DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997              TAG: 9704020498

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   59 lines

ECSU QUIZ BOWLERS RETURN AFTER NATIONAL SUCCESS

Five students from Elizabeth City State University became known as the giant killers in Florida last week by finishing second nationally in an intellectual tournament similar to the TV game show ``Jeopardy.''

The team's runner-up finish in the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge - a competition for historically black colleges - won ECSU $27,000.

The money probably will go toward much-needed scholarship money at the university, said Marsha McLean, director of ECSU public relations.

The ECSU team was considered an underdog at Orlando, Fla., until it beat teams from much larger schools such as Howard University and Florida A&M University, last year's national champion.

``They were surprised, but we were not surprised,'' said Derrick L. Wilkins, the coach of the team. Wilkins is also director of the school's computer center and a professor of computer science.

Chancellor Mickey Burnim spoke Tuesday at a small ceremony on campus to honor the team.

``You can tell from the expression on my face that I am simply bursting with pride,'' Burnim said.

He turned to speak directly to the five students and their coach sitting at the front of the room in the University Center: ``You will be people we will look to. . . . We will be there for you no matter where you go in the future.''

The team included Harold V. Lawson, James Martin III, Shaunell McMillan, Phillip Puryear and Ahmad Ward.

``We clicked better this year,'' said Puryear, a senior and four-year veteran of the quiz bowl team. ECSU finished in the top 16 last year. ``We all knew what we knew and we knew what each other knew.''

American Honda Motor Co. Inc., sponsors the question-and-answer tournament, offering $305,000 to participating schools. Honda also pays travel expenses. The winner, Alabama State University, will receive $50,000.

ECSU will receive $25,000 for second place and an additional $2,000 because Martin scored higher than any of the 320 students from 64 schools in the tournament and made the all-star team. This was ECSU's highest finish in the tournament's eight-year history. Wilkins has coached for three years.

``I can't let out all my secrets,'' said Wilkins of how he got the team so far. ``We practiced hard.''

In the competition, a moderator asks questions about a wide range of subjects. The first to hit a buzzer gets to answer. If the team answers correctly, it gets a bonus question. Matches consists of two eight-minute halves.

To prepare for the national tournament campus teams practiced against each other beginning in October, Wilkins said.

Wilkins picked the top five competitors from ECSU campus teams for the national tournament, which ran from March 22-26.

``The key to this game is not only knowledge, but speed,'' Wilkins said. ``If you're slow to the buzzer, you'll lose the game.''

Martin kept a box of sugar packets with him to increase his buzzer speed.

``I've been playing this way since my sophomore year in high school,'' he said. ``It keeps me on a sugar high. We lost the last game, not because they knew more but because they knew it faster. Next year we want to finish what we started.''

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