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College basketball
UNCP outlasts Armstrong Atlantic
Braves 3-0 in PBC for first time in history
Staff report
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Armstrong
Atlantic nailed a season-best 15
3-pointers and shot 55 percent from
the field, but UNCP used timely
rebounding and a lights-out offensive
performance in the second half
to run past the Pirates, 96-88, on
Monday evening in Alumni Arena.
The victory helped UNCP (8-4,
3-0 PBC) move to 3-0 in
Peach Belt Conference
play for the first time in
school history. The Braves
have now won six of their
last seven outings since
a home loss to Wingate
in late November. The
setback marked the third
win in the last five series
matchups with Armstrong
(4-6, 1-3) as well.
Marcus Heath scored a teambest
19 points on 8-for-12 shooting
from the field to pace six players
with double-figure scoring nights
for the Braves who also had all five
of their starters post double-figure
nights for the first time this season.
Freshman Ben Jacobs registered
a season-best 18 points on 7-of-8
shooting from the field, K.J. Cooper
added 16 points and preseason all-
American Shahmel Brackett tallied
a baker’s dozen.
Aric Miller nailed six 3-point-
Robert Willett | Raleigh News Observer
North Carolina’s James Michael McAdoo goes after an offensive rebound in the first half against Nicholls State at the Smith Center in
Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels held a 72-35 edge on the boards.
Heels win 4th straight
CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Nicholls
State coach J.P. Piper knew his players
were giving up plenty of size
to No. 5 North Carolina. He just
hoped the Colonels could hit enough
3-pointers to hang around a while.
Instead, the Tar Heels more than
doubled the Colonels on the boards
while Nicholls State made two 3s in
a 99-49 loss Monday night.
The Tar Heels finished
with a 72-35 rebounding
advantage, including 31 on
the offensive glass that led
to 36 second-chance points.
The Colonels missed 20 of
22 tries from 3-point range,
while the Tar Heels blocked
nine shots after halftime
when the Colonels tried
attacking the paint.
“I don’t know if (the 3-point shooting)
was a function of us having to
work so hard to get to open spots
because of their size, quickness and
athleticism, or if we were just a little
off tonight,” Piper said. “I kept telling
our guys to shoot it. They got
reluctant in the second half to shoot
The Robesonian, Tuesday, decembeR 20, 2011 — 3b
Athlete of
FEMALE
Athlete of
the Week How to
the Week
Trey Harrell
Nominate
Keanna McNeill
Harrell took first place at the
Hoke County Tournament last
weekend, defeating Frederic
Minton of Hoke County by a 5-4
decision at 152 pounds. Harrell is
currently 10-1 on the season for
the Bulldogs.
ALLEN
ORTHOPEDICS
Marcus Heath
J.P. Piper
ers en route to a game-high 25
points for the Pirates who have
now dropped five-straight outings,
including three-straight against
league foes.
A Jacobs 3-pointer less than
10 seconds into the second half
sparked the Braves on a 14-4 run
that allowed them to take a 56-49
lead with 15:33 to play. UNCP
pushed its advantage out to double
digits, 67-57, on a pair
of free throws by Miguel
Starkey four minutes later,
and then used a mild 12-6
scoring spurt to pad the
advantage out to 14 points,
79-65, on a pair of Blakeney
free throws at the 4:46 mark.
The Pirates finally whittled
their deficit down to
single digits, 89-80, on
Miller’s trey with 39 seconds
to play, but UNCP sank six
of their eight free throw attempts
down the stretch to stave off any
kind of comeback effort.
UNCP will return to action on
Dec. 30 when it opens up a threegame
home stand against Shawnee
State in the English E. Jones Center.
Lady Braves fall short in
PBC play, 54-52
The UNCP women’s basketball
it and started attacking the rim, and
that was really a disaster. ... When
you can’t make 3s and can’t lay the
ball up, you’re in trouble.”
As for the rebounding, Nicholls
State didn’t start anyone taller
than 6-foot-7 against a front line of
Harrison Barnes (6-8), John Henson
(6-11) and Tyler Zeller (7-0).
“I don’t think we necessarily
competed as hard as
we needed to early for some
of those rebounds,” Piper
said. “There were times,
however, when I felt like
we put a body on a guy and
had good position, and they
were just superior.”
For North Carolina,
Dexter Strickland scored 14
points and freshman reserve
James Michael McAdoo added a
season-high 14 for the Tar Heels
(10-2), who dominated the undersized
and overmatched Colonels for
their fourth straight victory.
UNC’s 31 offensive boards were
second-most in program history.
The Tar Heels had 39 rebounds by
team suffered a two-point loss
to Peach Belt Conference rival
Armstrong Atlantic on Monday
evening in Alumni Arena, 54-52.
Junior Courtney Bolton collected
her second consecutive and third
overall double-double this season
with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Senior DeDe Cotten drained 12
points as she was 4-of-7 from the
three-point line. The Lady Braves
(4-5, 1-2 PBC) shot 38.5 percent in
three-point shooting and 75.0 percent
from the charity stripe.
The largest lead of the game for
Armstrong was at the 11:59 mark
on the layup by Angelia Hill, but
the Black and Gold continued to
press on and tie the game for the
fifth time after 20 minutes of action
with a score of 22-22.
