Davis' Season High Helps A&T Defeat Elon

GREENSBORO, North Carolina  --  Head coach Tarrell Robinson and the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team was not calling today New Year's Eve. They called it "Bounce Back Monday."

After a tough loss on Dec. 28 at Virginia Tech, the Aggies were looking to close out the 2012 year with a strong performance, and they succeeded with a 75-65 victory against Elon at Corbett Sports Center. The Aggies (7-5) shot 48 percent from the floor against the Phoenix (4-7), and had four players reach double-figures, including a season-high 13 points from DeAndra Davis. Redshirt junior Amber Calvin added 16 points, four assists and two steals.
 
"It feels great," said Robinson. "My hat goes off to DeAndra Davis for coming in and giving us a spark. She gave us nine points in the first half, hit two back-to-back big threes. I just thought we got effort from everybody. I thought Nikia Gorham gave us an inside presence. I thought Eboni Ross did a good job with (Elon center) Kelsey Evans. We did a good job with Ali Ford, their point guard. I thought Adriana Nazario did a good job containing her."

Defense helped seal the victory for the Aggies, who forced nine turnovers and posted 15 defensive rebounds in the second half. The Aggies were also 15-for-18 from the free throw line, and overcame a halftime deficit for the second time this season.

Trailing 37-36 coming out of the breakt, the Aggies outscored the Phoenix 12-4 in the first four minutes of the second half. But the Phoenix did not let the game get away. A steal and a layup by Ford tied the game at 48. But Elon's offensive attack lost its leader when Ford picked up her fourth foul with 14:11 remaining. Despite Ford's foul trouble, the Phoenix battled back as Evans hit a jumper to make it a 57-55 game with 5:52 left.

But Aggies guard Ariel Bursey scored on a put back to give A&T a four-point lead, and seconds later Nazario made it a 61-55 game on a fastbreak layup with five minutes to play. Ford returned to put the Phoenix down 65-62 a minute later. But a 6-1 Aggies run that was capped off by two Nazario free throws helped the Aggies clinch the victory.
  
The Aggies were aided by taking care of the basketball. They only had six turnovers in the final 20 minutes of the game.

"I just got on them about how we do a good job defensively, we hold them and then we go down and turn the ball over," Robinson said. "I told them we're working too hard to just waste away possessions. We've still got to get better with that."

A&T stayed out front for the first 12 minutes of the game. Elon took its first lead at 23-22 on back-to-back jumpers by Shannen Cochraham. Davis put A&T back ahead with a 3-pointer at 25-23 with7:42 remaining. Davis hit another 3-pointer to put A&T ahead, 30-26. A layup from Gorham helped the Aggies maintain a four-point lead at 36-32, but the Phoenix scored the final five points of the first half thanks to a 3-pointer by Zora Stephenson and a layup from Evans.

The Aggies will open up 2013 with an 11:30 a.m. game at UNC Wilmington on Thursday, Jan. 3. They will then host George Washington on Jan. 6 before starting their conference slate on Jan. 12 at Bethune-Cookman.
 
Robinson said the Aggies will use these final two non-conference matches to tune up their execution before heading into MEAC play.

"Looking at what we displayed against Virginia Tech, we definitely wanted to come home and have a good showing," said Robinson. "That's how we said we wanted to finish the year. I think it was a valiant team effort. We did a good job of contesting shots, making them shoot tough shots, and then getting the boards. We had a good scoring day."

A&T 75, Elon 65

COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

HU women among Division I defensive leaders

HAMPTON, Virginia  --  Hampton University boasts one of the nation’s top defenses, according to the latest Division I rankings released on Monday.

The Lady Pirates (9-5), who lost 55-45 at Virginia Tech Sunday, are holding opponents to 48.3 points per game, the eighth-best average in the country.

Hampton has held six of its last seven opponents under 50 points, and only one opponent (Florida Gulf Coast) has reached the 70-point mark.

The Lady Pirates also are 14th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 32.3 percent shooting, and are 15th in turnover margin at 7.14.

In the individual rankings, senior forward and Chesapeake native Keiara Avant is 14th in the nation with seven double-doubles. Avant had 12 points and 14 rebounds against the Hokies Sunday. Monday, Avant was named the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week. ...

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11 to Watch: Daryl Williams

Daryl Williams
Interim Head Football Coach
Livingstone College

SALISBURY, North Carolina — It’s been more than a decade since Livingstone College had a winning football season, but officials are hoping to change that with the promotion of Daryl Williams to interim head coach.

