THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260677
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Sleepy arena, sleepy crowd, sleepy performance. At least the evening didn't turn into a nightmare for the Norfolk State Spartans.
Playing at the Raleigh Civic Center after Shaw University officials moved the game from tiny Spaulding Gymnasium, Norfolk State posted a 65-52 victory Thursday despite what coach Mike Bernard called a ``sluggish'' offensive outing.
But the Spartans (12-2 overall, 8-1 CIAA) have done this before.
``We played good defense,'' Bernard said. ``And when you play good defense, you can sometimes overcome relatively poor offensive nights.''
The Spartans, however, know a subpar performance won't do Saturday when they visit a key CIAA rival, Virginia State.
``If we play the way we played here at Virginia State, it'll be tough,'' forward Rodney Carmichael said.
Carmichael, for one, was glad the game was moved from Shaw's 900-seat facility to the 5,000-seat civic center, though only 711 showed up.
``If we'd had to play in their campus facility, it might have been a different story,'' Carmichael said. ``The crowd might have been able to get more into it. That played to our advantage.''
Those on hand didn't even get very excited after the Bears opened with 3-pointers by Duwan Byrd and Bromeley Thornton for a 6-0 lead.
Bernard, though, was up in arms.
``The first three times down court we let them shoot from where we shouldn't have, even though we knew coming in this team likes the 3-pointer," Bernard said.
After minor adjustments, the Spartans forced Shaw to shoot from further out. The Bears finished 6 for 24 in 3-pointers.
Shaw (10-6, 6-4) played without leading scorer Billie Owens, suspended indefinitely for breaking team rules. But Spartans forward Derrick Bryant didn't believe Owens' presence would have made much difference.
"We were doing a good job of stopping their penetration and that's what he's good at," Bryant said.
The Spartans held Shaw to 32.8 percent accuracy from the field.
Carmichael finished with a game-high 18 points. He has averaged 23 points his last three games. < by CNB