Elite 8!!!

Yea, it's NCAA Division II basketball but it's still good hoops. Hometown team doing well.

Bulldogs made believers out of all of us

These Bulldogs can — and will — fly! Just watch them!


Barton is 'Elite': Second straight late rally sends Bulldogs to Springfield

The Barton College men's basketball team will fly to Springfield, Mass., either late Sunday evening or early Monday to represent the East Region as its 2005-06 champion in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Tournament next Wednesday.

The Bulldogs, before a turnout of nearly 1,500 in Wilson Gymnasium on Tuesday night, brought the "Dog House" down with an improbable comeback that produced a 73-70 conquest of No. 3 seed Alderson-Broaddus (W.Va.) in the East Regional championship game.

Gasping for its basketball life, top-seeded Barton erased an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes, eight seconds to seize its first Div. II regional championship in just its second try (reached the semifinals in 2003).

Nationally ranked No. 9 Barton, with its program-record 28th win against three losses, became the fifth straight Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference member to celebrate a region al championship.


The Bulldogs, CVAC regular-season and tournament kings, play in next Wednesday's 6 p.m. quarterfinal. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday and the national championship game for Saturday.

Alderson-Broaddus, nationally ranked No. 17 and the top West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season finisher, was denied its first regional crown in appearing in the NCAA postseason for the fifth consecutive year. The Battlers head back to West Virginia with a 24-7 record.

"I feel so blessed to be in this position," exclaimed 10th-year Barton head coach Ron Lievense. "I can't tell you how blessed I feel.

"You saw a team that played parts of a game for four straight nights and, for the second straight night, found a way to win. They have the heart of a champion. We are the champions! These guys are winners; they have done something incredible for Barton College."

The Bulldogs' impossible-to-describe finish staggered the Battlers.

"We outplayed them for 36 minutes," lamented Alderson-Broaddus head coach Greg Zimmerman. "We just folded down the stretch. We clammed up; I don't know how to explain it.

"We stood, we just stopped. I don't know if we were waiting for the game to end or what. Golly! Flat out, we gave it to them."

The outcome gnawed much more severely at Zimmerman than 2004's decisive loss in the championship game to Pfeiffer University of the CVAC.

"I had rather get beat by 30 (points) than to lose to a team we're better than," he said.

The script was similar to Monday evening — when the Bulldogs overcame archrival Mount Olive in the semifinals. Just a different team and a little more at stake.

Sophomore Samario Clancy's free throw with 2:08 remaining staked the Battlers to a 67-59 lead.

But Alderson-Broaddus began to struggle at the foul line and in protecting the basketball. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers in the final 90 seconds.

Senior Barton reserve Justin Diggs nailed a 3-point shot to cut the deficit to 67-66 with 1:20 left.

"I knew we had it then," exclaimed Diggs.

Seconds later, freshman guard Bobby Buffaloe, after Diggs' steal and junior guard Anthony Atkinson's assist, kissed a short jumper off the backboard and into the net for a 68-67 Barton lead with 55 seconds remaining. The lead was the Bulldogs' first since a 6-5 edge.

The importance of the moment, insisted Buffaloe, didn't register.

"I was just playing basketball," he said. "Anthony set me up and I just took the shot."

Buffaloe coolly swished two free throws; Atkinson hit 1-of-2 foul tosses with 17 seconds to go, and Moore canned two more nine seconds later. After mounting the 67-59 margin, the Battlers did not score again and trailed 73-67 until sophomore Zach Green drained a 3-point shot with two seconds left.

Diggs, Atkinson and Buffaloe each responded with crucial steals. And the fans began celebrating when Atkinson slapped away the inbounds pass and drew a foul with the Bulldogs clinging to a 70-67 advantage.

Atkinson salvaged a night that saw him connect on just 4-of-18 shots and struggle to finish after twisting drives to the basket. The CVAC Player of the Year was hounded by Battlers' 6-foot-1 senior guard Derrick Bell.

"He's a big, physical guard," Atkinson said of Bell, "and he had a height advantage. I just started pestering him a little bit and he got irritated. And we did a good job of denying everybody the ball."

Atkinson revealed that he "played possum" in getting one steal and read the passer's eyes in claiming another.

"It was pretty frustrating," he commented. "I missed shots from point-blank range that I expect to finish. I had to find some way to help the team out; they were doing a great job of picking me up."

Alejo Barovero, a 6-foot-7 junior who carried the Bulldogs through a sluggish first half, poured in a game-high 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds and was proclaimed the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Moore knocked in 14 points and Atkinson 12. Moore and Atkinson joined Barovero on the all-tournament team, as did the Battlers' Clancy and 6-4 junior Anthony Harper.

Bell's 15 points led five Battlers in double-figures scoring.

Barton played as if drained in the first half, while Alderson-Broaddus was as solid as the new backboard at the far end of Wilson Gymnasium.

After the Bulldogs scored the first four points, the Battlers zipped to a 27-12 lead that Barton chopped to 33-27 at halftime. The Battlers opened the second half with an 8-0 run, and six times led by 14 points — the last at 60-46 with 6:44 remaining.

But Diggs' presence and prompt 3-pointer provided just the spark Barton needed. The Bulldogs survived shooting 37 percent from the floor, 26 percent from 3-point land and being outrebounded 40-33. Critical was Barton's 27-7 bulge in points off turnovers.

Zimmerman didn't deny that the pressure of the consequences bit his Battlers.

"We were satisfied with the halftime lead," he contended. "Who were we playing? The No. 9 team in the nation.

"There's a lot of pressure. The Elite Eight has to be in the back of everybody's mind. On top of that, we had maybe 12 fans and they had about 1,200. Boy! Does the homecourt mean anything?"

Barton finished 14-1 in the Dog House.

Added the distraught Harper: "You've got to make some plays. We just fell apart the last minute. Everything was happening so fast — a lot of movement, a lot of bad mistakes."

Barovero and his teammates credited the comeback to heart.

"We never stop fighting," Moore emphatically said. "I don't know what it is, but this team is driven. We're on a mission. We're not supposed to win games like this. This team is special."

An exhausted turnout may have witnessed a sports miracle. However, Moore begs to differ.

"It wasn't a miracle," he insisted. "It was heart."

 

this is incredible news!!!














































I posted that because I didn't want you to be heartbroken at getting no responses.

 

Be that as it may, but Wilson is still a fuckhole.

 

Be that as it may, but Wilson is still a fuckhole.

 

Bless your heart.

 

Hate it so bad you posted it twice?

 

Born and bred there. There are worse places but nothing to do for us young folk. Good place to raise a family I guess. Too many ECU folks around though.

 

The board is been so fuckin buggy lately.

 

Yea I know I was just joking. Actually, Wilson is good for BBQ if you're into that.

 

VOTE!!

Vote! No, not for the Tar Heel, but for Anthony Atkinson – Barton College.

Bob Cousy Award