THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601280320
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PETERSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Although he's Norfolk State's starting shooting guard, Carnell Penn also doubles as the Spartans' backup point guard.
Quite often, he has looked out of position when forced to play the point this season.
But Saturday night for 13 crucial minutes, the 6-foot senior ran the Spartans' offense to perfection in Norfolk State's 87-63 victory over Virginia State.
With Maurice Whitfield forced to the bench with two early fouls, Penn dished out six assists as the Spartans broke open a tight game at packed Daniel Gymnasium on the Virginia State campus.
When Whitfield went to the bench, the game was tied at 14. When the Spartans (13-2 overall, 9-1 in the CIAA) went to the locker room at halftime, they led 44-34.
``Carnell did a good job tonight,'' Spartans coach Mike Bernard said. ``He's starting to understand that, in that particular role, shooting is not the most important thing he can do.''
Once Penn moved back to shooting guard to start the second half, he buried the Trojans with three mid-range jumpers in a 12-4 spurt that put Norfolk State up 56-38. From that point, the Trojans got no closer than 14 on their way to a seventh consecutive loss.
``I talked with my father the other day, and he told me that whatever job I'm asked to do on the court, just do it,'' Penn said. ``I played point guard in high school, so it's nothing new. But I've got more confidence in myself right now when I have to move to the point.''
Penn finished with 19 points and senior forward Derrick Bryant had 22 points and 10 rebounds despite battling a flu bug that's making its way through the team.
``Derrick gets his every night whether he's feeling good or not,'' Penn said. ``He just goes out and does the job. It's becoming contagious.''
Bryant's hustle, that is. Not the flu bug.
Bryant's most crowd-pleasing basket came on an alley-oop pass from Penn near the end of the first half.
``Carnell's very aware that if he's going to get a chance to play at another level, he has to prove to some people that he can play the point,'' Bryant said. ``He opened it up tonight with things that don't necessarily show up on the stats sheet.''
The leading scoring duo for the Trojans (5-12, 0-9) didn't fare as well.
Reggie Frisby was held to 10 points, more than nine below his average, and Douglas Hines, mired in foul trouble much of the night, finished five below his average with 13.
They were a combined 7 of 25 from the field, and the Spartans held Virginia State to 31 percent accuracy from the field (22 of 71), a season best by the defense.
Elgren Green ended up leading the Trojans in scoring with 17 points.
``That's been our stabling point all year,'' Bernard said. ``We played fairly decent defense again.'' by CNB