DATE: Tuesday, November 18, 1997            TAG: 9711180446

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   50 lines

NSU OPENS SEASON, AND NEW ERA, TONIGHT

A savvy floor general with 3-point range, a true freshman and a player who will turn 31 three days before Christmas will be among the starters for the Norfolk State men's basketball team when the Spartans make their Division I debut against St. Francis (Pa.) at Echols Arena tonight at 8.

The Spartans' first game will also be their fans' last chance to see a home game in nearly a month. The team will leave Wednesday morning on a 10-day, four-game trip to California and Colorado. Three more road games follow before Norfolk State returns to Echols Arena on Dec. 15 to face McNeese State.

The starting lineup, which the Spartans unveiled during their Green & Gold scrimmage Saturday, will feature 6-foot-3 junior-college transfer Kevin Perry and 6-5 sophomore Damian Woolfolk at guards, 6-7 sophomore Greg Jones and 6-8 freshman Darrell Neal as the forwards, and 6-8, 30-year-old Portsmouth native Sean Blackwell in the middle.

Of the starters, only Jones and Blackwell, the team's lone senior, played for the Spartans last year.

``They're young and inexperienced, but so far things have been encouraging,'' Spartans coach Mike Bernard said. ``It's tough having to learn a whole new system, but so far, most of the players seem to have a fairly good grasp of it.''

Particularly encouraging has been the play of Perry, who had 20 points, five assists and four steals while deftly running the Green offense Saturday. He also made two of four 3-pointers, after hitting 52 percent of this treys last season at Polk Community College in Florida.

``He can play,'' Bernard said.

The 6-5 Woolfolk, who sat out last season for academic reasons, led all scorers with 27 points. Jones, whose 1996-97 average of just under seven points a game makes him the Spartans' top returning scorer, added 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Forward Michael Beckles, guards Kenny Brown and Lee Wilson, and centers Clyde Abney and Cory Liggins should also see action as part of Bernard's initial 10-man rotation.

What remains to be seen is how this group stacks up against outside competition. The Spartans played no exhibitions save for their Green & Gold scrimmage, and that revealed little because Bernard, wanting to give his starters work playing together, pitted them against his reserves. The starters won by 47 points.

But while this makes the Spartans something of a mystery team, Bernard isn't counting on the element of surprise being much of a factor once play begins.

``Mystery teams can have success if they execute,'' he said. ``And we won't be a mystery team for long. So I don't put much stock in that.''

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