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  • Publications (documents)
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  • Western Carolina University
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1986-03-06_Vol51_No07_08

Page 8 WESTERN CAROLINIAN MARCH 6. 1986 Carolinian Sports I . My, How Annoying Cats Eliminated in First Round, This Time by App Clifford Waddy Scores 30 in His Final Outing by Chris Geis Sports Writer ASHEVILLE, Feb. 28--Western Carolina's Catamounts, who had been winning the Alka-Seltzer Specials for the past two weeks, finally tasted their own medicine here Friday, falling to arch-rival Appalachian State, 63-62, in overtime in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament. The loss ended the year for Western, and moved Appalachian into the tournament semifinals. The Catamounts, who had won six straight games to end the regular season, finished 14-14. It was their second straight 14-14 campaign and the second straight overtime loss in the first round of the conference tournament. Clifford Waddy, the Catamounts' only senior, turned in a stellar performance. He hit only 11 of 24 shots form the field, but he was eight of nine from the free-throw line, had six rebounds and scored a game- high 30 points. Waddy, playing in his last game, tied Pat Sharp's record for most consecutive games played in—112. Sharp played from 1980-84. Western Carolina had a chance to win the game in regulation after it came back from a five-point deficit, 56-51, with 3:51 left. After Waddy hit both ends of a one-and-one with 2:01 left, freshman Robert Hill canned both ends at 1:34 to tie the score. The Catamounts had the ball with the tie scored and 14 seconds left. It seemed like a perfect situation for the Catamounts, who won their last four games by a total of seven points, one in overtime ana three in the last seconds. Spotlight Walker, the junior guard who had come through in those games, missed a jumper with several seconds remaining, however, and Appalachian's Ron Fiorini, who recovered, also missed one at the buzzer. Appalachian fell behind by three in overtime after Waddy converted a couple of free throws with 2:10 left, but Fiorini and Davis, whose play kept the Mountaineers in the game, hit a total of four throws in the last two minutes to give the Mountaineers a 63-62 advantage. Western Carolina had the ball with 26 seconds left in the overtime, but Richard Rogers missed and 18-footer with six seconds left, and the Mountaineers recovered to seal the victory. It was one of only two of eight shots Rogers missed on the day. "We used a triangle and two defense on that last play, with a man on Waddy and one on Walker, and it looked like a man-to-man, but it wasn't," Appalachian coach Kevin Cantwell said. "Our defense has helped us all year." The Mountaineers'defense shut down completely Leroy Gasgue, the Catamounts' all-Southern Conference sophomore forward and leading scorer. Gasgue was zero for two from the field, had three Clifford Waddy, Western's only senior, was named to the all- tournament team for his 30 point performance. Photo by Mark Haskett rebounds and picked up three personal fouls before the first half. It was the first time in 44 games Gasgue had failed to score and the first time in 20 games he had failed to score to double figures. "We could not get the ball down to Leroy," Catamount coach Steve Cottrell said. "Appalachian did a tremendous job defensively." Western Carolina shot 38.7 percent for the game, and Cottrell thought his team should have won the game despite that. "I felt we could hav won it a couple of times if we had gotten the ball to the right guys at the right times,"he said. The Mountaineers' Davis was 8 of 13 from the field with 22 points, and Fiorini hit 7 of 14 for 19 points. Several times down thestretch Fiorini scored 15 points in the second half, while Davis had 14. Davis' three- point play on an inside lean-and turn move with 3:18 left gave Appalachian . one-point lead, 59-58, but Western regained the lead and had it until Davis' foul shot offGasgue'sfourth foul with 26 seconds left. The Mountaineers didn't shoot too well themselves, hitting only 31.8 oercent form the floor, and Cantwell was amazed that his team was still in the game. "I thought the amazing thing was that we were down by only six at halftime. We came back in the second half with a tougher defense." "We are not going to score a lot," he added. "We have to rely on aefensive rebounds. I thought the defensive rebounding was the key to the game." Cantwell was also gracious to the Cats in the post-game press conference. "Obviously Appalachian State is happy, but I feel sorryfor Western Carolina. I know how they feel. They had every right to win that game, as did Appalachian State." Cottrell, whose club lost in the tournament at the Civic Centerfor the third straight year in the first round, said: "I am not upset with anything our team did today-they played their hearts out. We were beat by a good basketball team. Wefelt real confident about winning that game. I have nothing but praise for this basketball team. I hope this loss doesn't tarnish the comeback and accomplishments of this team this year." Cottrell added: "It's a discouraging loss. We've oeen playing in those tight games like that for the last two weeks, and we've been lucky, but we felt it could continue. I felt good in regulation ... .Wefelt real confident about winning that game. We just could not get a good last shot, in regulation or overtime." The loss was the third overtime loss by Western in the conference playoffs in the last four years. Four years ago, the Cats fell to Chattanooga, 77-75, and last year they lost to VMI, 65-63. The Catamounts have a 3-9 record in the conference tournament. Four of the players who started in