• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-02-25_08

Sports The Western Carolinian page 8 Thursday. February 25,1988 Catamounts Top The Citadel, Fall to Furman; Must Upset Conference Champion Marshall For Tournament Bid The Citadel's Upset of UT-C Diminishes Westerns Tournament Hopes By CHRIS GEIS Sports Editor Just when It appeared that Western Carolina had played Itself Into a decent shot of Pelng In the Southern Conference PasketPall tournament, someone else appears to have played them out. What It all comes down to for the Catamounts if they are to advance Into postseason play Is. at the minimum, this: They have to defeat league-leading Marshall here on Saturday night — and hope that eighth-place The Citadel loses Its last two games of the regular season, Poth of which are at home. The Catamounts (2-12 conference and 8-17 overall) won the game they had to win here last Saturday night Py defeating The Citadel, 73-67. That victory avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs and moved the Catamounts into an eighth- place tie with them. But on Monday night, the Catamounts were Peaten in Greenville, S.C., by Furman, 85- 72, and The Citadel won at Tennessee-Chattanooga, 69-68. That suprising victory by the Bulldogs (3-11 and 6-18) put them Into the No. 8spotand dropped the Catamounts back to last place. Only the top eight teams In the final regular season standings will qual- MarshalL.is no better than Kansas, and we played Kansas right down to the wire... —Coach Herb Kruien ify for the conference tournament, held March 4-6 in Ashevilie. The Citadel's victory over Chattanooga also hurts the Catamounts in another way, in relation to the Southern Conference's tie- breaking procedure. The Citadel and Western split their two games this season, and both have defeated Vlrignia Military, currently in seventh place. But because the Bulldogs now have a victory over sixth-place Chattanooga, they would get the edge should they and the Catamounts tie for last Gault Arrested Now Here's a Program Booster for all You Catamount Fans From Staff reports Andre Gault, a senior center on the Western Carolina basketball team, was indicted last week on felony drug charges by a Jackson County grand jury and arrested last Friday afternoon by Western Carolina University campus police. Gault was charged with two counts — possession of marijuana and possession with Intent to distribute. Gault was part of a sting operation conducted by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the Jackson County Sheriff's Department that netted 20 other area people. Gault, a 6-foot-8-lnch player from Cincinnati who had started for four years for the Catamounts, was in jail last Saturday and did not play in the Cata mounts' victory here Saturday night over The Citadel. Western Carolina athletic director Terry Wanless said he would suspended from the club for the remainder of the season. "His staying in school is a matter that would be beyond the athletic department, but our basic policy as far as his staying on the team is that It would be best for all parties involved If Andre not be a part of our basketball program for the rest of the year," Wanless told The Western Carolinian. "That's not an Indication of Andre's guilt or Innocence. He Just needs to concentrate on his situation right now." On the effect Gault's loss see GAULT next page place, simply because they would have a victory over a higher- seeded team. Besides Saturday night's game agalsnt Marshall, the Catamounts host VMI on Monday night at Ramsey. Both games start at 7:30. What It comes down to if the Catamounts are to have any chance at making the tournament Is that they have to beat Marshall, which has already clinched the regular-season championship. Here are some possibilities that exist: Ulf The Citadel wins Its homes games against East Tennessee State (Saturday) and Appalachian State (Monday), it will make the tournament regardless of what Western does, for it would have a 5- 11 conference record to Western's best possible record, which would be 4-12. Ulf Western loses to Marshall, it cannot make the tournament no matter what. The best Western could finish at that point would be 3-13. and even if The Citadel lost both Its games and also ended up 3-13, it would make the tournament by virtue of its victory over a higher-seeded team (Chattanooga). Ulf Western defeats Marshall and VMI, and The Citadel loses Its two games, then the Catamounts would make the tournament. They would be 4-12 in the conference as opposed to The Citadel's 3-13. Ulf Western defeats Marshall and VMI, and The Citadel splits its games, the Catamounts would make the tournament. Both teams would finish 4-12, but Western would have the victory over the higher seeded team (Marshall). "We'll give It everything we've got and see what happens Saturday night," Western head coach Herb Krusen said Monday night after the Furman loss. "The last-place team doesn't beat the first-place team very often, but It has been known to happen. "Marshall is playing very, very well right now, but they are no better than Kansas, and we played Kansas right down to the wire. It's a see HOOPS next page A Bright Spot Junior forward Bennie Goettie remains one of the few bright spots In an otherwise dismal Catamount season. Goettie leads the team In scoring, and upheld this Monday night with a 24-point performance against Furman. —Mark Haik.fl Photo Southern Conference Standings TEAM Marshall Furman Appalachian St. Davidson E. Tenn. St. UT-Chattanooga Va. Military Citadel W. Carolina TONIGHT'S GAMES No games scheduled SATURDAY NIGHT'S GAMES Appalachian St. at Davidson East Tenn. St. at Citadel Lander at Furman Marshall at Western Carolina LEAGUE 12-2 11-5 8-6 8-6 8-6 7-7 5-9 3-11 2-12 OVERALL 21-6 17-9 16-10 14-11 12-13 16-11 10-15 6-18 8-17 Va. Military at UT-Chattanooga MONDAY NIGHT'S GAMES Appalachian St. at Citadel East Tenn. St. at Davidson UT-Chattanooga at Marshall Va. Military at Western Carolina End of regular season Baseball Cats to Open at Home —Finally Western Glad to Return to Childress Field After Early Games