Ram Ramblings: Basketball in October, say it ain't so

Winston Salem, North Carolina -- It’s hard to believe that in the middle of football season I went to go see a basketball game tonight at the Gaines Center. But that’s the nature of college athletics these days with plenty of over lapping. The reason I went to the Gaines Center was to see the new-look WSSU men’s team.

The men played in a Red-White scrimmage which will be their only tune-up before the opener on Nov. 13 at home against Talladega College.

I don’t know what I expected to see but my first impression is the Rams are a lot smaller than in years past. Last season they had four players who were 6-8 or taller and that included the 6-9 Paul Davis and the 6-10 Corey Morris.

The experienced Rams of last season went 19-8 and won the Southern Division but lost in their first round of the CIAA Tournament and the first round of the NCAA playoffs is a distant memory.

READ MORE

Winston-Salem subdues Brevard

Winston-Salem State took a break from its CIAA schedule Monday night but couldn't completely coast against Brevard at the Gaines Center.

The Rams (13-3) had their inside game working and hit enough from the outside to carve out a 77-64 victory. It was their third game in five days, but they showed no signs of fatigue.

"It was a hard game, and it's hard just playing a team that's not in your conference," said center Paul Davis, who finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. "It was a different style of play, and they aren't as fast as most CIAA teams, but they shoot the ball really well…. We played a good team tonight."

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

WSSU Rams' Davis thinking NBA Draft

Paul Davis, a 6-9 junior center at Winston-Salem State, has decided to put his name into the NBA Draft but has not hired an agent. Davis, who was named to the All-Independent second team last season, led the Rams in scoring at 10.9 points and rebounding at 7.8 a game. Davis, who was one of the Coach Bobby Collins' top recruits, was a three-year starter who shot a team-leading 58 percent from the field last season. Of his 129 made field goals, 42 of them were dunks. He also had 50 blocks last season and is the all-time leader in school history. Davis, from Clio, S.C., is hoping to get a chance to work out for NBA scouts in the next three weeks.

READ MORE, CLICK TITLE.

Winston-Salem State to start basketball practice this week

Senior forward Jamal Durham, 6-6/215, Winston - Salem, N.C./North Davidson High School.

Rams preparing to play in Bahamas tournament at the end of the month

Winston-Salem State's young basketball team will get a head start this year by opening practice Wednesday. WSSU is taking advantage of an NCAA rule that permits a school to play in an early tournament once every four years. The Rams will have what amounts to 10 extra practices and then play two games at the end of this month in the Bahamas.

Coach Bobby Collins, who will be in his third season with the Rams, said: "I think this is great because we'll be able to bring them all together, and we'll see what we have real early." The official opening day for other college programs is Oct. 15. The Rams will open practice Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Gaines Center, and then have nine more practices before leaving for the Bahamas on Aug. 29. They will play two exhibition games and then return to campus on Sept. 1. Collins said that his team won't miss any classes.

CONTINUE READING,CLICK BLOG TITLE.

WSSU Rams 2008/09 Men's Basketball Schedule

Aug 29-31- Tournament in Nassau, Bahamas

Nov 14 - at Georgia Tech
Nov 18 -at Eastern Kentucky
Nov 24 Wake Forest
Nov 27-30 at Illinois State Tournament (Normal, Ill.)

Dec 6 at S.C. State
Dec 13 at N.C. State
Dec 18 at N.C. Central
Dec 30 Averett
Dec 31 at Old Dominion

Jan 5 Columbia Union
Jan 10 at Maryland Eastern Shore
Jan 12 at Delaware State
Jan 17 at Howard
Jan 19 at Hampton
Jan 24 N.C. A&T
Jan 26 Norfolk State
Jan 31 at Florida A&M

Feb 2 at Bethune-Cookman
Feb 7 Morgan State
Feb 9 Coppin State
Feb 11 N.C. Central
Feb 14 Howard
Feb 16 Hampton
Feb 21 at N.C. A&T
Feb 28 Florida A&M

Mar 2 Bethune-Cookman
Mar 5 S.C. State
Mar 14 N.C. Central (MEAC Tournament game at Joel Coliseum)

WSSU's Darrell Wonge signs to play basketball in Japan

Darrell Wonge, a former forward at Winston-Salem State, has signed a professional contract to play for the Tsusho Toyota Eagles in Nagoya, Japan.