Friday's game will return for the Cats next season. The only departing player will be Waddy, who carried the team for the last three weeks fo the season but who didn't start until the 22nd game, when he replaced freshman Floyd Showers. The Cats will move into the 8,000-seat Regional Activity Center next season and will North Carolina State, Kansas, and also Florida State. Photo by Ken Lauber Wilson Gratton Lady Cats Begin Tourney Play Western Carolina University's Lady Cats will meet East Tennessee State University in the first round of the Southern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament this Thursday at 6:00 at ASU Boone, NC. The other first round game will match Appalachian State against Furman in an 8:00 contest. Top seeded UT—Chattanooga and second seed Marshall received byes for the first round, and will play their first games on Friday against Thursday's winners. Regular season conference play resulted in ties for first, third and fifth positions, and the confernce tie- breaking system decided the following seeds for the tournament: 1 UT—Chattanooaa (8-2), 2 Marshall (8-2). 3 East Tennessee State (5-5), 4 Appalachian State (5-5), 5 Furman (2-8). and 6 Western Carolina (2-8). Top seed UT-Chattanooga will be looking for its third straight Southern Conference championship in the tournament which has been a conference event for the same number of years. Mens Tennis Gratton Off to Fast Start by Gordon Grant WCU tennis coach Bill Hyatt reached into a basket at court side that held an apparently inexhaustible supply of balls, and punched a hard volley towards a sweating Tad Gra tton. Grafton's return sung visciously past Hyatt's ear as the coach turned to the basket for more ammunition. "Nice shot, Tad". All appeared to be well at the WCU Men's Tennis Team practice. All was not well. After a few more returns that came across the net with Grafton's characteristic ferocity, he turned and walked off the court favoring his right foot. At last weeks match against Anderson College in South Carolina, Gratton was pursuing a cross court shot when he severly twisted his ankle. "I could hear it pop," winced Coach Hyatt. Gratton was out for the match, and there is some guestion whether he can participate in this week's matches against UNC-Charlotte on Thursday, and James Madison on Friday. "I sure hope this thing heals up," said Gratton,"because I've played Charlotte's top seed before and won. I'd like to doit again. All I can do is ice the ankle and take aspirin to keep the swelling down, and see what happens." "Match play is where I learn," he continued,"! hate to miss any. Practice, of course, is vital, but it is the really tough matches that are memorable in your developement as a player." Gratton was off to a good start this season, winning his first match at Presbyterian in straight sets: 6-3, 6-3. He and Dave Weiner, WCU's number two seed, performed well in doubles also, winning their match 6-3,6-4. The other WCU players fared less well, but the season is a long one, and the men are aiming for the Southern Conference Tournament at UT-Chattanooga on April 24-26. Gratton in particular. That sustains me: winning the Conference. I could lose every match this season, win that one, and everything would be just fine." Tad brightened,"Things are clearing up; the weather is getting better for practice. We've got time to improve..." His voice trailed off as he watched Ed Jaggers and Dave Weiner exchange a few fierce shots. "I just hope I'm ready to go by Thursday." He turned and walked up the stairs. Gratton is an outstanding player; his team-mates would concede that willingly. But to win a college match, all six seeds must do well. Tad's absence did not diminish the effort or enthusiasm the others put into practice. Ed Jaggers took his place in the firing zone opposite Dave Weiner, Coach Hyatt, and Hyatt's bottomless basket of tennis balls. The fusillade began, and soon Jaggers was grunting with effort, swinging hard at the balls that came at him every few seconds. Hyatt provided the friendly goad of occasional comment. "Ed has been kind of sensitive since that last article in the WCU paper said he wasn't the fastest on the team...NICE SHOT ED...so now he's been winning a lot of the team sprints. OH C'MON...you keep pulling that foot back, you're gonna miss!" Jaggers was peppering Weiner with sharp returns, some of them vocal. He passed Weiner with a particularlyfast cross-court. "Whydon't you just sit down and take a break, Dave?" Weiner stood with hands continued next page Davidson: Charlotte NCAAs The Lady Cats will be looking to upset their nemesis, East Tennessee State, a team that beat them last year to end their tournament hopes and a team against whom they have only one win in eleven meetings, stretching back to the 1979-80 season. Senior Emily Holiday finished the regular season with a scoring average of 19.0, leading the Lady Cats and fifth in the conference. Her 11.4 rebounds per game is also high for WCU and ranks her third in the conference. Holiday is currently fourth on the WCU career scoring list with 1,418 points and second on the career rebounding list with 916 caroms. Junior Pam McNabb is also scoring in double figures for the Lady Cats with a 12.4 average while senior Pam Daniels is in the top ten in the conference in rebounding, pulling down 6.9 boards a game. The winner of the WCU/ETSU contest will face Marshall at 8:00 on Friday and the winner of the ASU/Furman match up will face UT—Chattanooga at 6:00 on Friday. The finals will be held at 2:00 on Saturday. Meets The by Chris Geis Sports Writer Sixteen years ago the. Davidson ; College Wildcats were among the elite of collegiate basketball. Terry Holland, who later took Virginia to a couple of NCAA Final Fours, was the Wldcats' coach then, and his