 

Williams, 39, replaces Elvin Williams, who was ousted at the end of this season after a 3-28 record during his three-year tenure.

 

The Blue Bears haven’t had a successful season since 1998, when they went 7-3 and won their second straight CIAA conference title.

 

Athletic Director Andre Springs has said Williams, who landed the job at the beginning of December, is the right person to get the team back on track.

 

Williams, who has been an assistant coach at Livingstone for about a year, served as associate head coach and quarterbacks coach at Texas Southern University from 2007 to 2011. The college won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship during the 2010 season.

 

Prior to that, he was the director of football operations at Alabama State University.

 

Will he be able to lead the Blue Bears to victory?

 

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Erves leads Rush past Belhaven in another road victory

JACKSON, Miss. -- Denzell Erves scored a career-high-tying 23 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds Monday to lead NAIA No. 16 Xavier University of Louisiana to a 73-63 men's basketball victory against Belhaven.

Erves became the first Gold Rush player of the past nine seasons to record 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds in consecutive games. He led Xavier (12-3) to its sixth victory in seven road games this season.

Wanto Joseph had 16 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Xavier, and Renard Smith scored a season-high 12 points.

Jordan Butts scored 19 points for Belhaven (6-9), which lost for the sixth time in eight games. Curt Hall had 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, and Jerrial Dawson matched his season best of 12 points. Butts and Dawson each made three first-half 3-pointers.

Erves scored five of Xavier's first eight points in a 10-0 run to open the game. But the Blazers made seven 3-pointers and gained the lead three times before Anthony Boswell's layup with 20 seconds remaining -- his first points of the season -- gave the Gold Rush a 40-38 halftime lead.

Xavier never trailed in the second half, but Belhaven tied the score at 51 and 53. Erves' basket after his offensive rebound put Xavier ahead to stay, 55-53, with 7:34 remaining.

Xavier, playing on New Year's Eve for the first time since 2008, outshot the Blazers 52 to 35 percent from the floor and outrebounded them 42-36. In the second half, the Gold Rush limited Belhaven to 1-of-13 3-pointers and outrebounded the Blazers 30-20. Erves grabbed 13 second-half rebounds in his ninth double-double of the season and 16th of his career.

Both teams struggled with free throws -- Xavier made 15-of-29, and Belhaven was 13-of-24. The Gold Rush made 6-of-15 in the second half.

No XU player has grabbed more than 15 rebounds in the past nine seasons. Erves is the fourth during that time to reach 15, joining Cordell Hadnot (2011), Kelechi Okoroha (2009) and Alfred Williams (2008). Williams is in his fourth season as an XU assistant coach.

It's the fifth time in Dannton Jackson's 10 seasons as head coach that the Gold Rush are 12-3 or better through the first 15 games.

Xavier, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular-season co-champion a year ago, will play its GCAC opener at 5 p.m. EST Saturday against Edward Waters in Jacksonville, Fla. The next XU men's home game will start at 5 p.m. on Jan. 12 against Tougaloo in the new Convocation Center.


By Ed Cassiere, SID
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
VISIT: XULAATHLETICS

UAH scores season-high in 107-63 win against Tuskegee

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama  --  UAH coach Lennie Acuff summed up his team's performance in a 107-63 defeat of Tuskegee at Spragins Hall Sunday afternoon in one line.

"It was a good day for us," Acuff said. "When the ball goes in, everything looks good."

And boy did it ever for the Chargers, ranked No. 3 in the nation in the most recent NCAA Division II poll.

UAH (9-1) shot a blistering 64.8 percent from the field for the game, knocking down 35 of its 54 attempts on the night. And it didn't matter whether the Chargers fired it up from near or far. They were 14-for-24 from 3-point range and connected on 23 of 31 free-throw attempts.

Senior guard Jaime Smith led the way for the Chargers, who picked up their seventh straight win, with team-high 19 points, including 12 in the second half.

Five other Chargers finished in double-figures in scoring, a group that included forward Conner Blasi (13), Zane Campbell (11), Ronnie Mack, Dedrick Wayne (10), Brett Wester (10) and Andrew Dononvan (10) in the their highest offensive output of the season.

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Ram Ramblings: One more look at WSSU's Kameron Smith

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  It’s not everyday that a positive e-mail comes in, but it was very nice to hear from one of quarterback Kam Smith’s older brothers.

