8/9/2019 Beacons in Season Finale

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TheM ass M edia February26,1985

B SKETB LL

Beacon forward Jim Davis it15) tosses

in

a reverse

lay

up for2 of his 12 points

photo by Susan Stone)

by John Hawkins

Before a

less-than-capacity crowd

a t

the Clark Center last Saturday evening,

the UMass/Boston men's basketball

team ended their

less-than-fulfilling

regular season with

a less-than-

enthusiastic victory (81-76) over Rhode

Island College.

D e s p i t e t h e i r f o r t y - w a t t

perform ance, the victory means the

Beacons (15-9) are virtually assured of

receiving

an ECAC playoff bid (their

goal of making the more prestigious

N C A A p l a y o f f s

for the

second

consecutive year disappeared when

they

lost to Tufts and Franklin Pierce

in

the last tw oweeks) .

To

j udge f r o m

th e

p re -game

atmosphe re, there w ere all the makings

in motion for a serious UMass/Boston

romp . Both teams took their warm-up

shots choreographed by a taped

funk / rap rhythm blaring

from

th e

P.A. systemChrist , the whole gym

shook; it waslikebeing insidea ghetto

blaster swinging on the shoulder of

Atlas. Then, just prior to the start of

the game, Coach Charl ie Ti tus

presented

Beacons captain Joe Smoot,

Beacons

win season

finale

ECAC playoff

bid is

likely

the team's only senior, with a special

award for his leadership ("You've

beenabeacono fstability, announce d

the quo te -gen ie Ti tus ) and h i s

outstanding play. Then th e nat ional

anthem came loudly flailing

it s

figurative fist from th e Clark gy m

speakers. That

put a

charge

in the air

and sent visions of the Grenada

i n v a s i o n g r i e f - s t r i c k e n C u b a n s

fleeing from the machine gu n

fire

of

those handsome blue-eyed devils from

Americadancing in my

head.

Th e

approximately 63 people in attendance

looked more or less impressed and

eager for some kick-buttball.

several minutes to get into the rhythm.

B ut down 39-31 with just under three

minutes left

in the

half ,

th e

Beacons

went on an 8-0 roll (thanks to the

passing of Smoot and the inside

scoring of

Bill

And rews) to tie the score

with only seconds

left

in the

ha l f .

However, the Beacons tarnished this

fine stretch of wide open play by

allowingRIC'sDana Smith ,to mak e an

uncontested

layup

off an

inbounds

pass with only

on e

second

left in the

half .

We were probably just frustrated

in

the first half,"

said Beacon slam-

dunk

artist Jim Davis after the game.

With

only

three

veterans

o n theteam, mos t

coacheswouldtake

a

15-9record .

But

lo o k i n g

at it objectively, we

r e

bet ter

than

that .

9 9

Coach

Titus

But instead

of

rat-a-tat-tat "look

at

them run; now they know they 've been

in a war, to quote Groucho, in the

first

seven minutes of the game, the

Beacons went at R IC with all the

life

o f

a mental ward encounter group made

up ofThorazine addicts. But then, th e

Anchormen

of

RIC, deeply depressed

by their own name (What is the

women's team called? Th e Lady

Anchormen?), played with as much

spirit as a

beached whale.

Hell,

during

this opening stretch of dismal halfcourt

basketball, the referees seemed to be

blowing

their whistles just

to

keep

everyone

awake.

Bu tafter a large dose of you -are-the-

coffee-generation

badgeringfrom their

coach on the sideline, the Anchormen

hoisted

themselves long enou gh to go

on a vicious littie 6-2 run that put them

up 20-16 with 8:47 remaining. Coach

Titus

called

a

t imeout

an d

held

a

heated hudd le. However, the desired

effect

of

this one-sided discussion

wa s

hot

Immediately

apparent , most ly

because RIC was first to establish

momentum

and it took the Beacons

"CoachTitus ha sbeen looking for the

right combination

of

players

to

make

things happen. When Tippett came

in ,

we got going. W e played pretty

good

in

the second half."

The Beacons did, indeeed, play a

decent second halfthey consistently

pressured

th eball,

forcing

RIC totake

a

number

of

off-balance shots,

an d

they infiltrated the RIC zone defense

and asserted themselves effectively on

th e

offensive boards.

R IC

coach

Jimmy Adams, less-than-thrilled with

how his team was handling the UMB

pressure, calleda t imeouta t 17:40,t he

game tied at45-45,

After the timeout, RIC went inside

on the Beacons, which resulted in an

11-4 run and caused the Beacons to go

over

the

limit

in

team

fouls

with

12:36

left

to play. After a timeout of their

own, the Beacons increased their

defensive pressure, forcing several

momentum-bus t ing turnovers

an d

allowing them

to

climb back into

th e

game. A n t h o n y Tippett w a s

part icularly

effective

dur ing th i s

stretch, with two back-to-back baseline

drives that resulted in three-point

plays.

B ut

th e

play that turned

t he

tide

fo r

good was a thund erous Davis dun k off

a Smoot lob

with

e xactly nine minu tes

left on the clock. The play took on

added significance whe nthe game

w as

momentari ly halted so that it could be

announced that Smooth pass had

b roken UMB's

single-season assist

record (Smoot

had 9

assists

in the

game

an d finished withacareer totalof 335).

