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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 Iplll ** 3 s flfir c mm* wip Hi l . iH f: jihi ' 7 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 g§§: -y' '• ! 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