Rams to be host to MEAC party they can't enjoy

Imagine having a party in your own backyard and being unable to get closer than a look through the sliding-glass door. That's the situation Winston-Salem State is in as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournaments roll into Joel Coliseum this week. WSSU is still in transition to Division I, and if it decides to stay on that path, it would be eligible for the tournament in 2011. Nobody said that the transition would be easy, but men's coach Bobby Collins said that having the tournament here makes it tougher on his Rams.

"That's what has made it worse is everybody is coming here for the tournament, and we can't be there to compete in it," Collins said. "We are hosting and are the home team, and it's now hitting home that we aren't invited." At least the WSSU men's team will get to play -- it will meet N.C. Central in a bonus game on Saturday between the women's and men's championship games. But that's just an exhibition to try to draw more fans to Joel Coliseum for the title games.

"It's a party we can't come to, but we are going to crash the party anyway," Collins said, referring to the game against N.C. Central. Adding to the disappointment for the Rams is that WSSU has spring break this week, so friends of players are taking vacations far from campus. The Rams will practice most of the week, and some will venture to Joel Coliseum to watch, said guard Brian Fisher. "We'll sit in the stands and maybe heckle some of the players," Fisher said jokingly. "Nobody wants to just watch, but that's what we'll do until the game with N.C. Central on Saturday."

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FAMU's Ammons believes in Hayes

Entrance to FAMU new on-campus teaching gym will be opened in time to host Spring Graduation with a seating capacity over 9,000 seats.

Through the negotiations that resulted in Bill Hayes being hired as athletic director, Florida A&M President James Ammons knew his choice would be second-guessed. More than anything else, Ammons expected Hayes' years of competing against the Rattlers as a football coach from North Carolina A&T would be an issue. But Ammons could empathize.

When Hayes was athletic director at his alma mater, North Carolina Central, Ammons served as chancellor. Back then, Ammons got an earful about his ties to FAMU, where he had a previous tenure as provost and professor.

Now it's Hayes' turn and he's getting some resistance as FAMU faces tough economic times with a $4.2 million deficit. Ammons said Hayes is the right man to fix financial woes and recently gave him a vote of confidence during an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. Hayes took over a situation at FAMU that is similar to what he met at NCCU before turning the Eagles into a championship program. He was named Athletic Director of the Year by the the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) the last two years before he came to FAMU.

Florida A & M University President James Ammons, left, presents Eugene Harris a FAMU cap after naming Harris as the new men's head basketball coach on September 20, 2007, in Tallahassee, Florida. Hayes, Harris and Ammons have the gargantuan task of filling 9,000 seats in the new multi-purpose teaching gym due to open next season for Rattler basketball.

Hayes was hired 15 months ago with a three-year contract that pays him an annual salary of $175,000. He spent four years as athletic director at NCCU before coming to FAMU. During his 27 years as football coach at Winston-Salem State and North Carolina A&T, he coached the football teams to multiple championships.

FAMU athletic director William "Bill" Hayes

"Nobody is going to work as hard for Florida A&M athletics as Coach Hayes," Ammons said. "I have the utmost confidence in his ability to get this job done. I would hope that there is nobody out there among the alumni that's questioning my commitment to Florida A&M because he wouldn't be here if I didn't think he could do the best job that I want done."

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Prairie View tops Southern University Lady Jaguars

PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS — Prairie View avenged its only Southwestern Athletic Conference loss of the season by holding off the Southern women’s basketball team 59-51 Saturday night at the William J. Nicks Building. Dominique Smith scored 17 points and Candice Thomas added 15 points, seven rebounds and five steals to lead PV (20-10, 17-1), which has won its third straight SWAC regular-season title, all under former WNBA superstar Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.