Af t e r

t h e a n n o u n c e m e n t , t h e

Beacons played

like

h ung ry bobcats fo r

several minutes. At 7:52, Jim Davis

sank a pair of free throws to

give

U M B

a lead (62-61) they would no t

relinquish.

Moments later, after an

RIC turnover, Dan Dohertyswished a

foul l ine jum per

and it was

anchors

away. R IC's Greg Clark v aliantly tried

to get his team back into the game by

twice throwing his face at Doherty's

elbow, which caused Doherty to foul

ou t

with less than

a

minute left

in the

ga m e , b u t Hoop G o d watched

unmoved, the judgement had been

rendered.

After the game, most of the Beacons

were guardedly opt imist ic about

receiving a

playoff

bid and the

chance

that comes with it for a rematch

against top-ranked Colby College.

Despite the Beacons' tw o defeats to

Colby this season, many of the

Beacons

feel

that they

canbeat

Colby.

This is a sentiment that Coach Titus

shares with his players.

"We can

beat

Colby,"

Titus

said.

We'd prefer not to play Colby right

away in the

first

round of the playoffs..

Bu t we can beat them." Titusand his

charges also share

an

optimism

regarding the future of theteam.They

feel that with another year of

experience

they

can

eliminate some

of

the problems(a high turnover

rate,

fo r instance) that have plagued the

team all season.

It's

definitely a

matter

of us

gaining mor e experience, said Titus.

"Withonly three veterans

on the

team,

most coaches would take a

15-9

record.

But

looking

at it

objectively, we're

better than

that."

A L L A M E R I C A N C NDID TE

by Kate DeRubeis

THOMAS LEADS LADY BEACONS

The way Carol Thomas goes is the

wa y th e

team goes," according

to

University

of Massachusetts/Boston

women's basketball coach Sharon Bar-

rett.On ayoungan dprom ising squad,

this 5'3 junior stands out as the

backbone

of the

team."

Thomas has compiled some im-

pressive records during her UMB

basketball career. She is the team's

leadingscorer with a 19 point average.

She is the second leading rebounder

withan average of7.1 points. Thomas

alsoleadsinassists (88)an dsteals (71).

Sh e

was named

ECAC

Player of the

Weekin December, and has made their

honor roll twice. In two tournaments,

at Salem State and Plym outh State, she

was chosen for the all-tournament

team.

Thomas is a resident of Cambridge

and a

graduate

of Cambridge Rindge

and

Latin High School,

the

school that

produced collegiatestars Medina Dix-

on and Pat Ewing. During he r time

there,

she was a

member

of the

basket-

ball.,

volleyball and . track

teams.

T h o m a s o r i g i n a l l y a t t e n d e d

Southeastern Massachusetts Unive rsity

before transferring

to UM B in

1983,

where

she is

majoring

in

Marke t ing .

In

addition

to being an integral part of the

Beacons' basketball team, she played

on the volleyball team this fall.

Coach Barrett has high praise for

Thomas. "When she's

on, she

brings

the others u p to the highest level they

can play. She leads by example, not b y

a lot of w ords, and w orks as hard as, if

not harder than, anyone else on the

team." For an example of Thomas '

hard-driving

style on the floor, look no

fur ther

than the Beacons' victory over

Westfield State, in which she scored 30

of theteam's56 points and won EC AC

Player of the Week honors. Thomas

poured in another 30 points in the

Beacons' 62-61 loss

to

Pittsburgh

State in the consolation game of the

Plymouth

State Tournament .

The Lady Beacons are a young,

small team. Thomas, th e team's only

junior,

is a

co-captain along with

the

team's

leading rebounder, sophomore

Delia

Duggan. There are only seven

t e a m m e m b e r s ,

and even the

sophomore players were essentiallyin-

experienced in game situations at the

beginning

of the 1984-85 season. Their

record is a

m isleading3-15,misleading

because it doesn't speak for the

amount of"hearta nd

guts"

these girls

have

put into their playing. When

Coach

Barrett talks about

he r

players

there is an unde niable element of pride

and awe at

w hat they have accomplish-

ed . The o dds we re stacked against

them from

day one and

despite

the

set-

backs, they've never quit

on

me, says

Barrett,."Theyalways give

110% and

they play well over their potential

because they work so

hard."

Thomas' major contributions to the

teamare herhard working at t itudean d

he r

willingness to sacrifice for the good

of

th e

team. According

to her

coach

she is one of the most talented athletes

at U M B ."Carolh assacrificeda lot of

he r

talents

for the^team'ssake,"

says

Barrett. She should be playing as a

forward, and would

probably

be more

comfortable

in that

wing

position, bu t

because

of her talent she has had to

fulfill the role of a point guard. Carol

deserves a lot more recognition than

she h asgotten."

For an ex perienced, but dedicated

team, a

player with Carol's abilities

and attitude can make all the dif-

ference. Says Coach Barrett, "When

the most talented player on the team

plays

as

hard

as she

does,

it has to

have

an

effect

on the

rest

of the

team."

Coach B arrett has high hopes for the

Beacons' future . She characterizes the

team as having "a lot of potential"

with the girls gaining much needed

game experience and, because of their

small numbers, a lot of individual at-

tention. Now, the emphasis for the

next

year is on recruitingn ew players

to relieve the team of its num bers

situation.

I tell them afterevery

game,"

says

Barrett,

"therewillb e

next year

for all

of us "

A nd

Carol Thomas

is

sure

to

play amajor roleintheir

future

t r ium-

phs.