at Florida, Auburn and N.C. State Jack Leggett Is hoping familiar surroundings will help warm his Western Carolina University baseball team's bats this weekend when the Catamounts open their home schedule. Western will play a pair of doubleheaders with Eastern Kentucky University at Ronnie G. Childress Field this weekend. Saturday's home opener will be gin at 12:00 Noon and the first game in Sunday's twin bill will start at 1:00 p.m. The Catamounts are 3-8 after series against southern baseball powers Florida, Auburn and North Carolina State the past three weekends on the road. "It's going to be good to be home after 11 games on the road and, hopefully, the tough competition we faced In those games and finally playing at home will help us to play better," offered Leggett. "However." he adds, "our hltlng must Improve for us to be successful." Going Into this weekend's series with Eastern Kentucky, the Catamounts show a team batting average of only .240 and have been shutout three times. Last In Retrospect: Do We Need Reid? A Campus-Wide Perspective Editor's Note: Since moving Into the Ramsey Center for the 1986-87 season, the Western Carolina men's basketball team ~ias not fared very well in games olayed on its home floor. Last Saturday night's victory over The Citadel was the first home conference victory for the Catamounts fNs year, and only their second ever. Their previous home confer ence victory was Jan. 23. 1987. against East Tennessee State. The Catamounts have also had problems attracting good crowds to the Ramsey Center, having drawn three straight crowds for conference games of about 1.300. It wasn't too long ago that the Catamounts were a dominant home team. Only three years ago. In January 1985. Western had a 20-game home winning streak going. The Cats, In fact, used to be unbeatable at home, and crowds of 4,000 or more were expected almost every night. To find out a little about what people around campus — students, players, coaches, fans — feel about playing In the Ramsey Center, and to find out what they Sweatbox Opponent? often found Reld Gvm hellish. Always hot, always loud, and the crowds were Hhely qgjte abusive. This scene, from the 'hfrdhpl' aifi shows students wearing plastic 'hardhals' ob- stenslvolv to protect themselves from plavlng-aur- face -bound debris that didn't quite make It. miss about the old Reld days. The Western Carolinian sent out three reporters — sports editor Chris Geis and sports writers Steve 'Almasy and Bill Graham — armed with notepad and pen to ask a few questions. Here's what they found. Sports editor Chris Geis spoke with people in and around the athletic department. Herb Krusen, head basketball coach. "First of all, this Is a much better facility and this Is going to be a good place to play. . . . Winning makes a building — you'll find that anywhere there's a great arena. When we start winning, we're going to be fine, and we'll start attracting the bigger crowds. With Reid, the fans were closer to the court, and that was a difference. It was a great home-court atmosphere. When we start winning her, we'll have the same home-court atmosphere as we had in Reid. It'll just take some time." Bobby Brown, assistant Intramurals director and Ramsey scorekeeper. "I think the Ramsey Center'sjust to far off campus. It's affected our Intramural program, too. For our racquetball championships, for instance, we used to have a lot more people watching. Being so far away from the dorms affects attendance, but there's more stu dent apathy, too. ... I miss the Intensity of the crowds In Reld. We haven'tseen that at all here. I don't miss the crowded conditions, though." Steve White, sports Information director. "The closeness, the noise, the atmosphere... that's what I miss about Reld. So far, we have not won here consistently.. I'm sure the distance down here has an affect on some students, but winning would narrow the dls tance. It would be tremendous if the great crowds would return here. But It's like this: which came first, the chicken or the egg? With some better crowds, we could win; but with winning, we could get better crowds." John Gruca, student basketball manager. "It's a whole different ball game In Ramsey. Reld was the heat — all those fans getting fired up and getting on the other team. I think if we put the students behind the visiting team bench, we'd be all right." Sports writer Steve Almasy spoke with several students. see BARN next page W Leggett season's team was held scoreless only three times In 56 games. Only one regular owns a batting average over .300. "Our pltchina and overall defense has been pretty good...good enough to consistently win with If we had been scoring Just a few runs a game," he stated. "I realize the compe- —^— tltion had been outstanding, but we've got a lot to prove before we can have a good team," he adds. Legget Is not about to panic as his team's In the past three seasons were slow starters. WCU has 4-7 In '85,4-7 in '86,3-7 in '87 and all three of those teams had batting averages of less than .260 at the same point in the season. Each of those teams went on to win a Southern Confernce championship. Eastern Kentucky, which has won the Ohio Valley Conference championship In three of the past four seasons and advacne to the NCAA Tournament, has become WCU's traditional opponent for Its home schedule opener. Last weekend, WCU dropped three of four games to 25th ranked N.C. State In Raleigh. The Catatmounts had only two hits the series opener, a 7-1 loss. They bounced back in the second game behind the hitlng of Richie Senn (3 rbi). Skip Nelloms, Robbie Gordon, Shelton Grant and Brlttaln - each with two hits - for a 12-6 win. The hitting drought reappeard Sunday as Western's batters collected only 10 hits In 14 Innings while losing 6-4 and 12-0

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1988-02-25
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-05
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 12 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-02-25
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library