The Lady Panthers have won 16 straight games, all since losing 63-58 on Jan. 5 in Baton Rouge. Gaati Werema added 10 points and 10 rebounds and Shondria Combs 11 points. Deidra Jackson scored 17 points and had seven rebounds and three steals to lead SU (14-12, 11-7). Ashley Augerson added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Jamie Floyd had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Lady Panthers Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is poised for a breakout post-season in the SWAC and NCAA Tournaments.

“I was really pleased with the kids’ effort,” SU coach Sandy Pugh said. “I thought they played really hard.” PV scored the game’s first 11 points, holding Southern scoreless for nearly four minutes to start the game. SU recovered and eventually led 35-33 after Jackson made a pair of free throws with 14:35 remaining in the game. “I think they were in a tentative mode, and then Deidra took over,” Pugh said. “They made some stops, and their confidence got up.”

“We couldn’t get the stop at the other end,” Pugh said. “We were tired. … We gave it all we had. “Prairie View is solid, playing at the top of its game. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

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B-CU holds off Michigan State

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Ryan Durrence's three-run homer highlighted an eight-run third inning and Bethune-Cookman hung on to defeat Michigan State 11-9 Saturday night in the Bethune-Cookman Invitational at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. "Sometimes you've got to tip your hat to your opponent," B-CU coach Mervyl Melendez said of Michigan State (1-8), which battled back from a 10-3 deficit. "They never gave up and they kept the ball in play."

It was Durrence's second homer in two nights. He also hit a three-run shot Friday night against Xavier. B-CU's Eric Thomas (1-2) earned his first win of the season, although he allowed seven runs in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked two and gave up eight hits. Justin Dahl stranded two baserunners in the ninth to earn his third save.

"I thought (Thomas) did a good job," Melendez said. "Our mentality when we're up by that many runs is to attack the hitters. I thought he commanded the strike zone. He threw hard." The Spartans scored five runs in the seventh against three B-CU pitchers, but the key hits were a bad-hop single and a misjudged fly in center field that fell for an RBI double. Atlantic High grad Chris Brown smacked two RBI doubles for B-CU (7-5). Leadoff batter Jose Ortiz scored three runs on two walks and a double. He scored twice in the decisive third inning.

"I'm very happy with the way we're hitting so far this season," Melendez said. "It's a long season, and we're counting on a lot of guys, and they're coming through for us." The Wildcats sent 12 men to the plate in the third. Durrence hit a towering three-run shot over the left-field fence, while Alejandro Jimenez had an RBI single and Brown ripped his second RBI double of the game.

B-CU 11, Michigan State 9, Final Box Score
Invitational Tournament Central Link - All Game Scores/Highlights

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On a Mission: Aggie women want in NCAA Tournament

The rising tide that is the N.C. A&T women's program has continued under the patient guidance of Coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. The Aggies, seeded No. 1 for this week's MEAC Tournament, are favorites because everything seems to be pointing in their direction. They have talent galore, senior leaders in Amber Bland and Brittanie Taylor-James, a veteran coach who has been to the NCAA Tournament six times and a pseudo homecourt advantage.

"It's been a tough one," Cage-Bibbs said about the steady rise of her program. "We have just been truly blessed getting these players here who were highly-recruited. People don't really realize it's not automatic because you don't know from Day 1 if one kid might go out or whatever."

Patricia Cage-Bibbs’ Aggies are the No. 1 seed in this week’s MEAC Tournament.

Cage-Bibbs, who is in her fourth season at A&T after stops at Grambling and Hampton, shook up the program pretty well when she was first hired. She got rid of most of the returning players and hit the recruiting trail hard. This season has been one of her best. Earlier this season, she collected her 400th career win. Her six NCAA appearances came at Grambling and Hampton, and in 23 seasons of coaching, Cage-Bibbs has had just four teams finish with losing records.

