NSU Will Play for MEAC Title After 68-53 Win over Howard

NORFOLK, Virginia – Howard came into Friday's semifinal with plenty of confidence after two straight upsets in the 2017 MEAC Tournament. The No. 2 seed Norfolk State men's basketball team decided enough was enough on Friday night in the semifinal round.

The Spartans weathered a first-half storm from the No. 11 seed Bison and then pulled away in the second period for a 68-53 victory at Scope Arena. NSU advanced to play No. 1 seed North Carolina Central on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the conference title in a live broadcast on ESPN2.

NSU broke through after falling in the semifinals each of the last three years. The Spartans will play in the championship game for the third time in their MEAC history, joining the 2009 squad and the championship team of 2012.

Senior Jonathan Wade scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds to lead Norfolk State (17-15). The Spartans held Howard to 24 percent shooting in the second half and 31 percent overall after outscoring the Bison 40-23 after halftime.

Junior Zaynah Robinson added 16 points in all 40 minutes, while junior Jordan Butler totaled 10 points and 10 rebounds with four blocks for his third double-double of the season. He along with junior Dan Robinson, who grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, helped the Spartans to a 52-35 edge on the glass. The Spartans outscored HU 19-7 in second-chance points.

The Spartans overcame a two-point deficit at the break. After that sluggish first half, in which they shot just 36 percent, they put to rest any notion of another Bison upset.

NSU came out in the second period and outscored Howard 11-3 to open a 39-33 lead. The Spartans extended their advantage to 48-37 after Robinson made a nice bounce pass to Wade on the break and then sank a 3-pointer of his own with more than 10 minutes to go.

Sophomore Alex Long's putback with 7:24 left made it a 56-44 ballgame, a score that stayed the same for three and a half minutes until Robinson made two from the free throw line after the under-4 media break. Howard did not score for five minutes during that time and trailed by as much as 18 late in the contest.

The Bison's dry spell included a crowd-roaring block by Butler with three minutes left when he got way up to stuff HU's James Miller on a potential dunk in transition.

Howard (10-24) knocked off No. 6 seed Coppin State and No. 3 seed Morgan State to advance to the semifinal. But just like their 2012 championship team, when they also were the No. 2 seed, the Spartans again defeated an 11th seed for a spot in the title game.

Charles Williams led Howard with 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Miller and Damon Collins each scored 11 points as well.

NSU built a 9-3 lead to start the game before Williams scored eight straight for Howard to start a 15-4 run. The Bison led 18-13 after that spurt with 9:14 on the clock before senior Kerwin Okoro drained a 3-pointer from the right wing. But Solomon Mangham and Collins answered with long range shots on the other end to keep Howard in the lead.

It did not last, as two buckets by Butler and a 3-pointer from Wade in the right corner with three minutes to go put NSU back ahead by one. Late in the half, Williams and Wade exchanged transition buckets, and Tyler Stone got a shot to go with time ticking down to give the Bison a two-point lead at the break, 30-28.

Norfolk State shot 23-of-58 from the floor (39.7 percent) while holding the Bison to 19-of-61 (31.1 percent).

Okoro tallied eight points, four assists and three rebounds. Junior Bryan Gellineau chipped in with five points and seven boards.

Each team had nine blocks. NSU also stayed out of foul trouble for the most part, as Howard made 8-of-15 from the line after coming into the night averaging more than 16 makes a game.

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Mike Bello, Asst. SID

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Southern 'getting close' to an agreement on contract extension for football coach Dawson Odums

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- An agreement on a contract extension between Southern Univsersity and football coach Dawson Odums is imminent, as the two parties are nearing a deal that would keep him at the school through several more seasons.

Odums, whose current contract is set to expire after the 2017 season, did not return a request for comment, but his agent, Burton Rocks, confirmed in a text message that the two sides are “getting close” to an extension with just a few details to be ironed out.

The extension talks would take Odums through the 2019 season and as of 6 p.m. Thursday, the talks were "in the fourth quarter" and hopeful to be finalized soon, Rocks said.

The sixth-year Southern coach was set to earn $180,000 this season, the last in a three-year arrangement he signed in January 2014. That 2014 agreement netted Odums a 25-percent raise.

After some disappointing years under his predecessor, Stump Mitchell, Odums has returned the Jaguars to prominence in the Southwestern Athletic Conference despite some challenges brought on by NCAA sanctions.

Southern was an utterly dominant team for a large portion of last year, going 8-0 in league play before a clash against also-undefeated rival Grambling in the Bayou Classic. Grambling won that contest en route to the black college national championship.

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Alabama A&M men's basketball coach Willie Hayes resigns after 2-27 season

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Alabama A&M men's basketball coach Willie Hayes has resigned, the university announced this afternoon.

The Bulldogs finished 2-27 overall and 2-16 in SWAC play this season, Hayes' sixth at the helm. Alabama A&M ended the regular season with a 78-57 loss at Grambling on Saturday. The Bulldogs did not qualify for the SWAC tournament.

