The Mercer Cluster. (Macon, Ga.) 1920-current, March 06, 1989, Image 6

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The Mercer Cluster., March 06, 1989, Image 6

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Newspaper Page TextPAGE 4-THE CLUSTER, MARCH 6, Ml Sports Bears aim to break record By ROBBIE TURNELY Sports Editor This past weekend, the Mercer Bears attempted to win their sixth conference game in a row when they battled with the Georgia State Panthers in Atlanta. In doing so. they would break the school's all time mark which was set by the 1984-85 NCAA Tournament team. The week began on a good note as Mercer upset the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans 75-72 on Thursday, February 23. The Bears' win snap ped a 25 game regular season home winning streak by UALR. Scott Bailey led four Mercer players in double figures with twenty points on eighty percent shooting from the field. Dwayne Taylor chipped in 21 points. Reg gie Titus added sixteen points, and Chris Phillips had ten points. Eric Jackson had seven boards for Mercer. Chris Phillips succeeded on two free throw attempts with four sc cond remaining to help Mercer to a 57-55 victory over the Samford Bulldogs Saturday. February 25. at Birmingham. The win moved the Bears into sole possession of third place in the TAAC with a 9-8 mark. 13-12 overall. Scon Bailey took game scoring honors with 22 points and Chris Phillips had eighteen points. Bailey also led the Bears with seven rebounds. Mercer escaped with a 61-54 nonconference win over the Divi sion II Armstrong State Pirates last Tuesday at the Macon Coliseum. The win assured Mercer of a .500 season and was the Bears’ sixth in a row. However, it did not come easy. Armstrong- State's guards con- sistcntly drove the lane for easy layups. But the Pirates missed ten layups the entire game and that preserved the Bears* victory. Scott Bailey again led all scorers with sixteen points and eleven re bounds. Dwayne Taylor and Chris Phillips helped Mercer with thir teen points a piece. This was the final home game for f five seniors. The group included centers Eric Jackson and Tracy Vaughn, forward Chris Phillips, and guards Dwayne Taylor and Reggie Titus. This week. Mercer travels to Lit tle Rock. Arkansas, to participate in the TAAC Tournament. The Bears will be seeded cither third or fourth in the tournament and will probably play Georgia State in the opening round. Good Luck Bears! Sigma Nu wins second Intramural Championship By ROBBIE TURNLEY Sports Editor Sigma Nu overcame a steamy Mercer medical school team and won the men's intramural basket ball chunpionship in overtime 61-58 V^dnesday at Porter Gym. The Snakes also won the football championship earlier in the school year. Sigma Nu led for much of the first half and was ahead 36-31 at halftime. However. MUSM drew even at 55-55 at the end of regula tion play because they outscored Sigma Nu 24-19 in the second half. During the last part of the second half, the medical school had a chance to gain momentum and possibly win the game. Sigma Nu's fans were called for a technical four. However, MUSM missed both foul shots and the game went into overtime tied at 55-all. The medical school tried to call two timeouts in overtime but Sigma Nu had already inbounded the ball. This probably cost MUSM the game, as they were forced to foul during the last minute of overtime. Kevin Hooks took game scoring honors for Sigma Nu with 23 points. Mark Brown scored thirteen points. James Beale had twelve points, and Kyle Hackinson added nine points to Sigma Nu's total. A1 Parker led MUSM with nine teen points. P. Major had eighteen points and Melvin Johnson scored ten points for the medical school. Sigma Nu finished a perfect 10-0 for the season. This was the first loss for the medical school. BSU women overcome Alpha Gams ILlLt.1 By ROBBIE TURNLEY Sports Editor Alpha Gamma Delta' i fell a little short as they were edg ed by the Baptist Student Union girls 32-28 in the women's in tramural basketball championship Wednesday at Boner Gym BSU won the previous meeting this season 37-8. BSU's Tammy Grantham took game scoring honors with 13 points Melissa Littleton and Daphnee Johnson scored six points a piece to lift BSU to the Alpha Gam did not have anyone in double figures. Nicole Echols scored nine points and Christie Bass added seven points to Alpha Gamma Delta's cause. The score was close throughout much of the game. BSU had a slim 16-13 halftime lead. In the second half, the BSU girls had their big gest lead of the game at 32-25. Alpha Gam scored the