Siegel Super Sophomores

SportsEXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR:Greg Pogue | [email protected]

615.278.5170

Titans/Predators | C4Scoreboard | C5

Saturday, March 1, 2008

C1

Think the Sun Belt Basket-ball Tournament is a crapshoot?

Think again.History shows that many

teams’ title hopes are over be-fore the bracket begins. In-deed, most Sun Belt Tourna-ment champions are playingwell leading up to the post-season, rather than simplyflipping a switch in March.

Such a hot streak could beon the line today for MTSU,which has won only two of itslast five games after winningseven of its previous nine.

MTSU is trying to even itsrecord at 14-14 with a winover Troy today in the regu-lar-season finale. It just sohappens that no team with aregular-season losing recordhas ever won the Sun BeltTournament.

But win or lose today,MTSU is among a few teamsto assume the tournamentdarkhorse role behind leaguefront-runners Western Ken-tucky and South Alabamanext week.

A few factors actuallywork in MTSU’s favor:IMTSU has the league’s

third-best record. A team be-low the top two leaguerecords has won the Sun BeltTournament only once in thelast 20 years. However, thatone instance is very recent. Infact, it was last year whenNorth Texas had the fifth-bestregular-season record, butwon the tournament.IMTSU has not lost a

first-round tournament gamein coach Kermit Davis’ firstfive seasons. The team’s onlyopening loss was in the 2006quarterfinal to Denver afterearning a first-round bye.IMTSU usually gets its

shot at the best team. MTSUhas lost to the eventual tour-nament champion in four of Davis’ five Sun Belt Tourna-ment appearances.I If MTSU won its first

two tournament games, itwould likely meet No. 1 seedUSA. Sound like the worstpossible draw? Maybe not.MTSU is the only team in theconference with a winningrecord (3-2) against USA inthe last two years. MTSU up-set No. 1 seed USA in last

ADAM SPARKSStaff Columnist

Smyrna, MTCS one win from state

By ROGER GARFIELD

[email protected]

and DAVID [email protected]

So close they can taste it.

The Smyrna and MTCS

girls basketball teams areeach one win away fromreaching the TSSAA state

tournament.

The No. 9

Lady Bull-

dogs, who

play host to

fourth-ranked

H i l l s b o r o

tonight at 7,

have won two

state champi-

onships — in 1961 and 1982.

MTCS is hoping to make its

first state tournament appear-

ance. The Lady Cougars will

have to do it on the road, at No.

7 Wayne County at 7 p.m.

NO. 4 HILLSBORO (30-2)

AT NO. 9 SMYRNA (27-4)

Steve Willey is consideringloading his team on the busand taking a little drive thisafternoon, prior to thematchup with Hillsboro.

“Maybe we’ll have to go toMurfreesboro, turn around

MTSU baseball set tofinally have home opener

After a long wait, the MTSU base-

ball team will finally get to kick off the

home portion of its schedule this after-

noon, when the Blue Raiders take on

Toledo in a double header at Reese

Smith Field.

First pitch is scheduled for noon.

Friday’s contest, scheduled to be

the first in the three game series, was

initially pushed back an hour before be-

ing rescheduled for today.

All fans attending will receive com-

plimentary admission to both games

with a ticket from either the MTSU

women’s or men’s basketball games.

— The Daily News Journal

MTSU Blue Raiders vs.Troy Trojans

Sectional victory

sends teams to

Murphy Center

FYIT

o

nig

ht’

s local gam

e

s

Wi

n

n

er

s a

d

v

an

ce to st

at

e t

our

name

nt

Girl

s

Cl

ass A

MTCS at Wayne County, 7 p.m.

Cl

as

s A

A

A

Hillsboro at Smyrna, 7 p.m.

I Complete schedule, plus a look at

other sectional game across the Mid-

state, C

5

WILLEY

Tourney seed on the line

for Blue Raiders tonightBy ADAM [email protected] MTSU Lady Raiders vs.

Troy Trojans

Win against Troy assures

Lady Raiders of a byeBy MONTE HALE [email protected]

By ROGER GARFIELD

[email protected]

He didn’t look. He didn’t even have

to catch the ball.

In the second half of Thursday

night’s Region 4-AAA title game

against White County, Siegel’s Kerry

Hammonds received a pass in transi-

tion from point guard Tyler Cutter. On

the left block, Hammonds turned his

head back to the middle of the floor

and tapped the ball across the lane to

teammate T.J. Mitchell, who laid it in

to give the Stars a nine-point lead late

in the third quarter.

While the play turned the tide in

Siegel’s direction, it also encapsulated

a connection that has brought the Stars

to within one win of their third state

tournament appearance in four sea-

sons.

Hammonds and Mitchell are two of

Siegel’s four sophomore sensations,

joining Marc Gooch and LeVon Tate as

players that all started alongside Cutter

at one point this season and have now

settled comfortably into unique — and

invaluable — roles in the Stars’ line-

up.

“These guys are coachable,” Siegel

coach Chris Harris. “They listen, they

don’t think they can lose, they play

without any fear, and they play very

mature for their age. They’re a very

special group of kids.”

The four can scoreHammonds, who recently returned

from a fractured left wrist that had

Sophomore SensationsGames Star ts PPG RPG

Kerry Hammonds 28 26 13.4 6.6Marc Gooch 36 36 9.2 4.4LeVon Tate 36 34 7.9 5.5T.J. Mitchell 36 27 7.9 4.2

FYIMon

day’

s lo

cal gam

es

Wi

n

ner

s a

d

v

an

ce to st

at

e t

our

name

nt

B

oy

s

Cl

ass A

Culleoka at Eagleville, 7 p.m.

