CIAA Commissioner Retires

Leon G. Kerry Led Conference to Historic Level

HAMPTON, VA (11/15/2011) – The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and its Board of Directors announced today the retirement of Commissioner Leon G. Kerry for personal reasons effective immediately. Kerry, 63, had worked for the CIAA since 1988 and has been Commissioner of America’s oldest black college and university conference for the past twenty-two years.

“The CIAA Board of Directors would like to thank Leon for his years of service to this great conference. Our league has grown under his leadership and we are well-positioned to expand on that foundation”, stated Board President Dr. Mickey Burnim. Associate Commissioner and Senior Woman Administrator Monique Smith has been named interim commissioner.

Courtesy theCIAA.com

Davenport trying to steer SSU Tigers through tough times

Savannah, Georgia -- Steve Davenport remembers as a player going through a tough stretch at Georgia Tech. During coach Bobby Ross’ first two years, the Yellow Jackets won only one game against Division I-A competition.

But Ross stayed his course to turn the program around. He demanded discipline and 12 freshmen quit the team his first year. He demanded academics and nine players with bad grades were gone. During Davenport’s junior season in 1987 (Ross’ first), Tech went 2-9 and as a senior, the Jackets won three games.

“As a player, it was tough to understand,” Davenport said. “Some of the guys (Ross) brought in, we practiced against and they could play, but he was building for the future. In his grand scheme it worked out.”

Two years later, in 1990, Georgia Tech won the national championship.

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North Carolina Central visits for Wagner Seahawks' home opener

Staten Island, New York -- When Wagner College was scrambling to put another game on its schedule late this summer, the options that late in the process weren’t many.

Finally, just before the school year began, coach Dan Hurley received a hurried commitment from North Carolina Central, a program which graduated to Division I several seasons back and was about to begin its inaugural season in the MEAC.

It seemed, at first glance, like a pretty comfortable fit as a home opener for a team in a pinch. Until the Seahawks checked the fine print, that is.

The Division I newbie without a track record to check out turned out to be a team led by athletic forward Dominique Sutton, who went for 21 points and 10 rebounds against the Seahawks when he was wearing a Kansas State jersey in December of 2008.

11/16/2011 NCCU

at Wagner:

7:30 pm

Time Warner

Live Video

Live Stats

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Avenue of Opportunity

Savannah State finds first year in MEAC battle a ‘baptism’

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Regardless of the outcome, Saturday's regular-season finale at Theodore Wright Stadium against South Carolina State will conclude another losing campaign for Savannah State.

Since moving up to the Football Championship Subdivision level, the Tigers have compiled an 18-98 record. Their last winning season came in 1998 under former S.C. State offensive coordinator Daryl "Brick" McNeil as a member of the NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Savannah State's results have not improved in their first season as a full-fledged member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Since rallying to defeat North Carolina Central 33-30 at home on Sept. 24, the Tigers (1-10, 1-6) have dropped six straight and have amassed a total of 18 points in getting held to single digits in their last four outings.

Nevertheless, first-year Savannah State head football coach Steve Davenport believes "the future's bright" for the program.

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Miller, Joseph help unbeaten Rush win 80-71 at Mobile

MOBILE, Alabama — Kevin Miller scored a career-high 20 points Monday, and Wanto Joseph had a season-high 16 to lead NAIA No. 21 Xavier University of Louisiana to an 80-71 men's basketball victory at Mobile.

The Gold Rush (3-0) took the lead for good in the 18th minute when Miller grabbed an offensive rebound, then passed to Jamaan Kenner for a 3-pointer and a 37-35 advantage. Xavier led 44-41 at halftime and held its biggest lead, 73-59, on an Anthony Simmons basket with 2:39 remaining.

Miller reached double figures for the first time this season and shattered his previous career best of 13 points. Joseph, a 5-foot-9 reserve point guard and the team's shortest player, is the only XU player to reach double figures in all three regular-season games.

Ji Kimbrough scored 27 points, 17 in the first half, and made 14-of-14 free throws for Mobile (2-1), and Jonathan Tinch scored 15. The Rams were the preseason favorite in the Southern States Athletic Conference West Division.

Both teams shot 44 percent from the floor. Xavier made 28-of-37 free throws, and Mobile made 20-of-24. Cordell Hadnot grabbed a season-best eight rebounds for Xavier, which had a 35-30 advantage on the boards.

Eleven Gold Rush players scored, including Simmons with nine points and seven rebounds and Kenner with season highs of eight points and two 3-pointers.

Brock Dockery's basket with 18:18 remaining reduced Xavier's lead to 47-45, but the Rush followed with an 11-2 run which included a Miller 3-pointer, two Denzell Erves baskets and three Chris Iles assists. Xavier led by at least seven points for the final 8:52.

The Gold Rush have won four straight and seven of eight against Mobile and lead the series 29-26. The teams will meet again Dec. 6 at The Barn.

Xavier will play Wiley for homecoming at 2 p.m. Saturday at The Barn, and PSBlive.com will webcast that game and the XU women's contest against Huston-Tillotson at noon.

NOTES: Kimbrough scored eight points in the final 2:31 after Xavier established its largest lead . . . The Gold Rush are 3-0 for the 10th consecutive season . . . The XU men have won 34 of their past 41 games and are 10-3 on opponents' courts during that time . . . Xavier's four consecutive victories against Mobile match its longest streak in the series . . . It's the first time in 10 games that either team reached 80 points in the series, and it's the first time in 13 games that both teams reached 70 . . . Iles, a 17-point scorer Friday at home against St. Thomas (Fla.), didn't score again after making 2-of-2 free throws in the second minute. He's 12-of-12 from the line this season and has made 16 in a row dating to this past season . . . Simmons grabbed five offensive rebounds, giving him 14 in three games. Simmons needed nine games in 2010-11 to reach 14 offensive rebounds . . . The Gold Rush are 10-1 against five former Gulf Coast Athletic Conference opponents — Mobile, Belhaven, Loyola, Spring Hill and William Carey — since they left the league in the summer of 2010 to join the Southern States. Xavier, Belhaven, Spring Hill and William Carey were GCAC charter members in 1981-82.

Box score

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: GCACSPORTS

NEXT GAME:  Saturday, November 19 — Women's Basketball vs. Huston-Tillotson, noon    FREE VIDEO STREAMING -- live on internet   •   live stats
Saturday, November 19 — Men's Basketball vs. Wiley, 2 p.m.  FREE VIDEO STREAMING -- live on internet   •   live stats

Pough feeling letdown of 'only' a 7-4 season, no 4th straight MEAC title

Coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough

Orangeburg, South Carolina -- Celebrating a 10th straight winning season was not on the top of South Carolina State head football coach Buddy Pough's postgame plans on Saturday.

The relief Pough had in seeing the Bulldogs rally from a 14-3 deficit to defeat North Carolina A&T 30-22 in the team's 2011 finale at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium was accompanied by a sense of disappointment. For the first time in four years, S.C. State's offseason will not include a playoff appearance and ring-sizing for another Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

"I think it's gone kind of medium," Pough said about the current season. "We haven't been good enough. We haven't been bad enough. Kind of medium. That's what it is. It's not quite up to standards for South Carolina State. I can tell you we're not satisfied. But at the same time, it is what it is."

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