVER, DE -- When one door slammed closed on Kim Terrell-Kearney, she quickly turned her attention to finding a new challenge. Terrell-Kearney, winner of 11 pro bowling tour titles, decided to try her hand at coaching. There she could instill in youngsters a passion for the game that she loves. The two-time U.S. Women's Open winner found out that she was pretty good at getting her lessons across and two years ago landed a job as the head coach of Delaware State University's women's bowling team. Ever since she arrived, the Hornets have soared to new heights.

Last season, she led the Hornets to a school-record 74 wins and a No. 11 ranking in the final National Tenpin Coaches Association regular-season poll. DSU also finished second in the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Championship, the best finish in team history. This year, Delaware State is ranked fourth in the nation -- an all-time high for the program -- as the Hornets travel to Laurel, Md., for the Bowie State Tournament today and Sunday.

Terrell-Kearney admits that becoming a bowling coach in Delaware was not exactly on her radar about five years ago. "I've been coaching really since [the Ladies Professional Bowling] tour folded, which has been about six years now," Terrell-Kearney said. "It's definitely different, but I like it very much. "I wanted to coach in college and there's only five full-time coaching jobs in college right now in the country. They [DSU] used to be part-time but now they made it a full-time position and I applied and there we were."

Terrell-Kearney definitely boasts a strong résumé.

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