Alabama A&M ranked 341st among 347 Division I teams in scoring offense at 61.7 points per game. The Bulldogs' scoring defense ranked 298th at 77.8 points per game.

Hayes finished 54-121 during his time on The Hill. His best season came in 2013-14, when Alabama A&M finished 14-16.

Hayes played for the Bulldogs and was the SIAC Player of the Year in 1989. He was inducted into the Alabama A&M Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

"We thank coach Hayes for his service and commitment to Alabama A&M University," Director of Athletics Bryan Hicks said in a press release. "We wish him the best in his future endeavors."

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Talladega tops Nuggets to win 1st GCAC Tourney title

NEW ORLEANS -- Jasmine Lee-Stackhouse scored 16 points Sunday, and NAIA No. 25 Talladega limited Xavier University of Louisiana to its fewest points in more than two years in a 59-42 women's basketball victory in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at XULA's Convocation Center.

The top-seeded Lady Tornadoes (22-8) earned their first GCAC Tournament title and secured the league's automatic berth to the NAIA Division I National Championship at Billings, Mont. Pairings will be announced Wednesday, and the tournament will begin March 15.

Stackhouse, a 6-foot-1 junior forward/center, scored nine third-quarter points, seven on second-chance plays, to help Talladega extend its lead to 43-37 by the end of that period. The Lady Tornadoes outscored the Gold Nuggets 16-5 during a fourth quarter in which XULA went 0-of-19 from the floor.

Tasheba Henry scored 14 points and Sashanique Youngblood 10 for Talladega, and tournament MVP Tajanee Wells had nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Third-seeded XULA (19-13) was led by a pair of senior centers. Kelsee Singleton had 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, and Bianca Brown had nine points and seven rebounds.

Talladega led the final three quarters, including 25-21 at halftime. The Lady Tornadoes limited the Gold Nuggets to a season-low 25.4 percent from the floor and their fewest points since a 53-42 loss at Dillard on Jan. 31, 2015. XULA scored the second-fewest points ever in a GCAC Tournament final.

Talladega shot 39.6 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Gold Nuggets 41-36 for the game, 25-14 in the second half.

Joining Wells on the all-tournament team were Lee-Stackhouse, Henry, Singleton, Brown and XULA's Mikayla Bates. Wells, a senior forward, was named GCAC Player of the Year last week.

Talladega will make its third trip and second in a row to the NAIA's national tournament. XULA, a qualifier for nationals 19 of its previous 22 seasons, is not expected to earn an at-large bid after failing to garner any votes in the last three national coaches polls. The Gold Nuggets entered Sunday's game seeking their sixth GCAC tourney title in eight years. They defeated Talladega in the 2012, 2014 and 2016 finals.

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Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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CAU Panthers Head to Huntsville For NCAA South Region as No. 8 Seed

ATLANTA, Georgia -- On Sunday evening the Clark Atlanta University men's basketball program was made aware of the time and place for the upcoming NCAA South Region Championship.

The NCAA has determined the host to be University of Alabama in Huntsville. UAH plays out of the Gulf South Conference and entered the GSC tournament receiving votes nationally while being No. 2 in the South Region.

CAU was selected as the No. 8 seed and will play the host UAH (24-7). The Panthers are 21-11 (12-5 SIAC) under Darrell Walker in his first season as the head coach at CAU. Walker was named SIAC Coach of the Tournament after Clark Atlanta defeated Fort Valley State on Saturday night in Birmingham, Ala.

The Panthers were left off the SIAC postseason awards lists which shocked many. When all was said-and-done last week in Birmingham, all the award recipients were sent home and Tim Sanders was selected as the Tournament Most Valuable Player.

The winner of the South Region will be one of eight teams that will make a bid for the National Championship to be played from Sioux Falls, S.D. on the week of Mar. 22-25.

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Virginia Union Announces 2017 Football Schedule

RICHMOND, Virginia -- Virginia Union University's Department of Athletics has released its 2017 Fall Football Schedule.

The season features five away games along with five home games in Historic Hovey Field in Richmond, Va.

The Panthers will open 2017 against Long Island University-Post at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 2, in Brookville, N.Y.

Home games include September 9 against Newberry College, September 16 against Winston-Salem State University, October 16 against Chowan University and Homecoming against Elizabeth City State University on October 28.

Mark James, Head Football Coach at VUU, summed up the 2017 season:

"The 2017 Virginia Union University football team is excited about facing the opportunities that the football schedule offers. After finishing 5-5 last year, we feel we can build off our last season's experience for the upcoming season," James said.

Here is James' game by game analysis on each opponent:

LIU Post: This game offers us a great opportunity for an out-of-conference rematch that went down to the wire last year where we lost by two points at Hovey Field. We are looking forward to going to LIU and being competitive versus their traditional explosive offense. We feel that our experienced defense will have a stout challenge in which we must remain disciplined and focused of their offensive mesh's and heavy TE play.

