THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701310777
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BOWIE, MD. LENGTH: 51 lines
Norfolk State made sure Bowie State would not continue any trends Thursday night.
The Spartans avenged their only loss - ever - to the Bulldogs with a 64-56 victory at A.C. Jordan Arena before 2,375 in CIAA action to extend their winning streak to five games. The Bulldogs (4-15, 3-9) defeated NSU (13-5, 8-2) at home 81-69 last season for their first win in 39 tries.
``I don't know about them but for me it was personal,'' NSU guard Maurice Whitfield, who scored 14 points, said of his teammates. ``I was going to make sure they were not going to get away with this one.''
The Spartans wasted no time putting Bowie on the defensive, jumping to a 27-12 lead. In that stretch, almost everything NSU put up came down through the net.
Rodney Carmichael, who finished with a team-high 17 points, and Tajai Young combined for 15 of the Spartans first 21, connecting on their first six field goals. NSU shot 62 percent in the first half on 13 of 21 shooting.
``We felt we could push it up and pressure them in a halfcourt set,'' NSU coach Mike Bernard said. ``If we got out to a quick start, that would take away their ability to slow it down.''
Forced to shy away from its strategy, Bowie increased the tempo and got leading scorer Damian Keyes more involved.
Keyes, the CIAA player of the week, scored five points down the stretch as the Bulldogs went on a 13-4 run to cut the halftime deficit to 31-26.
In the second half, Keyes kept firing away and gave Bowie a 45-44 lead with 8:49 left with two free throws. It would be the Bulldogs' only lead of the night.
``We just went flat scoring,'' Bulldogs coach Taft Hickman said. ``We tried to go to Keyes and they pressed in on him.''
The Spartans responded to Keyes' free throws with six straight points, taking back the lead on Maurice Howell's layup 15 seconds later.
Keyes' only other scores were on a jumper with 4:12 left and a dunk at the buzzer. He finished with a game-high 25.
``We knew that we had to play good defense, especially on (Keyes),'' said Young, who had 16 points. ``We wanted to double down on him because he wasn't passing it back.''
Despite Keyes' 10-of-14 shooting, Bowie only hit 43 percent of its shots (21 for 49) - the sixth straight game the Spartans have held an opponent under 50 percent.
Meanwhile, NSU shot 58 percent (25 for 43) - its fifth straight game of 50 percent or better.
The Spartans three-game road trip ends Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Virginia Union.