Cl

ass A

A

A

Cleveland at Siegel, 7 p.m.

I Complete schedule, C5

MTSU stillset up fortourney run

MTSU MEN’S BASKETBALL MTSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Siegel foursome leading the way for Stars

DNJ photo by John A. Gillis

Siegel sophmores, from left, T.J. Mitchell, LeVon Tate, Kerry Hammonds and Marc Gooch have helped the basketball program get to theClass AAA sectional round — one game from this year’s state tournament.

See STATE, page C5

See SOPHOMORES, page C5

set No. 1 seed USA in lastyear’s quarterfinal.

Today mattersI Since MTSU joined the

Sun Belt in 2000, only oneteam lost its regular-season fi-nale and then won the SunBelt tournament title. Thatadds another angle to today’sgame.I Postseason momentum

usually begins in the regularseason. Only one of the lasteight Sun Belt Tournamentchampions failed to win sevenof its last 10 regular-seasongames. MTSU must win to-day to ride such a stint intothe tournament.I Ten Sun Belt teams

(those without a bye) mustwin four games in a row toclaim the tournament title.Among those, only MTSUand North Texas have alreadywon four straight leaguegames this season.

Coming Tomorrow:

• Coverage of Smyrna andMTCS’ attempt to advance tothe TSSAA basketball tourney • The MTSUbasketball teamsplay host to Troy

The Nashville Sports Coun-

cil announced Friday the

award nominees for the

10th Annual O’Charley’s

Dinner of Champions.

Among the local finalists

are former MTSU women’s

hoops standout Chrissy

Givens.

See page C2GIVENS

For the big picture,

check out the

Scoreboard

page C5

LPGA Scores

Lorena Ochoa -13

Annika Sorenstam -6

In-Kyung Kim -6

Paula Creamer -6

SCOREBOARD

BaseballI C2Rogers Clemens a no-show

at Astros camp Friday

College Hoops I C3Previewing today’s SEC tilt

between Vandy and Arkansas

NASCARI C6The Sprint Cup circuit is in

Las Vegas this weekend

Inside

Adam Sparks is the MTSU beat writerfor The Daily News Journal. E-mailhim at [email protected] editor: Corby A. Yarbrough

Troy TrojansWhen: Today, 7 p.m.Where: Murphy CenterRadio: 1450-AM, 106.7-FMSeries: MTSU leads 4-3Last Meeting: MTSU 65, Troy 64(1/16/08)Probable Starters Ht. Cl. Pts.Reb.MTSU (13-14, 10-7)G Kevin Kanaskie 6-2 Jr. 10.8 3.9G Nigel Johnson 6-2 Jr. 7. 3 3.7G Demetrius Green 6-4 Jr. 12.2 4.4F Desmond Yates 6-7 So. 15.9 4.6C Theryn Hudson 6-10 Jr. 8.6 5.5Troy (11-17, 4-13)G Jerome Odem 6-1 Sr. 7 .72.3*G O’Darien Bassett 6-2 Sr. 18.3 4.1G Justin Jonus 6-6 S r. 1 4. 0 3.5F Kenny Ware 6-5 Jr. 3.4 3.0F Jarvis Acker 6-6 Sr. 6.2 4.1* Assists

MTSU men’s basketball plays Troytonight with a No. 4 seed in next week’s SunBelt Tournament on the line.

But that feat could carry little reward forthe Blue Raiders.

MTSU’s likely first-round opponentwould be Troy or Louisiana-Monroe in atournament home game Wednesday.

MTSU lost 82-69 to Louisiana-Monroe onJan. 24, the Blue Raiders’ second-worst SunBelt loss this season. If it played Troy in thefirst round, MTSU would likely have to beatthe same team three times in one season toadvance.

“You like that you’re going to play at

Troy TrojansWhen: Today, 3 p.m.Where: Murphy CenterRadio: 1450-AM, 89.5-FMSeries: MTSU leads 6-0Last Meeting: MTSU 87, Troy 53(1/17/08)Probable Starters Ht. Cl. Pts.Reb.MTSU (18-10, 13-4)G Che ls ia Lymon 5-4 J r. 9 .1 2 .7G Starr Orr 5-8 Sr. 5.4 3.6F A. M. Lanni ng 5-11 Fr. 8. 8 2.6F Emily Queen 6-1 Fr. 5.3 5.8F Amber Holt 6-0 Sr. 2 7.0 8.3Troy (12-16, 5-12)G Larell e Roper 5-8 Jr. 3. 8 3.0G Kylie Morrissy 5-10 Jr. 13.1 5.2G Amy Lewis 5-9 Sr. 16.0 4.2F Audrey Muse 6-0 Sr. 9.2 5.2F Dan ie ll e Realph 6-1 J r. 6 .0 3 .1

There is a fine line between winning andlosing, just as there is a narrow gap in theSun Belt Conference standings.

With that in mind, today’s MTSU-Troywomen’s matchup (3 p.m. tipoff) at MurphyCenter is most pivotal for the Lady Raiders.

A victory over Troy will assure the LadyRaiders (18-10, 13-4) a No. 3 seed in theSun Belt Conference Tournament, but moreimportant, a first-round bye. A loss will giveArkansas State or Arkansas-Little Rock theNo. 3 seed and force MTSU to play a first-round tournament game at home on Wednes-day.

“We’ve talked about it the last three

See SEED, page C3 See BYE, page C3

Siegel Super Sophomores

Documents

Transcript of Siegel Super Sophomores