Newberry: Last year was a combination of the elements of weather and long travel that ended up assisting the wolves of handing us our second loss of the season. Their QB, who is returning, is a proven leader of their offensive attack. We accept the challenge of containing him as the key to success in this game. This will be our first home game of the 2017 season and it would be great to start it with a victory.

Winston-Salem State: Last year we were able to capitalize with a heavy run attack to stifle them early. This team went on and didn't lose a game after our match up. We will need to be focused and play well at home to defeat the 2016 CIAA champs. This was the first time Union has defeated its arch rival in over 14 years.

Fayetteville State: Last years game was a challenge of will as the Broncos refused to go down late in the game. The game was one in which we lost both quarterbacks and had to finish the game with an RB at QB. We showed true grit and put together a tough win on the road. This year as they come to Hovey, we realize that the new HC has done a great job of retooling his team and they will be ready.

Saint Augustine's: Last year we were challenged with containing their running QB. Even though our secondary limited his ability to throw, he rushed for over 150 yards and a couple of scores. This year, we will face the same QB and defense must contain the edges better in order to hold off the SAU attack. Our offense must take advantage of match ups in the secondary and turn average plays into big ones.

Lincoln: Last year's Homecoming was played on a rain-soaked Hovey field which limited both teams in the ability to pass the ball. This year we expect a greater challenge from the Tigers as they have signed a number of talented players that will be impactful immediately for them. As a team on the road, we must use all phases of the game to be successful and continue our four year win streak against LU.

Chowan: The 2016 season had many valleys and lows....this game was definitely disappointing to the Panther family. From the very beginning of the game the Chowan offense scored often to create separation. This year we must protect Hovey field and remember the low of last year's loss and how it affected the remainder of our season.

Bowie State: Since taking over the reins of the program, this has been the matchup that made or broke the season. Last year we remained disciplined throughout the whole game and played effectively through all three phases. It was the first time that Union had beaten BSU in several years. This year we will return to Maryland with the same thought in mind, which is to gain a victory over one of our premier challengers in the CIAA.

Elizabeth City State: After moving to the first place in the CIAA, we faced a hungry team in ECSU. This game ended our hopes of making it to the CIAA championship game. We are excited about the opportunity to play them at home and even the score after losing last year's game in the final minutes.

Virginia State: There is probably no other rivalry in D2 HBCU FOOTBALL that is more coveted than this game. Last year we allowed the game to slip away from us with costly mistakes that trickled down to a loss. We will face the challenge of the Trojans and be ready in Petersburg when we meet this year.

DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME
Sept. 2 at LIU-Post Brookville, NY 1:00 p.m.
SEPT. 9 NEWBERRY HOVEY FIELD 4:00 p.m.
SEPT. 16 WINSTON-SALEM STATE HOVEY FIELD 6:00 P.M.
SEPT. 23 FAYETTEVILLE STATE* HOVEY FIELD 1:00 P.M.
Sept. 30 at Saint Augustine's* Raleigh, NC TBA
OCT. 7 at Lincoln (PA)* Lincoln University, PA TBA
OCT. 16 CHOWAN* HOVEY FIELD 1:00 P.M. (Veteran Appreciation)
Oct. 21 at Bowie State* Bowie, MD TBA
OCT. 28 ELIZABETH CITY STATE* HOVEY FIELD 1:00 P.M. (Homecoming/Senior Day)
Nov. 4 at Virginia State* Petersburg, VA TBA

NOV. 11 CIAA CHAMPIONSHIP TBA TBA
* = CIAA GAME

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Both Virginia Union Basketball Teams Receive NCAA Tournament Bids

RICHMOND, Virginia -- For the first time since 2004, both the Virginia Union University women's and men's basketball teams are headed to the NCAA Tournament.

The Virginia Union men's and women's teams both received at-large bids to the NCAA Division II Tournament Sunday, March 5.

After hosting the Atlantic Regional and making it all the way to the Elite Eight in 2016, the Virginia Union (23-4) women are a No. 3 seed, and will face No. 6 Wheeling Jesuit in the first round.

California (Pa.) is the Atlantic Region host this year.

For the women, it marks the first time a VUU women's team has went to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons since 1983-84. The men are returning to the tournament for the first time since 2006.

The Cardinals (25-6) repeated as Mountain East Conference (MEC) champions with an 80-61 win over Fairmont State on Sunday.

The Panthers beat Wheeling Jesuit 75-66 in the region semifinals in Barco-Stevens last season.

The Virginia Union (22-7) men are a No. 7, and will face No. 2 Shippensburg in the first round of the Atlantic Regional in Fairmont, W.V.

Fairmont State University is the host for the men's Atlantic Regional.

The men last faced Shippensburg on December 13, 2009, in Erie, Pa., and came away with a 74-58 win.

Times will be determined on Monday, March 7.

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