Athletics > February 27, 2006 February 27, 2006Monday, February 27, 2006 Mon. 27 Men's Tennis at Findlay 2 pm Tues. 28 Women's Tennis at Ohio Wesleyan 3:30 pm Wed. 1 "Jeff Young Radio Show" at Winking Lizard AM 900 WCER 6:30 pm Sat. 4 Synchronized Swimming at Mideast Zone Regionals MEN'S BASKETBALL: Cavs (25-6, 15-3) Rip Daemen in AMC Title Game, Ready to Defend National Title NAIA No. 3 and defending NAIA National Champion Walsh (25-6, 15-3) prepared to defend its national championship by downing Daemen College (20-11) 91-67 in the American Mideast Conference North/South Championship game last Saturday. Walsh will now wait, along with 31 others team, to see when and who they play at the NAIA National Tournament in Point Lookout, Missouri. First round games are the 8th and 9th of March. All games will be broadcast live on AM 900 WCER and on the internet at www.wcer.us. It was a battle early with Daemen, with both teams shooting the ball well. Daemen took their largest lead of the game at 28-22, with 9:26 to play in the first half. Walsh would then go on the run that would decide the ballgame, as they out scored the Wildcats 26-8 to take a 48-36 halftime lead. Corey Jones (So., Avon Lake, OH/Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary) and Jason Hicks (Jr., Cleveland, OH/Villa Angela-St. Joseph) led the Cavs attack with 19 first half points. Jones was a perfect 6-6 from the floor and 5-5 from three-point for 19 points, while Hicks was 4-4 from three-point for 12 points. The Cavs shot .621 from the field (18-29) and .733 (11-15) from three-point in the first half. The second half was all Walsh, as they out scored the Wildcats 43-31. Daemen cut the Walsh lead to eight points at 48-40 with 18:41 to play, but would get no closer. Walsh's largest lead was 28 points (86-58) with 3:34 to play. Jones led all scorers with 23 points. Eder Araujo (So., Sao Paulo, Brazil/Odete Maria de Freitas) added 17 points, Hicks 14, Adam Lesch (Jr., Newark, OH/HS) 11 and Brandon Weems (So., Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) dished out nine assists. Walsh shot .565 from the field and .517 from three-point. Walsh entered last years tournament seeded seventh and with a record of 22-8. They won the American Mideast Conference South Division title (15-3), but lost in the AMC North/South Championship game. This year, the Cavs repeated as AMC South champs and won the AMC North/South title game, 91-67 over Daemen College. Walsh entered last year?s tournament on a two-game losing streak. This year, they come into the tourney with a four-game winning streak and with 13 wins in their last 15 games. The Cavs longest winning streak this season is seven and their longest losing streak is two. Walsh's 24 regular season wins are the most since 1997-98, when they also won 24 games under the late Steve Loy. The Cavs national tournament trip will be their eighth. Walsh won its first ever national championship last season. The 2005-06 Cavs are only the second team to make back-to-back national tournament appearances and Head Coach Jeff Young is first coach to make back-to-back trips. The Cavs went to the national tourney in 1983 under Bob Huggins and in 1984 under Dan Peters. Walsh's balanced scoring attack has four players in double figures. Corey Jones (2nd team All-AMC South) leads the team in scoring. Jones is averaging 14.5 points, shooting .520 from the field, .978 from the foul line and .456 from three-point. He has also made a school-record 43 consecutive free throws and is 44-45 for the season from the line. Jason Hicks (1st team All-AMC South) is averaging 13.5 points and is shooting a team-best .478 from three-point and leads the team with 152 assists. Eder Araujo (HM all-AMC South) is averaging 11.7 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds and is shooting .502 from the field. Derek Chappell (Jr., Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East) is averaging in double figures at 10.1 points and shooting .578 from the floor. Brandon Weems (HM All-AMC South) is averaging to 8.7 points and is shooting .442 from three-point. Weems has also dished out 131 assists and committed only 48 turnovers. Adam Lesch (Jr., Newark, OH/HS) is averaging 7.