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Sports
Spoiu I
I
Which Teams
Will Be Going
To The Dance?
Just when you think you have a
handle on the NCAA basketball
situation, something else happens
to change your mind.
Trying to figure out the favorite
in the upcoming tournament is
almost impossible. There have been
several teams that have looked like
a solid favorite, but then they
would lose.
Duke, North Carolina, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan and
UCLA have all been at or near the
top. All have faltered.
Arkansas is back atop the
Associated Press rankings, more by
default than anything else. But the
Razorbacks would have to be
considered among the favorites.
They use a relentless pressure
defense that creates a lot of
turnovers.
Kentucky uses this tactic too,
but the Wildcats don't appear
capable of playing pressure
basketball continuously as the
Razorbacks do.
The Atlantic Coast Conference
will have several formidable
candidates for the NCAA
championship. It always does.
Duke and North Carolina are
both in the top five. Wake Forest,
coming off an upset win over the
Tar Heels Wednesday night,
probably assured itself of a bid.
Virginia has stumbled but is
making a move. So are Maryland
and Georgia Tech.
The Southeastern Conference
should also have several teams
among the 64 invited. The
conference champion will go. Right
now, that could be Florida,
Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, or
even Mississippi State. Who
knows how the SEC Tournament
will turn out, the way they beat
each other?
Of course, there will be teams
who come simply because of
conference commitments. There are
30 automatic bids. Some of them
will be around for one game.
Are there any darkhorses among
the smaller conference champions
which might slip in? I don't think
so. The NCAA Tournament will
come from one of the perennial top
10 teams.
Right now, I like the way
Michigan is playing. Even though
the Wolverines lost at Wisconsin
Wednesday, they have recovered
from the loss of Chris Webber and
have made their way back into the
top five. They are playing solid
basketball right now.
Once powerful and proud
Louisville is simply a pretender
this year. So is Indiana. In fact, the
Hoosiers lost by 50 points to
Minnesota over the weekend.
Temple appears to be in the
same situation. After John
Chaney's tirade a few weeks ago,
the Owls have not been able to get
untracked and lost back-to-back
games to Massachusetts and Duke
last week.
Don't count out Missouri or
Arizona. And former top-ranked
UCLA could still be a threat,
although the Bruins lost to
California over the weekend.
There could be some changes
over the final couple days of the
regular season. The conference
tournaments are also sure to provide
some close matchups. Those 30
conference champs are
automatically in. The NCAA
Tournament selection committee
will fill in the remaining 34 slots
at its tournament selection show
March 13 on CBS.
Go ahead. Have a little fun. Jot
down half a dozen you think have a
chance to win it all. See how close
you come.
If you are interested in playing
softball, now is the time to
register for adult softball with
the Perry Recreation
Department Spring leagues will
be operating in men's open,
church and ladies open.
Registration is $350 per team.
You can register through March
11 at the Perry Recreation Office
on Keith Drive. Also baseball
registration is currently under
way. Coaches are needed.
Panthers Come From Behind For Win
Wimberly Scores 20; Perry To
Face Westside Tonight
Boys
Perry 71
By BILL OVERTON
Sport* Editor
Similar teams. Similar
situations. Similar setting.
Different outcome.
Perry and Monroe of Albany
have a lot in common as exhibited
by their first meeting this season, a
73-64 decision taken by Monroe.
But Thursday night, third-ranked
Perry welcomed its payback,
knocking off the Tornadoes 71-64
in the first round of the GHSA
Class AAA Tournament at the
Albany Civic Center.
The win advances 24-2 Perry to
the quarterfinals for an 8:30 p.m.
contest tonight, where it will face
25-2 Westside, a 59-36 victor over
Kendrick Thursday night
Perry coach Carl Thomas said in
the week leading up to the
confrontation that the Tornadoes
would present a team that was very
much like his own. Monroe likes
to play transition basketball. The
Tornadoes like to apply full-court
defensive pressure. They like to
intimidate.
To Thomas, this all looked like
a tape of the Panthers. The teams
were carbon copies.
But for the first half, Monroe
had the edge, creating some ragged
play among the Panthers on the
way to a 33-25 lead.
"A good defensive team, and I'm
talking about [Monroe], will make
you look ugly at times,'' Thomas
GHSA Class AAATburnament
Thursday Saturday March 10
Albany
4 P.M. Albany
Podae Countv
Peach Countv 5:30 p M.
8:30 P.M. Peach Countv
Thomson
Winners advance to state
Pen? semifinals at Georgia Tech
5:30 P.M. Perry
Monroe of Albany [
Westside 8:30 P.M.
