MOC's games postponed

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on January 26, 2004 2:00 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Weather conditions forced the postponement of tonight's Mount Olive College basketball games against St. Andrews.

The games are tentatively rescheduled for Tuesday night at College Hall, with the Mount Olive-St. Andrews women's game set for 5:30 p.m. and the men's game at 7:30 p.m.

The Trojan men's team has a chance to extend its winning streak to double digits.

To accomplish that feat, they will have to beat a squad that took the third-ranked team in the nation down to the final buzzer two nights ago.

Mount Olive (12-2 overall, 6-1 CVAC) picked up its 10th consecutive win Saturday with a 98-71 victory at Lees-McRae. Johnny Galarza led a balanced attack with 13 points as the Trojans placed four players in double figures and four more players came within a field goal of reaching double figures with eight points apiece. Sharome Holloway scored 12 points, Marcus West added 11 points and Mark Bitzenhofer finished with a career-high 10 points.

Head coach Bill Clingan was pleased with the Trojans' performance on both ends of the court.

"Our defense and our teamwork came to shine Saturday," said Clingan. "The team was very unselfish and they played with good chemistry."

The Trojans will need the same kind of teamwork and chemistry against St. Andrews (4-10, 2-6), which is coming off a last-second 86-85 loss at home Saturday to nationally third-ranked and undefeated Pfeiffer. Justice Graham converted a three-point play with nine seconds left to give St. Andrews an 85-84 lead, but Anthony Williams hit a layup off an inbounds pass with 0.5 seconds left to spoil the Knights' upset bid. Graham led St. Andrews with 17 points.

Mount Olive defeated St. Andrews 85-80 in overtime last season at Laurinburg in the only meeting between the two teams. Marcus West led the Trojans with 30 points and 16 rebounds, while Janson Greene scored six of his 18 points in overtime.

As of press time, tonight's game is still on as scheduled.

Trojan women

still in CVAC hunt

The Mount Olive College women's basketball team may have fallen under .500 in conference play for the first time this season, but the Trojans are still in the thick of the race.

The Trojans enter Tuesday's game just one win away from jumping back into the top four in the conference.

Mount Olive will try to halt a two-game losing skid as the Trojans play host to St. Andrews Tuesday night.

Mount Olive (6-7 overall, 3-4 CVAC) is coming off a 76-52 loss at Lees-McRae Saturday, a game which saw Lees-McRae with a decided advantage from the free throw line. Mount Olive hit nine free throws on 16 attempts, compared to 30 free throws on 39 attempts for Lees-McRae. Three Mount Olive players already had three fouls before halftime. Freshman Melanie Cobb led the Trojans with a career-high 13 points. Teneal Boone matched her average with 11 points, while Tanika Hudgins also finished with 11 points.

Ladora Charles, who entered Saturday's game as the CVAC's leading scorer, hopes to rebound from a season-low four-point performance Saturday. Charles has scored in double figures in 10 of 13 games this season, including seven 20-point performances.

St. Andrews (4-10, 2-6) is coming off an 84-78 victory at home Saturday against Pfeiffer. Diana Martinez led the Knights with 16 points, while Kebony Thompson hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final 34 seconds to seal the win.

Mount Olive fell to St. Andrews 88-81 in overtime last year in Laurinburg in the season's only meeting between the two teams. Charles led all scorers with 24 points, while Latoria Harvey finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds.

Mount Olive is tied with Queens in the conference standings, one game behind Coker, Erskine and Lees-McRae, who are all tied at 4-3. If the Trojans win tonight, they could be in a tie for fourth place in the CVAC standings, pending the outcomes of other contests.