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and is shooting .497 from the field. As a team, the Cavs are shooting .485 from the field and .432 from three-point. Walsh was tied with Taylor last week as the NAIA's top three-point shooting team. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Walsh (16-13, 11-7) Falls at Daemen in AMC Semifinal Game Walsh (16-13, 11-7) made a return to the post season last week in the American Mideast Conference/NAIA Qualifying Tournament. Walsh opened play with a home win over Tiffin University (63-59), but fell at Daemen College (96-89) in the tournament semifinals. The loss ends the Cavs season at 16-13 and also ends the career of four of the Cavs' five starters. Walsh's 16 wins are the most since they won 20 games in 2003-04. Walsh out scored Tiffin University (13-15) 13-7 in the final 6:43 to post a 63-59 come from behind win in the first round of the AMC/NAIA Qualifying Playoffs. Walsh opened up an 11-point (25-14) first half lead, but led only 32-28 at halftime. Tiffin rallied in the second half and took a 38-37 lead on a jumper from Ashley Lane with 14:35 to play. The Dragons would build 3 six-point leads (50-44, 52-46 and 56-50) and held their final lead at 59-57, on a Lane jumper with 2:34 to go. Walsh tied the game at 59 on a basket by Lindsay Becherucci (Sr., Massillon, OH/Washington) with 2:08 to play, then took the lead for good at 61-59 on an Ingrid Brainard (Jr., Madison, OH/HS) left-handed runner in the lane with 25 seconds to play. Tiffin's Leanne Lucius missed in an attempt to tie the game with eight seconds left, which was followed by Walsh's Beth Sternberg's (Sr., East Canton, OH/HS) two free throws, which provided the final margin. Sternberg, the AMC's Player of the Week, led all scorers with 17 points. Dionna Hammett (Sr., Warrensville Heights, OH/St. Peter Chanel) scored 11 points in the second half, and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Lindsay Becherucci added 11 points. Daemen (20-11) shot .594 from the field in the second half, to erase a 46-41 Walsh halftime lead, in defeating the Cavs 96-89 the AMC/NAIA semifinal game in New York. Daemen advances to the AMC Tournament Championship game at Shawnee State on Tuesday. Walsh shot .563 from the field in the first half and led 46-41 at the break. But behind the three-point shooting of Daemen's Sarah Bogardus and inside play of Allison Depp, the Wildcats rallied. Bogardus scored a game-high 27 points, hitting 5-7 three-pointers, while Depp connected on 11-18 from the floor to tally 26 points and grab a game-high 10 rebounds. Lindsay Becherucci scored a career-high 26 points in her final game as Cavalier. She also had seven rebounds. Dionna Hammett added 22 points. Beth Sternberg tallied 18 points and had seven steals and Damoniq'e Askew (So., Barberton, OH/HS) scored 10 points off the bench. Ingrid Brainard had nine points and handed out eight assists. Walsh placed four players in double figures, led by Beth Sternberg's 15.5 points per game. Sternberg scored 450 points, shot .435 from the field, .424 from three-point and .861 from the foul line. Sternberg closes her Walsh career with 1,248 points, 8th on the all-time list. She is the Cavs' all-time leader in three-points goals made (219) and attempted (597). Dionna Hammett averaged 12.9 points and a team best 8.2 rebounds. Hammett scored 794 points in two years for a 13.9 per game average. She also grabbed 607 rebounds for a 9.1 average in 57 games in a Cavalier uniform. Lindsay Becherucci averaged a career-best 11.1 points, pulled down 7.5 rebounds and led the team in field goal percentage (.549). Ingrid Brainard averaged 11.0 points, shot .827 from the line and handed out 151 assists to set a new Walsh single season mark. Brainard has dished out 393 career assists and is only six shy of breaking