last three points of the game Dexter Noiley. BSU's conch, had these comments to make about the game: "h was aft excellent and well-fought .game and contained all of the excitement of a champion ship game. Both teams deserve a of applause for (heir ef forts." He sai^thafkey factors to the game were BSU's tough defense and Daphnee Johnson’s buzzer shot at the end of the first half. Noiley said he wants to thank both the BSU and Alpha Gam fans for all of their support. Forward Tammy Grantham thought BSU had more patience in this game than against Mercer's women’s soccer team. ‘We had more confidence to look for the in side shot in this game." she said. Baptist Student Union was undefeated for the season with a 7-0 record. Alpha Gamma Delta finish ed with a 3-4 mark. Congratulations to the Two Knights of the Nile William Smith -1 Vincent Glover -2 iof Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Inc. Education and athletics do mix! A quality academic program is vital for a fine athletic pro gram. Indeed, education should be our main priority here at Mercer but I doubt the majority of us catne just because of Mercer's academic program. (I am a Communications ma jor and I would rather attended a school with an adequate radio broadcasting curriculum and football team. But 1 came to Mercer because of its strong religous heritage and besides, it is only an hour from grandmother’s house and an hour and a half from Uncle Roy's house.) Imagine this. What would life be without fun? Very bor ing! Ecclesiastes 3:1 says this: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." There is a time to study and a time to play. It is not possible to study all the time; we would become very drained and fatigued. Exercise is a way for us to relax and take a break from stu dying. So the purpose of athletics is to reinforce and sup port a quality education. Here is an example. Even though he was eligible to play NCAA basketball O.J. Moore, the Bears' leading scorer during the early part of the season, was declared academically ineligible to play at Mercer this season because he failed a class last quarter. Mr. Sanders can not say that academics is not important to the Mercer athletic department. As students, we do seem to hang around with a certain crowd of friends. Why can't the athletes do the same? Mr Sanders «n»rhrri certain derogatory words to Mercer students last week. Maybe he should think about his personal safety before be writes. Many students became upset after reading his letter. I mean, how can he tell who the druggies are in the cafeteria? They don't sit there with heroine needles stick ing out of their arms. Also, which group does he belong to? The numphomaniac men? In addition. Mr. Sanders cannot say that Mercer's basket ball team is not unified if they do not sit together in the cafeteria. The team is indeed unified in heart and spirit and it has shown on the basketball court. The Bears have won six in a row and have a legitimate shot at winning the TAAC Tournament. Also, the Teddy Bears' basketball team went into the NSW AC Tournament last weekend seeded second only to Fkstdia International. Mr. Sanders should reevaluate his statement about high school athletics. 1 participated in high school athletics because it was enjoyable and 1 learned a lot about life. The purpose of high school athletics is to provide a quality education to their Khletcs so they can attend college. High school athletics is educating fehletes about the importance of good grades, problems in society, usd about that particular sport. Well, let's move on to a nicer subject. Mercer's athletic department, intramural office, and "The Mercer Cluster" would like to extend their congratulations to Marc Fame 11 for winning the NIKE Shoutout. Faraell scored eighteen out of a possible 25 points. Thanks go out to all of the other participants who made the NIKE Shoutout a big success Good job Marc! Hobbit Tumlty is Sports Editor for Iht Cluster Teddies take number two seed in NSW AC tourney The Mercer women's squad was the second seeded team going into the NSW AC tournament starting at Georgia Southern last Thursday. They played Central Florida in the opening round of the tournament at 6 p.tn. Other first round games found Florida AAM meeting Georgia Southern at 4 p m and the host school Georgia State meeting Stetson at 8 o'clock. Top seed Florida International has a first round bye. Friday night s action the Mercer-Central Florida sur vivor facing the Georgia State Stetson winner while Florida Inter national battled the winner of the FAMU-Georgia Southern.