Trojans roll over Knights

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on December 15, 2005 2:07 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Living in a one-VCR household has invoked numerous debates this season between St. Andrews men's coach Billy Lee and veteran Mount Olive College women's coach Wendy Lee, who married during the summer.

But this is one time Billy will gladly concede on his newlywed's behalf.

Nationally-ranked Mount Olive raced to a 20-point lead in the first 12 minutes and claimed an 82-58 victory over its in-state Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference rival Wednesday evening at Kornegay Arena. The Trojans, who climbed to 10th in this week's NABC Division II Top 25 poll, remained unbeaten in five home outings.

"I think we need it (the VCR) more than she does and need to be home watching it," said Lee, whose team fell to 2-5 overall. "But she'll get it first because she won. I thought tonight that Mount Olive played extremely well ... came out of the gate and ran up a lot of points in the first seven minutes."

Mount Olive (6-1) expected the Knights to play a Princeton-style offense, which relies on picks to set up back-door layups. The Trojans refused to yield to the deliberate scheme and dictated the tempo from the opening tip.

Defensive pressure led to turnovers and Mount Olive capitalized on its height by controlling the boards. St. Andrews (0-3 CVAC) got very few open looks on the perimeter and converted just four field goals in the first 10 minutes.

Four Trojans -- Elijah Rouse, Maurice Horton, Victor Young and Melvin Creddle -- combined for 15 points in the first five minutes. Chris Bartley, freshman Antoine Griffin and All-American candidate Elton Coffield joined the offensive attack to boost Mount Olive's advantage to 28-9 with 8:36 remaining.

Lee admitted St. Andrews' five-guard lineup was no match for the bigger and more-physical Trojans. Mount Olive tallied 22 points in the paint and collected 12 points off 15 turnovers in the first half.

"One of the things we've had difficulty with all year is post defense because of size," said Lee. "We've got a guy (Chad Eichelberger) who just became eligible today and played a little bit tonight. We hope to work him in for more minutes.

"But we're guard oriented. When we got behind early, we didn't have an answer defensively in the post."

Eichelberger, a 6-foot-9 senior, helped stem the flow late in the opening half. He converted an open-court layup and tipped in a missed shot during a 10-0 run by the Knights. Eichelberger finished with seven points, four rebounds and five blocked shots in 18 minutes of action.

Bartley's layup snapped the Trojans' six-minute scoring drought and Chuckie Jefferson added a soft, left-handed hook shot off Horton's assist. Horton drained a 3-pointer to push MOC back in front 37-21.

The Trojans led 37-23 at halftime.

"We accomplished our objectives," said veteran Trojans coach Bill Clingan. "St. Andrews played a hardfought game throughout, but with about 10-12 minutes left in the game, we took over and controlled it.

"Our defensive pressure forced turnovers (and we scored)."

Mount Olive (2-1 CVAC) built as much as a 34-point lead in the second half and beat St. Andrews for the ninth straight time in the series since 1997-98. The Trojans, who lead the series 13-2, recorded their largest margin of victory -- 24 points -- since a 67-47 win during the 1999-2000 season.

Young led three Trojans in double figures with 19 points. Horton added 12 on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and Bartley chipped in 11. Every Mount Olive player attempted at least one field goal and 10 of 13 players scratched in the scoring column.

Joseph Gripper emerged the Knights' top scorer with 11 points.

"We know the Christmas holidays are right around the corner and finals are just over, so we talked about building some momentum and gather that back as we come back from Christmas," said Clingan. "It's important to stay focused and be more consistent from an offensive and defensive standpoint."

The Trojans conclude their pre-holiday schedule at home today against in-state, Division II independent Chowan College. Fans who bring two canned goods will receive free admission to the game.

ST. ANDREWS (2-5, 0-3)

Taiwon Grooms 3 0 2-2 8, Joseph Gripper 2 1 4-6 11, Jeff Worley 1 0 0-0 2, Bobby Short 0 0 0-0 0, Dwayne Jeffcoat 1 0 0-1 2, Richard Stone 1 1 1-2 6, Chad Eichelberger 2 0 3-6 7, Andrew Terry 0 0 0-0 0, Benny Zacharias 1 0 0-0 2, DeRalle Piersall 1 0 4-4 6, Charles Phillips 0 0 0-0 0, Keith Josey 2 0 3-4 7, Luther Landry 1 0 5-6 7, Jake Lavely 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 15 2 22-31 58.

MOUNT OLIVE (6-1, 2-1)

Elijah Rouse 2 0 1-2 5, Chris Bartley 5 0 1-1 11, Maurice Horton 3 2 0-0 12, Victor Young 4 3 2-2 19, Melvin Creddle 3 0 3-3 9, Paulius Dziugelis 0 0 0-0 0, Chuckie Jefferson 4 0 1-2 9, Montel Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Chris Holloway 2 0 2-2 6, Justin Melton 2 0 1-2 5, Elton Coffield 1 0 0-0 2, Justin Egdorf 0 0 0-0 0, Antoine Griffin 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS -- 28 5 11-14 82.

Halftime -- Mount Olive 37-23. 3-point goals -- St. Andrews 2-16 (Grooms 0-1, Gripper 1-6, Worley 0-1, Short 0-1, Stone 1-1, Eichelberger 0-1, Terry 0-1, Zacharias 0-1, Piersall 0-1, Phillips 0-1, Keith Josey 0-1); Mount Olive 5-25 (Bartley 0-2, Horton 2-4, Young 3-6, Creddle 0-2, Dziugelis 0-1, Jones 0-3, Melton 0-2, Coffield 0-5). Rebounds -- St. Andrews 37 (Josey 8), Mount Olive 44 (Rouse 7, Bartley 7). Assists -- St. Andrews 5 (Worley 2), Mount Olive 18 (Creddle 6). Turnovers -- St. Andrews 28, Mount Olive 19. Blocked shots -- St. Andrews 5 (Eichelberger 5), Mount Oilve 2. Steals -- St. Andrews 7 (Jeffcoat 3), Mount Olive 15 (Young 3). Technical fouls -- St. Andrews bench, Landry.