Click here to view team and Japan Basketball League: Tsusho Toyota Fighting Eagles

Wonge (6-6, 210) was noticed at a showcase for players from major and mid-major schools. The Fighting Eagles play in the JBL2 League and finished 14-2 last season. “I’m just happy that I got the opportunity to live out my dream of playing professional basketball,” Wonge said. “It was nerve-wracking at first especially after a number of other opportunities fell through, but I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I’ve received.”

At WSSU, Wonge had career totals of 845 points, 408 rebounds, 89 assists and 74 steals. He averaged a career-best 10.7 points and had a career-high 150 rebounds last season as a senior.

His best game was when he scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting as Winston Salem State University dropped a close one to Hampton University, 64-62, on January 21, 2008. Wonge played high school ball at Malverne High School, Lakeview, New York.

He is the second former Ram to sign a professional sports contract at the upper division level in as many months with former WSSU defensive end William Hayes signing with the NFL Tennessee Titans in July. Wonge will depart for Japan on September 1, 2008.

Follow Darrell Wonge's team and career at: Tsusho Toyota Fighting Eagles .

N.C. A&T cruises past WSSU 75-56

Photo: 5-11/170 senior guard Steven Rush was unstoppable hitting for 23 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist over rival WSSU Rams.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The renewed rivalry between Winston-Salem State and N.C. A&T was a “Rush” yesterday. Guard Steven Rush grabbed the game by the throat early, scoring 23 points as the Aggies raced to a rather easy 75-56 victory.

After a wait of 10 years since the schools last played, officials had to turn people away at the door, but nearly 5,900 still squeezed into jam-packed Corbett Center, which holds about 5,700. “I was ready for this,” said Rush, who hit five of his first seven shots, all 3-pointers, to get the Aggies going in the right direction. Coach Bobby Collins of the WSSU Rams (7-10) tried four different players to slow down Rush, a chemistry major with a 3.6 grade-point average.

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE AND BOX SCORE BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

For a sellout of Corbett Center of 5,900, we wouldn't hesitate to schedule WSSU for NBA format best of five games series in 2008/09 between the two schools. Just give the fans the games they want to see. This is the game we like to see--where you turn away folks at the gate with a full house.

Game Attendance Men: 5,834 at Irvin-Corbett Court.
Game Attendance Women: Record crowd of 3,813 at Irvin-Corbett Court.

-beepbeep

WSSU glad NCA&T rivalry being revived

Photo: Darrell Wonge, 6-6/210 forward, Malverne H.S., Lakeview, New York.

Senior forward Darrell Wonge is playing his best basketball at the right time and will have to be at his best again to help Winston-Salem State defeat rival N.C. A&T today. Tipoff will be at 4 p.m. at the Corbett Center in Greensboro.

“I heard a lot about the rivalry, and I was at both of the football games when we played A&T the last two years,” said Wonge, who scored a career-high 30 points Monday in a 64-62 loss to Hampton. “I like it. It feels like a Carolina-Duke thing, only a smaller version.”

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY BY CLICKING ON THE BLOG TITLE.

Saturday's contest will mark the first contest between the two teams in 10 years as the last meeting between the two storied programs came during the 1997-98 season in a contest that the Aggies won in Winston-Salem, NC by the score of 68-66. The two teams are no stranger to one another as they played annually during the late 80's and early 90's. The Rams will meet the Aggies on Saturday for the first time as a Division I program.

The Rams and Aggies have met 63 times in history with the all-time series slanted in favor of the Rams 35-28.