Smith, the record-setting quarterback who played his final game for the Rams on Dec. 15 in the 35-7 loss to Valdosta State in the Division II national championship, is somebody I will remember for a long time. And I’m sure WSSU fans will also remember him for his greatness, his humility and his ability to run Connell Maynor’s offense.

Smith’s brother, Kerry, who lives in Riverview, Florida e-mailed me about my kind comments I had to their mother after the game in Florence, Alabama. Smith comes from a large family and I told his mother what a pleasure it was to cover her son for the last three years.

Kerry Smith said that he and his family have closely followed my coverage of the Rams since Kam arrived before the 2010 season. Kerry Smith said that his brother enjoyed his time at WSSU and he said the Smith family will be “Rams for life.”

Here are some of the final statistics for one of the most productive quarterbacks in WSSU and CIAA history. All Smith did was go 31-4 as a starter and throw for 7,540 yards with an incredible 96 touchdown passes.

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Late TCU Rally Edges MVSU, 67-64

FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU led by double digits early before having to force a late rally on its way to a 67-64 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Sunday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Horned Frogs scored seven of the game’s final nine points in the comeback win.

TCU improved to 9-4 with the victory, including 7-2 at home. The Frogs finished their non-conference schedule with the best winning percentage (.692) for the program since going 10-4 (.714) in regular-season non-league games in 2004-05. The loss dropped the Delta Devils’ season record to 0-10.

The Frogs led by as many as 12 points Sunday but saw their advantage evaporate late as MVSU cranked its game up to another level in the second half. A 6-0 run gave TCU a 56-47 edge with 9:34 remaining, but MVSU scored 15 of the game’s next 19 points to take the lead inside the final three minutes. The Frogs went cold from the floor during the stretch, as the Devils held the squad without a field goal and to only four foul throws for nearly eight full minutes.

A Darryl Marshall layup gave MVSU its first lead of the game at 62-60 with 2:24 to play, but TCU responded with its late surge. Senior forward Adrick McKinney came up with two huge plays down low on back-to-back TCU possessions, first tying the game with a layup off an assist from sophomore guard Kyan Anderson. McKinney then gave the Frogs the lead for good with a tip-in off a missed layup by fellow senior Garlon Green with 35 seconds left.

TCU closed the game out at the line late, with Green hitting two shots to give the Frogs a four-point lead and Anderson adding another in the final seconds following another Marshall basket. MVSU did have one final opportunity to tie, but Marshall’s desperation 3-point try was far off the mark at the buzzer.

Stats (.html) | Stats (.pdf) | Quotes | Notes | Highlights

Anderson led TCU in the scorebook for the fourth time this season with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added five assists. Green totaled 15 and seven rebounds, and McKinney had 13 points and a game-high nine boards. Senior forward Connell Crossland chipped in nine points and five boards, and senior guard Nate Butler Lind, who totaled only six points in 40 minutes, provided a lockdown defensive effort on MVSU leading scorer Davon Usher, managing only six points.

Two Delta Devils scored in double figures, including guard Matt Smith, who totaled a game-high 17 points to go with nine rebounds, and guard Darius Tomlin, who totaled 13 points. Marshall gave the Frogs fits all afternoon with his dribble penetration at the point, dishing out a game-high seven assists.

MVSU found success inside thanks to Marshall’s ability to break down the TCU defense. The squad scored 40 of its 64 points in the paint, even though the vast majority of its production came from guards. The Delta Devils also recorded a 36-34 edge on the glass, although the Frogs were able to find their way to the charity stripe, where they posted a 12-4 scoring edge.

Despite the close result, the contest did feature one of the TCU’s strongest starts to a contest this season, as the squad scored 13 of the game’s first 17 points while building an early nine-point advantage. Green and Anderson helped push the Frogs to a 12-point edge with just over seven minutes left in the half with back-to-back treys.

MVSU crept back into the game with some easy baskets inside. The squad grabbed five offensive boards rebounds in the opening stanza that resulted in seven points. Smith got hot late in the period, totaling eight points in the final five minutes, and MVSU scored six of the final eight points of the half to cut the TCU edge to only four points at t he break, 37-33.

TCU opens its inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference next Saturday when it plays host to Texas Tech at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Frogs and Red Raiders tip off at 5 p.m. with television coverage provided by FOX Sports Southwest.

COURTESY TCU ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS