UMES Hawks storm back, improve to 5-2 in MEAC

PRINCESS ANN, Maryland -- The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Men’s basketball team couldn’t have played much worse for the first 12 minutes of Saturday’s home matchup with Coppin State.

And the Eagles took advantage getting out to a 34-21 lead, while hitting often from the outside.

But the Hawks (13-10, 5-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) clawed their way back to within three at the half and then went on to a 92-82 win.

Devon Walker and Dominique Elliott propelled the first-half comeback with 17 and 12 points respectively. Walker was dropping 3s with no conscience and finished the first half 5 of 6.

In the second half, it was Ryan Andino who was on from the outside dropping four from behind the arc and finishing with 14 points.

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Hampton U. women fall to Norfolk State in OT 71-66

NORFOLK, Virginia -- Hampton University's women went almost three years without losing a conference game. They've lost two in the past eight days.

The Lady Pirates' dominance of rival Norfolk State ended Saturday amid an avalanche of missed shots and spotty defense.

The Spartans overcame early deficits and made plays at critical times for a 71-66 win in overtime at Echols Hall, snapping a 17-game losing streak in the series that stretched back more than eight years.

Hampton (10-11, 6-2 MEAC) remained in first place in the conference, one game in the loss column ahead of Savannah State and Norfolk State. But the league race is unofficially wide open after the Lady Pirates' second consecutive Saturday loss.

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Bethune-Cookman's women's basketball team beats FAMU, 70-57

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Kendra Cooper and Terrenisha Hollis scored 19 points apiece to lead the visiting Bethune-Cookman women's basketball team to a 70-57 victory Saturday against Florida A&M in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action at The Lawson Center.

Hollis had eight rebounds, eight assists and eight steals for the Wildcats (9-12, 6-3 MEAC), who have won five consecutive games overall, the first time that has occured since 2009-10. Kailyn Williams contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and a game-highs seven blocks. It is her fourth double-double in the past five games.

It also was the first win for coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis against the Rattlers in Tallahassee.

“(The win) feels great,” Blair-Lewis said. “It's really great for these young ladies to come out here and not just win, but turn four wins into five wins.”

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Oak Ridge seniors faced adversity on way to signing day

ORLANDO, Florida -- For most who follow National Signing Day, football recruits often are viewed through the promise of coming days.

Saturdays, mostly.

A player's value directly correlates to his production on the field for his chosen school. How he got there matters little. What he does once he arrives means everything.

At Oak Ridge, Nyqwan Murray (FSU), Deangelo Antoine (USF), Jehojada Jean-Baptiste (Florida A&M) and Darren Bostick (Nassau Community College in VINew York) are expected to sign Wednesday. They will be not unlike many of the estimated 150 area football players who eventually make their commitments official with Football Bowl Subdivision or Football Championship Subdivision schools.

Their path to this point did not begin with ...

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A pupil points a finger. A teacher is fired, his life rerouted. Now can they be buddies? The Story behind Morehouse College football student-athlete Raynard Ware

RAYNARD WARE
MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
MAROON TIGERS FOOTBALL

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The friend request popped onto Josh Kaplowitz’s Facebook page one afternoon. He was at his office at a top-shelf D.C. law firm, but the name on the screen transported him to a very different place, a decade earlier, to a time of humiliation and failure.

Just seeing Raynard Ware’s name that January day in 2012 spiked the young lawyer’s heart rate. His first thought: “You ruined my life.” It had been only in the past few years that Kaplowitz had been able to live without The Incident looming over him — the assault allegation, the arrest, 33 hours in a detention cell, trial, acquittal, a $20 million lawsuit against him, the impossibility of knowing if he would ever really recover.

Even now, with a new career and a family, Kaplowitz had yet to tell his children about what 7-year-old Raynard had said he had done to him. Kaplowitz hadn’t even told his kids that he had been a D.C. public school teacher — an idealist fresh out of Yale who thought he was going to help transform the lives of poor, inner-city children but who was instead besieged by unruly kids and, then, in a whirlwind of accusations and acrimony, was said to have pushed a 7-year-old to the floor.

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Short makes big impact in first year at Norfolk State

NORFOLK, Virginia -- Jeff Short admits he sometimes peruses the NCAA scoring stats just to see his name ahead of players from powers like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.

The online list proves two things: that Short, after a major detour that had him buried on the bench of his hometown team, has finally arrived, and that what he's doing at Norfolk State is not a dream.

Short, a 6-foot-4 native of the Bronx, N.Y., leads the MEAC and is 15th in the country with 20.0 points per game entering today's 6 p.m. showdown with rival Hampton.

Only four players in the nation have made more field goals than Short's 156, and the guard is a big reason the Spartans (14-9, 7-1 MEAC) remain contenders for a regular-season title with just eight games left.

But Short, a product of New York City's fabled AAU system, came by it the hard way. Basketball was his way out of an adolescence fraught with temptations like gangs, drugs, violence and other distractions.

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Nuggets, Rush roll past city rival in 2015 spring opener



NOUR ABBES

Facebook photos:  Men    Women
 

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana dropped a collective 21 games out of 193 Friday and opened the spring 2015 portion of its men's and women's tennis schedules with 9-0 victories against city rival Loyola at XU Tennis Center.

The Gold Nuggets are ranked third in the NAIA, and the Gold Rush are eighth.

Xavier did not lose a game in 7-of-16 matches. The Gold Nuggets won 6-0, 6-0 in 4-of-5 contested singles matches. Loyola defaulted two women's matches because it had five available players.

Winning 6-0, 6-0 in singles for the Gold Nuggets were Carmen Nelson, Brion Flowers, Sha'Nel Bruins and Dasia Harris. Tushar Mandlekar won by the same score for the Gold Rush. Flowers and Bruins won 8-0 in doubles, as did Kyle Montrel and Jordan Harrell in men's doubles.

Montrel clinched the men's dual with a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Trivesh Singh at No. 1 singles. Nelson's shutout of Alexa Mancuso clinched the women's dual.

Nour Abbes, the NAIA's top-ranked women's singles player, defeated Meghan de Baroncelli 6-1, 6-1. Abbes, a sophomore, is 31-1 in singles at Xavier. Abbes and Nelson beat Baroncelli and Mancuso 8-2 in doubles.

Harris, a redshirt freshman, competed in a collegiate dual match for the first time. So did first-year freshman Jeremiah Capdeville, who dropped the first three games against Anthony Zaleski but rallied for a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 6 men's singles.

"It felt good to get the season started again," 12th-year XU coach Alan Green said. "Everyone was feeling good today, and we showed it with some efficient victories. It will be a long season, and hopefully we can learn something from each match and improve each time we get on the court."

Both Loyola teams are 0-2.

In six seasons of competition against Loyola, Xavier has lost just two matches on the court — none since 2011.

The Gold Nuggets will play another city rival, Tulane (3-0), at 2 p.m. Saturday at City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center. The next Gold Rush dual will start at 6 p.m. Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Results:  Men    Women

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director 

XULAATHLETICS

XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

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