-beepbeep

Trash talking gets Winston Salem State rammed

Photo: Mr. Michael Beasley, 6-foot-10 Forward - Kansas State University; hometown: Washington, D.C.

If "Michael Beasley: The Movie" should come to a theater near you, this particular scene surely will be included.

Walking off the floor after a relatively lackluster first half, the 6-foot-10 Kansas State freshman is the object of some ill-advised trash talk from an opposing player, the Rams' Jamal Durham. He responds by thrashing hapless Winston-Salem State in every way imaginable, scoring 24 points in roughly eight minutes and rattling off 16 straight points for the Wildcats.

At one point, he snares a rebound and dribbles coast-to-coast for a layup and foul. Later, he rips a loose ball from a pack of players and drops it in the basket. The grand finale consists of back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers.

Thing is, it all happened. Beasley scored 40 points and had 15 rebounds in Saturday's 90-48 win against Winston-Salem State, 28 coming after the Rams' Jamal Durham uttered the now-infamous words "Beasley who?"

CONTINUE READING ARTICLE BY CLICKING BLOG TITLE ABOVE

WSSU women's basketball team has influx of new players

Photo: WSSU Head Women's Basketball Coach Dee Stokes
http://www.coachdeestokes.com/

By John Dell, JOURNAL REPORTER and staff reports

Stokes, staff welcome nine fresh faces as Rams' practice starts

Dee Stokes, the coach of the Winston-Salem State women’s basketball team, has wasted little time assembling a team of her own recruits.

Stokes, whose team will begin practice Saturday, has nine new players thanks to one of the largest recruiting classes in the country.

“We actually signed 10 players, but we lost one of them to academics,” said Stokes, whose first WSSU team went 8-21 last season.

“We’ve got eight freshmen and one junior-college player among all the new players.”

The only returning player is guard Keoshia Worthy, a senior from Augusta, Ga., who averaged 6.2 points a game last season.

“I’m a lot more excited,” Stokes said of her second season at WSSU. “We’ve got our own players in now, and the kids have been hitting their preseason conditioning pretty well.”

Stokes’ new team will be on display tonight at 5:30 at the Gaines Center as part of Ram Madness, when both the men’s and women’s teams will officially begin practice.

Three players graduated, two others were cut, one transferred and another player quit. This opened several scholarships, and Stokes and her assistants went into action.

“We are a young team, but hopefully we’ll be energetic,” Stokes said. “When you teach them something new they are like sponges, they just soak it up. That’s one benefit of having such a young team.”

Among the players who might make the biggest impact, according to Stokes, is 5-8 guard Patrice Wade, a junior-college transfer. She will give the Rams needed experience after one season at Arkansas Little-Rock and at a junior-college last season.

Nora Campbell, 6-2 is expected to help the Rams in the post. But she was involved in a car accident last summer, according to Stokes, so it will take time for her to be 100 percent.

“Once she gets back and is totally healthy, I think she can do some nice things for us,” Stokes said.

Stokes says that the Rams needed to improve in the frontcourt.

She said that freshman Vontisha Woods, a 6-0 forward from Danville, Va., should help Campbell.

“If we can get her to play hard every second, then she’ll be something else,” Stokes said. “She can score and is very athletic.”

Among the other new players are Rene Rector, a 5-6 point guard from Winston-Salem who is a former star at Mount Tabor, and forward Nikki Kee, who played at Greensboro Dudley.

“Teaching young kids in a way is a little easier,” Stokes said.

“They may have some bad habits but we are trying to change those habits.”

Despite the youth of her team, Stokes has high expectations.

“We are bigger at the guard position, and we really had to be,” Stokes said. “We are still a little lean in the post, but we’ll be OK. We’ll address that in the next recruiting class.”

The Rams will play a full MEAC schedule and a challenging nonconference schedule starting with a road game at Virginia Tech on Nov. 14.

“I think staying healthy and not hitting the wall too early will be key for us,” Stokes said. “You are going to hit the wall with young kids, so how I handle that will be important as well. You have to back off some when that happens.”

Photo: WSSU cheerleaders expression shows displeasure towards 8-21 record of last season. Major improvements are expected this season for the Lady Rams.






2007-08 Lady Rams Basketball Roster

No. Name Ht. Pos. Cl. Hometown/Last School

03 Jalesa Byrd 5-10 Guard/Forward FR Charlotte, NC/Myers Park HS
11 Nikki Kee 5-8 Forward FR Greensboro, NC/Dudley HS
13 Nora Campbell 6-2 Center FR Long Island, NY/St. Anthony's HS
14 Corbin Bradford 5-7 Guard FR High Point, NC/High Point Andrews HS
15 Keoshia Worthy 5-7 Guard SR Augusta, GA/USC Upstate
20 Quintoya Mobley 5-11 Forward FR York, SC/York HS
21 Montague Austin 5-6 Guard FR Greensboro, NC/Dudley HS
22 Rene Rector 5-6 Guard FR Winston-Salem, NC/Mount Tabor HS
23 Patrice Wade 5-8 Guard JR Clarksville, TN/Chattanooga State
34 Vontisha Woods 6-0 Forward/Center FR Danville, VA/George Washington HS

Coaching Staff

Dee Stokes - Head Coach
Michelle Fortier - Assistant Coach
Kristina Baugh - Assistant Coach
Angie Abraham - Assistant Coach

WSSU Rams get good news about Morris

WSSU has recruited size for this upcoming season.

Center has been cleared to play by NCAA with basketball practice about to begin

By John Dell, JOURNAL REPORTER

Coach Bobby Collins of Winston-Salem State let out a big sigh of relief last week when the NCAA Clearinghouse gave the OK for center Corey Morris.

Morris, a 6-10, 255-pound center from Elizabeth City, had been waiting for the Clearinghouse to make its decision. It came down to one class from his senior year at Northeastern High School.

"I'm excited that this got cleared up," Morris said last week. "Now that I know I'll be out there, I can't wait for practice to begin."

The new-look Rams will begin practice Oct. 12. Of the six players that Collins brought in, three are 6-8 or taller.

Morris is the tallest, followed by post players Paul Davis (6-9) and McIntoche Alcius (6-8).

In Collins' first season, the Rams had one post player, but at 6-5, Jamal Durham was undersized. With the added height, Durham can move over to his more natural position at forward.

"Last year, I was posting up guys who were 6-4 or 6-5, and this year I'll have guys who are posting up 6-9 or 6-10," Collins said. "And that's going to give us a totally different look. This will allow us to do things that I've had in the past because I've always had a big man in the middle."

With returning player Julian Murphy-Long, a 6-9 walk-on, the Rams will have four players who are 6-8 or taller, which might be a first at WSSU.

Last season, the Rams suffered through the school's worst record (5-24). What made it worse was that the Rams played just five home games, although they made about $500,000 for playing some big-name programs on the road.

"We've got 14 home games this year, and that's going to bring a new flavor to us," Collins said. "Last year, in having 25 road games, we were fighting an uphill battle from the beginning. We weren't playing the school for the blind, either - we were playing teams like Georgetown and Georgia Tech."

Playing a balanced schedule and a full MEAC schedule should make things a lot easier for the Rams. They won't be eligible for the MEAC title until the 2010-11 season, but at least they are on more of a level playing field compared to last season. Another difference is that the Rams are scheduled to play all 14 home games at either Joel Coliseum or the Annex. However, because of the new pro hockey team playing at the Annex, two or three games could be moved to the Gaines Center.

Both the men's and women's team will open practice with a "Ram Madness" at 7 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the Gaines Center.

"We're excited about the first day of practice coming up," Collins said. "We are very young but very talented. We'll have a much different look than we had last year.… It's going to be a different kind of year."