Division I regional track finals
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Watch this amazing basketball finish
Sixteen lead changes to go along with six ties.
The Metro-School Bowl never fails to amaze, and Friday night was one of the the pinnacles of that rivalry.
Spencer Krhin took the game in his own hands, scoring 11 of his 23 points in the final 46 seconds to give the Knights a 51-49 victory over the Norse at Southwood.
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Live from Southeastern-Newton boys game
8:55 p.m.: The Trojans win 71-49. They are now 19-2.
8:36: Southeastern leads Newton 51-26 after three quarters. J.P. McFarland has 14 points, and Austin Mercer has 10.
Southeastern will move on to play Miami Valley in the second round March 3 at 6 p.m. at Butler.
8:08: Southeastern leads 35-18 at halftime.
8:03: Trojans running away with this one. They lead 27-12 with 3:30 left before halftime. J.P. McFarland has eight points.
Jared Toops just hit a 3-pointer, and Southeastern leads Newton 30-12.
7:53: Tyler Cooper just drained his second basket of the quarter, and the Trojans lead 16-5. Southeastern now has one starter on the court for the final 25 seconds. That’s the end of the quarter. 16-5 Trojans.
7:51 p.m.: Trojans lead 12-3 with 2:30 left in the first quarter of this Division IV sectional first-round game. Southeastern is getting some baskets off the fast break.
Daniel Black just scored to make it 14-3.
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Live updates from Emmanuel Christian boys game
7:23 p.m.: A furious comeback by Emmanuel Christian results in a 46-44 victory over Mississinawa Valley. Junior guard A.J. Tolliver hit two free throws with six seconds left, and MV’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
A traveling call against MV prior gave EC the ball on the possession that led to Tolliver’s free throws.
7:09 p.m.: Terry Scott nailed a 3-pointer from two steps behind the arc to trim MV’s lead to 38-37. The Lions trailed by seven moments ago.
7:08 p.m.: Emmanuel trails 38-34 with 2:21 left. Terry Scott of EC just hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.
6:53: Emmanuel Christian trails 32-28 after three quarters. Joel Elliott leads the Lions with six points.
6:44 p.m.: Mississinawa Valley leads 28-24 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.
6:31: A somewhat entertaining game so far with a low score. The Hawks lead EC 19-17 at halftime.
6:25 p.m. The Hawks lead 15-14 with 1:48 left in the half. MV just called time-out. Here’s some of the wisdom heard from behind me in the stands (condensed into one paragraph) and from the MV bench in just the last few minutes.
“Motion, motion. Don’t waste your dribble. When you gonna learn to pull up. Take it in. C’mon, shoot it. Shoot the ball, James. Post up. He’s moving on the pick. Good shot. Get there, get there, get there, right there. Regular, regular. Box out. Let’s go Lions. 22, 22.”
6:18 p.m.: Mississinawa Valley led 10-6 after the first quarter, and it’s still 10-6 with almost 5 minutes left in the second.
Joel Elliott jut scored for the Lions to cut the deficit to 10-8. In the first quarter, the Lions scored six points on two three-point plays.
Southeastern is in the house. The Trojans play Newton in the second game tonight.
5:54 p.m. A few minutes to tipoff here at the Vandalia Butler Student Activities Center. They need a new name for this place. That’s at least two too many words. The SAC works well, though.
No. 6 seed Emmanuel Christian is facing No. 7 seed Mississinawa Valley in the first game. This is the first round of the Division IV sectional tournament.
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Hoosiers 2? Small town in Kentucky living big dream
From ESPN.com:
SANDY HOOK, Ky. — With another 100-point night in the books, the Elliott County Lions have adjourned to the Penny Mart (“Deli-Propane-Lotto” reads the sign). Here, playing rook amid the motor oil and fishing hooks and canned goods, they are rural royalty.
The chicken wings, cheeseburgers and slushies are free for the boys after every game, enthusiastically provided by proprietor Bobbie Howard.
“Nobody really done anything special for them,” she said. “A lot of them I’ve known since they were babies. They make us proud. This is a town a lot of people thought nobody would ever come from.”
The Lions have come roaring out of this rugged, remote Appalachian hamlet of roughly 700 people along the Little Sandy River to capture the imagination of a state that cherishes high school basketball. They have rekindled memories of the glory days of mountain ball, when tiny communities like Carr Creek or players like King Kelly Coleman and Richie Farmer wandered out of Eastern Kentucky to become folk heroes memorialized in books.
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Daily Tournament Fix — Feb. 25
Here’s your daily tournament fix for Wednesday, Feb. 25:
Tonight’s games: D-IV — Emmanuel Christian vs. Mississinawa Valley, 6 p.m., and Southeastern vs. Newton, 7:30 p.m., at the Vandalia Butler Student Activities Center.; D-III — Northeastern vs. Carlisle, 7:30 p.m., at UD Arena.
Short Takes: Northeastern is coming off a huge victory on Friday, a 58-56 win over Southeastern, which kept the Trojans from going perfect in the OHC. … Emmanuel Christian joins the Metro Buckeye Conference next season. … Southeastern is 18-2 overall and finished the season ranked fifth in D-II. The last time they faced Newton in 2000-2001, the Trojans were 18-2, but were ousted in the first round of the D-II tournament. They wouldn’t lose another game until the regional finals the next season. … The Trojans finished the season with four of their five starters (J.P. McFarland, Jared Toops, Austin Mercer and Tyler Cooper) all averaging double figures. Their fifth starter, Reed Florence, led the Springfield-area in assists. … The Jets have won four of their last seven games. They’re 1-3 against D-III teams (Greeneview, West Liberty-Salem) they faced this season.
