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Saturday, Mar. 11 7:00pm ET
S.C. State: Two NCAA trips in three years | |||||
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BOX SCORE
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Mike Wiatre, left off the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference all-league team, got the last laugh with an MVP performance in the conference tournament. Wiatre scored 26 points as the top-seeded Bulldogs beat second-seeded Coppin State 70-53 Saturday night to win the MEAC title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. He hit 7-of-18 shots, including three 3-pointers, and also had 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (20-13), the league's regular-season champions. South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander called Wiatre's absence from the all-conference team a "travesty," but otherwise was all smiles. "It was an unbelievable effort that they gave," he said of his five senior starters. "I don't know if I've ever seen a team play man-to-man defense like these guys did. They worked from the tip to triple zeroes." Michael Poster had four 3-pointers and 14 points for the Eagles (15-15), who lost for the second time in 10 games. It was the third time the teams have met in the MEAC title game in the last five years, with the Bulldogs winning all three. The teams split two regular-season meetings, each winning on the road. South Carolina State led 36-30 with 12:25 to play when it began a 9-2 run capped by James Jones' 3-pointer and Wiatre's fast-break jumper. The Bulldogs, a poor shooting team who finished last in the conference in field goal percentage, were just 21-of-65 from the floor, but were 8-of-24 from 3-point range. "We've been confident all year that when another team makes a run we can make a big basket," Wiatre said. "We've got about five or six guys on our team that can make that basket." Coppin was 16-of-49 overall and 8-of-23 from beyond the arc. South Carolina State had a 48-30 rebounding edge, including 23 off the offensive boards that led to 22 points. Duane Johnson had 10 rebounds to go with 10 points. Jones had 13 points and seven rebounds and Omar Vanderhorst had 11 points. South Carolina State jumped to a 16-4 lead midway through the first half, but Coppin State managed to get back in touch, with Rasheem Sims' 3-pointer cutting it to 20-14 with 4:48 left before half-time. South Carolina State led 28-21 at half-time. The win was particularly sweet for the Bulldogs after a loss to Florida A&M in last year's title game. "We basically had to live with that loss for a whole year. This was like our redemption," Johnson said. Coppin State head coach Fang Mitchell said his team might have celebrated a little too hard after Friday night's come-from-behind win over Hampton in the semifinals. "Our championship might have been last night," Mitchell said. "But it's the maturity factor, that you have to leave that right there in the locker room and move on to the next game." Alexander knows his team is likely to draw a national powerhouse in the NCAA Tournament, but that was far from his mind as he savored his fourth MEAC title. "I just want to enjoy this today and tomorrow," he said. "I'll start worrying again tomorrow night. But right now, I'll tell you what, I ain't worried about nothing." Wiatre, who averaged 15.5 points per game during the regular season, followed in the footsteps of former Bulldog Tyler Brown, who was left off the all-conference team in 1998 but responded with an MVP performance in the tournament. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Mike Wiatre stops and pops.avi: 506 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 James Jones feeds Duane Johnson, who finishes with the jam.avi: 656 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||