club had just finished a 22-5 season that saw Davidson win the Southern Conference champion- ip and an NCAA tournament berth. The 1969-70 season was the eighth consecutive year that Davidson had won 20 games or more, and by that time the Wildcats were regulars In the national top 20 and the NCAA tournament. Davidson would go on to win 18 games twice and 19 games once and even play in the National Invitational Tournament, but after Holland left in 1974, the Wildcats began a streak of 11 consecutive losing seasons. They tied for the Southern Conference regular- season championship in 1981, made conference championship game in 1982 and beat Notre Dame in 1983, but for the most part, seasons like the 10-20 one of last year were the norm for the struggling program. That was all ended here Sunday at the Asheville Civic Denter, and in a dramatic way. The Wildcats, a senior-dominated team, defeated Tennesse- Chatanooga, the league's perennial power, 42-40, on a 22- foot turnaround jumper by senior toward Gerry Born with no time left on the clock, and it sent them home with their first conference tournament championship in 16 years. By definition, the Mocs from Chattanooga, who were appearing in their fifth championship game in six years, are the Southern Conference champions, by virtue of their first-place finish in the regular season standings. But you'll never be able to convince Davidson of that. The Wildcats man-handled UTC once, lost a close game in Cattanooga, Tenn., and ended a sloppily-played tojrnament final with Born's shot. The official tournament champions, and unofficial league champions, will now head on to the NCAA tournament. Quite possibley, too, they could open up first round play on their home floor, in the Charloote Coliseum, where the Southeast Regional will be the weekend of March 13-15. The NCAA will announce the pairings Sunday, but Davidson doesn't care where it will be going. "It would be nice to stay in Charloote," fifth-year coach Bobby Hussey said. "But really, I don't care where we go or who we play. I'm just glad to be in the NCAA tournament." The Wildcats are there by the skin of their teeth. With nine seconds left to play in the final game, Chattanooga's Dwight Harris popped an ill- advised jump shot from the top of the key to make the score 40-all. After Davidson had trouble inbounding the ball, it called a timeout, and then managed to get the ball the halfcourt on an inbounds play from guard Derek Rucker to forward Jeff Himes. Another timeout followed, and both clubs apparently knew the play that was going to be run. Hussey designed a play for either one of his guards, Rucker or Chris Heineman, to take the final shot, and Tennessee- Chattanooga coach Mack McCarthy said he had drawn the play up in the huddle because that was the one he expected Davidson to run. "If we could have picked a shot he was goingto take," McCarthy said, "I'd have taken my chances with that one. I'm not a good gambler either. Wedrew that exact play out in the huddle, and we knew they were going to run that one. "When he got the ball, "McCarthy added, "my mind was thinking over-time - for about half a "I don't care where we go or who we play. I'm just glad to be in the NCAA tournament." —Bobby Hussey second". McCarthy had every right to be thinking overtime, because Davidson's initial options on the play didn't pan out. Said Hussey of Davidson: "It's not designed for the post man to shoot the basketball - the guards Heineman or Rucker, were supposed to take it - however, we told Born if he had to come out and had the ball, he could shoot it. It looked like it wasn't going in ; it had a high arc." Born, named the tournament's most valuable player, said: "Basically, that shot wasn't set for me at all. Chris or Derek were supposed to take it... It was a 20- foot - from beyond the old three- point line - but some peole like to exxagerate it." The Wildcats got off to a guick start, opening up to a 9-0 and then a 17-6 lead, as Chattanooga missed 18 of its first 23 shots. "I'm not sure wha caused the poor start," said McCarthy. "We got all the shots we wanted; they just didn't fall in. I thought we'd be looser than Davidson, but when our shots didn't fall, especially all those layups and close ones near the basket, we startd presing a bit. "I don't think we were tight, but missing those first few shots made us that way. It mushroomed on us, and got worse and worse. It really took a lot of time for us to get our confidence back. I thought Davidson, honestly, would be the more tighter team, that we would be loose. I thought they would want it so bad that they'd be nervous and tight. I didn't expect that we would shoot 34 percent from the field." The Mocs were 17 of 49 on the day, and were led by Carliss Jeter's 14 points. No other Moc placed in double figures. Davidson's Born had 14 and Rucker had 10. On postseason play, McCarthy was optimistic. The Mocs, who have won the conference championship five of the last six seasons and are working their sixth straight 20-victory campaign, are in line for a berth in the NIT, where they made the guarterfinals last year. "We're pleased with our season," he said. "We had a storybook year, right up to the time we turned into pumpkins I'd think being a conference champion with 21 wins, the NIT couldn't afford to pass us up. Whatever it is, it will be gravy. And whatever it is for Davidson in the NCAAs, it will be gravy. The Wildcats and city the of Charlotte have been waiting a long time for this.

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: 1986-03-06
  • Date digitized: 2019-03-21
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 15"
  • Pages: 14 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_1986-03-06_Vol51_No07
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library