Dec. 30, 2007
Final Stats
THE HERALD-SUN NEWSPAPER (www.HeraldSun.com)
Eagles can't hold on in the second half
By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun
(mpotter@heraldsun.com)
Dec 31, 2007
Durham -- N.C. Central has lost a lot of basketball games in its first season in NCAA Division I, but there was no denying that this one really hurt.
The Eagles lost a game they had led in the second half for the first time all season, falling to Division II Concord 71-68 in the final game of the BC Powder Classic on Sunday at McLendon-McDougald Gym.
NCCU led by as many as eight points early in the second half, but fell apart down the stretch to a visiting Mountain Lion squad that refused to quit.
"Missed free throws, turnovers -- we played OK the whole game but just couldn't get it done at the end," NCCU coach Henry Dickerson said. "We can't get much lower than we are right now."
Dannie Parker's 17 points led the way for the Lions, members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the first non-Division I opponents the Eagles have played this season. Matthew Parker (no relation) chipped in 17 points and Cordell Boyd 10 for Concord (5-3).
Charles Futrell led the Eagles (1-17) with 22 points and 10 rebounds, his sixth career double-double and second of the season. Philip Branch added 15 points and J'Mell Walters 10 for NCCU, which got career highs of nine points and 11 rebounds from Tremain Holloway.
In the opener and de facto championship game of an event with preset pairings, Elizabeth City State was in control the entire way in a 70-50 victory over Houston Baptist.
Bryan Ayala, suffering from a stomach virus, got three points in 17 minutes for NCCU, which shot 46.6 percent from the floor to the Lions' 53.8. Concord shot 66.7 percent in the second half. NCCU won the rebound battle 35-33, but committed 18 turnovers to 16 for the Lions.
Both teams were weak at the free-throw line, with Concord hitting 9-for-19 and the Eagles 7-for-17.
"This was a very good win for us," said veteran Concord coach Steve Cox, who had known Dickerson since the Eagles coach's days as an All-American at Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston). "We hadn't played since Dec. 8 and our conference play starts Saturday. To come in here and play teams like Elizabeth City and North Carolina Central and get a split means a lot.
"A lot of people didn't think Dannie Parker (6-4, 270) was a college basketball player, but he's done a great job for us.""
Dickerson started a new lineup, with Futrell, Branch, Walters, Holloway and Ayala.
"We were trying to get more of our big guys by seeing what they could do off the bench," Dickerson said.
NCCU led 36-32 at halftime, its biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes courtesy of Branch's 3-pointer at the horn.
Concord led by as much as eight points in the early going, at 14-6 on a pair of Matthew Parker free throws at 12:40. But the Eagles took their first lead at 23-21 on a Futrell drive with 5:02 left in the half, the first of seven lead changes over the opening stanza.
The Eagles stretched their lead to eight, at 53-45 on a Holloway follow with 10:44 remaining. But the visitors answered with a run, going up 61-59 on a Matthew Parker 3-pointer with 4:21 left.
Futrell tied the score at 65-65 on a short jumper from the right side with 1:45 showing, but Rustin Jessee gave the Lions the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 1:16 left.
NCCU turned the ball over on its next two possessions, with Concord adding single points on free throws from Chance Smith and Jessee. Brian Ayala's 3-pointer from the top of the key cut the margin to 70-68 with 23.4 to go, and Dannie Parker missed the front end of a one-and-one at 17.2.
Derek Calloway blocked Branch's 10-foot attempt in the closing seconds, and then Jessee hit the back end of a two-shot try with 1.4 to go.
"That was a big play by Calloway, and that's the kind of thing he does for us," Cox said.
Dickerson said the play obviously didn't happen the way he drew it up.
"Branch was supposed to be a decoy," Dickerson said. "We wanted to get the ball to [Futrell]."
Branch's 50-foot heave at the buzzer didn't go, and the Lions had the victory.
Futrell and Dannie Parker made the all-tournament team along with Elizabeth City State's Anthony Hilliard and Brian West and Houston Baptist's Emanuel Willis.
"They shot almost 70 percent from the floor in the second half, and they knew how to win the game," Futrell said. "I had a couple of bad turnovers late in the game. But at least in these last two games we learned how to play as a team. Now we have to learn how to win a game when we have a chance."
ECSU 70, HBU 50
West's 19 points led the defending CIAA champion Vikings, who scored the first 15 points of the game and never let the visitors get closer than eight points back.
Olajuwon Johnson added 12 points and Anthony Butler 10 for the Vikings (6-3).
Fred Hinnekamp was the only player for HBU (3-14) in double figures with 11.
NOTES - The Eagles' next game is on Wednesday night at 7, when they visit Western Michigan. That's the opener of a four-game road trip, which will have NCCU visiting East Carolina on Saturday night, Norfolk State on Jan. 7 and N.C. State on Jan. 9 before returning home on Jan. 16 against Coppin State. Four of NCCU's final eight games of the season are at home.