The final and 11th tied score of
the game came with 38 seconds
on the clock, but the Lady Braves
suffered as the ball was turned over
in the final seconds to secure the
victory for the Lady Pirates.
The Lady Braves will take 10
days off for the Christmas holiday
before returning to the court
in the Georgia College Classic
Tournament to face Limestone
(5-4) on Dec. 30 and Tusculum
(5-3) on Dec. 31.
halftime to match or exceed their
total for six games this season, and
their 72 for the game were tied for
second in school history and the
program’s most since 1956.
Bryan Hammond scored 15 to
lead Nicholls State (4-8), which
didn’t manage a point for the first
5½ minutes and shot just 31 percent
for the game.
The Tar Heels are midway through
a nine-game home stand that will
keep them at the Smith Center
through their first two Atlantic
Coast Conference games in January.
The next game comes Wednesday
night against Texas — which beat
North Carolina in Greensboro on a
last-second shot last season — so
Monday night’s game offered the
Tar Heels a chance to fine-tune their
game before facing the Longhorns.
North Carolina had a 30-7
rebounding advantage in the first
12½ minutes, including 18-0 on the
offensive boards. North Carolina’s
first seven baskets were secondchance
points, including a stickback
from Reggie Bullock.
n Coaches and parents
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ALLEN ORTHOPEDICS OF LUMBERTON
SALUTES OUR ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Chuck Liddy | Raleigh News & Observer
Duke freshman Quinn Cook scores on an acrobatic second half play
over North Carolina-Greensboro’s Korey Van Dussen at Cameron
Indoor Stadium in Durham.
Cook leads Duke past
UNC Greensboro, 90-63
DURHAM (AP) —
Playing its only game in
nearly three weeks, No. 7
Duke refused to let it turn
into one to forget.
Freshman Quinn Cook
scored all of his season-high
14 points in the second half
of the Blue Devils’ 90-63
rout of UNC Greensboro on
Monday night.
Mason Plumlee had 15
points and 13 rebounds
and Austin Rivers added
14 points for Duke (10-1),
which hadn’t played since
Dec. 10 and which won’t
play again until Dec. 30.
“We didn’t want to be
laying on a bad win,” Rivers
said. “We wanted to leave a
message and go into the
break with good spirits.”
The Blue Devils shot
54 percent from the field,
shook off a sluggish start
and overcame 18 turnovers
to win their third straight
since the one-sided loss at
No. 2 Ohio State.
Kyle Randall scored 12
points for the Spartans
(2-10), who made things
interesting early but shot
just 34.5 percent in the second
half and went on to
their seventh straight loss.
The last two have come
under interim coach Wes
Miller, a former North
Carolina guard who took
over last week.
“This isn’t an ideal situation
to get put into a head
coaching chair,” Miller said.
“When you have guys in
the locker room that come
together through adversity,
it makes it easy on you as
a coach.”
Duke needed an 18-4 run
late in the first half to take
the lead for good. The Blue
Devils then pulled away
by opening the second
half with a 29-8 burst that
pushed the lead into the
30s.
Cook — who was 6 for
6 from the field after halftime
— scored 11 points
during the run, and his
3-pointer with 7½ minutes
left capped the spurt and
made it 73-42.
Andre Dawkins finished
with 11 points, Ryan
Kelly added 10 and Miles
Plumlee had 13 rebounds
to help the Blue Devils
extend a few impressive
streaks.
LSU extends
winning streak
BATON ROUGE, La.
(AP) — Ralston Turner
scored 22 points and LSU
extended its winning
streak to five games while
handing No. 10 Marquette
its first loss of the season,
67-59 on Monday night.
Turner hit two clutch
3-pointers in the final 4
minutes to give the Tigers
the lead and added two free
throws to make it 60-54
with 1:19 to go. Justin
Hamilton then closed out
a 13-point performance by
making seven free throws
in the last 53 seconds to
ensure the Tigers (8-3) held
off a comeback attempt by
the Golden Eagles (10-1).
Jae Crowder scored
22 points for Marquette,
which came in shooting
nearly 50 percent on the
season but connected on
only 36.2 percent (21 of
58). The Golden Eagles
attempted 23 3-pointers,
hitting only 8.
LSU shot 53.5 percent
(23 of 43), far above their
39 percent mark for the
season.
Baylor 95,
Paul Quinn 54
WACO, Texas (AP) —
Quincy Acy had 24 points
and seven of Baylor’s 17
dunks as the Bears defeated
Paul Quinn College for
their 10th consecutive victory.
Baylor (10-0) has won its
first 10 games for only the
second time, the best start
in team history being 12-0
in 2000-01. The Bears have
won 50 of their last 53 nonconference
home games
over the past six seasons.
Darrell Augustine had 15
points for Paul Quinn, an
NAIA school from Dallas
that counted the game
as an exhibition and not
against its 2-7 record.
The junior forward was named
MVP of the Robeson County
Shootout last weekend after helping
the Pirates claim their sixth
title. McNeill scored 21 points
in Lumberton’s 67-25 rout of St.
Pauls.
404 Hatfield Ct., Lumberton, NC
(near Outback Steakhouse)
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