7 P.M. Westside
Kendrick
All games at Albany Civic Center
Halftime 'Chat' Pays Off
Perry Finishes
With 46-point
Second Half
By BILL OVERTON
Sports Editor
Nobody knows what goes on
behind the closed doors of a
halftime session. But Perry coach
Carl Thomas seems to know how
to make the best of it
With his team trailing Monroe
of Albany 33-25 at the end of 16
minutes of play in the first round of
the GHSA state playoffs, Thomas
said that he scolded his team for its
lackluster first half performance.
The first half returns weren't too
impressive. Perry wasn't shooting
the ball well and had not connected
on a single three-pointer.
The Panthers' leading scorer,
senior Eric Richardson (14 ppg),
had two points to his credit The
other four Panther starters weren't
exactly shooting the lights out.
Boris King was leading the way
with six.
And then there was the free
throw shooting. Perry was, in a
word, horrible from the line,
making only five of 14 charity
tosses.
"We got on to them at
halftime," said Thomas. "I don't
think we ran the floor and got back
defensively all night We missed
free throws. We didn't box out"
Monroe coach James Little had
to be feeling confident. His team
had already bagged a nine-point win
Please see HALFTIME, page 9A
said. "That's what they did to us the
first half."
In addition to the similarities
possessed by the teams, the game
took on a very uncanny closeness
to the first classic except this
time the roles were reversed.
The first contest, played at the
Albany High School gymnasium,
had Monroe trailing the entire game
before Perry panicked in the final
quarter, succumbing to the
Tornadoes' pressure.
Thursday night, it was Monroe
which took the big lead early on.
But the Tornadoes slowly crumbled
under the constant Perry pressure
after holding a 10-point lead late in
the first half.
"It was very reminiscent of the
Christmas ball game," Thomas
said. "We controlled and led most of
the way only to be caught from
behind."
Perry finally took the lead with
6:35 left in the fourth quarter on a
Boris King layup in the lane. King,
who scored 17 on the evening,
spent much of the second half the
recipient of good entry passes into
his post position.
After King's bucket, the
Panthers never trailed, although
there were plenty of tense moments
in the fourth quarter. After Perry
took a 62-55 lead on a Garriet
Curry putback, Monroe's Keith
Hayes swished a three-pointer to cut
Perry's lead to four with just over
three minutes left.
Moments later, with Perry
nursing a five-point lead, Panther
guard/forward Tarvish Felton fouled
Please see PANTHERS, page SA
» fMj . * H "'ft* ;|§
Eric Richardson lays In two of his 13 points Thursday night.
Houston Times-Journal
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In traffic, Parry's Stan Gann gives the ball off to Boris King In Thursday night's victory
Saturday, March 5, 1994 Houston Times -Journal -
4
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Sheldon Shelton will be force for Westfield on the mound.
Westfield opens
baseball season
By BILL OVERTON
Sports Editor
For many, February brings to
mind Valentine's Day, basketball
tournaments and cold, raw weather
among other things.
But the crack of a bat? Indeed.
Major leaguers aren’t the only
ones who spend the middle of the
winter readying for the upcoming
season in spring training. The
Westfield baseball team, led by
coach fourth-year coach Bert Brown,
has been practicing since Feb. 15 in
preparation for this Tuesday's
opener with Windsor.
But Georgia is not Florida or
Arizona. And despite the Peach
State's mild seasons, all has not
cooperated in the Hornet camp.
Plenty of cold rain has forced
Brown and his crew inside to hit
wiffle balls. Couple that with the
fact that he has only had a week to
mold four basketball players who
were playing in the GISA
Tournament until last Monday.
And now, Westfield has to open
against the Class AAA state
runnerups Tuesday. Brown doesn't
expect the opener to be an easy
task. But that's something he knew
long before the season started.
"If we have any weaknesses, it's
lack of preparation," Brown said.
"We're going use the first four or
five games we play as preparation
Page 7A
for our region opener."
Westfield returns seven seniors
from last year’s 9-10 squad which
spent the season tied atop the
Region 2-AAA standings with a 6-
2 mark.
The seven seniors would seem to
indicate that Westfield has depth.
But, according to Brown, much of
it is untested.
"You would think we have a lot
of experience coming back," Brown
explained. "But about half of those
seniors didn't play much at all last
year."
What experience Brown does
have back should help the Hornets
on the mound. Senior Lon Talton
returns (5-2, 55 2/3 IP, 3.39 ERA
in ’93), hoping to return to his all
state form of his sophomore
season.
Joining Talton will be Sheldon
Shelton (1-2, 4.62) who should
also solidify a starting spot.
Also helping the Hornets on the
mound should be newcomers Jake
Walls and Brian Staines. Brown
also expects Michael Davis to give
the Hornets a good year on the
mound after having success with
the B-team. Troy Nuss should also
see some time on the rubber.
Westfield's liability may be in
the batter's box. Several Hornets
Please see BASEBALL, page 9A