The Aggies fell short of the NCAA Tournament last season, losing in the MEAC final to Coppin State. Bland, who is the second-leading scorer in school history with more than 1,500 points, says that getting to the NCAA Tournament is something the players have talked about all season. "Seeing how we had a letdown last year losing in the tournament championship game, we all came back with one mission and that's to go forward," Bland said. "Now we want to go to the NCAA Tournament and to do that we have to win the MEAC Tournament, so we want to get that respect from our league."

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Grambling State stockpile top quarterback recruits

Efferlan Williams is hoping to bring the same success he had during his brief time at Greer High to Grambling State University. Williams, Greenville County's player of the year during the only season he played for the Yellow Jackets, has signed a national letter of intent with Grambling. Williams transferred in from Maryland during his junior year and played for the Jackets as a senior. He rushed for 1,844 yards and passed for 734 yards and led Greer to a 10-2 record and the Region 3-AAA championship.

"Efferlan made a huge impact in regards to our offensive production," Greer coach Will Young said. "His ability to throw the ball well and, of course, run the ball made us multi-dimensional."

Efferlan Williams Sr. said North Greenville, Livingstone and North Carolina A&T showed interest in his son, but Grambling was the best fit. "Efferlan could play a number of positions, but his heart was set on playing quarterback, and we told him we wanted him to be happy and play the position where he wants to play," Efferlan Sr. said.

Greer, S.C. QB (#7) Efferlan Williams signs with Grambling State

"At first, there were a lot of smaller schools that were looking at me. I tried to wait it out. Grambling was the last one, and I liked what they had to offer," the younger Williams said. "I like their tradition. They run a similar offense to what we ran. When I came to Greer, I liked the type of offense that we ran."

Tarpon Springs High School (Florida) quarterback Danny Reyes will be continuing his football career at Grambling State University, said Spongers head coach George Kotis. The senior signed his letter of intent on February 20. Reyes led the explosive Spongers offense to the regional quarterfinals this season by throwing for over 2,400 yards and completing 61.6 percent of his attempts. According to stats compiled by maxpreps.com, Reyes threw for the second highest amount of yardage of all Tampa Bay area quaterbacks in 2008.

Reyes and Williams will join incoming Tigers freshmen All-State student-athletes Brendan Crawford and Justin Higgins, who signed their letters of intent on National Signing Day.

Brenda Crawford is a 6-5 205 quarterback from El Paso, Texas Chapin High School. Crawford was an All-State performer who transferred into Chapin High School before the start of the 2007 season and made an immediate impact. He passed for 2,207 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for 266 yards and nine touchdowns. The talented Crawford also averaged 40.6 yards per punt with a long of 64 yards.

Justin Higgins is a talented QB from Rayville, Louisiana. The 6-2 185 Rayville High School product is one of the top athletes in the state who’ll play quarterback for Grambling State. He was named to the 2007 Class 3A LSWA All-State Team as an athlete and was named as the LSWA’s Outstanding Offensive Athlete as a junior in 2006. Higgins passed for over 6,000 yards, rushed for nearly 2,000 yards and surpassed the 60-touchdown mark in his high school career. He was also an standout linebacker in high school.

ASU Hornets win SWAC outright

Alabama State University Hornets head coach Louis Jackson wins SWAC Regular Season Championship and number one seed with 19-9, 16-2 record.

GRAMBLING, La. -- The Hornets finished the season with the Southwestern Athletic Conference's best record. Brandon Brooks and Roland Fitch each scored 15 points to help Alabama State beat Gram­bling State 65-58 on Saturday night.

Wesley Jones added 14 points and Andrew Hayles chipped in with 10 for the Hornets (19-9, 16-2 Southwestern Athletic Confer­ence), who won 10 of their final 11 games. Ariece Perkins scored 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting to lead the Tigers (6-23, 4-14). Don­ald Qualls chipped in with 12. Grambling State ended their regular season on a nine-game losing streak. Alabama State shot 50 percent from the field (24-for-48) and outrebounded the Tigers 32-26. The Hornets head into the SWAC tournament, which begins on Wednesday, as the top seed.

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