Key player: Aaron Hartzell, Northeastern. The Jets senior post will have to be a monster in the middle tonight against Carlisle. The 6-8 senior is an imposing figure in the paint and can change his opponents shots just by taking up space in the lane. If he can get his offense going tonight, the Jets will have a chance to play Greeneview for a third time in the second round.
Last night’s results: All four area teams - three boys and one girls team - fell in action last night. There are just three area girls teams left standing - Kenton Ridge, Graham and Southeastern.
Lookahead: No area teams play on Thursday, but we’ll have action from both the boys and girls tournament games on Friday and Saturday.
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On this date in area sports history …
Sixteen years ago on this date, Feb. 25, 1993, the News-Sun published a story about the North Coast Athletic Conference considering holding its basketball tournaments at a neutral site. Complete story on the jump:
NCAC CONSIDERING NEUTRAL SITE FOR TOURNEY
WU WOULD LOSE ‘95-96 TOURNEYS
By Rob Oller, Sports Writer
The North Coast Athletic Conference is considering moving its post-season basketball tournament to a neutral site in Columbus, Ohio, next year.
Dennis Collins, executive director of the NCAC, visited Battelle Hall in the Greater Columbus Convention Center last week to look into the possibility of moving the men’s and women’s semifinals and finals to the 6,000-seat arena in 1994.
The convention center, which also will host next month's Mid-American Conference tournament, has already penciled in dates for next year's NCAC tourney, but Collins has not determined if a move would be financially feasible.
The NCAC is in the third year of a six-year tournament rotation agreement, with Ohio Wesleyan hosting this year and in 1994. Wittenberg is scheduled to host in 1995 and ‘96.
Collins investigated the site for two reasons.
“One of the presidents, which one I don’t remember, said, `Why don’t we look at a neutral site.’ You know there’s this continual issue coaches bring up is of home court advantage,” Collins said.
Secondly, there is concern that OWU’s Branch Rickey Arena won’t suitably accommodate tournament crowds, which will travel to Delaware for Friday’s semifinals.
Branch Rickey seats about 2,500, including 200 temporary bleacher seats behind one basket. The last two tournaments, held at Wooster’s 3,400-seat Timken Gymnasium, have attracted about 3,200 fans.
“If all things are equal, about 700 people will be disappointed,'' Collins admitted.
Collins assured that no decision will be reached until after fans get a chance to voice their opinions. A survey will be conducted this weekend asking fans such questions as whether they’d be willing to pay higher ticket prices for a nicer facility.
The issue will be discussed Saturday with a tournament committee of eight athletic directors, coaches and faculty representatives.
Wittenberg women’s coach Pam Evans is a member of the committee, but didn’t know if she would be able to attend the meeting because the Tigers play a semifinal game Saturday afternoon.
She expressed reservations over moving to a large arena.
“I’m not sure that if you move it to a bigger site whether you might lose the excitement,” she said. “Three thousand fans in a 6,000-seat arena might make it seem more empty.
“I can see moving it here next year,” she added. “I think it depends on how Ohio Wesleyan handles the crowd.”
Evans said there was talk among committee members of switching the tournament from OWU to Wittenberg for this year’s tournament, but too many plans had already been made.
Collins said he didn’t know if the tournament might move to a neutral site for just one year or whether it would be a more permanent change, one that would affect Wittenberg.
“We need to find out if people might be interested in this. There are pluses and minuses,” Collins said. “I think most (Division III) colleges these days seem to have an older crowd. It’s moved from student oriented to older. If in fact that is our fan base, maybe they would enjoy going downtown where they can pick from nicer restaurants and hotels.
“The other side is you have to pay to park and we’d have to bus people in. If we ever do this, we’d have to make special provisions for students and still find a way to keep their ticket price rock bottom.”
Collins said ticket prices would probably have to rise if the tournament moves to Battelle. This year, the NCAC is charging $6 for adults and $2 for students each day. The Friday ticket allows fans to see two women’s and two men’s semifinals. The Saturday ticket is good for both finals.
“On the other hand, we could get a corporate sponsor and then we wouldn’t have to raise the prices, but we’ve never gone into that area before,” Collins said.
The Ohio Conference moved its tournament to a neutral site in Canton for the first time this year and is charging $8 for adults, $4 for students.
NCAC officials will closely watch the OAC to see how fans react to the move and ticket increases.
“We don’t know how our people would feel about leaving the campus atmosphere,” Collins said. “Another question is how big is big? We’ve been very successful with our brand of basketball. Do we want to get into all this stuff?
“Nothing is solid here yet. We’re making money now and the only way we’ll do it is if we keep making a profit we’re making now. The only way this will all jive is if we can offer reasonable ticket prices and people are willing to show up.”
Battelle doesn’t want a rental fee from the NCAC, but is asking for a part of the profits. The NCAC made almost $10,000 off last year’s tournament, not including profits from quarterfinal games.
Wittenberg athletic director Carl F. Schraibman is familiar with tournaments held at neutral sites from his days heading the graduate sports administration program at Kent State.
“I can’t make a really good calculated guess, but I think there was an awful lot of sentiment to stay on the campuses,” said Schraibman, referring to the MAC decision to move its tournament from Toledo to a neutral site.
The MAC tried holding the tourney at Cobo Arena in Detroit and at Northern Illinois with disastrous results, he said.
Wittenberg men’s coach Dan Hipsher isn’t pleased with the prospect of losing the tournament, and home court advantage, in 1995 and ‘96. He also wondered how the conference would make a profit, or even break even, by moving to a neutral site.
“I don’t know how you make more money at a neutral site,” he said. “We know we can make a profit here.”
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