Kerri Andrews mark of 398. LeAnne Ware (Sr., Alliance, OH/Marlington) averaged 8.2 points and led the team with 23 blocked shots. Ware scored 567 points in a Cavalier uniform.BASEBALL: Cavs (1-4) Drop 3-4 in Kentucky Walsh (1-4) dropped three out of four games at the Relay for Life Tournament in Kentucky this past weekend. The Cavs are now preparing for annual spring trip to Florida, with games starting on Sunday. Walsh lost its first two games of the season, falling 3-0 to Spring Arbor College and 10-4 to Campbellsville University on Friday. Spring Arbor blanked the Cavs on two hits in the opener. Walsh's Kyle Lynn (Jr., Massillon, OH/Tuslaw) tossed a three-hitter in defeat. In Walsh's second game, Campbellsville scored seven runs in the fourth inning on their way to a 10-4 win. Andy Schon (Jr., Akron, OH/Coventry) started and took the loss for Walsh. Jeff Nicholas (So., Navarre, OH/Perry) singled twice and drove in two runs and Jason Pettigrew (So., Massillon, OH/Jackson) singled, doubled and drove in a run. Walsh split two games to pick-up their first win of the season on Saturday. After falling 9-5 to Spring Arbor, the Cavs rallied with three runs in the fifth inning to defeat Hastings College in the second game. Walsh pitchers walked 11 batters and hit five in a 9-5 loss to Spring Arbor. Mike Dougherty (Fr., Canton, OH/McKinley) came into relief in the fifth inning and was charged with the loss. Jeff Nicholas continued his fast start with a homer, double and three RBI. Alan Frame (So., Atwater, OH/Waterloo) fanned six in six innings in the second game and earned the win against Hastings. Chris Norris (Jr., Massillon, OH/Jackson) pitched the final inning to record his first save of the year. Chad Campbell (So., Ashtabula, OH/Lakeside) and Rollin Matsui (Jr., Thornhill, ONT/Westmount) each singled twice, doubled and drove in a run. Walsh lost 9-4 to Campbellsville on Sunday. The host team scored four runs in the first two innings and coasted the rest of the way. Greg Miller (Jr., Dover, OH/HS) started on the hill for the Cavs and failed to get out of the second inning. John Zakel (Sr., Middleburg Heights, OH/Holy Name) singled, doubled and drove in a run for the Cavs. SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: Cavs (3-6) at Mideast Zone Regionals Walsh (3-6) heads to Wheaton College (Ill.) for the Mideast Zone Regionals this Saturday. The Cavs finished fourth at the Regionals last year. MEN'S TRACK: Cavs Qualify two for Indoor Nationals Pete Tsaftarides (Jr., Canton, OH/McKinley) and Mike Groholy (So., Parma, OH/Valley Forge) have joined Brendan McKee (Fr., Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) as qualifiers for the 41st annual NAIA National Indoor Championships. Tsaftarides qualified in the shot put (48'6") and Groholy in the race walk (8:49.7) at the Mount Union College Open this past weekend. The NAIA Indoor Championships will be held in Johnson City, TN, March 9-11. McKee qualified in the mile, when he posted a time of 4:23.95 at Kent State University two Saturday's ago. WOMEN'S TRACK: Mitzel Qualifies for Nationals in Race Walk Jenny Mitzel (Fr., Uniontown, OH/Green) has qualified for the NAIA Indoor National Championships in the race walk. Mitzel posted a qualifying time of 9.41.7 at the Mount Union Open this past weekend. The time was good for second place. The 26th annual NAIA Indoor Championships will be held in Johnson City, TN, March 9-11. Amy Vagedes (Fr., Canton, OH/St. Thomas Aquinas) finished first in the 55m (7.79) and Tess Francis (Jr., Waterloo, OH/Randolph) was third in the 800m (2:30.56) and Sarah Richards (Sr., East Canton, OH/HS) third in the weight throw (42-10). TENNIS: Teams Split With Slippery Rock Walsh's men's and women's tennis teams split with Slippery Rock on Friday night at the Hall of Fame Fitness Center. The men won 9-0, while the women were edged 6-3. The men are at the University of Findlay on Monday, while the women travel to Ohio Wesleyan on Tuesday.
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